What is Your Life?

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:13-17 ESV)

I woke this morning with a secular song playing in my mind. It is called, “Yesterday,” by Paul McCartney (of The Beatles) and by George Martin. And it is a song of lost love. For the love of the singer’s life suddenly walked out on him without any explanation. And so he didn’t know what to think, and he wondered, perhaps, if he had said something wrong. And so the singer is mourning over this lost “love” and the happiness he felt when she was with him, so he is longing for yesterday when he thought things were better.

So the song is basically about romance gone bad, for it is about falling in love and then someone (one partner) falling out of love, which is not biblical love, but is human love which is based in our emotions, and which can fluctuate depending upon our circumstances. But those feelings that people have when they “fall in love” give them an illusion that all their troubles have disappeared from their lives, which is one of the reasons people commit adultery and forsake their spouses, for they seek after that illusion.

But the “illusion” doesn’t make people’s troubles disappear. It just masks them for a time, and it deceives them into thinking that everything is alright when it isn’t at all. So they hold on to what they thought brought them happiness, even if it is just in a dream, but then they escape the reality of their real life which they do not want to deal with. And this is where many addicts live, in this state of euphoria because it helps them “feel good”, but it is an unhealthy avoidance of the reality of their life situations.

And I guess the point of this, in relation to the Scripture, could be that none of us knows what tomorrow is going to bring into our lives. It was nine years ago today that my youngest sister died at age 61, and I am most certain that was not in her plans for the day. None of us can assume that we have tomorrow, and so we should live each day as though it is our last. But we need to live in the reality of today and not in a dream world, and not holding on to our past lives or experiences, and not in denial of reality, either.

In the song the song writer stated that yesterday came suddenly and unexpectedly, but so can tomorrow. We should never assume that what we have today won’t be gone tomorrow. Yes, we should make plans for today and for tomorrow, but always with the understanding that those plans could suddenly change. Someone could die. A spouse could desert. A hurricane or a tornado could suddenly wipe out your “dream home.” And we need to be spiritually prepared for today and tomorrow, too.

For many people who are walking in sin, many of them professers of faith in Jesus Christ, are not spiritually prepared for the return of the Lord. So they are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord, doing whatever it is they want to do, without regard for what the Scriptures teach us. And many of them are living in a fantasy world based on a lie that they tell themselves that God will not judge them for their sins since they “prayed the prayer” to receive Christ. But they are not facing reality.

So many of them are boasting that when they die that they are going to heaven, regardless of how they are living their lives. But that is an illusion that makes them feel good, but it is an unhealthy avoidance of their present situation as they retreat into wistfulness as an escape from their current woe. For their current woe, which they are avoiding facing, is that, if they continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of holiness and righteousness and in obedience to our Lord, they will not inherit eternal life with God.

So, the message the Lord wants me to share today is not just about assuming that our plans are going to happen just as we planned them and that nothing can stop them. But it is about living in the unreality of a dream that, either everyone goes to heaven, or that they will go to heaven when they die just because they made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. But Jesus said that not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God (Matthew 7:21-23).

For God put within all of us the knowledge of his will (see Romans 1:18-32), so that we are without excuse if we choose sin in place of our Lord, and in place of walks of obedience to his commands. For whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. So if we know right from wrong, which we all should, but we choose wrong, and we choose to do evil, in practice, and not the good that we know to do, we cannot then presume upon the Lord that he is going to welcome us into his heaven. He isn’t! 

So, the encouragement here is to live in reality, and to accept the truth, and to reject the lies of Satan which are telling you that you can keep sinning against the Lord and it won’t be held to your account. And don’t assume you have tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come. And don’t assume that God is going to welcome you into his heaven, for he may, instead, say to you: “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because you refused to obey the Lord and you chose to obey sin, instead.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior

And your testimony is separate from Him.

Your words not matching your actions today.

Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.

Live what you testify in truth always.

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,

For you profess one thing, but other you do.

Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.

Not living in truth to what you confess.

Lying about it puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.

Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.

Your heart is not given to your Lord God.

Because of how you live, you are a fraud.

Turn from your sin and give your life to God.

https://vimeo.com/287303934

Are Your Passions at War Within You?

“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. 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’? 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.” (James 4:1-10 ESV)

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are not to be selfish people, thinking only of ourselves and what we want when we want it regardless of who gets hurt in the process. But sadly many who profess the name of Jesus are living just like that, largely because they are being given permission to live like that from those who are teaching a diluted and altered character of God/Christ and of his gospel and of his church, the body of Christ. And the other reason is because they prefer their sin over a genuine relationship with Christ.

Now, what we need to understand here is, although we are not perfect people, and we will not be perfect (complete) until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful ones to be with him for eternity (which is when our salvation is complete, if we continue in him until the end), we as followers of Jesus Christ are to be holy, set apart by and for God and for his service and different (unlike) the world because we are being made to be like Jesus in character, heart, mind, and in actions, by the Spirit.

So we are not to be all about self and the flesh and the desires of the flesh, but we are to be about loving God and our fellow humans and showing them kindness and goodness and the kind of (agape) love that God has for us. And rather than fighting and quarreling with one another so that we can have our own way, we should be desiring our Lord and his ways and loving other humans as we ought to love, and as we want to be loved by them, which should be a love which prefers what God prefers.

But what we need to understand here is that when we act selfishly, in practice, and when we choose to devour one another, rather than show one another love and kindness, and when we choose to stomp on one another in order to get our own way, and so we hate and kill and slander and cheat and lie and do all sorts of evil to others, we either don’t know the Lord at all, which is what the Scriptures teach, or we are living in adultery against him, and so we have made ourselves enemies of God.

For we can’t live like the devil and live for the Lord, too. The two don’t mix. For if we choose to be on friendly terms with the world of sin, and not with God, we are at enmity with God. Thus God opposes the proud but he gives grace to the humble. And what is grace? It is the Lord’s kindness, his favor to us. And what is that favor? Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness.

For the grace of God instructions (trains) us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions (lusts) and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works, the good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them as his workmanship (see Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10).

Therefore, we are to submit ourselves to God as Lord of our lives. We are to surrender our all to him to be his possession to be used of him for his purposes and glory and not for sinful pleasure. And we are to resist the devil, and he will flee from us, perhaps not immediately, but as we persist in resisting him and in surrendering our lives to the Lord and to his service. But the devil won’t give up, so he will keep trying to get us back, so we need to keep resisting, and keep drawing near to our Lord in walks of obedience.

And we are to die daily to sin and to self and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands and according to his will and plan for our lives. And this requires that we, by the Spirit, are daily putting to death the misdeeds of the flesh and that we are now walking in obedience to our Lord in holy living. And we are not to be double-minded, vacillating back and forth like on a teeter-totter, one minute claiming we are on track with God while the next we are back living in sin. 

But we are to be humble people of God who mourn and weep over sin and all that is evil and who call on the Lord for the deliverance of other humans from their slavery to sin so that they can now walk in holiness and in righteousness, too. For we should be people of compassion who care about the hurting and the lonely and the forgotten, but also about those who are trapped in sin’s deceitfulness. And we should pray for their deliverance. And we should be speaking the truth in love to one another, for the lies abound!

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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Above All These Put on Love

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12-17 ESV)

In the previous verses we are taught regarding the kinds of things that we are to put out of our lives, if we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and if we have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. We, as followers of Christ, are to put to death sexual immorality, impurity, passion (lust), evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. And we must put off anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk, etc.

But now are being taught what we should put on in our lives in place of the things that we are to put to death. And you can read more on this here:

[Matt 5:27-30; Matt 7:21-23; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; Gal 5:16-24; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; 1 Thes 4:1-8; 1 Tim 4:7; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 12:1-17; 1 Pet 1:14; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10] 

Now we are to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love, the peace of Christ, thankfulness, the word of Christ, teaching and admonishing one another, singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and deeds and words done in the name (character) of the Lord Jesus. For this reason Jesus died, that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, putting off the old life of sin, and putting on our new lives in Christ in holiness and in righteousness.

And this brings to mind Jesus’ words recorded for us in Matthew 12:43-45 ESV:

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

And the point is that we have to replace the old with the new. The good has to take over where the bad once was. We cannot just be cleansed of our sins and then go right on sinning and not change in heart and mind and in behavior. I heard someone say, “When is a thief not a thief?” The response? “When he stops stealing.” The reply, “No, when he becomes something else. Otherwise he is just a thief between jobs.” And that is true! If we clean out the old but don’t replace it with the new, the old will work its way right back.

And this is why we have so many teachings on this subject in the Scriptures (see noted Scriptures above), because the whole point of our salvation from sin is to deliver us out of our lives of living in sin and for self so that we will now live for the Lord Jesus in walks of obedience to him and in surrender to his will in holy living, and no longer in sin. So if we profess Jesus as Lord and as Savior but then we go on living in sin, and not in righteousness, then we do not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

Therefore, genuine faith in Jesus Christ requires that we die to our old lives of sin and that we are reborn of the Spirit of God to now walk in newness of life in Christ, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. This is a lot like making a U-turn in a road, only this is a spiritual U-turn. We were going in the direction of sin and self and now we have made that U-turn and we are going in the direction our Lord is leading us in moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, integrity, uprightness, and obedience to our Lord.

Where we use to serve self, now we are to serve our Lord, and we are to minister to the needs of others, especially to those who are also members of the body of Christ through genuine faith in Jesus Christ. For our lives now belong to Christ to do his will and not our own will. For love (agape) prefers what God prefers, which is what is holy and righteous and just and pure and honest and faithful and obedient to our Lord. And our desire is for the Lord to do his will above all else because we love him and we want to please him.

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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Who's the One You Want for Life?

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:1-10 ESV)

When a phrase begins with the word “if” it is usually an indication that what follows is conditional. So it is not assuming here that everyone reading this has, for certain, died with Christ to sin and has been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness (see Romans 6:1-23). So when it says, “For you have died,” it is speaking to those who have genuinely been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with him…

But this is also speaking to those who have not died with Christ to sin, and who have not been raised with him, which is why we have the “if” clause at the beginning. For this goes on to let us all know what the life of a follower of Jesus Christ should look like, in truth, which is for the benefit both of the real Christian and the one professing faith in Christ but who has not died with him to sin and has, thus, not been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him. For both of them need to hear this.

Now, the genuine believer in Christ Jesus is one who has been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, not like the old life. So, we who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ should not still be living like we did before we believed in Jesus. We should not still be holding on to the old life of living in sin and for self, but we should be dying daily to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord and living holy and morally pure and honest lives to the glory and praise of God.

Thus, we who believe in Jesus with genuine faith should be those who have put to death what is earthly in us, but if we have not, this is a command to us that we must put out of our lives all that is of our sinful flesh, such things as sexual immorality, impurity, passion (lust), evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Why? On account of these the wrath of God is coming. And how does that apply to us? Well, read more of the Scriptures and you will see that if we make sin our practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

So, this is not a gentle suggestion or a recommendation. And it is not saying what I hear some preachers say, “Well, we should live holy lives but…” For if sin is what we obey and not obedience to our Lord, then it will lead to death, not to life eternal. And it doesn’t matter what faith we profess with our lips. For Jesus said that not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven (see Matthew 7:21-23; cf. Romans 6:1-23; 1 John 2:3-6, etc.).

So we must put them all away, and then the list continues with anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, and lying to one another. But so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ here in America are being convinced that they can believe in Jesus, be on their way to heaven, and still deliberately and habitually and premeditatedly sin against the Lord and against other humans as a matter of practice. And sexual immorality is at the top of the list of sins now permeating the American church at large.

And sexual immorality is usually a sin that is done in secret, and it is heavily addictive, and those who practice it thus hide it from others, especially from their spouses. And so lying is a big part of this sin. And statistics have it that about 2/3 to 3/4 of “Christian” men (including many pastors) are engaged in regular sexually immoral practices, and that is just the porn statistics, and that doesn’t cover everything, and that doesn’t include the women and children, who are at a lesser amount, but still the stats are astounding!

But if we want to be genuine Christians and followers of Christ who have the hope of salvation from sin and of eternal life with God, then we must put these all away from us. But so many Christians are trapped in sexual sin and in other addictive sins and they are not willing to let them go, because that is still what they want. Their sin is the love of their life, and so it is the one they belong to and long for and desire and run to and want for life, not God, and not their spouses, and not walks of faith and obedience to the Lord.

And this is a very sad reality. And what is even sadder is that so many pastors are condoning this by teaching a cheapened grace and gospel message which does not demand the forsaking of our sins and walks of obedience to our Lord. Thus, so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are convinced that they can continue in their sinful practices and that God is just going to overlook them. But that is not what the Scriptures teach. They teach that if we live in (practice) sin, we will not inherit eternal life with God. 

A love song to our Lord Jesus

You're still the one I run to

The one that I belong to

You're still the one I want for life

You're still the one that I love

The only one I dream of…

Ain't nothin' better

[Lyrics taken from a secular song called “You’re Still the One” by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain]

Those Promoting Self-Made Religion

“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:16-23 ESV)

Now, in context, this is speaking of the Judaizers who were trying to convince the Christians that they needed to add on to their faith in Jesus Christ some of the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, and dietary laws and restrictions, including the requirement for circumcision. And Paul addressed this much in the book of Galatians, but also here in Colossians, and I know in Romans also, and perhaps in some of his other writings, too. For it was the time of the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

Now we are way past that time in our day and time, and yet we still have Judaizers among us who are trying to convince Christians to be more like Jews and to participate in some of the Old Covenant laws and customs to enhance their Christian faith. But that is anti-biblical. And a modern-day term for this might be “legalism,” i.e. the practice of doing things not required by God and not by the Scriptures, which are external only, and which have nothing to do with a change of heart and mind toward the Lord.

I am going to include here the practice of attending weekly “church” services if those services are based in the traditions of man and culture and religious practices not of God, but of man, some of them which are carry overs from the Old Covenant and some from the Roman Catholic church. For many are still seeing the building as the church, the house of God, but God doesn’t live in buildings. He lives in human hearts. So we who believe in Jesus are that building, and we are its living stones with Jesus as our cornerstone.

Therefore, the church is not a building. It is not a church denomination. It is not a business. It is not a corporation under the state. It is not a civic center and/or a social club. But this is what the church, the body of Christ, has largely been turned into in practice, at least here in America. And so many of them are following liturgical and ceremonial customs which God does not require. And many of them, too, are marketing these “churches” to the world and thus they are altering the gospel to make it more acceptable to flesh.

And one of the tricks (deceptions) that they use in the altering of the gospel is to use passages such as this which are clearly speaking on the subject of the liturgical, ceremonial, and dietary laws and restrictions of the Old Covenant, including circumcision, which the Judaizers were trying to push the Christians into adding on to their faith. But they take these Scriptures out of context to teach that we no longer have to obey the commands of the Lord and that no works are required of us by God. And that’s not true!

So, on one end we have the Judaizers and the legalists who are trying to convince us that we need to hold on to some of those Old Covenant ceremonial laws and customs or that we have to participate in certain legalistic religious customs that have been passed down from generation to generation, usually based on Scriptures taken out of context. And on the other end we have those who are trying to convince us that God requires nothing of us in the way of obedience and in the way of works at all.

And neither end has any value in stopping the indulgences of the flesh, which was the whole purpose for why Jesus died on that cross. For he died so that we would die to sin and live to righteousness, and so that we will live for him and no longer for self. And he shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our slavery to sin so that we will now honor God with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands and in holy living. For if sin is what we obey and not God, we will not inherit eternal life.

So don’t be taken captive by legalism and by this idea that we need to be more like Jews in following some of their religious customs and ceremonies. And don’t be taken captive to libertinism, either, which is telling you that you can believe in Jesus once, have all your sins forgiven, be on your way to heaven, that nothing can take it away from you, but regardless of how you live. Both are wrong! Both are anti-biblical and not of God. Both are self-made religion and not the pure religion of the truth of the gospel.

So, please know that faith in Jesus Christ requires obedience to our Lord and holy living if we want to be in relationship with the Lord and have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God when our Lord returns to take his faithful ones to be with him for eternity. And we who believe in Jesus Christ are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them. So there are things that God says not to taste and handle, but they are things which are sinful.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Draw Me Close To You  

Donnie McClurkin

Draw me close to You

Never let me go

I lay it all down again

To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire

And no one else will do

'Cause nothing else can take Your place

To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way

Bring me back to You

Bring me back, oh Jesus

You're all I want

You're all I've ever needed

You're all I want

Help me know You are near

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnwBixzuNo 

Caution: This link may contain ads

A Desire to Change the World

 

See That No One Takes You Captive by Empty Deceit

“I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:4-8 ESV)

This first sentence here is in reference back to Paul’s previous statement with regard to his concern for the Christians in Colossae and in Laodicea that their hearts might be encouraged (exhorted, comforted), being knit together in (agape) love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (see verses 1-3). 

So, he said all that in order that the believers in Colossae, and those in Laodicea, might not be deluded (fooled, deceived) by plausible arguments being introduced into their minds and hearts by others. And in context it appears that he was speaking specifically on the subject of the Judaizers who were trying to convince the Christians that they had to obey some of the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, and dietary laws and restrictions, including the requirement for circumcision.

Now we do still have Judaizers among us who are trying to convince Christians that they should be more like Jews and that it will enhance their Christian faith if they participate in some of those Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial and dietary laws and restrictions. But this is minimal compared to the bigger issue of charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing who are giving “plausible arguments” to convince believers in Christ that obedience to our Lord and the forsaking of our sins are not required for our salvation.

And this fits perfectly with what Paul stated next, for he continued by saying to them, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught.” Now what they were taught was not the same as what is primarily being taught in America today as the gospel. For they were taught to deny self, to die daily with Christ to sin, and to walk in obedience to his commands under the New Covenant. For if they did not, they did not have eternal life with God.

But what is popularly being taught and widely accepted in America is a cheapened form of the gospel that Jesus and his NT apostles taught. For what is largely being taught is that we can believe (rarely biblically defined) in Jesus, have all our sins forgiven, be on our way to heaven, that nothing can take that away from us, but regardless of how we live. Just not biblical! For Jesus said that not everyone who calls him Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father (Matthew 7:21-23).

So, don’t believe those who tell you that once you have made that profession of faith in Jesus Christ that now heaven is guaranteed you upon death regardless of how you live. All throughout the New Testament Jesus and his NT apostles taught us that we must now walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and we must walk in holiness and in obedience to our Lord or we do not have eternal life with God. So we need to read those Scriptures and believe them, because they are truth!

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Draw Me Close To You  

Donnie McClurkin

Draw me close to You

Never let me go

I lay it all down again

To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire

And no one else will do

'Cause nothing else can take Your place

To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way

Bring me back to You

Bring me back, oh Jesus

You're all I want

You're all I've ever needed

You're all I want

Help me know You are near

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnwBixzuNo 

Caution: This link may contain ads