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God’s Valentine
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,”
1 John 3: 1
Do you know this love? What a gift this is that God has given to His people. For the verse, quoted above, continues this way:
“that we should be called children of God!“
They who belong to God are His children. Would you not like to be a child of God?
When we were not seeking God, He was seeking us and He found us. When we could not come to Christ on our own, God drew us to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we were not willing to come to Jesus, the Father worked in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
When our heart was cold and not able to believe the Word that we heard, God removed that cold dead heart and provided us with a new heart; a warm living heart that was able to receive the things of the Spirit of God, so that we would understand our sinfulness and our need for a Savior.
When we were dead in our sins and unable to respond to the call to “come forth”, God made us alive and broke the chains that bound us. He then set us free from being a slave to Satan and from being a slave to our sins so that we could “come forth” and cry out to Jesus to “save me or I shall perish.”
The work of salvation is all of God. He seeks us, we do not seek Him. He draws us when we do not want Him. He makes us alive when we are dead. He sets us free as we are chained. He gives us a new heart as we have a heart of stone. He makes us willing when our will is not free. He places within us the Word of life when we are devoid of ability. He receives us as we call out to Jesus to save us.
Truly it is a wonderful thing to know what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. He has done so because we are His children. He has known us since the beginning of time. He keeps us safe until it is our time to join His family. He then calls us to come to Him when the time is right and He gives us the ability to respond according to His will.
We all love Valentine’s day as it is a day of love. We give our loved ones gifts from our heart to show our love for them. How much more does our Father love us? When we are saved and forgiven for our sins, when we know how the work of salvation is all of God, when we realize that we are called children of God, how much more can we praise our Father for His love for us than by saying:
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God!”
No greater Valentine can be received than the love which the Father has given to us so that we can be called the children of God. How about you? Can you make that claim? Only if you have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus and have believed on Him to be your Savior can you be called a child of God. There is no other Name given among men by which we can be saved. There is no other way that we can receive the gift of God’s love; God’s Valentine.
Begin The New Year With Joy In The Lord!
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
Psalm 100:
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
Only those who belong to Jesus can sing such praise. For it is He who died for sins and it is only by Him can any of us enter into Heaven. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be, or can be, saved.
Bow before Jesus and proclaim His Lordship over you and believe in Him as Savior and you, too, can sing these praises unto the Lord our God. So, make a joyful noise, come before the Lord of the universe and sing His praises. It is God Who has made us for Him and we are to be His joy, but only if we belong to Jesus.
Come into His courts with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. The Lord is faithful. He will keep us for all eternity. Thank Him for His mercy and forgiveness. Come, now, kneel before the King of Kings and cry out for mercy and forgiveness of your sins and submit to the Lord of Lords to receive salvation that is offered to all who will come.
Begin the New Year with a new heart and a new song. Love the Lord and be thankful to Him. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth does, indeed, endure to all generations.
Begin the New Year with joy in the Lord!
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Must You Die In Your Sins?
In the Gospel of John Jesus makes a very simple, but life saving, comment. If you read it, think about it and just dwell upon what Jesus said it will make you face your eternal destiny, and will give you a quick insight as to whether you will go to Heaven or Hell.
In chapter 8 of John Jesus is talking to some Pharisees. They had been accusing Him of falsely bragging about Himself and they wanted to know who He was and Who His Father was. To answer them He said:
“You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
Simply put, Jesus basically told them that the only thing that can be done to keep them from dying in their sins and being condemned to Hell was to just believe that He is God. Now, unless you know the Bible and unless you are a Christian you will not understand this nor see where it is that Jesus said that.
What He said was:
“if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
So you are saying to yourself, “believe that Jesus is what?” That is the secret that only God can reveal to you, but I’ll give you a clue as to what Jesus is saying with this.
In this same chapter the Pharisees and Jesus were talking about Abraham and the following conversation ensued:
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Now when Jesus said this the Jews took up stones to throw at Him in hopes of killing Him. Now why would they do that? Well, here’s another hint.
In Exodus 3, at the Burning Bush Moses is talking with God. Then, when God tells Moses that he is to go to the Jews in Egypt and bring out the children of Israel we read the following:
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’
Moses is to tell the children of Israel that the great “I AM” has sent him, meaning that it was God Himself that told Moses to do this. So now you should see why Jesus said:
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”
The reason that the Pharisees took up stones to throw at Him is that Jesus was proclaiming that He was God. And that is why Jesus said, “for if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”
And the same goes for you. Unless you believe that Jesus is God and bow before Him and submit to His Lordship over you, you will die in your sins. It’s that simple. There is no other way. If you deny Jesus, He will deny you.
This is why God tells us in Acts 4:12:
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
So, why die in your sins? You cannot earn your way to Heaven, you cannot will your way into Heaven and you cannot work your way into Heaven. The only way you can get there is by believing that Jesus is God, and you will easily show your belief by submitting to Him as Lord of your life.
The simple Gospel message is this… Believe and be saved… Why die in your sins? Just believe in Jesus and you will spend eternity in Heaven. It’s that easy. It’s that simple.
Just believe!
Do You Know The Father?
Do you really know and love the Father?
You say that you are a Christian and you follow Jesus. You go to church and maybe even sing in the choir or teach a Sunday School class. You say grace over meals and read the Bible on occasion, but how well do you really know the Father? Maybe you don’t know Him that well and that He is Someone out there somewhere and you feel that just talking with Jesus is enough.
However, if you don’t know the Father, it may be an indication that you may not be a true born-again Christian after all. You see, it takes the Father to bring you to Jesus and it takes Jesus to reveal the Father to you. If you are born-again you will know the Father because Jesus will reveal Him to you, and only Jesus can do that.
In Matthew 11:27 (as well as in Luke 10:22) we read the following:
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Once you have been born again, once you have submitted to Jesus as Lord of your life, Jesus will reveal the Father to you. You cannot, and will not, know the Father unless Jesus reveals Him to you and you must be born-again in order for that to happen. Think about that for a moment. If Jesus chooses to reveal the Father to you it is because the Father has brought you to Jesus to be saved.
In John 6:44 we read the following:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;”
Then, in John 6:37 Jesus says this:
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
First the Father draws you to Jesus and, if you are drawn, you will come to Jesus; Jesus said so. But look at what else Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;”. Before the Father draws you, you will not, of your own free will come to Jesus. Not only that but you cannot come to Jesus. It takes the Father choosing to draw you before you can come to Jesus and, when drawn, you will come to Jesus to be saved.
You see, first it takes the Father to bring you to Jesus, and then Jesus in turn reveals the Father to you, so that you will know the one who has done this for you. For, if the Father does not bring someone to Christ first they will never be saved, they will never be forgiven for their sins, they will never experience the new birth and they will not spend eternity in Heaven.
The Father chooses you, He brings you to Jesus, He makes you alive in the spirit so that you will see Jesus and so come to Him for salvation and, in return, Jesus reveals the Father to you so that you will know who to worship and whom to give thanks for your salvation. If you truly know the Father you will have a desire to talk with Him, to seek guidance from Him, to cast your cares upon Him, to love Him in a way that you could never love anyone else.
You will know and experience His love, a love that cannot be surpassed, an everlasting love that will care for you, guide you, seek out the best for you and for His glory. You will seek Him in the morning and say goodnight to Him as the last thing you do at night. He will constantly be with you and make His presence known when you drift from Him, and He senses your distance, and He will lovingly bring you back to His arms and give you the feeling of peace when you least expect that you need it.
Jesus reveals the Father to those who are being saved so that they will know the One Who has done all of this for you. Your salvation begins with the Father and the keeping of your salvation ends with the Father. No one can take you out of His hands. If they could, they would be more of a god than God Himself, and there is no one who can do that.
The fact that you know the Father is evidence of your salvation. If you sense that you really don’t know Him, this would give rise to the possibility that maybe you are not saved at all, and that you are just a Christian in name only. Remember, Jesus did say in Matthew 7:21:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
What is the will of the Father? That everyone He draws to Jesus will come and be saved, and then Jesus reveals the Father to us so that we can thank Him and worship Him for what He has done for us and for Who He is.
“Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
Do you know the Father? Do you love Him? Do you really? How often do you pray? How often do you read the Bible? How often do you take some time and just talk with Him; to share your joys, sorrows, thoughts and concerns? How well do you know Jesus? You cannot say that you know Jesus and not know the Father; for Jesus will reveal Him to you.
So, let me ask you one last time. Do you know the Father?
The Blessing Of Abraham… Who Is It For?
So many times we have heard about the blessing given to Abraham. And the tag given to it is that this applies to the Jewish people. But, does it really apply to them?
Here is the blessing as found in Genesis 12:
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
From this one verse it is said that this is talking about the people of Israel and that those who bless Israel they will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. However, does this really apply to the Jewish people?
Let’s look at some other verses to see what the Bible says about it. What we need to find is a “key”. It needs to be a word or a verse that can tie all of this together.
First, let us look at Genesis 22: 17 – 18. God is talking to Abraham…
“Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Next, in Genesis 26: 3 – 5, we find the God talking with Isaac and He tells him…
Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your
descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to
Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of
heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all
the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My
voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Lastly, we look at Genesis 28: 13 – 14 and now we see God talking with Jacob and telling him basically the same as what He told Abraham and Isaac…
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham
your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you
and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth;
you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south;
and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
In all three of these verses God has made two promises, and they are the same to all three of the men. The first one is “your descendants” and the second one is “your seed”. Now we need to ask the question – do these both refer to the same people?
It is safe to say that the promise made to “your descendants” would refer to the Jewish people. The literal people of Israel. However, the second promise being given to “your seed”, to whom does it refer.
Well, if we let the Bible give us an answer we will know what is the truth…
For the answer, let us first look at Galatians 3: 8 – 9. Here we first see who are those who will be blessed with Abraham:
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Then we can look at Galatians 3: 16 – 18. And this is the most important scripture verse that we need to read, for it tells us who is “the seed” in whom all of the families of the earth shall be blessed…
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to
seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,
who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four
hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed
before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance
is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
It is very clear that the “seed” through whom the promise would come is Jesus Himself. So, if Jesus is the “seed” which God tells Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through whom the blessing will come, then it stands to reason, and it is very clear, that the blessing is for the followers of Jesus. Namely all of the born again Christians who are followers of Jesus.
For support verses on this, let us first look at Romans 9: 6 – 9 and we will see something very interesting…
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
Now, if the children of the flesh, that is the direct descendants are not the children of God, then who is? Well, once again the Bible gives us a very clear answer. In Galatians 4: 28 we read the following:
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
You see, it is the children of God, the born again believers of Jesus who are the children of the promise. It is Christians about whom God is referring when He gave Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the promise that…
in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
If you think about it you will see the truth and it makes great sense. God’s people are Christians, the followers of Jesus. It is through them that all of the families of the earth are blessed and it is the Christians that the promise belongs. And when God says, “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It is the Christians about whom He is talking.
If one blesses the Christians they will be blessed and if someone curses Christians it is they who will be cursed. It is through Jesus and the born again believers in Jesus through whom the families of the earth are blessed. It is through Jesus and the born again believers in Jesus that the blessings and the curses come.
Now, I can see some of you not wanting to believe this. But if you will just go back through and read the verses that I’ve quoted, the verses that talk about this, there is no way you can arrive at a different conclusion. Don’t let anyone, not even what I’ve been saying, make the decision for you. Read the verses for yourself and pray that God will give you insight to them.
God has said, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” The seed, according to scripture is Jesus and the children of the promise (the blessings and the curses) are the Christians, as we have read in Galatians.
So now you have to ask yourself this question. According to the Bible who is it through whom all of the families of the earth will be blessed? And second, according to the Bible, who are the children of the promise?
As we have seen, according to Scripture, the answers are Jesus and the born again believers of Jesus who we call Christians.
Did Jesus Condemn Homosexuality?
Everywhere you turn you will read or hear someone say that “Jesus never condemned homosexuality.” Is that really true?
If you have ever read the Gospel’s you will know that Jesus never mentioned bestiality, polygamy and pedophilia. However, do you believe that He would not condemn these activities? Then why do you believe that since He never mentioned homosexuality that He would not condemn it as well?
Just because Jesus never specifically mentioned homosexuality does not mean that He didn’t speak on topics that dealt with homosexuality.
If you have read the Gospels you will know that Jesus condemned the sins of adultery, sexual immorality (fornication) and any kind of sexual activity that is not within the scope of what He described as a marriage ordained by God.
In Matthew 19: 4 – 6 Jesus said,
“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
In this one statement, Jesus specifically said that, according to God, a marriage is a “covenant”. It is a “covenant” between one male and one female. In doing so, Jesus condemned all other forms of marriage; especially those created by man.
According to the teachings of Jesus, sexual relations is allowed only in the confines of a marriage ordained by God (one man and one woman). In His teachings on the “covenant” of marriage, and sexual activity outside of marriage, Jesus effectively placed homosexuality in the category of sin; an act that is not accepted nor condoned by God.
So, even though Jesus never specifically mentioned homosexuality by name, from His teachings on the “covenant” of marriage, we can easily see what He did believe, what He – as God – has ordained, and what He – as God – is telling us about what is right and what is wrong when it comes to marriage and sex. Marriage is a “covenant” to be between one man and one woman. Not between two men nor between two women.
In short, according to the teachings of Jesus on the “covenant” of marriage, and what is a sexual sin outside of marriage, Jesus did condemn homosexuality.
How Were You Saved?
Who gets the credit for your salvation? When you answer that question then you will know the answer to “How Were You Saved?”
__________________
We know that no one can come to Jesus unless drawn by the Father, and that it is by His grace that we are saved. However, we argue over how man receives this grace.
One man says that even though God, by His grace, draws us to Jesus, we must still choose, by our own “free” will, to accept or reject Jesus as our Savior.
Another man says that God saves us by making us willing to receive Jesus, and that we do not have the power nor ability to make this decision for ourselves; that is, of our own “free” will.
The first man says that man is to determine whether or not he is to be saved. Thus he can say, “I know that it was by God’s grace that I was saved but, I had to choose whether or not I wanted to be saved. After all, I could have rejected Jesus, and I would have been condemned if I had done so, but I chose to trust Jesus instead. God didn’t save me until I accepted Jesus as my Savior. Besides, God won’t make me do anything against my will. He won’t do anything until I give in.”
Now the second man says that he was saved because it was by God’s will and not his that he was saved. He says, “When I was dead in my sins I did not see my need for a Savior. I did not see myself as a sinner, so there was no need for me to be willing to be saved. However, God gave me ears to hear His word, and He took away my heart of stone and gave me a new heart, a soft heart, where His word would take deep root and grow into understanding so that I would believe in Jesus.
Then He placed within me a new spirit, His Spirit, to free me from bondage to Satan and to make me alive so that I could respond to His calling. When these things happened I saw myself as the detestable sinner I was, and I was filled with a great sorrow. I knew I was destined for Hell.
Finally, I understood why Jesus died for me, to set me from sin. He saved me from God’s wrath, and that if it had not been for God’s divine influence in me, to show me all these things, I would never, of my own “free” will, have believed in Jesus. Whereas, I had been unwilling, God came in and made me willing. I had no choice because where I once was a slave to Satan, and unwilling to be saved, I was now a child of God and willing only to obey Him. It was by God’s will that I was born again, not mine.
Now, who gets the credit for your salvation?
In the case of the first man, man gets the glory because, in effect, he saved himself. His salvation came to him because of “his” actions. This is salvation by grace “plus works”, man’s works, because of his actions, for he (man) can say that he contributed to his salvation.
In the second man, God gets the glory for man was saved because of what “God” did. It is God who “wills” for man. It is by the faith that is given to him that he believes. It is God who gives an understanding to man. It is God who gives faith to man. Salvation in man is all of God. Man does not tell God what man will do.
So, who gets the credit for you salvation? When you answer that question truthfully, then you will know how you were saved. I pray that it was by God’s will and not yours…
For further study:
John 6:37, 39, 40, 44, 45, 65… Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23… Mark 4:3-9, 11-12, 13-20… Luke 8:5-8, 10-15… Jeremiah 31:31-34… Ezekiel 36:21-28, 31, 32…
Sunday Is Coming!
This Homily was first given by me during a Lenten Service in February of 1983. It is based on 1 Corinthians 15: 12 – 29
(This inspirational sermon has been updated for this post)
The Risen Christ, Our Hope
12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. (NKJV)
Several months ago, we celebrated the birth of Jesus. It was a joyous occasion, and we spent a great deal of time, energy and, of course, money in preparing for it. But, what if Jesus were dead and still in the grave? What then?
A few months later it is Friday, a day that Christians call “Good Friday”. To the Apostles, however, and the other followers of Jesus, this day was anything but good. In fact it started out rather badly and went down hill from there. It could very well have been the reason that Christmas never happened.
First, one of His own disciples betrayed Him. Then, as He was taken prisoner, the rest of them deserted Him and fled into the darkness of the night, fearful for their own lives. And one of His closest friends – Peter – would deny Him three times, and Jesus heard him.
In the hours that followed, Jesus was humiliated, degraded, and badly beaten. He was mocked, whipped and spat upon. He had a crown of thorns fiercely forced upon his head and his beard was pulled out by hand.
After the soldiers had fun with Him, Jesus was tried, convicted and sentenced to death; to die in horrible torture, having been nailed to a wooden cross and left to die. Finally, before that day was over, Jesus was placed in a tomb that wasn’t even His.
On that day the Apostles saw all of their hopes and dreams washed away by the death of their closest friend. Yes, that day was a Friday, but for them it wasn’t good. For it was a day of total defeat for their cause of believing that Jesus was the Messiah. They had nothing to look forward to, and they hid in fear that they, too, would be arrested and taken away.
However, there was one thing that they didn’t know and if they had known this day would not have been a day of defeat, but a day of beginnings and a day of anticipation. Yes, it was Friday, but Sunday was coming! And as Psalm 118: 24 says, “This is the day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
For, although Jesus died on the cross for sins, He was raised from the dead for our justification. As it says in Scripture, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” You see, it is His resurrection that gives His birth meaning, and it is His resurrection that makes Friday good.
Our faith in forgiveness for our sins and the promise of eternal life in Heaven is based on the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead, and is still alive today.
Because of this truth, this factual turn of events, everything that Jesus said and did before His death is just as important as what happened after, and we should know them, study them and believe them.
This is a time when we should make a self-examination of our own faith and find out how it compares to God’s Holy Word, and where a change is needed in our faith, or in our way of living, we should accept the challenge to make that change, and do so with God’s help; with the Holy Spirit working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Our prayer today should be that each and every one of us will make such an examination and that our faith in Jesus will not only be increased but be strengthened as well. And with this faith we can proclaim along with the Apostle Peter, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in Heaven for you.
Yes, today is Friday… But Sunday Is Coming!
What Defines A Christian?
From an early age, I was a very religious person. I attended Church twice on Sunday. I went to Sunday School and in the Summer I was a teacher in Vacation Bible School. I was the President of our Church’s youth group. At one time I was the youngest Acolyte in the diocese of Maryland. All of this, and more, while still a child.
However, I was not a Christian.
Like so many people today, who call themselves Christians, I was involved in all kinds of church activities and enjoyed them all. Yet, when away from church I was a completely different person. I definitely was not “Christ” like.
What is a Christian? What is the difference in being a religious person and in being a Christian? What is it that defines a Christian?
If you ask the average Christian today to describe what makes one a Christian, you would almost always hear, “someone who has accepted Jesus as Savior”. However, that does not make one a Christian. You want to know how I know this to be true? Just look at them when they are not in church. How do they act?
Accepting Jesus as Savior does not make one a Christian. Nor does going to church or being baptized make one a Christian. So, if none of these actions makes one a Christian, what does?
In the Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 3, verse 3, we find an excellent and short verse describing a Christian.
“For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh…”
First, in referencing “circumcision”. Now circumcision represents a covenant. In regards to God and man, a covenant is an agreement that God states that He will do such and such and that this agreement is based solely on God and not on man. So here, in stating that “we are the circumcision”, Paul is saying that a Christian is one chosen by God for salvation, and this covenant is based solely on what Jesus has done and not on man’s will or ability. (See John 1:13 & Romans 9:16)
Second, we see that a Christian is one who worships God in the Spirit. Only a person who has been born again, that is made alive in the spirit, by the Spirit of God, has the ability to worship God in the Spirit. Only when one is led by the Spirit of God, do we have the ability to approach the throne of God in a manner worthy of God.
Third, since a Christian belongs to the true covenant of God and has the ability to worship God in the Spirit, we can rejoice in Christ Jesus, Who has given us the ability to do so. Only by the person and work of Christ are we given the faith with which we believe in Him, and because of His resurrection from the dead are we promised eternal life in Heaven with God.
Fourth, becoming a Christian is a work that can only be done by God and not in any way accomplished through the work of man. That is why there is “no confidence in the flesh.”
Therefore, we can then say that “what defines a Christian” is what we see in the life of a person after having become “born again” by the Spirit of God.
As I said in beginning of this essay, I was a religious person but not a Christian. Only years later, when I had an exciting experience in being shown by the Holy Spirit that I had been chosen by God unto salvation that I realized that my only hope of being forgiven for my sins and for spending eternity in Heaven had been based solely on what Christ had done for me.
I saw how sinful my religiosity was and that all I had done was to show how good I was, and it was all based on what I was doing and not on what God had done. I was looking to myself for being “good” enough to be worthy to go to Heaven. I was rejoicing in myself and trusting in my works to save me. Just like so many people, today, who call themselves a Christian.
In short, the life of a person who calls themself a Christian, defines what a Christian is.
Look at your life. Do you worship God by the Spirit of God? Do you rejoice in Christ for what He has done? Do you trust in yourself, as I had done, for being “good” enough to get to Heaven, or do you place your trust in Christ with the faith of Christ given to you to do so?
If you call yourself a Christian then you are the best definition of what a Christian is. I pray that it Is a definition with which Christ would agree. For you see, you are what defines a Christian…
Does God Know You?
As we begin a new year the number one question that should be on your mind is this:
Does God Know You?
Silly question, you think, of course God knows me, He know’s everybody. That depends…
So, what am I getting at? In 2 Timothy 2:19 we read:
Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
Another question is this. Do you name the name of Christ? Depending on how you answer this question will give an indication as to what your answer is to our main question. To help you out, let’s look at another scripture verse.
In John 14: 21 & 23 we read:
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
Here we see that if you love Jesus and are obedient to Him, then the Father will love you and He and Jesus will come and live with you. However, if you don’t believe in Jesus how can you say that you love Him? You can’t.
In fact, if you don’t love Jesus because you don’t believe in Him then God says this about you. In John 3: 36 we read:
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
You see, if you do not love Jesus it is because you do not believe in Him, and if you do not believe in Jesus you already stand condemned and you have the wrath of God abiding on you. So, how can you say that God knows you?
Still are not sure? Well, here are some other verses. In Matthew 7: 21 – 23 we read:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
And, in Luke 13: 23 – 27 we read:
Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’
The one thing that ties all of this together, for you to be able to say that God knows you, is this. You must believe in Jesus, have submitted to Him as Lord of your life, and love Him enough to be obedient to Him. If you cannot say that you have done so, then the answer to the question “Does God Know You” is this.
No!
If you were to die right now, in this state, God will say to you “I tell you I do not know you. Depart from Me, you worker of iniquity.”
Is that what you want to here? I pray that this is not what you want. Remember what 2 Timothy 2: 19 says:
“The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
You must bow the knee to Jesus as Lord and proclaim Christ as your Savior. Having done so, God will tell you that He knows you and that you are His child. He will tell you that you have been forgiven for all of your sins and you will be able to live with Him for all eternity.
If you won’t you are doomed, and you will stand condemned to face the wrath of God. You must know that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.
It is a new year and I pray that God will draw you to Him, forgive you of your sins and place within you a new heart. Having done so, you will know without a doubt that God does know you and when you are asked, “Does God know you?” You will be able to respond, in full assurance, with a resounding…
YES!
Riff's Christian Journal 