I think that the Internet world (yes, it is a world of its own), has become very big in my eyes. Anything that becomes that big competes with God for affection. Constantly checking email, facebook and blogs for something that I don't seem to be getting in the real world. What is it? Do I find more excitement in the world that I have created for myself than reality? Reality is what God has put around me. The relationships, people, vocations and clients that God has inserted me into all are apart of that reality. In the virtual world, these seem to be at my own beck and call and I can escape from them or I can look up some old flame and fanticize about how wonderful it would be to see them again.
Those who are connected to this umbilical cord are living their lives in it and don't realize that it is actually a chain that keeps us bound to fantasy and pleasure. It is a prison of our own design. Why is this so wrong? Because of the example of Jesus of course! What do I mean? I mean we should apply the gospel to this situation.
Take Jesus for example, although he existed in the form of God, he didn't retain that glory in selfishness and stay up in the perfect environment. He came down to a place where he would be despised and rejected, stricken and smitten of God. He bade us to follow him and take up our cross. Why? Because that is where he was going.
Jesus lived a life free from all the fantasy and sinful self-indulgence that we bask in. But if that were all He did, it would be only enough to save himself. Instead, he accepted the will of God that he would take that perfect life and have all our self-indulgence and fantasy that deserved God's wrath laid upon him. It was he who was being punished for what we did wrong. There he suffered for what we are doing evil, even today in our disregard of the people around us for our own pleasure that we seek on the Internet. The good news however is that God accepted that payment, that wrath having been spent on his Son. God is the one who spent his wrath on an innocent person for your an my sin. That is what it took for your pardon to be won.
God raised Jesus from the dead showing that it is possible to live a new life free from that bondage to selfishness and Internet fantasy. This means that Jesus' sacrifice was accepted! There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ! Now go on and start living in that new life! Sever that umbilical cord that is keeping you bound up in your selfishness and desire. Follow Christ to the cross and be obedient to Him in loving others, abstaining from sexual sin and all other sins rooted in pride and selfishness and see the needs of the people around you!
Showing posts with label repentance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repentance. Show all posts
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Reasons for Respecting my Mom
I was reading my mom's blog found here and noticed that she has a great sense of humor and a talent for writing. These are some things you just don't notice when you grow up thinking your parents exist to meet your needs and put you through school.
Mom, "although, your point of view is somewhat different than mine, you speak intelligently about issues that are important to you." My mom doesn't care what people thinks. This can be a two-edged sword though. I also respect the aptness that she has for learning. Learning things like medical billing is about as easy for me as playing professional basketball. But it seems that my mother can handle it.
God helps his children to learn to love and respect the people that they before cared little for. God also helps his children to care not only for people closest to them, but also those that are different from them. I see more and more the necesity of praying for others and the needs that people have for someone to come alongside them and disciple them. God hasn't set us on this earth to write blogs or to study theology or to preach to everyone. Jesus told Christians that they need to practice love toward other believers. This is manifested in sacrificial service to others whether they return the favor or not (and also not mentioning it if they never do).
One subject I think needs to be addressed is the completely bone-headed way we men view women. Man's lust teaches him to see a woman as an object to gratify a desire. The more prideful he is the more he sees himself as a king that needs to be served. No wonder we have men practicing all forms of sexual deviancy and seeking to involve women in it. How many women have been pioneers in promoting sexual perversity? None that I can think of. But I guarantee that I can rattle off a dozen or more sexual miscreants that have been men.
Is the answer emasculating all the men? That is probably the answer for the feminist. God's answer however is different. This will not be accomplished until Christ returns to reign over mankind as a whole and smashes all rule and authority that opposes Him. For the people of God however, the answer for men is, submit and surrender your life, dreams, choices and fun to God, humble yourself before Him, repent of your sins (all of them. not just the ones you feel you can live without) and subject your will to God's will, your life to Christ Jesus' life and your death to His death.
Mom, "although, your point of view is somewhat different than mine, you speak intelligently about issues that are important to you." My mom doesn't care what people thinks. This can be a two-edged sword though. I also respect the aptness that she has for learning. Learning things like medical billing is about as easy for me as playing professional basketball. But it seems that my mother can handle it.
God helps his children to learn to love and respect the people that they before cared little for. God also helps his children to care not only for people closest to them, but also those that are different from them. I see more and more the necesity of praying for others and the needs that people have for someone to come alongside them and disciple them. God hasn't set us on this earth to write blogs or to study theology or to preach to everyone. Jesus told Christians that they need to practice love toward other believers. This is manifested in sacrificial service to others whether they return the favor or not (and also not mentioning it if they never do).
One subject I think needs to be addressed is the completely bone-headed way we men view women. Man's lust teaches him to see a woman as an object to gratify a desire. The more prideful he is the more he sees himself as a king that needs to be served. No wonder we have men practicing all forms of sexual deviancy and seeking to involve women in it. How many women have been pioneers in promoting sexual perversity? None that I can think of. But I guarantee that I can rattle off a dozen or more sexual miscreants that have been men.
Is the answer emasculating all the men? That is probably the answer for the feminist. God's answer however is different. This will not be accomplished until Christ returns to reign over mankind as a whole and smashes all rule and authority that opposes Him. For the people of God however, the answer for men is, submit and surrender your life, dreams, choices and fun to God, humble yourself before Him, repent of your sins (all of them. not just the ones you feel you can live without) and subject your will to God's will, your life to Christ Jesus' life and your death to His death.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Repentance is Incomprehensible
Repentance is incomprehensible for the man who lives life on his own terms. It defies logic. It defies all notions of what is best for the individual. Repentance is impossible for the man who will not give his life over into the sovereign will of God. Someone living in this country illegally and becoming a Christian, would think it imcomprehensible that God would demand that they return to their country's consolate and confess that they want to make it right with both our country and theirs and accept whatever the representive decreed they would have to do. A man who has lived as a woman for 20 years would feel that it would be incomprehensible that he be asked to change back into the sex that he was born. A man would think it incomprehensible that he should forsake all his dreams and goals for marriage and family and quietly submit to a life of uncertainty in a ministry that he was totally unequipped for.
These are all examples of incomprehensible situations. Maybe they are very cut and dry for you the reader. Maybe you could easily decide for someone else what they should do with their lives. That is all your subjective reasoning. But what happens when the tables are turned? Are YOU willing to submit to God in what HE tells you to do even if it means you loose your life or that you are resigned to a life of abject solitude because of the choices you make removes you from all means of pursuing your own happiness with the people you so desire! What would it take for you to surrender your life to God? That is what I am talking about. What if God's will were that you have no happiness and live the last two years of your life in obscurity with no way of being recognized?
I remember a situation of a man who was in this country illegally and receiving dialysis. He was advised that he needed to return to his country to an uncertain situation there to keep from being a burden on other people in the church who had tried numerous times to help him, but for his own rebellion against the rules they set for their houses, he had to leave home after home until he had exhausted all options for habitations and help within the church. Instead of submitting to the elders of the church, who were all unanimous in their counsel to him, he decided to leave the church and find some way to continue living in the country illegally so that he could receive his dialysis and retain his dreams of working again so that he can go back to his own way in life. How sad. He chose to keep his life rather than facing the risk of loosing it for the sake of Christ. Why do I say this? Because had he submitted, God would have been able to use this man. But because he chose to continue in rebellion, he now lives his life like a godless man who has no testimony.
Anyone can repent. The problem is that for each one of us, there is a challenge, a test that we may be unable to do because it goes against all that we think is logical and safe. I remember the movie, "Luther", where Martin Luther said, "To go against conscience is neither right nor safe." He was right. If it violates your conscience, would you be willing to trust God or would you do what you think is right and safe? If so, you have not repented.
These are all examples of incomprehensible situations. Maybe they are very cut and dry for you the reader. Maybe you could easily decide for someone else what they should do with their lives. That is all your subjective reasoning. But what happens when the tables are turned? Are YOU willing to submit to God in what HE tells you to do even if it means you loose your life or that you are resigned to a life of abject solitude because of the choices you make removes you from all means of pursuing your own happiness with the people you so desire! What would it take for you to surrender your life to God? That is what I am talking about. What if God's will were that you have no happiness and live the last two years of your life in obscurity with no way of being recognized?
I remember a situation of a man who was in this country illegally and receiving dialysis. He was advised that he needed to return to his country to an uncertain situation there to keep from being a burden on other people in the church who had tried numerous times to help him, but for his own rebellion against the rules they set for their houses, he had to leave home after home until he had exhausted all options for habitations and help within the church. Instead of submitting to the elders of the church, who were all unanimous in their counsel to him, he decided to leave the church and find some way to continue living in the country illegally so that he could receive his dialysis and retain his dreams of working again so that he can go back to his own way in life. How sad. He chose to keep his life rather than facing the risk of loosing it for the sake of Christ. Why do I say this? Because had he submitted, God would have been able to use this man. But because he chose to continue in rebellion, he now lives his life like a godless man who has no testimony.
Anyone can repent. The problem is that for each one of us, there is a challenge, a test that we may be unable to do because it goes against all that we think is logical and safe. I remember the movie, "Luther", where Martin Luther said, "To go against conscience is neither right nor safe." He was right. If it violates your conscience, would you be willing to trust God or would you do what you think is right and safe? If so, you have not repented.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST - from (Monergism.com)
THE GOSPEL IS A MESSAGE ABOUT:
GOD
- Is. 6:1-5, 5:16; Rev.4:8-11. God is Holy.
- Dan. 4:35; Ps. 135:6. God is Sovereign.
- 1 Jn. 4:8,16. God is Love.
- Heb. 12:29. God is a Communing Fire.
- Gen. 17:1; Jer. 32:17; Is. 43:13; Amos 9:2-3. God is Omnipotent.
- Ps. 139:1-6; Rom. 11:33-36. God is Omniscient
- Jer. 23:23-24; Ps. 139:7-12. God is Omnipresent
- Ps. 145:17. God Is Righteous.
- Ex. 34:6-7. God is Merciful.
- Rev. 29:11-15. God is a Judge.
- Jn. 4:23-24. God is a Spirit.
- 1 Jn. 5:7; 2 Cor.13:14; I Pet. 1:2. God is one God revealed in three distinct persons; Father, Son, & Holy Spirit (trinity, not modalism).
- Jn. 1:1-3, 14,18, 10:30-33, 17:5, 20:28; Acts 20:28; Rm. 9:5; Phi. 2:5-11; Col. 1:15-17, 2:9; I Tim. 3:16; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:1-12; II Pet. 1:1; Rev. 1:8. Jesus is God--YHWH.
SIN
- Gen. 2:15-17. Adam and Eve's disobedience resulted in spiritual and physical death.
- Rom. 6:23. The wages of sin is death.
- Dt. 6:4-5. However, before sin entered the world man's purpose was to serve God and glorify Him.
- Matt. 22:34-40. Therefore, man is now living in an abnormal condition.
- Rom. 3:10, 5:6-9; Lk. 5:31,32 There is none righteous, no not one!
- Rom. 3:23. Everyone, without exception, is a sinner.
- Rom 5:12. Adam's sin nature is inherited by all mankind.
- Is. 64:6-7. God views our good deeds as “filthy rags.”
- Eph. 2:8-9. God rejects our good works.
- Ps. 51:5, 58:3. We are sinners from birth.
- Jn. 3:19. Sinners love their sin.
THE LAW
- Ex. 20:1-20. The Ten Commandments must by obeyed perfectly.
- Mt. 22:34-40. If we disobey the 1st & 2nd greatest commandments we have broken all of the Bible’s laws.
- Ja. 2:10-11. If we break one commandment we’ve broken them all.
- Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:24. The purpose of the Ten Commandments is to reveal sin in us and disclose our inability in keeping the law’s demands. This creates an attitude of desperation in sinners to be delivered from the guilt and penalty of the law. Christ alone is the sinners hope.
THE VANITY OF LIFE
- Heb. 9:27. Three things are common to all: Life, Death, & Judgment.
- 2 Pet. 3:8; Ja. 4:13-14. Life Is short: The earth will be covered by all new people 110 years from now. Our life span is compared to one grain of sand taken from one planet among a thousand planets covered with sand. After you die no one remembers you (Eccl. 1:11, 2:16).
- Eccl. 12:8,13,14, Life is vain: Solomon, the wisest man who lived, had everything this world has to offer yet he judged this life as totally vain and futile. Nevertheless, man pursues the vain things of this world against all reason, logic and intelligence (2 Tim. 3:7).
- Lk. 12:16-21. Life is fragile: You may die tonight! Many labor to extend their life through exercise and vitamins but will add only a few years.
- Eccl. 5:15; 1 Tim. 6:7; Lk. 9:24. Money and riches are vain.
HELL & JUDGEMENT
- Rev. 20:11-15. The great white throne judgment.
- Matt. 25:41-46. Everlasting fire and punishment for the unsaved.
- Heb. 9:27. After this life comes judgment.
- Lk. 16:19-31. Hell is a place of unceasing pain and torment with no escape.
THE NEW BIRTH
- Jn. 3:1-7. Jesus teaches that the “new birth” is necessary for salvation.
- Jn. 1:13. Salvation is not inherited from our parents, secured by our effort, nor decided by our will, but is a process by which we are “born of God.”
- 2 Cor. 5:17. To be born again means that our old life is replaced by a new one.
- Eph. 4:21-24; Col. 3:9-10. When a person becomes “born again” the Bible describes him as a “new person,” who brings forth new fruit.
- Gal. 6:15. All that matters is that we become a “new creation.”
GRACE
- Eph. 2:8,9. Grace is a free gift, it is unmerited favor.
- Acts 15:11. We are saved by the grace of Christ.
- Rom. 4:3-5. Salvation is by grace through faith and not by the deeds of the law.
- Tit. 3:5-7; Rom.3:24. We are “Justified” freely by His grace.
REPENTANCE
- Lk. 13:3. Unless we repent, we will all perish.
- Acts 3:19. We must repent and be converted.
- Matt. 4:17. Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” however; the world ridicules the need of repentance.
- Acts 26:20. We must repent and bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.
- I Jn. 1:9. If we confess our sins He will forgive us our sins.
- Prov. 28:13. He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confess and forsakes them will have mercy.
- Ps. 66:18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.
FAITH
- Heb. 11:6. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
- Jn. 20:24-29. Blessed are they who do not see yet believe.
- Jn. 3:16-19. Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal fife.
- Eph. 2:8. We are saved by grace “through faith.”
- Gal. 3:23-26. We are saved through faith in Christ and not by keeping the law.
- Rom. 3:28, 5:1. We ore justified through faith in Christ.
- Gal. 3:11; Rom. 1:17; Heb. 10:38; Hab. 2:4. “The just shall live by faith.”
SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST ALONE
- Jn. 14:6. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
- 1 Jn. 5:11-13. He that has the “Son” has life, and he that does not have the Son of God does not have life.
- Acts 4:10-12. Salvation is in none other than Jesus Christ.
- Rev. 3:20. Jesus knocks on the door of our heart.
- Rom. 10:13. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
- Jn. 3:36. He who does not believe on the Son of God has the wrath of God on him.
This concise overview of the Gospel is an excellent tool for Bible study, discipleship, evangelism and group studies. For a laminated copy of this card to keep in your
Bible for ready use write to: CHRIST BIBLE Pulpit, P.O. Box 5772, Oakland, CA.
94605 U.S.A.; or E-mail us @ wildernesstable@yahoo.com; or call (510) 727-1877.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Conflicting Desires and Torment in Hell
For some reason, I begin these blogs talking about some subject and that gets me thinking and by the end of the blog, I am talking about something not even remotely similar to what I began with. This time I was going to attempt to compare my life before Christ to my life now.
Before Christ, my desires were more intellectual for studying the Bible than actually deriving joy from it. Being a Christian was like a 9 - 5 Job for me. For example, I would go to church, serve there, spend time with my friends and turn my mind immediately to other things upon leaving. I spent my time thinking about normal pursuits such as movies, partying, working and playing on the computer. I was always looking for the next party where I could meet some girl or hoping that some beautiful girl would consent to go on a date with me. Even while in church I thought of those things.
Now, you are going to think, "Wow, what a hypocrite!" But I really did read the Bible. I actually read it in the morning and in the evening sometimes. I succeeded in reading the entire Bible once before I went to Mexico for a year and had read numerous books on how to live a godly life. A few such were, "Every Man's Battle", "The Prayer of Jabez", "Wild at Heart", "Life is Tremendous!", "The Magic of Thinking Big", "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and a myriad of others. I was one of the best Christians you had ever met (although I was not).
I had a good paying job at UGA and attended church every time the door was open. I actually taught Bible Study and was an Elder in my church! I even went to Mexico and became a missionary for a year. There I had to learn Spanish. I went down there knowing very little and left being able to preach the Bible in Spanish. I actually shared with the church there all that God had taught me through my stay in Mexico. But you know something, I WAS NOT SAVED!
If you had told me this, I would have told you that you are crazy. Of course I am saved! If you had named my sins and told me that my persisting in them was evidence of my perdition, I would have told you that they didn't mean that I was lost because they were sins that I didn't do ALL the time and that I had a sincere desire to serve the Lord and that my life had evidences of my faith.
Now, you are probably thinking, "you don't seem all that bad to me." You are right! I wasn't all that bad. In fact, I would probably put most people who are reading this blog to shame in regards to "being a good Christian". By the way, "being a good Christian" is just another way to say, "as to righteousness under the law, blameless!"
So, in regards to this, where was my problem? It was actually much deeper than anyone or myself could ever see. God had to reveal it to me through many painful experiences, betrayals and loneliness. Thank God for pain. Without it we just kind of simmer in the pot until we are fully cooked. This is actually one of the things that I pray more and more for people. I pray for pain and discomfort in their lives so that they can turn to God for answers instead of other things. I want people to hate themselves and others so much that they finally come to the point where they realize everything bad in their lives is their own stupid fault and that they must repent or face eternal torment in hell apart from God where, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Before Christ, my desires were more intellectual for studying the Bible than actually deriving joy from it. Being a Christian was like a 9 - 5 Job for me. For example, I would go to church, serve there, spend time with my friends and turn my mind immediately to other things upon leaving. I spent my time thinking about normal pursuits such as movies, partying, working and playing on the computer. I was always looking for the next party where I could meet some girl or hoping that some beautiful girl would consent to go on a date with me. Even while in church I thought of those things.
Now, you are going to think, "Wow, what a hypocrite!" But I really did read the Bible. I actually read it in the morning and in the evening sometimes. I succeeded in reading the entire Bible once before I went to Mexico for a year and had read numerous books on how to live a godly life. A few such were, "Every Man's Battle", "The Prayer of Jabez", "Wild at Heart", "Life is Tremendous!", "The Magic of Thinking Big", "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and a myriad of others. I was one of the best Christians you had ever met (although I was not).
I had a good paying job at UGA and attended church every time the door was open. I actually taught Bible Study and was an Elder in my church! I even went to Mexico and became a missionary for a year. There I had to learn Spanish. I went down there knowing very little and left being able to preach the Bible in Spanish. I actually shared with the church there all that God had taught me through my stay in Mexico. But you know something, I WAS NOT SAVED!
If you had told me this, I would have told you that you are crazy. Of course I am saved! If you had named my sins and told me that my persisting in them was evidence of my perdition, I would have told you that they didn't mean that I was lost because they were sins that I didn't do ALL the time and that I had a sincere desire to serve the Lord and that my life had evidences of my faith.
Now, you are probably thinking, "you don't seem all that bad to me." You are right! I wasn't all that bad. In fact, I would probably put most people who are reading this blog to shame in regards to "being a good Christian". By the way, "being a good Christian" is just another way to say, "as to righteousness under the law, blameless!"
So, in regards to this, where was my problem? It was actually much deeper than anyone or myself could ever see. God had to reveal it to me through many painful experiences, betrayals and loneliness. Thank God for pain. Without it we just kind of simmer in the pot until we are fully cooked. This is actually one of the things that I pray more and more for people. I pray for pain and discomfort in their lives so that they can turn to God for answers instead of other things. I want people to hate themselves and others so much that they finally come to the point where they realize everything bad in their lives is their own stupid fault and that they must repent or face eternal torment in hell apart from God where, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Friday, October 24, 2008
My Mom's Blog
I read my mom's last blog post and I am very glad that she is my mother. God blesses us with mothers and it is a travesty when we don't treat them with love and kindness. Mom, if you read this, thank you for who you are and for bearing with my disrespect, disobedience and self-love.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are responsible for what we do in this life. God does offer forgiveness but not forever. We can not continue willfully living in rebellion and think that God owes us forgiveness and empathy. We must realize that men are called to repent and turn to God.
Mom's Last Blog
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are responsible for what we do in this life. God does offer forgiveness but not forever. We can not continue willfully living in rebellion and think that God owes us forgiveness and empathy. We must realize that men are called to repent and turn to God.
Mom's Last Blog
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Love Comes From Purity
"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;" - 1Pe 1:22-23
What I believe this means is that purity doesn't come from being born again, it comes from obedience to the truth that we have already believed. There is a progression here:
Of course, being born again, is a new heart and new life. A new feeling toward God and a realization of ones own dependence on God to live the Christian life. The living hope is Jesus. He is alive and we all hope to attain to the ressurection of the dead. Of course, our hope is a confident one. We are not hoping as if we were hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow. We "have" hope because of something that we believe. That is more of the idea conveyed when God says, a "living hope".
So, as a result of the new birth that comes from God causing us to understand our hopelessness and need for Jesus and causing us to believe only in Him, we are purifying ourselves because we are new creations and we do this by obeying the gospel that we have heard. That is, the word of God.
In purifying ourselves, we are preparing ourselves for loving our bretheren. The wording of the text implies that without purifying oneself by obeying God's word, one can not love someone even in the most basic sense which is brotherly love. If we are unable to love each other, apart from being born again and thus purified and able to finally love each other, there is no wonder that our human efforts at love are always going to fail. Why? because we are fallen from the perfect state that God created us and live in seperation from his divine attributes. We can only be more like God when we obey him. Why? because obedience to God's word means to put sins to death: "sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry"(Col 3:5). If we don't put sins to death, we are being disobedient to God's word and therefore are not pure, and most likely not born again. The flip-side of this is that without being born again you can not put sins to death or be obedient to God's word!
So how is one born again? Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15). Jesus said it himself, repent and believe. What do we need to repent of and what is the gospel? Repentance means in the Strong's to think differently or afterwards. This means to have a change of mind about what you are doing. For example, you were going to the store and you changed your mind. In other words, you repented. Why? You repented because you decided you could make due with what you had. That idea that you needed the butter or whatever you were going to get was thrown out because you realized that you had something else that would do.
The beginning of our purification process comes from our new birth. Our new birth is the result of Jesus Christ using his Word to educate us about what we need to change our minds about. What we need to be corrected in is our view of self. Everyone is born thinking that they are sinless and that everyone else sins against them. God wants us to get the idea that we are sinful and we sin against everyone else but the most important one that we are sinning against and really the one that we are sinning against is God himself. So what God tells us in the Bible is, "You are a bad person. All your addictions and problems are a result of your choosing to live your life your own way by your own rules and your desire to live for everything under the sun except me. You have worshipped all the created things but have forgotten about your creator who formed you and gave you life."
So God wants us to deliver and account to ourselves about all these things and wake up and realize that we are acutally following everyone else on the road to hell and that we should fall down on our knees realizing that we can't make ourselves "good" or we are not good anyway and that we need God and that our hearts are bad and we need a new one. We confess our sins and our being sinners to Jesus and ask him to forgive us for living our lives according to our own wisdom and submit to God's solution. Namely, give control of our lives to Him! That is what repentance is and what God wants from us. This is the first thing that takes place. We are born again when we repent and subsequently believe in Jesus. This can take place quickly in the life of someone who already belives that Jesus died and rose from the dead.
It was a strange thing in my own life. I believed (really believed) that Jesus is God, that he came to earth born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was punished on the cross for the sins of all the world and that he died, was buried and rose from the dead and was seen by over 500 people after his resurrection. My problem was that I identified with the world as being full of sinners and that somehow by praying a prayer and believing some facts, I was somehow taken out of the card deck of the "sinners" and had been placed in the card deck of the "believers". So, in reality, I didn't see myself as a sinner but rather as a believer. The problem is that even after a person believes, he never stops sinning and as a result is a sinner for his or her entire life!
The funny part is that God commands us to actually stop sinning and to serve him and follow him and live for him. We therefore are given the impossible task of stopping sinning when it is physically and morally impossible and told that if we don't succeed in this impossible task, we are, going to hell! "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." 1 John 3:6.
That is crazy talk! No one can stop sinning for the rest of his life! Everyone has sin! Only those crazy cooks who yell at people on the street believe that! Yep, you are right. I agree with you! Hahaha! fooled you! You thought I was going to tell you that my s**t don't stink. Well it doesn't I take pills so that it doesn't. But for all of you who still have this problem, there is a solution. Stop sinning and therefore you will stop sucking so bad! Why do you suck? Because you believe as you do. You think that it's ok to put up with a little sin. You try to do things so that you can feel like a good person. You go to church and read your Bible using your handy dandy devotional that you picked up off of the church pew. You neglect however obedience to the truth. The truth is to repent and believe.
True repentance has as its fruit, purity. Purity comes from obedience to the truth. The obedience to the truth is a result of a new nature to go along with your old nature. Now, you are in fact born again. This just means that you are able, in addition to choose sin, to choose instead to obey God and walk in the Spirit. Completely stopping certain sins can be achived but not apart from a continued obedience to God. This is how we maintain obedience, through a relationship with God. We do sin from time to time but God gives us the ability to stop say for example, sexual immorality all together. This is achieved through repentance regarding that frame of mind toward it and becoming obedient to God's word instead.
That's all for now. If anyone ever reads this I guess I will finish it. I sometimes get way to tired of writing and lack the skills to organize it well. I also just realize one or two things and since I haven't studied the passage as thoroughly as is needed, tend to ramble a lot.
What I believe this means is that purity doesn't come from being born again, it comes from obedience to the truth that we have already believed. There is a progression here:
- obedience to the truth (the gospel of repentance and belief in Jesus, Mark 1:14-15)
- resulting purity
- sincere brotherly love
- encouragement to pursue a deeper love for the brothers
Of course, being born again, is a new heart and new life. A new feeling toward God and a realization of ones own dependence on God to live the Christian life. The living hope is Jesus. He is alive and we all hope to attain to the ressurection of the dead. Of course, our hope is a confident one. We are not hoping as if we were hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow. We "have" hope because of something that we believe. That is more of the idea conveyed when God says, a "living hope".
So, as a result of the new birth that comes from God causing us to understand our hopelessness and need for Jesus and causing us to believe only in Him, we are purifying ourselves because we are new creations and we do this by obeying the gospel that we have heard. That is, the word of God.
In purifying ourselves, we are preparing ourselves for loving our bretheren. The wording of the text implies that without purifying oneself by obeying God's word, one can not love someone even in the most basic sense which is brotherly love. If we are unable to love each other, apart from being born again and thus purified and able to finally love each other, there is no wonder that our human efforts at love are always going to fail. Why? because we are fallen from the perfect state that God created us and live in seperation from his divine attributes. We can only be more like God when we obey him. Why? because obedience to God's word means to put sins to death: "sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry"(Col 3:5). If we don't put sins to death, we are being disobedient to God's word and therefore are not pure, and most likely not born again. The flip-side of this is that without being born again you can not put sins to death or be obedient to God's word!
So how is one born again? Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15). Jesus said it himself, repent and believe. What do we need to repent of and what is the gospel? Repentance means in the Strong's to think differently or afterwards. This means to have a change of mind about what you are doing. For example, you were going to the store and you changed your mind. In other words, you repented. Why? You repented because you decided you could make due with what you had. That idea that you needed the butter or whatever you were going to get was thrown out because you realized that you had something else that would do.
The beginning of our purification process comes from our new birth. Our new birth is the result of Jesus Christ using his Word to educate us about what we need to change our minds about. What we need to be corrected in is our view of self. Everyone is born thinking that they are sinless and that everyone else sins against them. God wants us to get the idea that we are sinful and we sin against everyone else but the most important one that we are sinning against and really the one that we are sinning against is God himself. So what God tells us in the Bible is, "You are a bad person. All your addictions and problems are a result of your choosing to live your life your own way by your own rules and your desire to live for everything under the sun except me. You have worshipped all the created things but have forgotten about your creator who formed you and gave you life."
So God wants us to deliver and account to ourselves about all these things and wake up and realize that we are acutally following everyone else on the road to hell and that we should fall down on our knees realizing that we can't make ourselves "good" or we are not good anyway and that we need God and that our hearts are bad and we need a new one. We confess our sins and our being sinners to Jesus and ask him to forgive us for living our lives according to our own wisdom and submit to God's solution. Namely, give control of our lives to Him! That is what repentance is and what God wants from us. This is the first thing that takes place. We are born again when we repent and subsequently believe in Jesus. This can take place quickly in the life of someone who already belives that Jesus died and rose from the dead.
It was a strange thing in my own life. I believed (really believed) that Jesus is God, that he came to earth born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was punished on the cross for the sins of all the world and that he died, was buried and rose from the dead and was seen by over 500 people after his resurrection. My problem was that I identified with the world as being full of sinners and that somehow by praying a prayer and believing some facts, I was somehow taken out of the card deck of the "sinners" and had been placed in the card deck of the "believers". So, in reality, I didn't see myself as a sinner but rather as a believer. The problem is that even after a person believes, he never stops sinning and as a result is a sinner for his or her entire life!
The funny part is that God commands us to actually stop sinning and to serve him and follow him and live for him. We therefore are given the impossible task of stopping sinning when it is physically and morally impossible and told that if we don't succeed in this impossible task, we are, going to hell! "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." 1 John 3:6.
That is crazy talk! No one can stop sinning for the rest of his life! Everyone has sin! Only those crazy cooks who yell at people on the street believe that! Yep, you are right. I agree with you! Hahaha! fooled you! You thought I was going to tell you that my s**t don't stink. Well it doesn't I take pills so that it doesn't. But for all of you who still have this problem, there is a solution. Stop sinning and therefore you will stop sucking so bad! Why do you suck? Because you believe as you do. You think that it's ok to put up with a little sin. You try to do things so that you can feel like a good person. You go to church and read your Bible using your handy dandy devotional that you picked up off of the church pew. You neglect however obedience to the truth. The truth is to repent and believe.
True repentance has as its fruit, purity. Purity comes from obedience to the truth. The obedience to the truth is a result of a new nature to go along with your old nature. Now, you are in fact born again. This just means that you are able, in addition to choose sin, to choose instead to obey God and walk in the Spirit. Completely stopping certain sins can be achived but not apart from a continued obedience to God. This is how we maintain obedience, through a relationship with God. We do sin from time to time but God gives us the ability to stop say for example, sexual immorality all together. This is achieved through repentance regarding that frame of mind toward it and becoming obedient to God's word instead.
That's all for now. If anyone ever reads this I guess I will finish it. I sometimes get way to tired of writing and lack the skills to organize it well. I also just realize one or two things and since I haven't studied the passage as thoroughly as is needed, tend to ramble a lot.
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