Video Talk
Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV
"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity."
The "cheap grace" gospel of today, which is a cheapened, diluted, and altered gospel from the one Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught, is teaching that a one-time decision to believe (not biblically defined) in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord assures the professer of Christ that all his sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), that heaven is secured him, and that it can't be taken away from him, regardless of how he lives.
For they do not teach that we must die with Christ to sin and that we must now walk in holiness and in righteousness and in walks of obedience to our Lord. They call that "works salvation," but it is not. It is biblical salvation. And they do not teach that if we continue in making sin our practice, and that if righteousness, holiness, and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.
And so we have a mass of people professing faith in Jesus Christ and claiming heaven as their eternal destiny while they are continuing in deliberate and habitual (addictive) sin patterns of behavior. And sensuality and immorality are really at the top of the list for the sins which are most permeating and destroying the church and the lives of those who call themselves Christians, but who are still living in sin.
Ephesians 4:20-24 ESV
"But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
But that "cheap grace" gospel is not the way we should have learned Christ if we were taught the truth that is in him. And what is that truth? It is that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and that we are to now live for him and no longer for ourselves. And it is that Jesus shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us), out of our lives of sin, so that we will now honor our Lord with our walks of obedience and surrender to his will.
[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20]
And Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self and take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of the name of Jesus we are crucified with him in death to sin, and we are raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, and so we are now walking in righteousness, in obedience to our Lord, then we have the hope of eternal life with God.
[Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Titus 2:11-14]
So, faith in Jesus Christ involves change. We don't remain who we were before. Now we put off our former manner of living, which is corrupt through deceitful desires, so that we can be renewed of the Spirit in the spirit of our minds, so that in the power of God, by his grace, we can put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. And now by God's Spirit we can walk in that holiness and righteousness in obedience to our Lord and have the assurance of eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Praise Be Told!
An Original Work / December 28, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures
He was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for all our sin.
Our chastisement was upon Him.
By His stripes, we now are healed.
He has witnessed all our trials,
And the sins we choose to wear.
Yet, while we were dead in our sin,
Jesus died, our sins to bear.
He himself bore all of our sins
In His body on a cross,
So that we might die to our sin,
And live for His righteousness.
By faith in the pow'r of Jesus
And His blood shed for our sins,
We can be forgiven our sin,
And have life with God in heav'n.
He will lead us and He'll guide us
In the way that we should go.
He will comfort and protect us,
Because Jesus, we do know.
Though He disciplines for our good,
He will heal us – Praise be told!
Do not fear, your Lord is with you.
Just have faith in Christ your Lord.
https://vimeo.com/112335646
