- Aug 10, 2006
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“Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalms 34:11-18 ESV)
This is Old Testament teaching, but it is New Testament teaching, too. If we want to be in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, and to have salvation from sin, and the hope of eternal life with God, we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And now we must walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. For if sin is what we obey, it will lead to death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it leads to life eternal (Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).
So, we need to be people who fear the Lord, who honor, value, respect, revere, and obey him in our walks of faith in the Lord Jesus. We must take him and his word seriously and do as he says we ought to do. For if we don’t, and if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of faithful obedience to our Lord, in holy living, then the Scriptures teach that we do not know God, we are not in fellowship with him, we are not born of God, but we are of the devil. And if we stand before him claiming otherwise, he will say, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.”
[1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Matthew 7:21-23]
For Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, and not just to give us the hope of heaven when we die, but he died that we might die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness. And he died that we might 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 lives of slavery to sin so that we might now honor God with our bodies in walks of obedience to him and to his commands. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires, for that will lead to death, not life.
[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23]
So, we can’t just “pray a prayer to receive Christ” and then go on living in sin, doing what we want to do, without regard for the life that our Lord Jesus requires that we live. And sin is disobedience to the Lord. So you can be a moral person, but if your life is all about you and what you want, and not about the Lord and what he wants from you, and so you live your life your way to please yourself, and not God’s way to please him in all that you do, then, according to the Scriptures, you will die in your sins and you will not have eternal life with God, for Jesus never was Lord (Master) of your life.
[Romans 8:1-14; Luke 9:23-26; Titus 2:11-14; John 15:1-11; Acts 26:18]
So, please understand that whether we are reading in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, our Lord’s instructions to us are that we must deny self, die to sin daily, and walk in obedience to his commands in holy living. For the righteous are those are doing the will of the Lord, who are doing what is deemed right in his eyes, who are being led by the Lord in the way that he would have us all to go and who are surrendered to doing his will for our lives. For we are all to give our lives to God as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, which is our acceptable worship of him.
[Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2]
My Heart’s Desire
An Original Work / June 29, 2013
Based off Romans 10:1-21; Luke 9:23-26; Ephesians 4:17-24
Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire
Is that you might come to Jesus.
Many appear zealous for God,
But they do not trust in Him.
They have not submitted to the One
Who saved them from their sins;
Not forsaken their sins,
Nor have they obeyed their King.
The word of the Lord is near you:
The word of faith we’re proclaiming:
That you must confess your faith
In Jesus as your Lord and King:
Believe in Him as your Lord,
And follow Him where’er He leads.
Share the gospel; be a witness,
And meet others’ needs.
Beautiful are the feet of those
Who bring the good news of Jesus:
Anyone who would come to Him
Must deny himself today;
Die to sin and self, and
Let the Spirit transform you in heart;
Put on your new self in Jesus,
Yielding to the cross.
