Thoughts on Faith and Judgement

 1: Paragraph 10
 2: 
 3: The supreme judge, by which all controversies
 4: of religion are to be determined, and all
 5: decrees of councils, opinions of ancient
 6: writers, doctrines of men, and private
 7: spirits, are to be examined, and in whose
 8: sentence we are to rest, can be no other but
 9: the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit,
10: into which Scripture so delivered, our faith
11: is finally resolved
12: 
13: 21 Matt. 22:29, 31, 32; Eph. 2:20; Acts 28:23

AMEN!!

Numbers 14:18 - The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation. (ESV)

Romans 4:5 - And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (ESV)

Romans 14:18 - Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. (ESV)

If you have trusting faith in God then you will walk according to the will of God (walk the way Jesus Christ calls us to walk in obedience to Jesus, as a response of love to God in the knowledge He loved us first). Led by the Spirit = following Jesus.

John 12:26 - If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (ESV)

That's not working but it is walking and it is being obedient to Jesus. The Israelites through the Red Sea were being led by the Spirit - they were not working for God as they walked in obedience:

Galatians 5:16-18 - But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Song

youtube.com: Shane & Shane: I Will Wait For You {Psalm 130}

Jesus' disciples here were being led by Jesus. As I understand it, we're only not guilty if we're trusting Jehovah God who justifies the ungodly by trusting Jesus. Serving Jesus = Following Jesus. We've got to follow Jesus:

John 12:26 - If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (ESV)

Matthew 8:22 - And Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. (ESV)

Luke 9:60 - And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. (ESV)

Trusting Him who justifies the ungodly has noticeable fruit of following Him because those who trust Him follow Him:

Matthew 12:1-8 - At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. (ESV)

As you can see, the disciples still generally followed the commandment to rest on the Sabbath day:

Luke 23:56 - Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (ESV)

But Jesus is lord of the Sabbath:

Mark 2:27-28 - And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath. (ESV)

Jesus will serve His servants who are awake:

Luke 12:37 - Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. (ESV)

Matthew 23:11 - The greatest among you shall be your servant. (ESV)

 1: Paragraph 3
 2: 
 3: Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has
 4: wholly lost all ability of will to any
 5: spiritual good accompanying salvation;4 so as
 6: a natural man, being altogether averse from
 7: that good, and dead in sin,5 is not able by
 8: his own strength to convert himself, or to
 9: prepare himself thereunto.6
10: 
11: 4 Rom. 5:6, 8:7
12: 5 Eph. 2:1,5
13: 6 Titus 3:3–5; John 6:44

I don't entirely agree with this paragraph saying all ability of will is lost (I could be wrong). But I do believe that without God's assistance in drawing us to Jesus, it is impossible for us to be saved.

Isaiah 1:19 - If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; (ESV)

Man's inability to do any spiritual good accompanying salvation is essentially like a broken-down car's inability to drive and without God's assistance by empowering us with His Holy Spirit (either inside or around us), though a person might seek after God or will to repent, they're not able to save themself.

Acts 17:26-27 - And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, (ESV)

So the problem in my opinion is not the will to do the will of God but the ability to carry out the will of God.

John 7:17 - If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. (ESV)

Matthew 7:7 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (ESV)

Matthew 26:40-43 - And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. (ESV)

Romans 7:16-18 - Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. (ESV)

Then there may be some nuance between receiving the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance, and being born of the Spirit which may be [part of] our inheritance.

I Corinthians 15:50 - I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (ESV)

In trusting in Jesus Christ, we may receive the Holy Spirit:

John 7:37-39 - On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts (G1372 dipsaó), let him come to me and drink (G4095 pinó). Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuó) in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (ESV)

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

John 3:5 - Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (ESV)

John 4:10 - Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. (ESV)

John 4:14 - but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (ESV)

John 13:31-32 - Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. (KJV)

John 20:22 - And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. (ESV)

Acts 2:4 - And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (ESV)

Being born of the Spirit / spiritually regenerated I think is a different event to receiving the Holy Spirit which typically happens beforehand, particularly for Gentile Christians when we give our heart to the Lord Jesus:

Galatians 4:28-31 - Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (ESV)

Romans 4:13-18 - For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, So shall your offspring be. (ESV)

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

youtube.com: How to Preach with Supernatural Power @time: 8 min 16 sec

He does not mean that something spiritual is religious or mystical or other-worldly. That's what most people think about spiritual… Well, no it's not. Instead spiritual for Paul meant originating by the Holy Spirit and having the quality of the Holy Spirit, formed by the character of the Holy Spirit. It is supernatural, wrought, shaped by the Holy Spirit… The problem with the 'mind of the flesh is not that it fails to be religious, or that it fails to be mystical or that it fails to be other-worldly. In fact, the mind of the flesh may be intensely religious. The mind of the flesh may be very mystical, very other-worldly. The problem with the mind of the flesh is that it's hardened againsnt the beauty of God, the worth of God, the authority of God. It's hard against God. It's unable to welcome and love and delight in and enjoy God.

AMEN John Piper. Thanks.

youtube.com: C. S. Lewis 2024 - Characteristics of the Holy Spirit's personality

Romans 8:6-9 - To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)

Being born of the Spirit is something which is genuinely unpredictable but we can sense its coming and going. It's not the same thing as getting someone to pray a sinner's prayer, for example, otherwise Jesus would not have used this analogy. We can sense it (hear it's sound, such as making testimony of being born of the Spirit), but we don't know where it comes form or where it goes:

John 3:3-8 - Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (ESV)

People were being born according to the Spirit for quite some time before Jesus was born of the virgin Mary but it has been restricted to the children of promise i.e. Abraham's descendants through Isaac:

Galatians 4:28-31 - Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (ESV)

I was born-again 'of the Spirit' on 2 April 2022 where I was given a new body, or it was regenerated - a blue light-body.

Galatians 6:14-17 - But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. (ESV)

II Corinthians 5:5 - He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (ESV)

Sermon

youtube.com: Be Who You Are: Living Out Identity in Christ, Part 1

We are saved to serve Christ:

II Corinthians 5:15 - and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (ESV)

We are meant to serve God. We are saved from not serving God, that we serve God through serving Christ:

Luke 4:4-8 - And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. (ESV)

We are saved to work for Christ for the sake of Christ and the ministry of reconciling other sinners to God through Christ:

II Corinthians 5:18 - All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; (ESV)

The Apostles were working with Christ. I believe the Apostles also here are exhorting believers to work with Christ to receive the grace of God:

II Corinthians 5:21-6:1 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (ESV)

James 2:22 - You see that faith (G4102 pistis) was working with (4903. sunergeó) his works (G2041 ergon), and as a result of the works (G2041 ergon), faith (G4102 pistis) was perfected (G5048 teleioo);

4903. sunergeó

Definition: to work together. Usage: I cooperate with, work together.

II Corinthians 7:15 - And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. (ESV)

God put our sin on Jesus:

youtube.com: John MacArthur | The Gospel in 1 Minute | #paulwasher #voddiebaucham #billygraham #johnmacarthur

The Bible, II Corinthians 5:21 - He made Him who knew no sin sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Let me unpack those 15 Greek words. He, God, made Jesus sin. What do you mean He made Jesus sin? Only in one sense he treated him as if he had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe, though in fact he committed none of them. Hanging on the cross, He was Holy, harmless, undefiled. Hanging on the cross, He was a spotless Lamb. He was never for a split second a sinner. He is Holy God on the cross. But God is treating him - I'll put it more practically - as if he lived my life.

God punished Jesus for my sin, turns right around and treats me as if I lived His life.

That's the great doctrine of substitution and on that Doctrine turned the whole Reformation of the church - that is the heart of the gospel. And what you get is complete forgiveness covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When He (God) looks at the cross he sees you. When He looks at you he sees Christ.

Being born-again of the spirit was a total gift received through faith in Jesus, none of my own merit at all - simple very imperfect repentance from sin and faith in God exercising faithfulness:

I don't really know what this is. It was something like a singularity event and my perception of the world is now spiritual. Most of my life I have not been a very faithful Christian. I was a 'nominal' Christian but I didn't really have a lot of faith or knowledge of God. I had not been seeking out Jesus. For the 2 years leading up to 2 April 2022, I can tell now in retrospect that God was working in my life, and I had begun seeking Jesus, and trying out repentance, and eventually arrived at the point where I was crying to God for help. So when was I born-again? Was it when I first believed as a child, or when I was baptised as a teenager? Not in the same way I was born-again on 2 April 2022. On 2 April 2022 I was truly born-again of the Spirit, and my best explanation as to what had changed was that I had begun to authentically seek God and to be obedient to Jesus, accountable to God who sees in secret, and not to man, and that activated a real prayer life, and actively believing God exists and sees, and I had asked God to give me His Holy Spirit. Even though I could not yet hear His voice, I was praying and seeking and beginning to repent. On the 2 April 2022 I was born-again the Spirit - I was spiritually regenerated - whatever it was that happened which I described. When that happened God had put the fear of Him in my heart so that I would not turn from Him, and it was receiving a new spiritual light-body like being birthed from a womb. When I first 'believed' the gospel, this had not happened yet, but I had the testimony I guess. This event, what I experienced on 2 April 2022 I consider to me being born of 'water and the Spirit'. But hearing and keeping the gospel of Jesus, and asking God to receive the Holy Spirit, or seeking God I guess they will have some events, probably different to my 2 April 2022 event something similar happen then or in their future some time, I assume, or perhaps it is 'entering the Kingdom of God'. I don't know exactly how it works. I'm retroactively trying to figure things out by reading the Scriptures.

As I understand it, if someone is "born of God", they would love Jesus. If someone loves with Christ's love then they are "born of God and know God" and they would love Jesus if presented with Jesus. If someone is "born of the Spirit" then they have been spiritually regenerated. Being born of the Spirit is what I understand is to be "born-again of water and the Spirit".

Maybe these two things are at the same time if a person believes without doubting.

A person may not yet have received the Holy Spirit at the time they believed. I think it's certainly essential to have obedience to God in order to be born of the Spirit, as far as I can tell.

When the following says "they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus", I'm sure this is baptism in water. It's also apparent that a person may receive the Holy Spirit at the time they believed, and the passage also seems to suggest that believing alongside being baptized in water, the person is expected to receive the Holy Spirit:

Acts 19:1-6 - And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, Into what then were you baptized? They said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (ESV)

Also, a person may not have been "Born of the Spirit" (whatever it was that happened to me on 2 April 2022) when they intially believed. But rather, I think they are "born of God", that is if they do in truth believe that Jesus is the Christ:

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

I had begun to authentically seek God and to be obedient to Jesus, accountable to God who sees in secret. Then I was born of the Spirit.

We must love Jesus by keeping His commandments:

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

A friend said this at church the very day after I was born again of the Spirit, " Just because some messages may have been wrong, don't quench the work of God's Spirit among you by banning all prophecies, but rather make sure you test them. Hold onto what is good and dismiss those that are not good (i.e. those that are evil). "

I Thessalonians 5:20-21 - Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. (ESV)

I feel that way about my experience of being born-again of the Spirit and then undergoing purification and ongoing repentance and correction.

Over the course of 2022, I was actually speaking a lot of prophecy. There was a lot of truth in it, and a lot of error, but my defense is Jesus and I was getting to know Jesus through being washed in the word, and in obedience to Jesus' commandments, and being corrected by the word, but we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Revelation of John 19:10 - Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (ESV)

I Thessalonians 1:4-5 - For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. (ESV)

Romans 8:9 - You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)

I Corinthians 6:19 - Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, (ESV)

As a result of being born of the Spirit and subsequent obedience to Jesus' commandments has resulted in a huge amount of worldly resistance, and also I've had to fight against a spirit of justification by law compliance, and I've had to fight against a spirit which denies my sins were atoned for and tries to get me to do good works for justification. I still do good works out of obedience but I resist the spirit pressuring me to work for justification (it is a very vindictive, Christ-denying spirit, and it is incredibly persistent):

Galatians 4:29 - But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. (ESV)

Jehovah is God Almighty who was working through Jesus Christ who is the Son of God who also is to be worshiped as Jehovah God, now reigning on the throne of His Father:

Exodus 6:3 - I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. (ESV)

Exodus 6:3 (Interlinear)

and I appear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; as to My name Jehovah, I have not been known to them;

Jesus reigns and inherits all things. Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God:

Hebrews 1:1-4 - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (ESV)

Jesus is to be honoured just the Father is honoured:

John 5:22-23 - The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. (ESV)

The Bible actually teaches that other so-called gods (all those Hindu gods, for example) are not the One True God who created everything. I affirm Christianity's perspective on this. According to Christianity, to serve them is actually to live in some kind of delusion:

I Corinthians 8:3-7 - But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one. For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. (ESV)

It's true that there are such heavenly beings, but we're not supposed to worship them:

Psalms 82:6-8 - I said, You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations! (ESV)

Colossians 2:18 - Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, (ESV)

In times past, God overlooked the worship of false-gods:

Joshua 24:15 - And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (ESV)

John 10:34-38 - Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, I said, you are gods? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, I am the Son of God? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. (ESV)

But now God calls all people everywhere to repent. Christians must turn away from worshiping false-gods, practicing witchcraft, etc.:

Acts 17:29-32 - Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, We will hear you again about this. (ESV)

Christians do not worship foreign gods:

Joshua 24:23 - He said, Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel. (ESV)

Genesis 35:2-3 - So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. (ESV)

As a Christian, I want nothing to do with false-gods:

Revelation of John 9:20-21 - The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (ESV)

And as a prophetic person, I do not want to encourage anyone to worship false-gods and so be labeled as a false-prophet:

Revelation of John 16:13-15 - And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. (Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!) (ESV)

John 13:6-9 - He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head! (ESV)

We must turn to obedience to Jesus and loving with Christ's love to come to know Him. We ought to love as Christ loved us, as He is our Lord and Teacher, but Jesus WASHED (past-tense) us and then we ought to love as He did and we practice personal righteousness while having His imputed righteousness, as he is our Master.

We are saved to obey God better. God puts us into Christ. We obey to wash others, and for ourselves to be sanctified, like a branch becoming healthier in the tree:

John 13:12-16 - When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (ESV)

John 13:34-35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

I John 4:6-12 - We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (ESV)

The initial seal of the Holy Spirit comes with hearing the gospel and believing in Jesus.

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

Acts 20:32 - And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (ESV)

The Hebrew has two words for 'helper'. The word which the greek in John 14 refers to I believe is the Saviour one:

1: מוֹשִׁיעַ
2: savior, deliverer, helper, saviour

But the Hebrew for helper in Genesis 2:18 is not the 'saviour' but the assistant!:

1: עוֹזֵר
2: assistant, aide, helper, second

Genesis 2:18 - Then the Lord (H3068 Yhovah) God (H430 'elohiym) said (H559 'amar), “It is not good (H2896 towb) for the man (H120 'adam) to be alone (H905 bad); I will make (H6213 `asah) him a helper (H5828 `ezer) suitable (H5048 neged) for him.”

Water baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I think baptism of water is an appeal to God and identifying oneself into Christ's death and resurrection but the sacrament maybe is not strictly required to be saved (as far as I understand).

I Peter 3:21 - Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (ESV)

youtube.com: How Do I Know If the Holy Spirit Is in Me?

We are sealed when we give our heart to Jesus, believing / trusting in Him:

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

II Corinthians 1:21-22 - And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (ESV)

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

Romans 8:9 - You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)

Ephesians 4:30 - And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (ESV)

The word of God works in us as we believe and trust Jesus, and are obedient to Jesus:

I Thessalonians 2:13 - And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (ESV)

Galatians 3:13-14 - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (ESV)

It's the power to be changed from doing evil deeds to walking in obedience and love to God, in a relationship with God:

Colossians 1:21-23 - And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (ESV)

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (ESV)

It's natural to water baptize a person after they believe:

Acts 8:36-38 - And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. (ESV)

Also, the Lord Jesus Himself baptized Gentile believers in the Holy Spirit, people who were not yet baptised in water:

Acts 10:44-48 - While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. (ESV)

Matthew 3:11 - I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (ESV)

Interlinear Bible

biblehub.com 3-11.htm: Matthew 3:11 Interlinear

We need to be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God:

John 3:5 - Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (ESV)

And as it happened for me, the water baptism was a precursor to being born-again of the Spirit spontaneously years later and my Holy Spirit baptism happened shortly after being born-again of the spirit.

Therefore, I see water baptism as firstly to be baptized into Jesus Christ's name, in the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the death and resurrection of Jesus, appealing also to be born-again of the Spirit and to receive the Holy Spirit baptism.

And begin born-again of the Spirit and receiving the Holy Spirit helps us to obey God.

I Corinthians 2:14 - The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (ESV)

John 3:3-5 - Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (ESV)

John 14:16-21 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

• Being a servant of God is a likely precursor to being filled with the Holy Spirit
  • Acts 5:32 - And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (ESV)
• Speaking the word of God with boldness is a sure sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
• Saying one's own belongings are not our own [but belong to God] is a sure sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
  • Giving to others freely to relieve the burdens of others is a another sure sign.
    • Acts 2:45 - And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. (ESV)
  • Job 1:21 - And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. (ESV)
  • Romans 11:36 - For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (ESV)

Acts 4:24-35 - And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. (ESV)

We trust that our sin is covered by Jesus Christ's blood, as we abide in Him through belief and obedience:

Romans 4:5-8 - And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (ESV)

Revelation of John 1:4-6 - John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

In Jesus Christ we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and are transferred into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ:

Colossians 1:13-14 - He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (ESV)

As we walk in the light, as He is in the light, that is in the Truth, walking in, believing, professing and obeying Jesus Christ in Truth, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin:

I John 1:6-7 - If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (ESV)

We are sanctified in the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with His blood:

I Peter 1:2 - according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (ESV)

Hebrews 7:22 - This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. (ESV)

Hebrews 10:9-14 - then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (ESV)

We are ransomed:

I Peter 1:18-19 - knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (ESV)

The blood of Jesus secures an eternal redemption:

Hebrews 9:11-15 - But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (ESV)

The eternal redemption is in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, (ESV)

Hebrews 5:9-10 - And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (ESV)

We should be led into the knowledge of the Truth:

John 8:31-32 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (4100. pisteuó, pepisteukotas) in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (ESV)

We should come into a relationship with Jesus Christ and with Father God:

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)

Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, is not condemned. But the person who is not believing in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God is condemned already:

John 3:18 - Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (ESV)

There is always more chances to believe:

Romans 11:23-24 - And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (ESV)

In believing we have eternal life, but we need to continue in obedience to Jesus Christ or will not see life, so there should be a change of behaviour. We should have changed to serve God. Even if "apeitheó" is better translated to "not be pursuaded", trusting in Jesus Christ is still obedience. Unless you believe that trusting in Jesus is disobedience, which it is not. It's obedient to trust in Jesus because He commanded it in John 14:1. They're not separate things. A heart that is pursuaded to trust Jesus is an obedient heart:

John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey (544. apeitheó) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

But we must not believe in vain. Rather, we must believe and hold fast to the gospel:

I Corinthians 15:1-2 - Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (ESV)

Jesus Christ is our Lord and Teacher - that means we believe and obey Him:

John 13:13-14 - You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. (ESV)

If you hear Jesus' word and believe Father God, then you have eternal life, and don't come into judgement. I don't doubt it. We must continue trusting. But the enemy will certainly try to condemn the person after they are born-again.

Trusting Jesus' words we do not come into judgement, but change direction, and instead our destiny is life eternal. We do not come into judgement. Jesus is the judge of that:

John 5:21-24 - For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word (191. akouó) and believes (4100. pisteuó) him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come (2064. erchomai) into judgment, but has passed (3327. metabain) from death to life. (ESV)

I think John 5:24 reads that the one who is trusting the words spoken through Jesus, trusting God, trusting Jesus is holds/posesses eternal life and has passed from death into life.

2064. erchomai

to come, go

3327. metabain

to pass over, withdraw, depart

If we actually believe Jesus Christ is who He says He is, the Son of God, Messiah, we are not condemned. We're never condemned if we are believing in Jesus Christ, Son of God:

John 6:35 - Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (ESV)

If you look upon Jesus Christ and believe in Him, you should have eternal life:

John 6:40-44 - For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (ESV)

John 6:47-51 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (ESV)

John 6:53-58 - So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. (ESV)

Eternal life is given to anyone who believes in Him. I guess there are simply some things I wont understand fully, but I do believe it. I trust in God, and lean not on my own understanding. I believe Jesus' words that are written in the Scriptures:

John 6:47 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. (ESV)

I John 2:27 - But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything—and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you—abide in him. (ESV)

I John 2:24 - Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. (ESV)

God commanded eternal life for those who believe: God's word never comes back void:

Isaiah 55:11 - so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (ESV)

In this current time (world) we may receive more than we lose for the sake of the kingdom, and eternal life is also received in the age to come:

Luke 18:29-30 - And he said to them, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life. (ESV)

I do not affirm all religions. But I affirm Romans 10:9. I affirm that individual people are saved through belief and I think it should be true belief that's in the heart:

Romans 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (ESV)

We should definitely confess Jesus to others:

Luke 12:8-9 - And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. (ESV)

Everything is in subjection to Jesus, God has left nothing outside Jesus' control.

From our perspective it may look like things are still being brought into subjection to Him. It still looks that way to me:

Ephesians 1:22 - And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

Hebrews 2:5-8 - Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

Everything is put in subjection under Jesus and in subjection under Father God:

I Corinthians 15:24-28 - Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Including our own mortal bodies!

Philippians 3:21 - who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (ESV)

Consider that in truthfully confessing that Jesus is Lord, that person has faith in Jesus, and in believing in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, that person has faith in God even in the matter that Jesus was resurrected, even for our justification. So it's faith not only in the finished work of Christ on the cross, but faith in Jesus Himself.

That's important in my opinion because we must trust Jesus Himself to follow Him, to love Him, to keep His words, to keep His commandments, to keep our eyes on Him, to abide by His teaching.

youtube.com: John Piper - Saved Forever @time: 9 min 58 sec

Salvation is not static, as though I did something once to get saved (I believed), and God did something once to save me (He sent Jesus to die and rise from the dead) and that's all there is to it. Now this verse is one screaming announcement that is not all there is to it and what I want to try to do in these last moments is is take a Sunday school understanding that's true that simple past, "I believe, He died, I'm saved - period" and grow it into biblical proportions with a verse like Hebrews 7:25 because Hebrews 7:25 says there is not only more that Jesus did, there is more that you do as well. What Jesus does is go on praying for you, interceding for you, coming between you and the Father and making a case for you, and standing up for you.

And out of the heart should flow rivers of living water. Now that re-emphasises that belief should be in the heart:

John 7:38 - Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. (ESV)

Walk as an imitator of Christ:

Philippians 3:17-18 - Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. (ESV)

I Corinthians 11:1 - Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (ESV)

We must be imitators of Christ Jesus. See what Paul is doing as an example of imitating Christ. We repent from sin, we do what God says, we are accountable to God with His precepts and are doers of His commandments, we forgive others as we've been forgiven and we love others as we've been loved, and we have our minds set on heavenly things and the promises of God:

Philippians 3:12-21 - Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (ESV)

Do not be an enemy of the cross of Christ, submit to the righteousness of God - we needed Jehovah God, Father of Jesus Christ, to pay for our sin - and we must imitate Christ, passing forward Christ's love and forgiving as we have been forgiven, and repenting from sin:

Hebrews 13:7 - Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. (ESV)

III John 1:11 - Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. (ESV)

Jude 1:4 - For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Jude 1:4 - For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)

It's God's grace that enables us to be saved through faith. While we are saved exercising obedient, trusting, believing faith, Paul says it was actually God's doing:

Ephesians 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (ESV)

Just because we're gifted repentance to life, that doesn't mean that to go ahead and obediently repent makes the gift of repentance no longer a gift!

Acts 11:18 - When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.

Sermon

The Heart of the Gospel - YouTube

We believe on Jesus Christ and receive eternal life, and we are saved through Jesus Christ. We see that Jesus Christ obeyed God perfectly and He is the light. We have our hope on Jesus to save us when we believe on Him. We should trust Jesus enough to obey His commandments when we are presented with opportunities to glorify God with our actions. God works through us as we obey Jesus.

John 3:16-19 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. (ESV)

We must hear the words of God. If we hear them then we are of God. I know I hear them. If we keep Jesus' word (obey Jesus) we will not see death:

John 8:47 - Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. (ESV)

John 8:51 - Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. (ESV)

To keep Jesus' word means to hear them and to obey:

Proverbs 7:1-3 - My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. (ESV)

Keeping means, not only having them but also keeping, obeying them:

John 14:21-24 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered 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. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. (ESV)

Jesus comes to dwell in our hearts through faith, His spirit in our inner being, as we are rooted and grounded in love:

Ephesians 3:14-21 - For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

I John 5:3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (ESV)

John 8:55 - But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. (ESV)

We are not condemned if we believe in the name of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. That's really good news!:

John 3:18 - Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (ESV)

AMEN!!

Trusting Jesus' words we do not come into judgement, but change direction, and instead our destiny is life eternal. We do not come into judgement. Jesus is the judge of that:

John 5:21-24 - For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word (191. akouó) and believes (4100. pisteuó) him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come (2064. erchomai) into judgment, but has passed (3327. metabain) from death to life. (ESV)

I think John 5:24 reads that the one who is trusting the words spoken through Jesus, trusting God, trusting Jesus is holds/posesses eternal life and has passed from death into life.

2064. erchomai

to come, go

3327. metabain

to pass over, withdraw, depart

AMEN!!

II Timothy 2:11 - The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; (ESV)

Justification comes through through the righteousness of living by faith:

Habakkuk 2:4 - Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. (ESV)

We are justified by His grace as a free gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, received by [living by] faith:

Romans 3:21-25 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (ESV)

Even the new believer is not condemned:

I Corinthians 3:1 - But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (ESV)

And as we know, no-one in Christ is condemned:

Romans 8:1 - There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

youtube.com: God Is Our Savior from What? 1 Timothy 1:1-2, Part 2 @time: 5 min 20 sec

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This was the main problem.

…

The main problem is God's response to sin is a legal and just and holy condemnation - we must escape this. And in Christ Jesus we are saved from condemnation.

Romans 5:9 - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (ESV)

We must continue in our faith. We must continue to believe Jesus and trust in Jesus:

Philippians 3:9-13 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

John 8:31-32 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (4100. pisteuó, pepisteukotas) in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (ESV)

I believe that we are saved not because of our own merit, but, still, obedience to the Gospel leads to righteousness which leads to salvation:

Hebrews 5:9 - And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, (ESV)

Acts 5:32 - And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (ESV)

John 14:15-16 - If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, (ESV)

John 15:26 - But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (ESV)

Romans 6:16-18 - Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (ESV)

II Timothy 1:7-10 - for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (ESV)

I believe that becoming the righteousness of God is cooperative in that we allow Jesus to wash us, and work in us, and that a childlike trust in Jesus (a believing and obedient trust), following Jesus, walking in faith, and behaving as one of God's children is how we receive and walk into the kingdom which is given to us and that walking (living, katergazomai) in a childlike faith in Jesus is how we have the righteousness that is by faith. Living by faith is walking in faith, is following Jesus. I really wish there was not a chapter break between these two verses because it's revealing to to read them side by side:

II Corinthians 5:21-6:1 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (ESV)

James 2:22 - You see that faith (G4102 pistis) was working with (4903. sunergeó) his works (G2041 ergon), and as a result of the works (G2041 ergon), faith (G4102 pistis) was perfected (G5048 teleioo);

4903. sunergeó

Definition: to work together. Usage: I cooperate with, work together.

We should disobey sin, and present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God. We should be practicing righteousness, practicing love and holiness and truth:

Romans 6:12-13 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (NASB)

The righteous try to be obedient. They make mistakes sometimes, they mess up sometimes but they return to God with the fear of God (they repent):

Proverbs 24:15-18 - Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous; do no violence to his home; for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him. (ESV)

John Piper - "Mercy means that our obedience doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be penitent."

He paid the price for our sin:

Romans 4:25 - who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (ESV)

And we are justified and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who we are following:

Romans 5:1 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Long before we ever believed in / obeyed Jesus, God had chosen us to believe in Him and to take part in His holy calling:

II Timothy 1:9 - who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, (ESV)

Jeremiah 1:4-5 - Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. (ESV)

II Timothy 1:13 - Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

We love our neighbour the way Jesus commanded:

I Corinthians 9:21 - To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. (ESV)

Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (ESV)

John 13:34-35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)

Jesus loved us selflessly. We should love one another selflessly:

John 15:13 - Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. (ESV)

We should disobey sin, and present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God. We should be practicing righteousness, practicing love and holiness and truth:

Romans 6:12-13 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (NASB)

If we keep His commandments, keep His works we will reign with Him:

II Timothy 2:12-13 - if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. (ESV)

Revelation of John 2:26 - The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, (ESV)

Romans 8:17 - and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)

But suffering for Christ's sake should be for giving glory to Jesus:

We put our hope on Him to be our High Priest and Advocate, we obey Him as He saves us.

These should really go hand in hand:

• Believing in Jesus Christ for His finished work to receive justification and eternal life and remain in relationship with Father God and with Jesus
• Obeying Jesus Christ (repenting from sin, loving God and your neighbour) to be saved from the wrath of God should really go hand-in-hand.
  • Toss Me in the Water - YouTube @time: 3 min 37 sec
  • youtube.com: Live Like You Belong in Heaven: Philippians 3:18-21, Part 7

When you believe Jesus' words you are trusting of Jesus. If you believe Jesus then you believe when He says He is the Son of God, for example. Someone who hears Jesus' voice and does it is someone who believes Jesus and trusts Him. A person can have a heart of obedience to Jesus and that's a heart of trust, it's a heart of belief. If you trust Jesus you will believe what He says and you will have obedience to Him.

At it's most basic form repentance (metanoia) means a person changes their mind to believe and trust and have a heart of obedience - accepting of the will of God. To repent means stop distrusting and start trusting God.

We have believe Jesus and to trust Jesus. When Jesus says He is the Son of God, we must believe it because we trust Him. Likewise when He commands us to repent from sinning we should agree with Jesus and be obedient:

John 16:8-9 - And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; (ESV)

Luke 13:3 - No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (ESV)

We keep eyes on Jesus and trust Him:

Hebrews 12:2 - looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (ESV)

Isaiah 12:2 - Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. (ESV)

We must be taught by Jesus. We must be teachable. We must accept what God says and accept he one He sent (Jesus):

II John 1:9 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (ESV)

Here is a verse that shows that repenting from evil deeds is important:

Revelation of John 2:22 - Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, (ESV)

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)

We endeavour to be justified in Christ - in Christ means abiding in Christ - through faith; trusting, believing, obedient faith:

Galatians 2:16-19 - yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith (G4102 pistis) in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed (G4100 pisteuo) in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. (ESV)

Abraham's trusting faith was counted to him as righteousness. I guess it was counted because he was fully conviced, and trusting God. This same justification will be counted to those who trust in God who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification:

Romans 4:20-25 - No distrust (apistia) made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (ESV)

We believe that our justification comes by faith so we place our trust in God and continue trusting; we just get on with living for God and serving God and trusting in God for that justification as we serve God and live in the peace of God. We don't justify ourselves. We have faith in God that He will/does justify us, and we get on with living for and serving God:

Romans 5:1-2 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (ESV)

Being justified by Jesus' blood, we are saved by Him from the wrath of God. We have faith in God also to be saved from the wrath of God. That come with God asking us to turn from our sin:

Romans 5:9 - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (ESV)

Continuing to be sanctified by faith is a process where a person continues in Jesus' words because they are sanctified by faith in Jesus and that means ongoing trust and faithful obedience.

Acts 26:18 - to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (ESV)

To be sanctified by faith in Jesus is an applied process, I think:

Acts 26:18 - to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (ESV)

• Immediately we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. We are justified,
• and then we are saved from the wrath of God by His life, repenting from sin and keeping His commandments, being sanctified, not resisting the Holy Spirit's work of sanctifying us to correcct out behaviour and thoughts, and separated from the world, since friendship with the world is emnity with God
  • Ephesians 2:3 - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (ESV)
• also, we meanwhile rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ

Romans 5:8-11 - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (ESV)

Jesus' act of obedience leads to:

• justification
• life
  • I believe that the life of Jesus helps us to stop sinning
    • youtube.com: The Effort Needed to Fight Sin: Living Out Identity in Christ, Part 2
  • Even though we are born of the Spirit, we still live the rest of the time on earth in obedience to Jesus to get to know Jesus and become like Him in His death

Romans 5:18 - Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. (ESV)

I Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (ESV)

Faith presses on, faithful to Jesus, walking in the manner which Jesus walked - even to spend the rest of the time on earth being obedient to Jesus to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, becoming like Him in His death (i.e. being faithful to God, stopping sin, exercising righteousness, becoming a scapegoat, even to death like the Apostles, sharing in His sufferings, living has He lived) and His resurrection:

Philippians 3:9-13 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

We are saved from the wrath of God by the life of Jesus Christ. I think that's in part saying that the life of Jesus helps us to stop practicing sinful things:

Ephesians 5:5-7 - For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them;

Ephesians 2:3 - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (ESV)

That's confirmed here:

I John 3:5-6 - You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

We need to obey Jesus to see the life. That obedience isn't "working" but it is "performing/carrying out" but our justification isn't contingent on "working":

John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey (544. apeitheó) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

But we must not believe in vain. Rather, we must believe and hold fast to the gospel:

I Corinthians 15:1-2 - Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (ESV)

On the other hand, if we obey Jesus we will never see death:

John 8:51 - Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. (ESV)

In treasuring Jesus' words, keeping them, guarding them, observing them, in Him the agape (treasuring, valuing love) has truly been perfected. Having Jesus' teachings in us clearly should result in us walking as He did:

I John 2:5-6 - but whoever keeps (5083. téreó) His word (G3056 logos), in him the love (G26 agape) of God (G2316 theos) has truly been perfected (G5048 teleioo). By this we know (G1097 ginosko) that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (ESV)

Repent, be sanctified, love God and your neighbour, believe and obey Jesus:

Luke 10:25-28 - And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live. (ESV)

Repent from sin and receive with meekness the implanted word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is able to save us, and persevere with it and allow it to change us:

James 1:21-24 - Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. (ESV)

Matthew 24:9-13 - Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (ESV)

Being saved by Him I think involves us becoming obedient, and faithfully obeying Jesus Christ our Lord:

Ephesians 5:5-10 - For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Eternal life is in Jesus:

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

I John 5:11 - And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (ESV)

We receive / walk into the eternal life through faith in Jesus:

John 10:27-28 - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (ESV)

If you hear Jesus' words which came from God and trust God then you have eternal life:

Trusting Jesus' words we do not come into judgement, but change direction, and instead our destiny is life eternal. We do not come into judgement. Jesus is the judge of that:

John 5:21-24 - For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word (191. akouó) and believes (4100. pisteuó) him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come (2064. erchomai) into judgment, but has passed (3327. metabain) from death to life. (ESV)

I think John 5:24 reads that the one who is trusting the words spoken through Jesus, trusting God, trusting Jesus is holds/posesses eternal life and has passed from death into life.

2064. erchomai

to come, go

3327. metabain

to pass over, withdraw, depart

John 7:16 - So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. (ESV)

II John 1:9-10 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, (ESV)

I Timothy 6:3-4 - If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, (ESV)

I really appreciated Allie's video here

youtube.com: Eschatology, End Times and What's to Come | Ep 134

Before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ there is the appearance of the "man of lawlessness":

II Thessalonians 2:1-4 - Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. (ESV)

Sermon

youtube.com: Live with the End in View

Luke 21:36 - But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. (ESV)

I Peter 4:7-11 - The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

Jesus doesn't delay. We must be vigilant and ready to serve Jesus:

Hebrews 10:37 - For, Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; (ESV)

Matthew 24:48 - But if that wicked servant says to himself, My master is delayed, (ESV)

God wants as many people as possible to be saved (I think of this a bit like as 'delaying' the second coming - my own speculation on eschatology is just me speculating), but not like delaying Jesus' work, as we should be vigilant about anticipating Jesus. Jesus does not delay. Jesus literally visits people imminently in this life time, and we should also consider the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to be imminent:

I Timothy 2:4 - who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (ESV)

John 1:12-13 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (NASB)

hymnary.org: All People That on Earth Do Dwell | Hymnary.org

All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the LORD with cheerful voice; Him serve with mirth, His praise forth-tell; come ye before Him and rejoice!

II Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (ESV)

Ezekiel 18:23 - Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (ESV)

Receiving Jesus, we have the 'right', the 'authority' to become children of God, even by receiving Him through the knowledge of His name (onoma):

John 1:12 - As many as however received Him He gave to them authority children of God to be to those believing in the name of Him (Interlinear)

 1: 3745       1161     2983     846       1325     846
 2: hosoi      de       elabon   auton     edōken   autois
 3: ὅσοι       δὲ       ἔλαβον   αὐτόν  ,  ἔδωκεν   αὐτοῖς
 4: As many as however  received Him       He gave  to them
 5: RelPro-NMP Conj     V-AIA-3P PPro-AM3S V-AIA-3S PPro-DM3P
 6: 
 7: 1849      5043     2316   1096        3588     4100
 8: exousian  tekna    Theou  genesthai   tois     pisteuousin
 9: ἐξουσίαν  τέκνα    Θεοῦ   γενέσθαι  , τοῖς     πιστεύουσιν
10: authority children of God to be       to those believing
11: N-AFS     N-ANP    N-GMS  V-ANM       Art-DMP  V-PPA-DMP
12: 
13: 1519 3588    3686  846
14: eis  to      onoma autou
15: εἰς  τὸ      ὄνομα αὐτοῦ  ,
16: in   the     name  of Him
17: Prep Art-ANS N-ANS PPro-GM3S

John 6:40 - For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks (2334. theóreó) on the Son and believes (4100. pisteuó) in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (ESV)

I consider the 'coming of the Lord' to be something which happens during one's time on earth probably to every servant of the Lord:

Matthew 25:11-15 - Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, lord, open to us. But he answered, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. (ESV)

Matthew 24:42 - Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. (ESV)

Just as it is inevitable that every son or daughter of God will be disciplined:

Hebrews 12:6 - For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. (ESV)

I still hold imminence with regards to rapture a possibility on the basis that when I was born of the Spirit, things progressed very rapidly I was quickly baptised in the Holy Spirit and I asked God in prayer that the whole of my city would be saved. My words seemed to have a lot of impact during this time. This is my own speculation. I was riding by the seat of my pants after being born of the spirit.

video

youtube.com: Life or Death by Your Tongue

I guess that God has been testing me and using me similarly to as He did with Paul the Apostle after he was taken into service by Jesus but also I had much error and my tongue may was not well-bridled.

Paul was an Apostle by Command. As for me, I'm just acting on faith after confessing Jesus.

Perhaps I still speak too much.

James 3:3 - If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. (ESV)

I received lots of visions and many of them came from the enemy I believe after I had even been reading Apocryphal gospels which I think are misleading and I do not affirm them. Then, after I had said towards the end of 2022 on my blog that we should get ready for Armageddon, war broke out in the middle east soon after. I felt as though I nearly did actually get 'raptured' or it was quickly progressing that way or something like that, and then I made a declaration to court that Jesus is the Truth, I forgive everyone etc. That resulted in some very rapid changes. Things in my life spiritually began to stabilise as I have gone through police corrections and used the time to attend Bible studies, and be corrected by the Scripture in my beliefs, obedience and deeds. I'm still trying to be sanctified ongoingly. I am really sorry for misleading people with regards to any error in my writings, but the way to handle this, I believe, is not to throw the baby out with the bath-water but to be corrected by the word of God. I'm still a work in progress.

A friend said this at church the very day after I was born again of the Spirit, " Just because some messages may have been wrong, don't quench the work of God's Spirit among you by banning all prophecies, but rather make sure you test them. Hold onto what is good and dismiss those that are not good (i.e. those that are evil). "

I Thessalonians 5:20-21 - Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. (ESV)

I feel that way about my experience of being born-again of the Spirit and then undergoing purification and ongoing repentance and correction.

Over the course of 2022, I was actually speaking a lot of prophecy. There was a lot of truth in it, and a lot of error, but my defense is Jesus and I was getting to know Jesus through being washed in the word, and in obedience to Jesus' commandments, and being corrected by the word, but we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Mark 13:20 - And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. (ESV)

Ultimately, we are waiting for incorruptible bodies, and I totally believe in rapture and ultimately a completely new heavens and earth (not just a renewal, although I do believe God is still taking care of and reigning on the earth), so I think that whatever Paul the Apostle is referring to here, well I have my speculatinons, is something more imminent, and perhaps more to do with God's kingdom work on the earth, but I still hold the eschatological view that there is ultimately an entirely new heavens and earth without any corruption:

I Corinthians 7:29-31 - This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (ESV)

Acts 14:22 - strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. (ESV)

In some sense I think the rapture and judgement is imminent, and I think probably when each son or daughter is brought into the kingdom they may have a 'taste of it'. In other words, God is still adopting sons and daughters and we don't know who the last one to be adopted is.

So in a sense it's been on the verge of the second coming of Christ for quite a long time:

Luke 21:20-24 - But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (ESV)

The Bible also predicts scoffers - but as Peter puts it, with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day:

II Peter 3:1-8 - This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (ESV)

Those are my current eschatological thoughts, but I am no expert.

"When Jesus became my Lord and Savior, a battle between good and evil started." as one commenter said on this video.

After I began obeying Jesus, and especially repenting and denouncing sin and heresy, that's when I started getting attacked spiritually, as this guy (MarcTheMessenger) describes:

• youtube.com: God Leveled Me Up Now I'm Depressed

Matthew 3:10 - Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (ESV)

Even regards to the rapture, ultimately we leave this world behind. Ultimately, I think we need to go all-in for Jesus and get used to relying on God completely, and be ready to leave this world behind. If we go all-in for Jesus now then we will experience the kingdom of God on earth.

The present form of it will pass away and is passing away:

I Corinthians 7:30-31 - and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (ESV)

Matthew 19:21 - Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (ESV)

I think I John 2:15-17 is essentially saying, "Do not agape love the world or what's in the world. Do not love the things of this world with the type of love that we have for God and for people, namely agape love." If we fall out of agape love for the world and are not conformed to the world but are transformed by the renewing of our minds then by testing we will be able to discern the will of God:

I John 2:15-17 - Do not love (agapate) the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (ESV)

Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (ESV)

The repentant criminal on the cross next to Jesus was sold out for the kingdom of God and ready to leave this world behind:

Luke 23:42-43 - And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. (ESV)

Also, this is interesting:

youtube.com: Strive to let everything bodily die within you, and you will rise before the general resurrection

John 14:12 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (ESV)

II John 1:9 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (ESV)

We follow Christ's teachings:

Revelation of John 2:15-16 - So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. (ESV)

We absolutely must put a stop to sexual immorality and idolatry:

Revelation of John 2:17-24 - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they *repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan*, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. (ESV)

We must keep Jesus' teachings to the end:

Revelation of John 2:25-29 - Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (ESV)

I Corinthians 7:25-31 - Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (ESV)

Luke 20:33-36 - In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife. And Jesus said to them, The sons of this age (G165 aion) marry (G1060 gameo) and are given in marriage (G1061 gamisko), but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age (G165 aion) and to the resurrection (G386 anastasis) from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

Fighting sin is both a gift from God and a duty we act.

We have been given stewardship to exercise love that issues from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith, as Paul was given stewardship:

I Timothy 1:4-5 - nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship (3622. oikonomia) from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (ESV)

Ephesians 3:2 - assuming that you have heard of the stewardship (3622. oikonomia) of God's grace that was given to me for you, (ESV)

3622. oikonomia

Usage: management of household affairs, stewardship, administration.

Increasing holiness is both a gift and a duty.

It is a gift of grace that we receive from Jesus and the way that we receive a gift that involves your thoughts, desires and behaviour is by having the thoughts, the desires and actions. It is a gift you live out, work out. It's a '_working out_' of the salvation that is free-grace.

God loved us first. We must accept that:

I John 4:10-11 - In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (ESV)

I John 4:19 - We love because he first loved us. (ESV)

II Corinthians 5:21 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)

Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (ESV)

When we are believing in Jesus Christ's finished work and obeying Jesus, obeying His commandments, it is actually God who is working in us, transforming us, sanctifying us, restoring us:

Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (ESV)

Song

youtube.com: Yet Not I, But Through Christ In Me - Selah ~ 1 Hour Lyric Video

We serve Christ:

Matthew 25:40 - And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (ESV)

Mark 9:37 - Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me. (ESV)

If a person serves Christ, this is not a dead works-based gospel, but is simply obeying the gospel. That person has been brought into obedience by the grace of God.

II Peter 3:14-18 - Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

We are supposed to then proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light:

I Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (ESV)

God is amazing. Because He made me born-again so I could come into a relationship with Him where I can truthfully say that I was stuck in my sin and God broke that sin off me through making me born-again, and has given me a new Spirit so I can walk in obedience to Him.

It's only possible through what Jesus Christ has achieved for us on the cross, because the blood of Jesus Christ redeems us as we abide in Him:

Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, (ESV)

Song

Chris Tomlin - Holy Forever {Lyric Video} - YouTube

Hebrews 12:28-29 - Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (ESV)

Even having faith in God through faith in Jesus is obedience according to Romans 16:26. If a person is trusting in Him when they die, they will live.

Romans 16:26 - but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith — (ESV)

Also, faith in Jesus is obedience to Jesus, because we are instructed to hold the faith without partiality - that's faithfulness to God regarding seeking to do His will which includes obedience to His commandments:

James 2:1 - My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. (ESV)

The Apostle Paul says something similar. Faith is a matter of being accountable to God, even with respect to law-keeping:

Romans 14:22 - The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. (ESV)

Through faith to Jesus we are justified - that's believing obedience, accountable to God - so it's quite important to bear one another's burdens because Jesus, our Master, commanded us to do it. We keep accountable to God with what we believe/do in obedience to Him:

Galatians 2:16 - yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (ESV)

We must go to Jesus to receive eternal life.

Our obedience is penitent, but our our justification doesn't hang on our perfection. Our obedience should also be without partiality.

Hebrews 5:9 - And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

Also I conclude that obeying Jesus Christ is having faith in Him.

God wants to be our strength. AMEN!!

What we should do now is acknowledge the LORD, keep our eyes on Jesus, and live godly lives (godliness is behaviour in accordance with the knowledge of God, believe the truth and walk in that truth, love the light, walk in the light, walk in the truth). Trust in the LORD to save us as we walk in the light (in obedience):

Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (ESV)

God acts for those who wait for Him:

Isaiah 64:4 - From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. (ESV)

Also, waiting on the LORD our strength is renewed:

Isaiah 40:31 - but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (ESV)

We receive an anointing from God. God teaches us and we learn from it and abide in Him:

I John 2:27 - But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything—and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you—abide in him. (ESV)

God leads us into the truth:

John 16:13 - When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (ESV)

John 17:17 - Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (ESV)

John 6:63 - It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (ESV)

John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)

We walk the way in which Jesus walked to abide in Jesus' love:

I John 2:6 - whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (ESV)

John 15:10 - If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. (ESV)

I John 4:12 - No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (ESV)

I John 4:16 - So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (ESV)

I John 4:15 - Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (ESV)

I John 3:14 - We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. (ESV)

I John 3:17 - But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? (ESV)

As we walk in the Spirit of Jesus, we are strengthened to walk as Jesus walked. We are ourselves empowered to walk as Jesus walked thanks to Jesus' own endurance, and that is unlocked by having believing, obedient, trusting, following faith in Jesus where we are being led by His Spirit, and are walking by His Spirit:

Hebrews 12:1-3 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (ESV)

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (ESV)

God provides the strength by which we do service to Him so that Jesus may be glorified and God may be glorified through Jesus:

I Peter 4:11 - Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (NASB)

God literally helps us if we ask Him for help:

Psalms 46:1-3 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah (ESV)

See how we obey Him and he helps us:

I John 3:21-23 - Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (ESV)

As obedient children of God we ask God in prayer and if it's according to His will He hears us and he grants us our requests:

I Peter 1:14 - As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, (ESV)

I John 5:14-15 - And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (ESV)

But we must forgive:

Mark 11:24-25 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (ESV)

Polycarp 6:2

If then we entreat the Lord that He would forgive us, we also ought to forgive: for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and we must all stand at the judgment-seat of Christ, and each man must give an account of himself.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31 - What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (ESV)

Song

youtube.com: Everlasting God

Psalms 68:5 - Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. (ESV)

Psalms 82:3-4 - Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (ESV)

We get out of the way everything that is an obstacle to enjoying God when we are forgiven. AMEN:

Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, (ESV)

Colossians 1:14 - in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (ESV)

Romans 3:21-26 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (ESV)

Sermon

John Piper: God is the Gospel - YouTube @time: 40 min 42 sec

Romans 5:1-2 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (ESV)

We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. That's the point of justification. Who cares if we are righteous. We don't want to be God - we want to see the glory of God.

The reason we want to be righteous is so we get God. We don't get put in hell.

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)

Not only are we able to behold the glory of God, but we are transformed!

II Corinthians 3:18 - And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (ESV)

We want to honour/exalt/magnify Christ in our lives, to trust Him, honour Him, believe His promises, and even faithfully wait/hold to those promises, and even want others to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God:

Philippians 1:20-21 - According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (KJV)

II Corinthians 4:4 - In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (ESV)

We want to obey God, and we will be transformed in this life:

Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (ESV)

And have communion with God:

Revelation of John 3:4 - Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. (ESV)

The motivation has to be right. We do work for God to honour God, and as a response to Him loving us first, and as a response of love for Him forgiving us first, and giving us the gift of eternal life.

We are instructed to work for God:

II John 1:8 - Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. (ESV)

In believing in Jesus, we are guaranteed an inheritance in heaven:

Ephesians 1:13,14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

The inheritance is in heaven:

I Peter 1:4 - to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (ESV)

We work for the Lord while believing in Jesus:

Colossians 3:23-25 - Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. (ESV)

So once again, we are actually instructed to work for God, but it's not wrong under the right conditions:

Hebrews 6:10 - For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. (ESV)

All the Apostle Paul is saying here, I think is that in "working for God" doesn't imply you have accepted a gift. But, yes, you can accept the gift (believe in Jesus) and under that condition work for God:

Romans 4:4 - Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. (ESV)

We still really do need to accept the free gift! Actually, it's imperative, no matter how much we've been attempting to work for God, that we accept the free gift from God:

Romans 4:5-8 - And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (ESV)

Yes, we must turn from our wicked ways to obey God - absolutely!:

Romans 6:16-18 - Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (ESV)

The free gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord:

Romans 6:20-23 - When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

After believing in Jesus, we must turn from our wicked ways and serve God:

Luke 6:46-49 - Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. (ESV)

Jesus is the definitive Son of God. But we may be adopted as sons through faith in Jesus:

John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (ESV)

Galatians 3:26-29 - for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (ESV)

Jesus has literally taught people that that if we love our enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return we will be rewarded and be sons of the Most High. This shows that obedience to Jesus is just part of having faith in Jesus:

Luke 6:35-36 - But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (ESV)

The prophets, saints, and servants of Jesus will be rewarded:

Revelation of John 11:18 - The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth. (ESV)

I Thessalonians 5:12-14 - We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (ESV)

I just want to be clear that good works we do in obedience to Jesus are still considered a gift to us. We work out what God has worked for. It's even a gift to be in position of being able to do good works in service to Jesus after He has washed us:

Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV)

• Eph 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith (G4102 pistis); and that not of yourselves, it is the gift (G1435 doron) of God; (NASB)
• Eph 2:9 - not as a result of works (G2041 ergon), so that no one may boast. (NASB)
• Eph 2:10 - For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (G2041 ergon), which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (NASB)

1: :  1435  doron  do'-ron
2: 
3:  a present; specially, a sacrifice:--gift, offering.

1: :  2041  ergon  er'-gon
2: 
3:  from a primary (but obsolete) ergo (to work); toil (as an effort or
4:  occupation); by implication, an act:--deed, doing, labour, work.

Work being done by God in us to sanctify us and bring us fruit for everlasting life is work done in faith:

Romans 6:22 - But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. (ESV)

Matthew 3:8 - Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. (ESV)

We must be abiding in Jesus to produce fruit, and that means we must have faith in Jesus:

John 15:4 - Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. (ESV)

OK, so we should confess that Jesus is the Son of God and continue obeying Him in faith:

I John 4:15 - Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (ESV)

So the problem isn't work (even work relating to salvation) but the problem is work that is not done in faith (i.e. dead work).

Hebrews 6:1 - Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, (ESV)

The faith Paul talks about is faith towards God. The faith towards God believes God and believes Jesus:

Romans 14:23 - But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (ESV)

I believe that anyone who trusts (is trusting) in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation, even they have no works, but only a trusting heart, believing what Jesus said, and putting their hope in Jesus for their salvation, repentant and willing to obey (obedient), theoretically are to be in Christ if God does it. I consider that obedience to Jesus and turning away from sin is essential to be found in Him. If someone dies while trusting in Him they will live. If someone trusts in Him while they live they will never die.

Song

Hillsong+Delirious? - History Maker

II Corinthians 1:22 - and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (ESV)

I John 4:13-16 - By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (ESV)

II Timothy 1:7-9 - for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, (ESV)

Forgiveness from God is received by faith:

Romans 3:25 - whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (ESV)

Because God loved us first:

• The Apostle Paul endeavours to know Jesus ('makes it his own'. See Php 3:9-13 below) because Jesus made Paul His own
  • To be found in Jesus is what Paul describes as the righteousness from God that depends on faith
  • We know Jesus by believing in Him and obeying His commandments, and when we love and forgive we know God loved us and forgive us first
• We should love because He loved us first
• We must forgive as we have been forgiven

God cancelled the record of debt of our sin with the blood of Jesus Christ:

Colossians 2:14 - by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (ESV)

We are supposed to have a response of repentance from sin. God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance from sin. And turning from sin is a loving response to grace given:

Romans 2:4 - Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (ESV)

We are supposed to have a response of love for Jesus. God's forgiveness should lead us to love God and want to obey Him:

Luke 7:42-43 - When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt. And he said to him, You have judged rightly. (ESV)

Song

youtube.com: In Christ Alone {My Hope Is Found} - Adrienne Liesching | LYRIC VIDEO

It's for our own good that we stop sinning. Sin is burdensome:

II Timothy 3:6-9 - For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. (ESV)

Hebrews 12:1 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (ESV)

Sin made against our own body is really bad for us. This is a warning:

I Corinthians 6:16-20 - Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, The two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (ESV)

Romans 13:14 - But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (ESV)

Sin no more so that nothing worse happens:

John 5:14 - Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. (ESV)

John 8:10-11 - Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more. (ESV)

Sin enslaves. We're supposed to stop doing it. Jesus payed the price of sin for us to set us free from it and we shouldn't let ourselves become enslaved by sin again.

Quote by Tim Keller

When you do a sin, it has a powerful effect in which your own freedom - your freedom to want the good, to will the good, to think the good or understand the good is being undermined so that you are more and more by sin losing your freedom. It undermines your mind, it undermines your emotions and it undermines your will.

When it comes to 'works' and 'law-keeping', I believe disciples of Jesus should know they have been forgiven by grace through faith and they should also practice their righteousness and a person who has accepted forgiveness for their sin by the atonement made in Jesus' blood should certainly endeavour after that to fulfill practically the Royal Law, that is to love one's neighbour as themself, even owing that to other people:

Romans 13:8 - Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (ESV)

Galatians 6:2-6 - Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. (ESV)

I Peter 1:22 - Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, (ESV)

The Golden Rule, I think explains that we should behave like a child of Father God who is by nature Good and gives good gifts to His children, and gifts that are truly good, far exceeding any amount of favour we might show our own children. As we behave like a child of Father God, believing the gospel of Jesus, and loving with Christ's love, we can really say our Father is God, as a child takes after their parents, and a child of Father God behaves like Jesus and follows Jesus. We try to follow Jesus, and imitate Christ's pattern, as Christ is the Son of God.

youtube.com: Sin as Slavery - Timothy Keller Sermon

When it comes to behavior when it comes to the behavior that religions ask and demand and urge upon us, there is almost absolute complete uniformity and universal consensus we're not supposed to tell lies, we're not supposed to break our promises, we're not supposed to rob or murder each other, but respect each other.

In that sense we're supposed to live with justice and equity. We're supposed to live by the Golden Rule. We're supposed to be generous with with our possessions. There's, you know, several of these things every religion - everybody - understands that we should live that way.

There's universal consensus that we should live that way, and then of course on top of that we know that the main reason for all the misery in the world is because we don't live that way. The main reason for all the problems of the of our society is because people don't live that way. Now when everybody agrees what we should be doing what's right, there there's no doubt and everybody agrees that the reason that we're miserable is because we're not doing it - the Bible's explanation is that human hearts are sinful but beyond that that we're slaves to sin.

We should love others, as we would want to be loved by others. God gives common grace to all people, even the evil. We should love in this way, as our Father in Heaven:

Matthew 5:45 - so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (ESV)

I do not think the Golden Rule is saying that "God is humanity." Neither do I think the Golden Rule is saying that God treats us precisely how we treat others.

I think the Golden Rule is really telling us to be loving, and love our enemies, as we would want to be loved by our enemies - love people the way Father God loves us:

Matthew 7:9-12 - Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (ESV)

We should be imitators of God's love:

Psalms 103:8 - The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (ESV)

Ephesians 5:1-2 - Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (ESV)

I John 4:7 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (ESV)

Love your enemies as well as your friends. Be like Your Heavenly Father. Be perfect. Love (25. agapaó) your enemies means "treasuring your enemies" and looks like not repaying evil for evil. It sometimes looks like refusing to do evil and instead doing good to those who do you harm, taking the initiative in overcoming evil with good:

Matthew 5:43-48 - You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (ESV)

Proverbs 25:21-22 - If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you. (ESV)

Also, as far as law-keeping goes, I believe Christians are not prohibited from following other parts of the Mosaic Law by faith.

Also, different to the Apostle Paul's conviction, I am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that there are things that I should commit to doing for Jesus to be faithful to Him.

Consider downloading N64 ROMS. I don't want to do it any longer. It feels wrong to me. Also, I consider AI fiction to be unclean, so I would avoid it.

Romans 14:23 - But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (ESV)

Here are a few reasons why I don't like AI fiction.

Lies and deceit:

• Using AI fiction to write a cover letter for a job application
  • Resulting in increased difficulty in getting a job for refusing to write lies on a resume
• Using AI fiction to misrepresent yourself and lure girls over a dating platform
• Using AI fiction to impersonate or misrepresent people

Adultery:

• Fantasizing over AI fiction

The systems are mostly built/trained using theft:

• Stealing intellectual property (code, artwork, style etc.)
• …

Like blood diamonds and laundered money, these LLMs are generally not clean from my perspective, and what they produce is not clean, and the way they're often used is not clean.

So if I am experiencing persecution for refusing to use AI fiction to misrepresent myself to get ahead, then I am being persecuted for righteousness-sake and I have a lot of faith that God will honour that I want to obey Him and not sin, and I'm grieved by the use of AI to misrepresent and manipulate people.

Ezekiel 9:4 - And the LORD said to him, Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it. (ESV)

I think a lot of people are literally blinded from being able to see the truth of this:

II Corinthians 4:4 - In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (ESV)

I rebuke AI fiction in Jesus Christ's name and I choose to allow my mind to be conformed to the mind of Christ and I choose to listen to the voice of Christ and follow Christ. All of the generative AI stuff I consider to be unclean.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"I do believe that the church is one of the foundations of our civilization. Without the church performing its sacramental and pastoral functions, the forces of barbarism would be given free sway. The church cannot remain a positive force if it continues to remove itself from the stress and strain of contemporary events. The church has a prophetic role to play in the world, not just a pastoral role. The true church and the world can that always be unfriendly terms. The sort of friendliness between church and society that we have cultivated in the past is actually the cause of the churches increasing irrelevance."

God I hate living in this world. It's a cesspool. I just feel as though it's on the abyss.

Revelation of John 18:4 - Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; (ESV)

Everyone will give an account of themself to God:

Romans 14:12 - So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (ESV)

Romans 14:14-15 - I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. (ESV)

Mark 7:18-19 - And he said to them, Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled? (Thus he declared all foods clean.) (ESV)

In some cases, I might even admire those that go beyond what a law strictly requires, inclusive of what the law requires. If a person wanted to go beyond Exodus 20:13 to avoid eating meat to spare the lives of animals and make themself accountable to God over that in the hope it pleases God then I admire that commitment actually, but I wouldn't let anyone pass judgement on me over eating meat myself:

Romans 14:16 - So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. (ESV)

Christians should both submit to the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, having the imputed righteousness of Christ that we believe we have as we are walking with Christ and Christians should practice righteousness too (as Jesus said, "go and sin no more"), and Christians should seek to keep accountability primarily to God in regards to the law because He sees everything, and secondarily have good conscience with men, to love as Jesus loved, and give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God what is God's - and God owns our hearts - and we should be prepared to die for Jesus, and remain faithful to Jesus:

Matthew 23:2-7 - The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. (ESV)

We love in the knowledge we have already been loved first when God sent Jesus Christ to pay for our sin with His blood. I was born-again of the Spirit and regenerated on 2 April 2022.

That's how we are found in God, by accepting that He loved us first through Jesus Christ, and God puts us into Him.

John 13:6-7 - He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. (ESV)

After being born-again of the spirit I don't say I'm completely sinless - that would be deceiving myself.

But I continue walking in the light, in trusting obedience to Jesus, and Jesus' blood continues to cleanse me from all sin:

I John 1:7-9 - But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (ESV)

It is clear that following Jesus helps us to not sin, which means that the destructiveness of sin for us is still a reality if we are not following Jesus. We get on top of it by following Jesus and walking by His Spirit:

Galatians 5:14-16 - For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (ESV)

Someone who has just been "born of God" is an infant in Christ and is counted as a child of God, but an infant. I mention this because an infant grows into maturity, into living in the Spirit the way that God does, into thinking and behaving as a mature child of God:

I Corinthians 3:1 - But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (ESV)

Romans 8:14 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (ESV)

A person who is mature in Christ has faith in Christ, follows the teachings of Christ and the pattern of His life, and is spiritually minded, and thinks with Christ's wisdom, not worldly wisdom, and lives for the will of God:

Colossians 1:28 - Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (ESV)

We must live in the spirit the way God does, not for human passions, but for the will of God:

I Peter 4:1-6 - Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. (ESV)

Living by the Golden Rule (or better, the Royal Law) still comes after having been forgiven by Jesus:

Matthew 7:12 - So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (ESV)

I've heard it said Christians "do not need to follow the Golden Rule". But the Golden Rule is at the heart of Christ's law and even after being born-again and accepting forgiveness from God, we should walk in the light, following Christ's law.

Applying love to the Golden Rule, we have the second of the great commandments, the Royal Law, which is to: "Love your neighbour as yourself". It's actually very important.

We are supposed to fulfill the Royal Law, even after having received forgiveness:

James 2:1 - My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. (ESV)

Committing sin can still happen after having been forgiven. Committing sin happens when we do not fulfill the Royal Law, or when we are showing unfair bias as we do it. Therefore being led by the Spirit of Jesus, we should be abiding by the Royal law, and to be deliberately breaking the Royal law, a person could no longer say they are being led by the Spirit of Jesus:

James 2:8-9 - If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (ESV)

But we must love like Christ loved us in the knowledge that He loved us first. We must forgive our family in Christ, as we have been forgiven:

Leviticus 19:18 - You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (ESV)

Also, I believe that abiding by Christ's law and loving your neighbour as yourself does not cancel out the rest of the law of God, but that a person must be actually following Christ by obeying Christ's commandments in order to not be "under the law" and to be "not guilty".

Following Jesus starts with believing in Him and believing He is the Son of God, and Anointed one, the Messiah, and following Jesus continues in getting to know Him through obedience to Him:

Philippians 3:9-13 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

So an important part of being led by the Spirit of Jesus and being not "under the law" is to continuing to forgive one another as we have been forgiven by Jesus, and walk in the light as He is in the light.

In Christ Jesus, as we are abiding in Jesus, getting to know Jesus through obedience to Him, getting to know Him in Spirit as we get really intimate with Jesus, walking as He walked, we have the peace of God:

Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

Following Jesus includes your thought life:

Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (ESV)

All people should seek to follow the Royal Law which is to love one's neighbour as themself, bearing their neighbours burdens and forgiving one another, but who has done that perfectly?

Quote by Tim Keller

"I want you to meet the needs of other people with all of the strength, with all of the joy and all of the creativity and with all of the speed with which you meet your own needs. 12 hours, that's all - Golden Rule, just try it"

As Christians we were at one time disobedient, and were not able to do this perfectly, and we have been saved by Jesus, having been forgiven by Him, and after we are grafted into Christ, we now have His righteousness and Almighty God as our Father, and Jesus is our Master and we seek to please our Master, like the All Blacks try to please their coach, and we seek to follow the Royal Law, which is a part of being obedient to Jesus. We have His Spirit, and His Spirit helps us to do this.

Quote by Billy Graham

And he fell down before them and says, "What must I do to be saved? And they gave him a very simple answer, not something complicated. Simple, so that nobody here can ever say that you did you couldn't do it. He said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe, commit your life to Christ, and you shall be saved. It commits the believer wholeheartedly to one about whose person and work he has gained a clear-cut conviction.

Quote by Billy Graham

And it's so simple that millions stumble over it.

People think it's so complicated to be a Christian, to be a true follower of Christ. No, it is not. You start out very simply.

That first step is to say, "Lord, I'm sorry for my sin. I turn from my sin. I receive Christ as my Lord and Savior."

Now two things are involved in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. One is repentance. It means that you rethink. The word repentance means "change". I change my attitude. I change my way of living. But you cannot change by yourself. You need God to help you to change. So he sends the Holy Spirit to help you in the changing process.

And then, secondly, it means trust. Faith is described in the Bible as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith or belief is not faith without evidence, but commitment without reservation. It means that you hold nothing back. You totally commit this life, the future life, and everything you are or everything you hope to be to the person of Jesus Christ.

Titus 3:8-15 - The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. (ESV)

Matthew 6:9 - Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. (ESV)

1: Dear Heavenly Father,
2: hallowed be Your name.
3: Please forgive me, Father God, for using Your name where it ought not to be used,
4: and for any misrepresentation I have made.
5: In Jesus Christ's name I ask,
6: AMEN!!

For this reason, I think that Bible translations such as the ESV, correctly are reserved about printing the LORD's name inline throughout the whole Bible. The JW, as they consolidate their Bible translation (NWT) using the LORD's name, seems to me either like an effort to try to engineer God, or self-affirm their own understanding, which is self-exalting but may (especially by those in their congregation) be done in ignorance. I do not affirm the NWT translation, but I do affirm the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.

However, I also neither like the way in which the names of other so-called gods are used in other translations of Scriptures and I can understand the concern about that:

Exodus 23:13 - Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips. (ESV)

Let's have reverence for Jehovah God and serve Him:

Malachi 3:15-18 - And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape. Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. (ESV)

These Scriptures refers to Jesus' name:

Matthew 18:20 - For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (ESV)

Matthew 18:19-20 - Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (ESV)

The JW are right to affirm that we must remember God's name. Exodus 3:15 and Malachi 3:16 refer to God's name, Yhvh, and Christians within the English speaking world generally affirm the name is spoken as Jehovah or Yahweh. It's right that we must affirm God's name and remember God's name:

Exodus 3:13-15 - Then Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? what shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. And he said, Say this to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, Say this to the people of Israel, The LORD (3068. Yhvh), the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. (ESV)

Exodus 9:16 - But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. (ESV)

1: Yhvh: the proper name of the God of Israel
2: Original Word: יְהוָֹה
3: Part of Speech: Proper Name
4: Transliteration: Yhvh
5: Phonetic Spelling: (yeh-ho-vaw')
6: Definition: the proper name of the God of Israel

Malachi 3:16 - Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. (ESV)

Father God has given Jesus Christ all authority in heaven and on earth. In other words, Jesus Christ is God, just as Jehovah is God and Holy Spirit is God:

Philippians 2:9-10 - Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (ESV)

Matthew 28:18-20 - And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (ESV)

Hebrews 3:6 - but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (ESV)

Philippians 2:5-6 - Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, (ESV)

And God in His mercy saves us and brings us to Himself through Jesus His Son:

Ephesians 2:1-5 - And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— (ESV)

As I was on my way driving to Elim church today, I was thinking "external holiness/cleanliness" is a good thing. Jesus told some hypocritical Pharisees who were teachers of the Law but unclean within that they were like _whitewashed tombs.

Matthew 23:26-28 - You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (ESV)

The Pharisees were focusing on external cleanliness but ignoring their own hearts.

When we think of sin, it involves being enslaved to the practice of it, and it also involves the heart's desire of it. Sinful thoughts should be quickly disposed of and not allowed to be sown in the heart.

If we focus on cleaning the heart through obedience to the Truth and the washing of the Word in our heart, then that's the most important thing. We can be justified by humbling ourselves before God.

Luke 18:11-14 - The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. (ESV)

But our external circumstances may be making it difficult to meet the external appearance of obedient faith, such as "being employed and working money" which is important as to bear one's own load by working is a commandment from the Apostle Paul, but having paid employment in this world to earn your keep is no sure indication of actual obedient faith in the heart of the person.

II Thessalonians 3:10 - For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. (ESV)

If we focus on cleaning the heart through obedience to the Truth and the washing of the Word, then that's the priority over trying to maintain the external appearance of godliness. The devil can take your job, but should not be allowed to take your obedience and faith and love for the Lord Jesus. It's good and glorifies God to keep obeying Jesus' commandments to serve Him, serving others, even if the devil puts pressure on you to make you fear for your own self-preservation.

That doesn't mean we don't endeavour to meet the commandment of the Apostle Paul but we are baptised into Christ, not into Paul, and Christ is our Master, not Paul, nor the Law of Moses. We are enslaved to Christ who is our righteousness - we are enslaved to Righteousness, obeying Jesus. The requirement of the Law is really fulfilled in our hearts and then that should become apparent on our outside.

We are made clean on the inside of the Word which Jesus has spoken to us:

John 15:3 - Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (ESV)

Ephesians 1:13 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, (ESV)

Acts 10:43 - To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. (ESV)

That Word should clean our souls as we believe/obey it. The gospel (that seed of Truth) then cleans our hearts as we believe/obey it. And then we live in good conscience with God (forgiven and repentant), holding to the Truth - all of what we have heard from Jesus including the teaching about godliness (righteous living in accord with the knowledge of God, in accord with repentance). Our exterior behaviour also is cleaned as our hearts and thoughts are cleansed. We must continue to believe and obey Jesus as we read/hear His words.

Matthew 17:5 - He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. (ESV)

Pride and insubordination against God is antichrist-like behaviour:

II Thessalonians 2:3-4 - Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. (ESV)

Now with regards to the way people should (or shouldn't) act:

Quote by Tim Keller

Know what the Bible says: Sin is craving something more than God. Sin is making something more important than God. Sin is is living for something more than God. If God is at the periphery of your life, if you're just religious occasionally, if God [is] sort of on the outskirts of your life, that is sin. That's the essence of sin.

It's really important to respect the testimony of the Cross:

Polycarp 6:3

For every one who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is antichrist: and whosoever shall not confess the testimony of the Cross, is of the devil; and whosoever shall pervert the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts and say that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, that man is the firstborn of Satan.

Bad or unchrist-like behaviour might be making money or some other thing more important than God to "get ahead" materially, placing burdens on others to fulfill the same materialistic/worldly standard, especially on those who have their priorities already in the correct order (they are obeying God, and are keeping their heart clean) and not lifting a finger to help them but actually make things more difficult. What I really mean is, it is the opposite of teaching Christlikeness to force someone to clean up their outward appearance or to meet certain worldly standards when they are in relationship Jesus, spending their time trying to help other people, and the bad outward appearance is a result of sacrificing for others following Jesus - I mean it is anti-christ-like behaviour to try to stop people from following Jesus or punish people for following Jesus.

John 19:28 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), I thirst. (ESV)

Matthew 23:26 - You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. (ESV)

Jesus came to help us, shed His blood for us as atonement to ransom us from our sin, so that we can be set free from it and put a stop to it, and to bring us to God. Jesus certainly has made it easier for us to obey God, and we can be sanctified by His blood:

Luke 23:36-37 - The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself! (ESV)

Psalms 69:21 - They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. (ESV)

I still consider that what matters is obedience to God from the heart:

John 8:44 - You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (ESV)

Matthew 23:27-28 - Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (ESV)

We are also supposed to speak up for the God's Truth. We should affirm sound Christian teaching when it comes to what is sinful. Just because we may not judge others when it comes to something sinful, that doesn't mean that God wont judge us for practicing and affirming something sinful.

It's not loving to make life harder on people by placing higher standards of exterior 'cleanliness' without helping them to achieve it, when in reality the way to achieve it is to clean the inside first:

Matthew 23:4 - They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. (ESV)

Matthew 23:25-29 - Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, (ESV)

Luke 11:39 - And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. (ESV)

youtube.com: Living For The Lord Jesus - A Fulfilled Life - Mar Mari Emmanuel

Specific example:

Let's say there is a poor by appearances (but rich in God) person on the street who loves God with all their heart but has a rough outward appearance and the reason they have a rough outwards appearance is because the world hates them as a result of their faith in Jesus, being obedient to Jesus. Now along comes a worldly person who loves money, the pride of life and the pride of their possessions, and they love and desire money more than they love God (this is one reason why I don't like the prosperity gospel). This worldly person goes up to the poor person on the street and says they must be burdened with sin because of their outward appearance, that they are poor because of sin, rather than because of obedience, that must should their eyes away from following God and focus on worldly things, that they have demons and need to clean up their appearance to be a real Christian, and they don't lift a finger to help the poor person meet their standard of exterior wellbeing. The worldly ignorant person has just acted like the blind Pharisees, and not like the good Samaritan. The materially poor person may be in that situation because they were the good Samaritan to someone and saved someone's life.

John 15:18-20 - If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (ESV)

The one worrying about the material things isn't in doing so exhibiting the love of the Father in them but the poor person who loves God does - the materially poor but rich in faith person has their priorities in order and doesn't need correction from the natural, worldly person, but rather needs mercy from the materialistic worldly person.

Revelation of John 2:9 - I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. (ESV)

And the materialistic, worldly person needs to learn from the poor person so they can put God first:

Revelation of John 3:17 - For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (ESV)

This is not glorifying poverty, but rather is about the truth of the matter that we must have God as our top love in our heart:

I John 2:15 - Do not love (agapate) the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (ESV)

Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (ESV)

James 2:5-8 - Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. (ESV)

It's the ones who serve Jesus who God delights in their prosperity:

Psalms 35:27 - Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant! (ESV)

Servants serve:

Mark 10:43-45 - But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (ESV)

Matthew 6:25-34 - Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (ESV)

If anyone claims to be a believer but does not abide in the teaching of Christ, they do not have God, and we should not associate with them. We need to cling to Christ's words and teachings and use them to correct our brothers in Christ. If there is resistance to Christ's teachings within the church, then that is not good.

We should let people in who want to follow Jesus. We should give the cold shoulder to people who do not want to follow Jesus.

If anyone claims to be a believer but doesn't abide in Christ's teachings then don't welcome that person in.

It's really important that we continue in the teaching of Christ and about Christ and allow ourselves to come into agreement with the teaching of Christ and about Christ.

We should separate ourselves from people who do not stay/remain/abide in the teaching of Christ (including about service and godliness) and about Christ (doctrine, even from the gospel accounts, eyewitnesses, etc.). If people do not want to continue in the teaching of Christ and about Christ, and they do not abide in it, and do not want to be corrected by the Word of God, then we should separate ourselves from them:

II John 1:7-11 - For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching (1322. didaché) of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. (ESV)

We must also withdraw ourselves from false teachers who bring in destructive heresies, particularly those teaching us we don't need to serve/obey the Master who bought us:

II Peter 2:1 - But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (ESV)

Read

bibleoutlines.com: Bible Outlines - Jude 1-4 - Doctrine Worth Fighting For - Combating False Teachers

Jude 1:4 - For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Jude 1:4 - For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)

We shouldn't exclude those who are following Jesus and being taught by Jesus, and producing the right fruits. The ones who serve Jesus are obedient to Him:

Romans 16:17-19 - I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. (ESV)

Luke 6:22-23 - Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. (ESV)

We must produce the right fruits:

Matthew 21:43 - Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. (ESV)

I Timothy 1:5-7 - The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (ESV)

We must produce the right fruits, not the wrong fruits. And we certainly shouldn't shut out people who are producing the right fruits:

Matthew 23:13 - But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. (ESV)

Matthew 19:14 - but Jesus said, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. (ESV)

I John 1:7 - But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (ESV)

I Timothy 6:1-5 - Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. (ESV)

If anyone claims to be a believer but is an unrepentant sinner then don't allow that person in:

I Corinthians 5:11-13 - But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. (ESV)

Read

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/avoid-the-unrepentant-but-what-if-theyre-family

If anyone claims to be a believer but does not agape (treasure) his brother, they are still in darkness:

I John 2:9 - Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. (ESV)

We are all stewards of God's varied grace so there is obligation to serve one another:

I Peter 4:10 - As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: (ESV)

Churches should be teaching Jesus' teachings, and we should be teaching each other to abide in Christ's teachings without hypocrisy (i.e. whilst abiding ourselves in Christ's teachings):

Luke 12:42-49 - And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, My master is delayed in coming, and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! (ESV)

The ones who love Jesus, keep His teachings:

John 14:23-24 - Jesus answered 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. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. (ESV)

God definitely disciplines us, even if we love Jesus and keep Jesus' commandments:

Hebrews 12:6-8 - For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Those who love God - those who believe and obey Him - those who trust Him - will experience trial:

James 1:12 - Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (ESV)

I believe strongly that I am currently going through this and I have been going through this discipline/testing/repentance/forgiving-others stuff for a year or longer now:

I Corinthians 11:32 - But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (ESV)

We have to believe and obey the Truth. We have to agree with the word of God, and allow God to correct our beliefs and behaviour:

John 17:17-19 - Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (ESV)

I think we can expect God will discipline us to help us to keep the Royal Law.

Whoever loves with Christ's love knows Father God:

I John 4:7 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (ESV)

Those walking (living) according to Jesus' Spirit should be able to do this:

Romans 8:4 - in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (ESV)

James 2:8 - If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. (ESV)

Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (ESV)

Romans 13:10 - Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (ESV)

Romans 13:8 - Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (ESV)

Whoever loves with Christ's love knows Father God:

I John 4:7 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (ESV)

John 15:25 - But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: They hated me without a cause. (ESV)

John 18:9 - This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one. (ESV)

Matthew 26:56 - But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled. (ESV)

Matthew 5:17 - Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (ESV)

To love your neighbour as yourself means forgiving them too, and remember that Jesus forgave us. It also means to not take vengeance (Christ's law includes not rendering evil for evil):

Leviticus 19:18 - You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (ESV)

Priorities:

• 1. Jesus
• 2-∞. Everything else

Matthew 6:24 - No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (ESV)

Job 22:24-26 - if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent bed, then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. (ESV)

God wants us to love Him, treasure Him (25. agapaó), value Him with all our heart, and love and value and treasure one another (25. agapaó) as ourselves

youtube.com: What Is It Like to Enjoy God? @time: 35 min 16 sec

We should be able to live while having confidence that Jesus is all we need. The fear of not having enough money should not be stopping us from obeying God and treasuring God above all things and loving one another as God has instructed.

Hebrews 13:5-6 - Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me? (ESV)

You cannot make money master over you:

Matthew 6:24 - No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (ESV)

We must accept Jesus as Master over us:

Romans 14:4 - Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (ESV)

But not only that; We also have to want God, treasure God and love God. And that means loving Him, treasure Him (25. agapaó), love Him in trust and in belief and obedience. In order to follow Jesus, sometimes you will have to sacrifice financial security because there are many people you around you who need you to lighten their burdens because we value/treasure (25. agapaó) people more than material/worldly things. Also God may even test you to see if you love your money more than Him:

I Peter 4:12 - Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (ESV)

We should be willing to have our pockets completely emptied as we give mercy to others and get to the point where we're relying on God alone. We should be able to do that if it were required of us. We have to root the love of money out of our own hearts and love God with our whole heart, and trust God who is our life!

Luke 12:23 - For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. (ESV)

Job 22:24-26 - if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent bed, then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. (ESV)

youtube.com: JESUS | Full Album | Jesus Image @time: 21 min 58 sec

God You're still good and I thank You for what we do have. We may not have all that we've been asking for but we thank You that we have everything that we need because we have You, Jesus!

AMEN!!

Deuteronomy 30:6 - And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (ESV)

I think I John 2:15-17 is essentially saying, "Do not agape love the world or what's in the world. Do not love the things of this world with the type of love that we have for God and for people, namely agape love." If we fall out of agape love for the world and are not conformed to the world but are transformed by the renewing of our minds then by testing we will be able to discern the will of God:

I John 2:15-17 - Do not love (agapate) the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (ESV)

John 14:15-21 - If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

Sermon

Seven Reasons We Must Pursue Supreme Satisfaction in God - YouTube

We must get on the path of having faith in Jesus, believe in the name (onoma) of Jesus, God's Son, and obey God to have confidence:

Proverbs 10:17 - Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray. (ESV)

I John 3:21-22 - Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. (ESV)

I believe this is really talking about the commandments of Jesus and even of Father God. I personally believe this includes the 10 Commandments which I believe are still important for Christians to follow by faith:

I John 3:21-24 - Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (ESV)

II Corinthians 1:20 - For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (ESV)

Hebrews 5:8-10 - Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

We must be yoked to Jesus Christ alone. How? By following His commandments in reality. If you're not yoked to Jesus then you're susceptible to being yoked to anything else.

You cannot serve God and cryptocurrency. With money, and with cryptocurrency, you are making a black and white choice between God and money.

Matthew 8:22 - And Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. (ESV)

Acts 8:18-21 - Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

This widow gave in faith, because she believes God will take care of her even if she gives everything (that's the mindset of faith):

Mark 12:41-44 - And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. (ESV)

Following Jesus doesn't mean not providing for family. In fact, following Jesus does mean providing for family. So when you read Jesus' commandments and someone asks you for help, you give them what they need, without stealing though. If the money is for taking care of family, we must keep that. But our neighbour who we must love are more than just our immediate family. We are commanded by the Apostle Paul to provide for our family:

I Timothy 5:8 - But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (ESV)

Following Jesus comes first, even before following your family. To even love your family best is to put Jesus first. It's for their sake too:

Matthew 10:36-39 - And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (ESV)

Mark 8:34 - And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (ESV)

It's black and white - we must be yoked to Jesus:

Mark 10:21 - And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (ESV)

The thoughts that go through our minds must not be:

• How can I secure my life here on earth with enough crypto to be taken care of so I don't have to worry - that type of thinking is emnity against God. That's making money #1 and Jesus after that.

James 4:4 - You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (ESV)

John 12:25 - Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (ESV)

The thoughts that go through our minds must be:

• How can I serve God agape-ing God, (valuing and treasuring Him, His name, His words, His precepts), and agape the light of the glory of God in Christ, cease to agape the world or the lusts of the world, and help to bring about the obedience of faith in Christ in other people, and agape other people. Where can I sow into the Kingdom of God? How can I agape people and show people that God agape's them, especially the neglected and needy, like in James 1:27.

James 1:27 - Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (ESV)

Luke 9:23 - And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (ESV)

Luke 9:59-62 - To another he said, Follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. (ESV)

Luke 18:22 - When Jesus heard this, he said to him, One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (ESV)

You can't follow Jesus Christ's instructions in faith while asking OpenAI if it's OK. You can not be led by God and be led by an AI such as ChatGPT. You can not be led by God and be led by a Neuralink chip.

Matthew 8:22 - And Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. (ESV)

We have the Word of God. We can also walk in Jesus' commandments. We've got to be yoked to Jesus Christ.

God can speak to us directly without internet, even through His Spirit, even in a dream.

John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)

youtube.com: Christ is Enough - Hillsong Worship | LYRIC VIDEO

Christ is enough for me. Everything I need is in You.

Money is temporary. While it's in your hands, make friends with it, by giving in charity to those in need.

Money will fail - bitcoin will fail, ethereum will fail, and when it fails people will see you as a friend.

Luke 16:1-8 - He also said to the disciples, There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager. And the manager said to himself, What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses. So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, How much do you owe my master? He said, A hundred measures of oil. He said to him, Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty. Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? He said, A hundred measures of wheat. He said to him, Take your bill, and write eighty. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. (ESV)

Luke 16:8-9 - And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (ESV)

Luke 16:11-12 - If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

I Timothy 6:9-10 - But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (ESV)

We make the confession, but we must then take hold of it.

I Timothy 6:11-12 - But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (ESV)