“Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:17-19 NIV)
I am going to skip over Paul’s example of what a person of genuine faith in Jesus Christ should look like, for a few minutes, for first I believe the Lord wants me to talk about those who “live as enemies of the cross of Christ,” and what that looks like. For it has nothing to do with their profession of faith in Jesus, whether or not they profess faith in the Lord, but it has to do with how they live and whether or not they are living out the salvation that our Lord provided, or if they are still living to please their flesh, instead.
There are many people here in America today who are professing faith in Jesus Christ with their lips but who are living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. And it is their addiction to sin which stands in the way between their sinful desires and true freedom from their bondage to sin. For addiction to sin can be very inviting, intriguing, and deceptive. And the people who are drawn to it, and who habitually participate in it, are trapped in its web of deceit which convinces them that there is no way out.
The addiction to sin they are trapped in convinces them that they cannot be rescued, and that they cannot stop what they are doing, and so rather than fighting the addiction and conquering it, by faith in Jesus Christ, they give way to it, because it is the easy way out, i.e. the cowardly way out, too. And even though they know the truth of what God’s word teaches about sin, and about slavery (addiction) to sin, and that Jesus paid the price for our freedom from slavery to sin, they continue to yield to the lusts of the flesh.
They also yield to the lies of the enemy which are teaching those who profess faith in Jesus that salvation from sin and eternal life with God are not at all contingent upon their walks of faith in obedience to the Lord in denial of self and in putting sin to death daily, by the Spirit. They give them this idea that if they profess faith in Jesus that all their sins are now forgiven and heaven is guaranteed them when they die, but regardless of how they live. And they cloak it as we are “saved by grace through faith alone.”
Ephesians 2:
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Romans 3:
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
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If one is saved by grace through faith their lives will bear fruit, including good works. If one's life doesn't, it is not a matter of working to earn salvation, but examining their lives with the Lord to see if they truly are in the faith.
But the Bible teaches us that God’s grace is what sent Jesus Christ to that cross to put our sins to death with him so that, by faith in him, we will deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands. And this faith is not of our own doing, but it is of God, and it is persuaded of God, and he persuades us that we must deny self, die to sin daily, and walk in obedience to his commands, in practice. And if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, we do not have salvation and eternal life with God.
Unfortunately, instead of counting on the Spirit, by grace through faith. to deny the flesh, we can try and do that in the flesh and that will continue to lead us back to sin and failure.
It is important to bring that up because if we don't understand that principle, we will continue to live a life of sin and death for trying to live in obedience by the knowledge of good and evil and commands instead of empowerment by the Spirit to love God with all and neighbor as self.
Many really don't want to continue in sin, but they are ensnared to the lusts of the flesh because they are trying to overcome by knowledge instead of faith / trust in God.
Romans 7
Romans 8:
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if
by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
Also God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return. So God’s grace is not a free pass into heaven based on a profession of faith in Jesus, but it leads us to turn away from our sins and to now follow the Lord in walks of obedience to his commands in godly, moral, honest, and faithful living. And faith in Jesus must result in death to sin and in obedience to God, too.
It is a free pass. The matter is whether one is truly in the faith for not all that say they are in the faith truly are.
As James said, a life of faith will produce fruit and good works. Even demons believe in God and tremble, but that doesn't mean one is in the faith.
Unfortunately, many also live in fear of God and tremble, but are not in the faith.
In the days of old many also believed in God and trembled, but were not in the faith.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
So, those of you who are trapped in addiction to sin, particularly sexual sin, which seems to be predominant today, while you are claiming faith in Jesus Christ and heaven as your eternal destiny, you need to know the truth which will set you free. For if sin is your practice (habit), and not obedience to God, the Bible teaches that you will not have salvation from sin nor eternal life with God. And this is not about us being perfect in every way, but this all comes down to what we practice – obedience to God or sinful pleasures?
I would just repeat that many don't want a sin lifestyle, but are counting in their own works and legalism, and sin thrives on legalism that includes our own efforts.
It all comes down to faith, given by grace, which produces fruits of the Spirit and good works.
We don't want to put the cart before the horse.
And you need to know that Jesus died on that cross to put your sins to death with him so that, by faith in him, you will now die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands.
Matthew 22:
35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[
e] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[
f] 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
In the flesh, you cannot do this. But by submission to God, and the yielding of control of your lives to the Lord, and by denying self and dying to sin daily, and walking in obedience to our Lord daily (in practice) by faith, in God’s power, as you cooperate with God, you can be free from addiction to sin.
Amen.
But if you are not willing and obedient, and you will only go so far in trying to stop your addiction, but you don’t totally let go, and you are not honest, and so that addiction never really ever leaves you, but it is still hanging in there just waiting for you to fail again, then you will fail again. And if you remain addicted to sin, and obedience to God is not your habit, then the Bible is clear that you will perish in your sins, you will not have eternal life with God, and the gates of hell will be what await you when you die.
If you are in the faith you are his child and nothing will ever separate you from Him.
If you are living in sin, your life experience will not bear fruits unto life, but bear fruits unto death. He will discipline you to get you back on track, but if you count on yourself, you will be cut off from the vine until you return to faith in Christ and reliance on his finished work on the cross, which will empower you by his Spirit.
Romans 11
But the example that Paul and the other New Testament apostles set for us to follow is a life of one who is committed to obeying the Lord and to no longer walking in sin. That didn’t make them perfect people, but they were not walking in sin and in disobedience to our Lord. Paul, especially, led a very godly and moral life in obedience to the Lord and in sharing the truth of the gospel which got him hated and persecuted and mistreated. But all obedience and death to sin is empowered by God, as we yield to him.
Of course obedience is in the equation, but again, we need to be cautious of putting the cart before the horse. When we love the Lord with all and neighbor as self, we live in obedience to his commands. It is a fruit of remaining in Christ by grace through faith in Him.
By grace God gives us faith that his Word is true, and equipped with this faith, we are empowered to know that He has something better for us than what the flesh desires and deny it.
Broken Cord
An Original Work / August 29, 2018
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
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.
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Their god is Their Stomach
An Original Work / March 6, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I just believe at times we stress that we need to stop sinning, but in doing so we can put others under the knowledge of good and evil and the law, which just leads them back to more and more sin, and so we keep piling it on and they keep sinning and the guilt and shame continues to grow and now people just want to throw in the towel when all they need to do is understand these matters more clearly.
A lack of obedience is a lack of faith and love for God. There is no condemnation. We don't try harder to attain that. We confess our lack and weaknesses of our own efforts apart from faith, and in doing so we give his Spirit what it is looking for to manifest itself strong in us.
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