Hope of Eternal Life with God

[Christsfreeservant]

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Deuteronomy 6:1-3 ESV​

This was Moses speaking to the children of Israel. And he was letting them know that they, the people of God, must adhere to (obey) the commandments of the Lord that God gave to Moses to give to the people. They were to walk in the fear of the Lord in the keeping of his commandments, which means to take God and his word seriously, to believe him and what he says, and then to obey him because we believe him and his word. And if they obeyed the Lord, it would go well with them.

Now, we are not under the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, which also included the requirement of circumcision. So, as believers in Jesus Christ we do not have to obey all those external laws that Jesus did away with when he died on that cross for our sins. But God did not do away with his moral laws, and he did not do away with the requirement that we obey him and his commandments (under the New Covenant).

So, obedience to our Lord’s commandments is still required of all who profess the name of Jesus as Lord and as Savior of their lives. And we are taught in the New Testament that if we do not obey the Lord, and if we do not adhere to his teachings under the New Covenant, but we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of obedience, righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, moral purity, and honesty, we do not have the hope of salvation from sin and of eternal life with God. We will die in our sins.

So, don’t believe the lies that so many are teaching these days which are telling you that you don’t have to repent of (forsake) your sins, and that you don’t have to obey the Lord, but that all you have to do is “believe” in Jesus, which is rarely biblically defined. For belief (faith) is authored and perfected by Jesus Christ, so it comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded of God. So it is going to align with God’s moral character, and with his expressed will and purpose for our lives, and with his Word.

And the faith required of us for salvation is not of our own doing, not of the will nor of the flesh of man. So we don’t get to determine what that faith looks like. God does. His word does. So all throughout the New Testament Scriptures we are given a very clear picture of the faith that it takes for us to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. We must die with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and we must walk in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), in practice, and we have eternal life with God.

Beginning with Matthew 7:21-23 we are taught that not everyone who says to Christ, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father. And in Luke 9:23-26 we are taught that if we are to come after Jesus Christ, to be his by faith in him, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living for self and in sin, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, then we have the hope of eternal life with God.

So, please take this to heart. For Romans 6:1-23 gives us the same message. For if our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine, it means we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we are no longer to allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies, to where we obey its sinful passions. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death. But if obedience is what we obey, it leads to righteousness, and to sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God.

So, just know that Old Testament and New Testament teachings instruct us to forsake our sinful practices and to now walk (in conduct, in practice) in holiness and in righteousness, and in obedience to our Lord and to his commandments, only for us it is his commandments under the New Covenant, which are taught to us all throughout the New Testament. But if we continue making sin our practice, and if obedience to our Lord is not our practice, then we do not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Video Talk

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Trust and Obey

Words by John H. Sammis, 1887
Music by Daniel B. Towner, 1887

When we walk with the Lord
in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise,
not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear,
not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove
the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows,
for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet
We will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do,
Where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

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