When we consider that Christ had to shed His blood for us, how could we ever think that human effort to not sin would have any value? It is silly to think that we could keep our salvation by avoiding sin in our human effort when it took the shed blood of the Perfect Lamb to atone for it.
The only payment for sin is the shed blood of the Perfect Lamb, we could never atone for our own sin by working to keep from sinning, we can't even shed our own blood for our sin, because we are sinful through and through.
Hebrews 9:22 "And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."
1 John 1:7″… the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth
us from all sin.”
4. Revelation 1:5 “… Unto him that loved us, and washed us
from our sins in his own blood.”
5. Exodus 12:13 “… and when I see the blood, I will pass over
you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you,
when I smite the land of Egypt.”
6. Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood
of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony …”
7. Hebrews 9:14 “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience …”
8. Hebrews 10:19, 22 “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus … Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience …”
9. Exodus 29:37 “Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for
the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy…”
10. Hebrews 13:12 “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify
the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.”
God never said during the passover..."when I see how good you have been I will pass over you." NO! He said "when I see the blood I will pass over you."
The Old Testament account of the Passover lamb being killed, his blood being spread on the door posts, was an example of Christ to come and what He would do. His blood covered our sins when we trusted Him by faith. It was prophesy showing what God would do in the future. When Christ came, He fulfilled that prophesy, so that there was no longer any need to have the example, because the real Christ had finished that work.
When the Jews slaughtered the unblemished lamb and smeared the blood of that lamb on the door posts, the Holy Spirit would not bring death to that house.
When a person trusts Christ's shed blood on the cross for their sin, God looks at them and passes over us for judgement. We are no longer under the law of judgment for sin.
Then the Lord moves in, to be our helper, our counselor, our guide and our disciplinarian. All to grow us in holiness after being bought by His precious blood.
Later when the real Lamb of God was slaughtered on that cruel cross, He said that His blood was sufficient to cover the sin of all those who would place their trust in what Christ, nothing more is needed, not self effort of any kind will keep what we never earned in the first place.
John 15:26 "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:"
John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
John 14:16-18 ""I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
Notice in verses 16-18 of these passages that God said "that He may be with you forever", in reference to the Holy Spirit. I believe God when He said that He would be with us forever.
Romans 8:16 "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,"
"that we ARE of God." are words that speak very loudly to me. When we have trusted Christ we are signed, sealed and delivered.
Romans 8:26 "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;"
We can't even pray effectively, we need help with even that. When we know Christ is our righteousness, that we have none of our own, then we have no reason to think that anything we do would be of any value apart from Christ. There will be no boasting in heaven or on earth for those who have been born again.
Ephesians 2:1-10 "2 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
So you see, we have no part in our salvation except to believe, placing our trust completely in Christ, all that He did and all that He will do in the future. If you are still trusting in your own ability to be good enough, then you are not born again.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
The Godly Man is Mocked in the Churches
The way the unregenerate man looks at God's people and God's preachers! And you think we will escape the judgement of God?
Hosea 9:7-9
7 The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come;
Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented,
Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great.
8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have gone deep in depravity As in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins."
Hosea 9:7-9
7 The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come;
Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented,
Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great.
8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have gone deep in depravity As in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins."
Rejection has no Power Over the Believer
I have been researching the matter of rejection and what it causes in people who have been left out of things or ignored. It can cause very serious emotional lifelong damage, however, in Christ we have the ability to overcome it with prayer and Bible reading. God has so much encouragement for those who follow hard after Christ and are rejected for it.
If I had not known the verses in the Bible about the rejection of those who bring the truth of Christ to the unsaved, I might be tempted to think that I was a nut case, unworthy of anyone's love.
What I discovered in my study is that, without Christ, those who are treated with disdain in family situations, can become mentally unstable with life long malities that seem impossible to get rid of.
All the information I read, from secular psychologists and even Christian psychologists made claims that if we "do" certain things we will be able to pull ourselves up by our boot straps and carry on a normal life, choosing for ourselves those who might love us.
I felt sad that these "do" things were also seemingly impossible, since we are not able to control the responses of others, we can "do" whatever, but if the response that comes back is more rejection, then we have accomplished nothing except further sadness and depression. Since it is human nature to choose to be friendly to those that look good on the outside, are in style with their clothing, engage in all the party trappings and never challenge anyone, we can expect that manipulative ploys don't work unless we meet all the other criteria for being accepted.
God commanded us in His Word to obey HIS commandments, which include walking away from those who do not want our message.
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
We are capable of obeying God no matter what the circumstances, but through Him and not of our own devices.
The focus of the psychologists, was building your own self esteem rather than developing a closer walk with Christ.
Philippians 2:3 "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;"
Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
When we seek to be acceptable to others by our manipulative ploys, we are setting ourselves up for failure. People do not respond the way we want them to and they are, at times, able to see through our disguise, not to mention the dishonesty of people and perception management through manipulation.
When the acceptance of people becomes our goal, then we have lost the battle. The goal of the believer should be to please God, grow in holiness and leave the decision of our companions to Him. There is much to say in the scriptures about those we choose to spend time with.
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
Those who have lived a life of rejection know that no matter what they it do, does not necessarily bring positive results. When we are dealing with a fallen world, a Christianity that looks more like a club full of beautiful people who are concerned more about fitting in than they do about Christ, we are left with a social organization that promotes popularity rather than holiness, no amount of manipulation will cause these people to live as they should, they must hear the truth of God's Word, that will reveal what is in their hearts.
Those who seek to manipulate their victims to be accepted by them, don't realize they are being dishonest. When we "play act" to win others, we are effectively lying to them. We are leading them to believe we love them, when in reality, we love ourselves and desire to be elevated in their eyes.
Love is not necessarily making others "feel good", that can happen when we show God's love, but there are times when love is discipline or correction. Correction and discipline are the most neglected and even denied forms of love on the planet today.
Verses about disobedience and discipline:
Acts 17:11-13, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, 1 Samuel 15:23, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Proverbs 23:13-14, Colossians 3, 1 John 3:4-5.
Remember when you are rejected because you wanted to obey God, you are not only, not alone, in terms of others who have been, but you have Christ living in you that has not rejected you, but accepted you fully because you trusted in His shed blood on the cross.
If I had not known the verses in the Bible about the rejection of those who bring the truth of Christ to the unsaved, I might be tempted to think that I was a nut case, unworthy of anyone's love.
What I discovered in my study is that, without Christ, those who are treated with disdain in family situations, can become mentally unstable with life long malities that seem impossible to get rid of.
All the information I read, from secular psychologists and even Christian psychologists made claims that if we "do" certain things we will be able to pull ourselves up by our boot straps and carry on a normal life, choosing for ourselves those who might love us.
I felt sad that these "do" things were also seemingly impossible, since we are not able to control the responses of others, we can "do" whatever, but if the response that comes back is more rejection, then we have accomplished nothing except further sadness and depression. Since it is human nature to choose to be friendly to those that look good on the outside, are in style with their clothing, engage in all the party trappings and never challenge anyone, we can expect that manipulative ploys don't work unless we meet all the other criteria for being accepted.
God commanded us in His Word to obey HIS commandments, which include walking away from those who do not want our message.
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
We are capable of obeying God no matter what the circumstances, but through Him and not of our own devices.
The focus of the psychologists, was building your own self esteem rather than developing a closer walk with Christ.
Philippians 2:3 "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;"
Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
When we seek to be acceptable to others by our manipulative ploys, we are setting ourselves up for failure. People do not respond the way we want them to and they are, at times, able to see through our disguise, not to mention the dishonesty of people and perception management through manipulation.
When the acceptance of people becomes our goal, then we have lost the battle. The goal of the believer should be to please God, grow in holiness and leave the decision of our companions to Him. There is much to say in the scriptures about those we choose to spend time with.
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
Those who have lived a life of rejection know that no matter what they it do, does not necessarily bring positive results. When we are dealing with a fallen world, a Christianity that looks more like a club full of beautiful people who are concerned more about fitting in than they do about Christ, we are left with a social organization that promotes popularity rather than holiness, no amount of manipulation will cause these people to live as they should, they must hear the truth of God's Word, that will reveal what is in their hearts.
Those who seek to manipulate their victims to be accepted by them, don't realize they are being dishonest. When we "play act" to win others, we are effectively lying to them. We are leading them to believe we love them, when in reality, we love ourselves and desire to be elevated in their eyes.
Love is not necessarily making others "feel good", that can happen when we show God's love, but there are times when love is discipline or correction. Correction and discipline are the most neglected and even denied forms of love on the planet today.
Verses about disobedience and discipline:
Acts 17:11-13, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, 1 Samuel 15:23, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Proverbs 23:13-14, Colossians 3, 1 John 3:4-5.
Remember when you are rejected because you wanted to obey God, you are not only, not alone, in terms of others who have been, but you have Christ living in you that has not rejected you, but accepted you fully because you trusted in His shed blood on the cross.
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