Run With It

Sunday, May 29, 2022

The Eyes of the Lord

Proverbs 15:3 ESV

3 “The eyes of the Lord are in every place,

keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

There is a popular teaching today within the gatherings of the church which says that once we believe in Jesus to be Lord and Savior of our lives that God can no longer see when we sin against him. He is blinded to our sin. All he can see when he looks at us is Jesus and so he smiles and so he delights in us even if we are deeply engaged in deliberate and habitual sin.

Well let me tell you that the Bible does not teach that. If you read the New Testament books from Romans to Revelation, in particular, it will become quite apparent that God does still see when we sin against him because he had his writers of the New Testament writing about the sin he saw his people doing (and/or the people who were professing to believe in him).

And he chastised them for their sin, and he warned them that if they continued in deliberate and habitual sin against him that they would not inherit eternal life with God but that they would face the wrath of God instead, even though they claimed to know him. For Jesus said that not everyone saying to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

So, the eyes of the Lord are still in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. And yes you can read in the Bible about all the good that he sees, too, when he looks at us who are following him with our lives and who are doing his will. He sees those who are dying to sin daily and who are walking in obedience to his commands and who are loving others with his love. And he sees those who are suffering for righteousness’ sake, too.

[Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:11-32; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; Matt 5:10-12; Lu 21:12-19; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; Jn 15:1-11]

Proverbs 15:8-10 ESV

8 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,

    but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.

9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,

    but he loves him who pursues righteousness.

10 There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way;

    whoever hates reproof will die.”

What this teaches here is taught again in the New Testament under the New Covenant so this isn’t just Old Testament teaching. No matter what we are professing with our lips, if we are living in wickedness in deliberate and habitual sin against God, God does not approve of anything we are willing to sacrifice to him. He wants our lives on his altar submitted and surrendered to him walking in obedience to his commands and daily dying to sin and self.

And there is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way of the Lord, for whoever hates reproof will die in his sin. He will not inherit eternal life with God. Heaven is not his eternal destiny no matter what he professes with his lips. For if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, i.e. if we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin and not in righteousness and not in obedience to our Lord then Jesus is going to say he doesn’t know us and for us to depart.

[Matt 7:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; 1 Co 6:9-10; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 4:17-24; etc.]

Proverbs 15:29,31-33 ESV

29 ”The Lord is far from the wicked,

    but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

31 The ear that listens to life-giving reproof

    will dwell among the wise.

32 Whoever ignores instruction despises himself,

    but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

33 The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom,

    and humility comes before honor.”

I have known people who will, although sin is what they practice, pray to God fully expecting the Lord to hear them and to answer their prayers. But the Bible doesn’t teach that the Lord hears and answers the prayers of those who practice evil. But he does hear and he does answer the prayers of the righteous, of those who are following him in obedience to his commands.

For we will receive from God anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him (1 Jn 3:22), and because we ask according to his will (1 Jn 5:14), and we do not ask with the wrong motives (Jas 4:2-3), and because we remain in him and his words remain in us (Jn 15:7), and because we believe and we don’t doubt (Jas 1:5-8).

But if we are double-minded, doubting the Lord (Jas 1:5-8), and if we ask with the wrong motives, to spend what we get on our sinful pleasures (Jas 4:1-10), or if a husband is not treating his wife with understanding and honor but he is cruel to her instead (1 Pet 3:7), and if we do not abide in Christ and his words do not abide in us (Jn 15:1-11), we should not expect that we will receive anything from the Lord for our prayers will be hindered.

So, not just so God will hear and answer our prayers, but because we love God and we want to obey him and to serve him, we listen to him. We do not ignore his instructions to us. And we don’t pick and choose which ones we will accept and which ones we will reject, either. And the fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom. And the fear of the Lord is to honor, obey, respect, submit to, and surrender our lives to him as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, which is our acceptable worship of him (Rom 12:1-2).

Give Me Jesus

Oh, What Gladness!

An Original Work / December 2, 2013

Give me Jesus. He’s my Savior.

I’ll walk with Him in His favor.

I’ll abide in His love always;

Follow His ways to the end.

Jesus is the Son of God.

He died upon a cruel cross.

He’s forgiven all my failures

By His mercy and His love.

Give me Jesus – His compassion,

And His mercy; loving kindness.

Let Him teach me how to love Him,

And to please Him. He’s my friend.

Jesus died for all our sin

So we could have eternal life.

He will free you from your bondage

If you trust Him with your life.

Give me Jesus. Let me trust Him.

May I listen to His teachings.

May I follow where He leads me

In His service. He’s my Lord.

Jesus Christ will come again

To take His bride to be with Him.

Oh, what gladness; free from sadness

When I meet Him in the air.

https://vimeo.com/113054381

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Receiving God's Grace in Vain

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 ESV

“Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says,

‘In a favorable time I listened to you,

and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

What is God’s Grace?

The apostles were working together with the Lord in cooperation with him and in the ministry to which the Lord had called them. So, they were speaking for the Lord as his ambassadors when they appealed to the church in Corinth to not receive the grace of God in vain. So, what does that mean?

Well, “in vain” means “empty, ineffective, foolish, worthless, false, unreal, pretentious and hollow.” So they were urging those professing faith in Jesus Christ to not receive the grace of God pretentiously or falsely or ineffectually to where it has no effect in their lives in changing who they are or how they live or what they do. So, it is obviously possible for this to take place.

So, what is the grace of God? It is his favor towards us which is undeserved. It is a gift from God and it is not of ourselves. And it includes the faith to believe in Jesus Christ and to turn away from our lives of sin to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways. For we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to Christ (Eph 2:8-10; Jn 6:44).

And it begins with God the Father sending his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to the earth to take on human flesh and then to suffer and to die on that cross. For when Jesus hung on that cross, he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Co 5:21). He put our sins to death with him so we might die with him to sin and live to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24). He died to free us from addiction to sin.

So his grace is also his gift of salvation from sin and eternal life with God, but this goes beyond just forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven when we die. For by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with him in death to sin and we are raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old self is put to death with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we will no longer be enslaved to sin but to God and to his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

And so God’s grace to us is not just a “get-out-of-jail-free-card.” And it is definitely not carte blanche for us to continue living in deliberate and habitual sin now that we think all of our sins have been forgiven (1 Jn 3:4-10). And it is not just a free ride to heaven. For his grace instructs us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and fleshly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return (Titus 2:11-14).

Receiving God’s Grace in Vain

So, if we “receive” God’s grace “in vain,” then we are not really receiving it, are we? For the receiving of it isn’t genuine. It is a pretentious receiving of his grace which is probably not really his grace, either, but it is what some humans have determined is his grace but which does not agree with the Scriptures. It is a man-created grace which forgives the sin and which promises heaven but which does not put sin to death in the life of the “believer.”

So, if it does not put our sin to death and if it does not raise us with Christ to walk in newness of life in him according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh then it isn’t God’s true grace. And so the “believer” is believing in a false grace while he thinks or while he has convinced himself that it is God’s true grace. Or else he did accept the idea of God’s true grace on a surface level but he did not follow it through with true faith.

So I hear a lot of talk these days about God’s grace and a lot of it is false grace or it is a half-truth grace which is false because they only want to accept the benefits of God’s grace without the putting of sin to death in their lives and without then surrendering their lives to Jesus to walk in obedience to his ways. So what they believed of God’s grace had no effect in their lives because they did not let God’s grace do its work in changing them.

Therefore, this is a call to believe in Jesus Christ for genuine salvation from sin which involves us dying with Christ to sin and living to him and to his righteousness, but not just once but daily, and then to continue in putting the deeds of the flesh to death and in walking according to the Spirit in walks of obedience to our Lord until the day he comes to take us home (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Col 1:21-23).

He Gives Purpose

An Original Work / June 9, 2012

“Listen to Me when I’m calling to you.

Obey freely My word.

Follow Me in all of My ways.

Do all that I say.

Hear Me gently whisper to you

My will for your life and future.

Give all of your life and heart to

Follow Me always.”

Repent of your sins and worship Jesus.

He’s your Lord and Master.

He died for your sins so you could

Live with Him today.

He has a plan for your life and

He gives purpose and direction.

He gives meaning to your life,

So follow Him today.

“I love you so much I gave My life for

You to walk in My ways,

Living for Me each day as you

Bow to Me and pray.

Witness for Me of your love for Me and

Of My grace and mercy,

How I died to save you of your

Sins now and always.”

https://vimeo.com/119038798

Make Me to Know Your Ways, O Lord

Psalms 25:4-5, 8-10 ESV

“Make me to know your ways, O Lord;

    teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,

    for you are the God of my salvation;

    for you I wait all the day long.”

“Good and upright is the Lord;

    therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in what is right,

    and teaches the humble his way.

All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,

  for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”

There are a lot of people today who claim to be Christians and/or who also claim to be teachers of the Scriptures and ministers of the gospel but who are not living and who are not teaching the ways of the Lord. What they are living and what they are proclaiming is an altered gospel message that allows people to live however they want while claiming forgiveness of sins over themselves and a guarantee of heaven as their eternal destiny.

They see their salvation as God’s gift of grace in forgiving their sins and in delivering them from the punishment of sin and in promising them heaven when they die but not as deliverance from their slavery (addiction) to sin and empowerment of God to now live holy and godly lives to the praise and glory of God. For it is all about them and what they think Jesus did for them and it has nothing to do with them honoring and obeying the Lord.

But Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to free us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so we may now become slaves of God and of his righteousness. By faith in him we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So sin is to no longer have mastery over our lives since Jesus set us free.

By faith in Jesus Christ we die with Christ to sin and we live to God and to his righteousness. We leave our lives of sin behind us to follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his ways and to his commands (his instructions to us who believe in him). And now we are in intimate relationship with God and our desire is for him to do his will, and so our prayer is to know his ways so that we can walk in them in his power and strength.

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13]

We want the Lord to teach us his ways so that we can walk in them. We want him to lead us in the way of righteousness and to guide us in the way that we should go. We want to do his will for our lives and answer his call of service on our lives and to be used of him in other people’s lives for their encouragement and for their salvation and so that they, too, will desire Jesus and want to know him and to follow him in his ways.

But if we are going to be taught the ways of the Lord we need to be willing to listen to the Lord and then to follow him in obedience. For he may lead us to move to another state or city or to take a different job or to begin a new ministry we had never done before. And we have to be ready and willing to go with God even if it means leaving everything familiar to us to go someplace we have never been before and to start over.

Psalms 25:16-21 ESV

“Turn to me and be gracious to me,

    for I am lonely and afflicted.

The troubles of my heart are enlarged;

    bring me out of my distresses.

Consider my affliction and my trouble,

    and forgive all my sins.

“Consider how many are my foes,

    and with what violent hatred they hate me.

Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!

    Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

May integrity and uprightness preserve me,

    for I wait for you.”

Our Lord is very sympathetic to what we are going through in this life. True, he does allow us to suffer for the sake of his name and for the sake of righteousness, but it is for our good that we suffer, for we learn obedience through the things that we suffer. Yet, he feels our pain when we are lonely and afflicted because we are being rejected and persecuted by others, and he knows what that feels like, for he went through that for you and for me.

And our Lord doesn’t always remove us physically from our suffering but he will deliver us out of the affects (impacts, influences) of that suffering on our lives so that we don’t get discouraged and become downhearted. He will comfort us in our times of sorrow, and he will strengthen us when we are weak, and he will remind us that he is sovereign over our lives and that he is working out his plan for our lives, so we need to trust him.

And our suffering may indeed be the result of foes and enemies attacking us and coming against us. And those enemies could even be our friends, our neighbors, our family members, and/or fellow Christians (or professing Christians). For if we are following Jesus wholeheartedly, and we are doing and saying the kinds of things he did and said, we will have enemies even within the gatherings of the church, for not everyone has faith.

Yet, our Lord’s mercies are new every morning. We who follow him with our lives are being kept in his care and he has a purpose for everything he allows to come into our lives. So no matter how bad things get, which they may, we have to keep trusting the Lord through it all and trust him to lead us in the way he would have us to go one day and one step and one moment at a time, just going wherever he sends us and doing his will.

His Tender Mercies

An Original Work / January 26, 2014

Fear not! I’m with you.

Be not dismayed!

God watches o’er you.

Trust Him today.

He’ll lead and guide you;

Give you His aid.

He’ll love and keep you

With Him always.

Walk in His footsteps.

He’ll lead the way.

Trust in His love;

Believe that He cares.

He will not leave you.

Faithful He’ll be.

His tender mercies

Now you will see.

Fellowship with Him

Throughout the day.

Tell Him your heartaches.

He’ll heal always.

Rest in His comfort.

He is your friend.

Your faith He’ll strengthen,

True to the end.

https://vimeo.com/379513308

If We Go On Sinning Deliberately

Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV

“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Who is Being Addressed?

Who is being addressed here? If we read the previous verses we see that it is Christians (and/or those merely professing faith in Jesus Christ) who are being addressed. First they are being encouraged to draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith. And the indication is that it means having been cleansed of their sins by the blood of Christ so that they are no longer living in sin and according to the flesh but so that they are living godly and holy and pure lives to the glory and praise of God.

And then they are encouraged to hold fast to their faith without wavering, and that they are to stir one another up to love and good deeds (or works), which are of the Spirit of God. And they are not to neglect gathering together with one another to exhort (urge) and encourage one another towards walks of holiness and righteousness, and away from continuing to live in sin and for self. For some of them had been neglecting the practice of gathering together for mutual encouragement in the faith.

The Exhortation

Now, what this says here is not taught just in the book of Hebrews. Paul taught the same in his letters as did most of the other apostles. And Jesus taught the same thing, too. Fundamentally, we can’t make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and then go on sinning deliberately and habitually and be able to claim salvation from sin and eternal life with God. All throughout the New Testament we are taught that if we walk in sin we will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what we have professed with our lips.

And then this lets us know how severe this is if we are to go on (habitually) sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth. Heaven is not going to be our eternal destiny, but hell will be. For when we believe in Jesus, or when we profess to believe in Jesus, but then we habitually and deliberately keep on sinning, we are trampling underfoot the Son of God, and we are profaning the blood of the covenant, and we are outraging the Spirit of grace who provided our redemption so that we can be saved.

But the way a lot of people are talking and preaching and teaching today you would not even know that these words are in the Bible. For many are teaching a cheap grace gospel (not the true gospel of grace) which is not teaching the necessity of repentance, obedience, and submission to Christ as part of faith that saves and that sanctifies. They just teach that all one must do is profess faith in Christ or acknowledge what Jesus did for us on that cross and that they are saved and going to heaven no matter what.

And so they are giving their adherents carte blanche to continue living in sin habitually and deliberately, guilt free, while guaranteeing them heaven when they die. I hear this all the time from people professing faith in Jesus Christ that they don’t have to repent of their sins, and that they don’t have to obey the Lord, for they call that works salvation or Lordship salvation. But if it is, it is what Jesus taught and it is what the New Testament apostles taught, and they told us if we don’t repent and obey that heaven is not our home.

So, we need to know that our salvation is not some prayer we pray or some public confession of faith we proclaim and it is not a one-time thing that happens in our lives which guarantees us heaven when we die. Our salvation is deliverance from our slavery to sin and it is empowerment of God’s Spirit to now walk in holiness and in righteousness to the glory of God. And it is ongoing, i.e. we are being saved, and it is the one believing who has eternal life, for Jesus said that we must die daily to sin and follow (obey) him.

So, whether we end up in heaven or in hell is dependent not on what we profess but on what we live. For if we live to please the flesh, it will end in destruction. But if we live to please the Spirit, it will end in eternal life. And if sin is what we practice and if righteousness and holiness and obedience are not what we practice, then we will not inherit eternal life with God but we will spend eternity in the fires of hell. So we need to take God and his word seriously and know that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God.

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Here is Your God!

An Original Work / July 18, 2012

Based off Isaiah 40:9-31 NIV

You who bring good tidings to Zion,

Lift up your voice; raise with a shout,

And do not be afraid of the people.

Say, “Here is your God!”

See how the Lord God comes now with power.

His arm rules for Him; His reward with Him.

He tends His flock just like a shepherd,

His lambs in His arms.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from beginning?

Our Lord sits enthroned above all things.

None to Him compare.

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens.

Who made all of these? Who calls them by name?

Because of His great power and strength,

All accounted for.

Why do you say, “My way is hidden

From the Lord, and my cause forgotten”?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord, He is your God.

He will not weary. He gives us power.

Those who trust in Him will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings just like eagles;

Walk and do faint not.

https://vimeo.com/125488095

Herald the Good News

Isaiah 40:3-5 ESV

A voice cries:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up,

    and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

    and the rough places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

    and all flesh shall see it together,

    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

This was a prophecy concerning John the Baptist who was to prepare the people’s hearts to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. As part of his preparation of the people’s hearts to receive Christ he baptized the people with a baptism of repentance and he taught repentance. And repentance is like making a spiritual U-turn in a road. We were going in the direction of living in sin and for self and now we turn and we go the opposite direction, which is the way of holiness and righteousness by the Spirit.

This is the straight way, the way of the cross of Christ, the way of dying with Christ to sin and living to him and to his righteousness. It is the way of holiness and uprightness, of integrity and honesty, and of moral purity. By faith in Jesus Christ our lives are transformed of the Spirit of God away from living in sin to now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. We must be humbled before the Lord so that he can save us from our sins. We must agree with God about our sin so we will desire to be delivered.

And now our lives are to be lived for the glory of God and not for ourselves. Now we are to honor God with our lives, and our hearts are to be surrendered to him, and we are to be his servants and witnesses. Now we belong to him, we are his possession, and he is our Lord and Master. He is our commanding officer and we are his soldiers in his spiritual army, and so we are to obey our Lord in going where he sends us and in doing and saying what he commands us to do and to say for his glory and honor.

Isaiah 40:9-11 ESV

“Go on up to a high mountain,

    O Zion, herald of good news;

lift up your voice with strength,

    O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

    lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

    ‘Behold your God!’

Behold, the Lord God comes with might,

    and his arm rules for him;

behold, his reward is with him,

    and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

    he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,

    and gently lead those that are with young.”

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are his servants and witnesses, and we are to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. We are to take the good news of the gospel to the ends of the earth and to make disciples of Christ of people of all nations, teaching them to obey whatever our Lord commands. And we are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth by how we live our lives and by the words that we speak, for we are to speak the words of life to the people.

We are to tell the people that Jesus Christ, God the Son, died on a cross for our sins so that we can die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. We should tell them how he left his throne in heaven, and how he humbled himself by taking on human form, and how he lived on this earth as fully God and as fully man, and how he did not sin, although he was tempted to sin in like manner as we are also tempted.

And we should let them know that the purpose of his death on that cross was to put our sins to death with him so that by faith in him we can be crucified with Christ in death to sin and be raised with Christ (for he rose from the dead) to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And we should tell them that Jesus put our sins to death on that cross so that we will no longer be enslaved to sin but to God and to his righteousness, in his power and strength.

But we should let them know that we don’t do this in our flesh. This is not about behavioral modification, per se, but this is about transformed lives of the Spirit of God away from living in sin and for self to now living in holiness and righteousness and for the glory and praise of God. Jesus is our shepherd, and we are the sheep of his pasture, and he will lead us in the way that we should go. And he will give us all that we need to live godly and holy lives pleasing to him and for us to be able to say ‘No’ to sin daily.

[1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

His Tender Mercies

An Original Work / January 26, 2014

Fear not! I’m with you.

Be not dismayed!

God watches o’er you.

Trust Him today.

He’ll lead and guide you;

Give you His aid.

He’ll love and keep you

With Him always.

Walk in His footsteps.

He’ll lead the way.

Trust in His love;

Believe that He cares.

He will not leave you.

Faithful He’ll be.

His tender mercies

Now you will see.

Fellowship with Him

Throughout the day.

Tell Him your heartaches.

He’ll heal always.

Rest in His comfort.

He is your friend.

Your faith He’ll strengthen,

True to the end.

https://vimeo.com/379513308

Friday, May 27, 2022

Not Neglecting to Meet Together

Hebrews 10:19-23 ESV

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

Under the Old Covenant, the temple of God was a physical building. Within that building was a porch, and a Holy Place (the main room of religious service), and the Holy of Holies, which is where the Ark of the Covenant was housed. The Holy of Holies was covered with a veil and no one was allowed to enter except the High Priest, and he would enter only once a year to offer the blood sacrifice for his sins and for the people’s sins.

But when Jesus Christ died on that cross for our sins he became not only the last and only High Priest to offer that final sacrifice for our sins, but he was that final sacrifice. His death on that cross provided the final sacrifice for our sins so that by faith in him we can be saved from our bondage to sin and walk in his holiness and righteousness. For he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God so we would now honor God with our lives.

And when Jesus died on that cross, that veil that covered the Holy of Holies was torn in two, and that opened the way for us now to enter into God’s holy presence. By genuine God-given faith in Jesus Christ we can now come into God’s presence, and we need no more human mediators (no priests), for we are now God’s kingdom priests. And now we are to serve God with our lives in doing what he has called us to do and to become for his glory and praise.

And what happens when we believe in Jesus with God-given faith is that we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old self is crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we will no longer be enslaved to sin. So we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.

Therefore, we are to not let sin reign anymore in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. We are to present ourselves to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin shall no longer have dominion over us. For we are slaves of the one whom we obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness and sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, which is our deliverance from slavery to sin, is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And we are to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And this means that daily by the Spirit we are to be putting the deeds of the flesh to death, and daily we are to be walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Daily we are to be denying self and dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord Jesus, for if sin is our practice we don’t have eternal life with God.

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

The temple of God is now no longer a physical building. We who are the Lord’s via genuine believing faith in Jesus Christ are that temple, for now God dwells within us by his Spirit. The church is people, not a building. But the people are those who have died with Christ to sin and who are daily, by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the flesh, and who are walking according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh, in practice.

This isn’t saying that we are perfect or that we never sin, but according to the Scriptures those of genuine faith in Christ no longer live in sin. They no longer make sin their practice, but holiness is now their practice. Now I know that a true believer can wander for a time and must be brought back to repentance (example Rev 2-3), but a true believer in Jesus is not one who continues in deliberate and habitual sin as a matter of life course.

Okay, now going back to the building thing. We who believe in Jesus collectively are the church, the body of Christ. So if you were to draw a picture of a church, what would it look like? If you draw a physical building, that is wrong. Sorry! That little rhyme I learned as a child is wrong, too. It went something like this (with hand motions): “Here’s the church” (the building) “and here’s the steeple” (on top of the building), “open the doors and see all the people” (inside the physical building). Totally wrong!

We the people of God ARE the building made up of living stones with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. We have to move away from this concept that a building or a church denomination or a business called “church,” which is incorporated under the state, and which is being marketed to the world, is “the church.” It is NOT! God sees it as Babylon and he is calling his people to come out of Babylon so that we do not share in her sins and in her punishment, for her sins are piled high to heaven (Revelation 18:1-6).

So, why do I say God sees the institutional church as Babylon? Because she is not the body of Christ. She is an institution (business) of man created in the minds of human beings being marketed to the world like any other business and being conducted as a secular business designed to attract the people of the world to her gatherings. So “the building” is not a gathering of “the church” but it is a public gathering which includes Christians and non-Christians and people who give lip service to God only.

[1 Co 1:10-17; Jn 2:13-17; 2 Co 6:14-18; Rev 18:1-5]

And it is not designed for us, the body of Christ, to stir up one another to love and good works. It is not designed to be the body of Christ operating as the Scriptures teach we, as the body, are supposed to function and work together. But these “churches” are mostly worldly businesses which are being patterned after what the world craves and so they are more about entertainment and having fun and cracking jokes and not offending anyone.

So, when this encourages us to not neglect to meet together, this is NOT talking about meeting together in these institutional businesses called “church.” For they are not the church. They are not the temple of God, though some true believers may be gathering with them. This is encouraging us to meet together with other true followers of Christ so that we can stir one another up to walk in holiness and in purity of devotion to Christ.

So please get together with other mature believers who will help you to follow Jesus in obedience to his ways and who will not lead you to be like the world. And it doesn’t matter where you meet or how often, just do it!

[Ac. 2:42-47; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 3:9,16-17; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Co. 12:1-31; 2 Co 5:1; 2 Co 6:14-16; Eph 1:4,22; Eph 2:19-22; Eph 4:1-32; Eph 5:17-30; Col 1:18-24; Col 2:19; Col 3:12-16; 2 Tim 1:9; 2 Tim 2:21; 1 Pet 1:13-16; 1 Pet 2:4-9; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 3:13; Lu 9:23-26; Jude 1:20-21; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

He Reached Down

An Original Work / February 3, 2014

Based off Psalm 18

How I love You, Lord, my Rock and my strength.

My God is my fortress; I hide in Him.

He is my shield and the horn of

My salvation, whom I praise.

I have found my refuge in Him.

He reached down from heaven and rescued me;

Drew me out of waters so deep, I’d sink.

He delivered me from Satan

And my slavery to sin;

Gave me hope of heaven with Him.

My God turned my darkness into His light;

Opened up my blinded eyes; gave me sight.

As for God, his way is perfect.

He gives strength to stand secure.

I have found my vict’ry in Him.

My Lord lives! Praise be to my Savior God,

Jesus Christ, who died on a cruel cross.

He is my Rock and the source

Of my salvation, whom I trust.

I will give praise always to Him.

https://vimeo.com/86346545

Are Your Passions at War Within You?

James 4:1-3 ESV

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

What causes people to be at war with each other or for one person to be at war with another who is not at war with him? It is the gratification and the overindulgence of sinful passions and sensual pleasures of the flesh at the expense of other things of great worth and value and importance. This is called “hedonism,” which is self-indulgence and self-gratification, and it is wickedness, depravity, corruption, dishonesty and immorality.

Those who live in self-indulgence and for sinful pleasures but who at the same time profess faith in Jesus Christ will also be at war with those who are living in faithful obedience to the Lord and who are sharing the truth of the gospel, for the truth of the gospel offends those who do not want to forsake their sins but who want to continue to engage in what they know is evil. And this is why so many are adopting the cheap grace gospel because it gives them permission to keep on in their sinful practices, only now guilt free.

And this is one of the reasons they will fight against those who are teaching the whole counsel of God because they don’t want to feel guilty for their sin and they don’t want to be reminded that what they are doing is sinful and that it is contrary to God’s will and purpose for their lives. And they don’t want to be told that they must forsake their sinful practices and that they must follow Jesus in obedience, so they will attack the true gospel.

And since they are following after the lusts of their flesh, and their hearts are set on doing evil, if anyone gets in their way they are likely to take him or her out. They will find a way to attack and to destroy and to injure in hopes to get their opposition to back down and to give up and to say nothing and to do nothing. And they may even go so far as to kill anyone who stands in the way of their sinful addiction being fulfilled.

Now when this says, “You do not have because you do not ask,” it is not suggesting that we can ask God for what is sinful and evil and that he will provide. But they don’t ask God for the right things to satisfy their emotional and spiritual needs, and if they do ask they don’t receive because they are asking for the wrong things which will provide for their sinful passions.

James 4:4-5 ESV

“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’”?

If a person is an adulterer he is someone who is cheating on his wife, either just in his mind, or in person, or via the internet or via private conversations or pornography and any other means of being engaged in sexual immorality. And Jesus said that if a man looked at a woman lustfully that he committed adultery with her in his heart. But it isn’t just men who commit adultery or who lust after others sexually. Women do this, too, and children, also.

Well, when we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives we enter into a marriage contract with Jesus. So, if after we believe in Jesus we then go after “other lovers” of the flesh which can be anything sinful, or anything that takes the place of Jesus in our hearts, then we are guilty of committing adultery against our Lord, not physically, but spiritually. For if we are on friendly terms with worldliness we are enemies of God.

For our Lord is like a jealous husband who does not want to give his wife to any other but wants her only to himself with regard to the marriage contract and the terms of that agreement. And by faith in him we agree to make him our only Lord, and to forsake our lives of living in sin and for self, and to follow him in obedience to his ways and to his truth. And we are to honor that agreement till the day Jesus comes to take us home.

James 4:6-10 ESV

“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Our Lord is full of grace, which is why Jesus died on that cross for our sins. But his grace is not freedom to keep on in our sins guilt free. His grace instructs us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s soon return. And his grace frees us from our slavery (addiction) to sin, and it empowers us to live for our Lord in faithful surrender to him and to his will.

So, who does he give grace to? Not to everyone who merely professes his name, but to the humble and contrite who have turned from their sinful lifestyles to now follow Jesus in obedience. His grace is available to everyone but only those who repent and who turn and who follow Jesus in obedience are recipients of his grace. For if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin we don’t know God and we do not have eternal life with God.

So, the encouragement here is for us to submit ourselves to God (to Christ as Lord). And we are to resist the devil, not play footsie with him, and he will flee, for a time, but he will keep coming back so we have to keep resisting him. And we are to draw near to God in full assurance of genuine faith in him by surrendering our lives to him and by doing his will. And we are to forsake our sins and to not be double-minded, but to be sincere in our purity of devotion to the Lord, and the Lord will exalt us.