I hate the phrase "the children are our most valuable resource." They are not "resources", they are human beings to be protected and nurtured, whether or not they have anything to offer us.
God loves the little ones, unlike our secular culture. OH, they think they love, but their love is not love at all.
We base our love for the children on what they can offer us, when they are no longer good for our status we throw them away, through abortion and day care centers.
The public schools we send them to, teach them to hate God and live for themselves, this is not love but loathing. The powers that be have convinced the people that the hate of the devil is actually love.
Matthew 18:10
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."
Psalm 127:3
"3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
Mark 9:42
"42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea."
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
We are not Born Again by Not Sinning
It is vitally important that we understand what it means to
be born again.
Too many people place particular sins as the bench mark for
salvation.
Not committing a particular sin does not save us, any more
than committing any particular sin sends us to hell.
We must understand that we are sinful through and through.
James 2:10
"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend
in one point, he is guilty of all."
All sin is rebellion against God and all sin sends us to
hell! We are not capable of keeping all
or any the commandments, God knew this, which is why He made salvation very
easy for us . Only one thing is required to become born again, and that is
faith in the finished Work of Christ on the cross. He paid for our sin, nothing
more is required from us to receive His forgiveness.
1 John 1:9
King James Version (KJV)
"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When we understand that Christ paid the price for sin on the
cross through the shedding of His blood, then and only then can we become born
again. It is Christ who is the perfect
sacrifice!
Hebrews 9:22
"22 And almost all things are by the law purged with
blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."
There are those who are saying that divorce and remarriage
is a matter of salvation. This is clearly wrong, it is the preaching of a
gospel by works. No man is born again by
not committing a particular sin and no man is lost by committing a particular
sin. We must all come to Christ the same way, through faith in what He did on
that cross.
When we have trusted Christ, He then cleanses continually all
through the rest of our lives. We are
dirty, filthy and vile, only Christ is clean and only He can cleanse.
It doesn't matter what your sin is, He will discipline His
children. The following passage is clear that God's children do sin, it doesn't
matter which sin it is, no sin is greater than another in the vast scheme of
things, all sin is disobedience.
When we become born again we immediately enter "boot
camp" so to speak. God begins His training and cleansing of us. We do not automatically become sinless, God
has His ordained process for our training. Training teaches us, we do not learn
good lessons without experiencing life through God's training.
God uses life experiences to show us principles, without
understanding there is no learning. Knowing
something in our head is very different from experiencing it, which brings true
depth of understanding.
Hebrews 12:1-11
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily
ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners
against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You
have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you
as to sons: “My son, do not despise the
chastening of the Lord, Nor be
discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons;
for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have
become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us,
and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to
the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed
best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but
painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness
to those who have been trained by it."
Those that preach that particular sins are " a matter
of salvation" are preaching salvation by works or our own efforts. They preach a false gospel.
We are incapable of being or doing good, only Christ in us is
good! We are handicapped...we are missing what is need to be righteous. We have nothing in us that can do what is
needed to be what we should be. Christ is the One Who works in us to do good.
Ephesians 2:8-9
"8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Those who think you can lose your salvation because they
commit a particular sin, are teaching that Christ's work on the cross was not
enough, we have to also add our own works to what He did.
When we are born again, we feel the weight of the Holy
Spirit conviction on us when we sin, our hearts become heavy and our minds
become guilty, that is His work, to show us we have something more to confess
so that He will cleanse us.
If we refuse to admit our sin, and refuse to confess it,
then we will live with continual consequences until we do. Some of those
consequences will be life long, other we will be delivered from when we finally
do confess.
If we refuse to confess and forsake our sin as God reveals
them, then we will lose rewards in heaven and find ourselves ashamed in the
presence of a Holy God.
1 Corinthians 3:15 "If any man's work shall be burned,
he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."
Those who defend their sin, claiming that they can sin all
they want because of God's grace, have never been born again. They still love
their sin. When we become born again we
hate our sin, we struggle with it, hopefully confessing it to avoid discipline,
but we are never ever comfortable with it.
Those who are comfortable with their sin and aggressively
fight to justify it have never been changed into a new creation, they are
imposters, pretenders who will get before the Lord on judgment day and He will
say this to them;
Matthew 7:21-23
"21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which
is in heaven."
"22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy
name done many wonderful works?"
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
I am most concerned about those who think they are born
again, but love their sin, those who will not confess that they are wicked and
vile and in need of cleansing by Christ.
Our churches are full of many people who are in a lost
state, never having been born again, but think they are going to heaven by
saying particular words that others have told them to say.
It is not what we say or what we do that saves us, it is the
person of Jesus Christ Who saves, and He will only save one way, through faith
in Him, to cleanse us and change us.
If anyone wants to become born again, the way to do that is
to admit to God that you are sinful and helpless to be anything good. Then to
desire to be changed by Christ into a new creation.
He will do all the work in us!
Ephesians 2:10
King James Version (KJV)
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them."
Do not try to be good, trust that Christ will make us good,
a life time of continual cleansing will occur.
If you have trusted Christ and He has made you into a new creation, then
your life will change, you will not see things the same way any more.
The sin you used to love you will now hate, it will be
repulsive to you. The righteousness in others that you hated, you will now love
and desire.
God does not change our outer actions, He changes our hearts
and the actions flow out of that changed heart.
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