IF WE KEEP JESUS CHRIST'S COMMANDMENTS: SALVATION FROM WRATH & HELL ONLY HAPPENS IF WE MAKE HIM LORD. TO KNOW & LOVE HIM, IS TO BE OBEDIENT TO THE HIM. I was on Facebook this week and I was just looking at a post that had the comments of a lot of different people when I had seen this... The verse that was in his post was - And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. - 1 John 2:3 This is a true statement! It's so true, that it is in the Bible, for all to read and, it is made real to the person who read & study God's Word. Chris is right, obedience is better than sacrifice. It says in 1 Samuel 15:22, mind you Saul was saying this just before he was denounced by Samuel. Just before David was anointed, by God, King of Israel. Saul says to Samuel "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice..." That was said by a king that was in his last days of being the ruler of God's Children. But, Saul spoke the truth.  Saul is Rejected by God through Samual
That being said, I want to follow in the footsteps of Christ, not my pastor, not my favorite evangelist. No one here on this planet is worthy to follow after. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, which I am, you should study & read the Scriptures. That will make you a better Christian, a better husband, a better father, a better boss, a better co-worker, etcetera. Not only will it improve your physical life but it will transform your spiritual life. I will admit, I don't find it pleasurable to sit and read & study the Word of God until I had to, but when I did a new life came over me. As I have stated in another post of this blog, I spent about 15 years living a defeated Christian life. I lived a very carnal Christian life. I only did the things that I felt I needed to do. So, I didn’t wait on God for anything. I didn’t even really pray to God, except to ask him to bless my meals. I didn’t even study & read God's Word. I read in the church, I read along with the Pastor but that was it. I was living the perfect carnal Christian life. Saying that I began to read and study the Bible when things just continued to go the wrong way for me. In Proverbs 1:24-33 & 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, God had shown me my problem. God is amazing, he always makes a way out of the pit that you are living in. The Christian life is definitely not for the simple, the carnal, or the unsaved. You have to live your life with guidance from above, thank God he left the Holy Ghost. That takes me here... Luke 22:39-46 "And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Notes, Jesus disciples' wanted to follow after him but when it came to doing specific things that Christ ask them to do, they did not do as he asked. They were just living the carnal Christian life. Just doing what the flesh makes you do, very little for the spirit. Christ had to die on Calvary before a spiritual life began for the disciples. They had to know that Christ would not be with them anymore. They lost the name disciples and were now called apostles. In Acts 1:2 "Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had". Thank God he gave a commanding voice to direct our paths. Christ didn't do what he wanted to do, he did the Will of the Father who sent him. Christ asked the Father to remove what he was sent to earth to do. But Christ said, "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done". We as Born Again Believer are to do what the Holy Ghost tells us. You find that in... Acts 1:7-8 "And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." We, as Saved Believers, should yield our will to Him. Read what Christ said... John 15:14-16 "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." If you have Salvation, you will do as the Holy Ghost directs you. You will follow the Will of the Father, not your own. I know that we have two natures that war against each other. I know it is impossible to live a sinless life because I know my own mortal body. Just as Paul said, Romans 7:24-25 "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." I can't live a sinless, whether it is sins of omission or commission. As Born Again Believers, we have to get to the point of hating one thing and that is a sin. Just like Paul did. Conclusion I learned Proverbs Chapter 4 awhile back but in... Proverbs 4:13-15 "Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." Instruction - The Bible Her - The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit Both the Word of God & the Holy Ghost have kept me from things I shouldn't do but this flesh, arrggg. I can't wait for the catching away! So, that brings me here... 1 John 2 The whole chapter is a stark reminder of how we should live our Christian life but in verse 4, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
Related Articles -
Heaven or Hell, IF WE KEEP JESUS CHRIST'S COMMANDMENTS: SALVATION FORM WRATH & HELL ONLY HAPPENS IF WE MAKE HIM LORD, TO KNOW & LOVE HIM IS TO BE OBE,
|
