And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
2Thessalonians 3:5
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Philippians 3:8-11
Greetings,
May I add something to this post?
All that you have stated here will in no way get a person to heaven.... or better put, ensure and seal their eternal life.
Before you react, please listen....
Far too often we have this message of becoming a clean person being taught and preached as if it is the end of the need for a Christian to fulfill the role of a doer.
While we can not dispute the need to walk upright before God and man, there is a much deeper message that will not often get touched upon.
Let us go back before moving forward.... yes, as the Scriptures tell us,
All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof,
for correction,
for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works.
2Timothy 3:16 -17
James 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
We can begin to see the example we must follow....
Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
John 13:13-17
Beloved,
tell me please what does it profit a person to appear decent in their lifestyle.... what can this achieve for them or any other on this planet, besides perhaps setting a good example for clean living to avoid a few of the pitfalls so common to man?
Look now to the Disciples, who we say we are.... yes?
All but one, died a gruesome death and suffered for the Gospel's sake.
They did not love their lives in such a way as to worry about what they ate or drank, or what they wore.... Our Lord made this very clear For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. Romans 14:17-19
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Revelation 12:10-11
Now, we are called to suffer with Him.... to bear fruit..... fruit which remains.... not things pertaining to the flesh.... and the fruit we must bear, can only be brought about through taking up your cross and following Christ..... and then rejoicing when things seem to go totally against you.
We must become new, and serve in newness of our minds, not just our behaviour. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Romans 12:1-3
Remember we are saved by grace...not works.
One thing that must be done, that the Scriptures are very sure of, is to love one another.
I have written these things, not to do away with what has been said, but to add to it....
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Romans 13:10-14
Bless you ....><>
Br. Bear
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible,
and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you,
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season,
if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Whom having not seen,
ye love;
in whom, though now ye see him not,
yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls.
Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently,
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ,
and the glory that should follow.
Unto whom it was revealed,
that not unto themselves,
but unto us they did minister the things,
which are now reported unto you
by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven;
which things the angels desire to look into.
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,
be sober,
and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought unto you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
As obedient children,
not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
But as he which hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Because it is written,
Be ye holy;
for I am holy.
And if ye call on the Father,
who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work,
pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,
as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God,
that raised him up from the dead,
and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing ye have purified your souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Being born again,
not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible,
by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth for ever.
For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
1Peter 1:3-25
