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Obedience is and has always been the requirement to please a parent of our flesh, and the same holds true for our Father in heaven. If He is our Father we will want to please Him. We struggle against sin because we have a will that was given a choice. We choose between the things of this world and the things of God. The eternal disposition of our soul depends on this choice. So, the big question then is:
Do you WANT to live by the Word of God? |
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God said to the first man, "Don't do that," and man did it anyway. Our flesh does things that way, i.e., what we want. All generations of man find themselves with flesh destined for friendship of the world and detachment toward God, because the world encourages us to do as we please.
That is the reason Jesus was sent, not just for the Jews as their Messiah which even today many denounce, but for all of us, Jew and non-Jew alike. Jesus is the pathway back from our fleshly lifestyles and eventual death, back to what matters, love and eternal life with God. The heavenly Father of Jesus is spirit, and thus the begotten son is part spirit as part of God, i.e., the Spirit of Jesus is the Word of God. His heavenly Father may be ours too if we choose to live by that same spirit of Jesus, i.e., the Word of God.
We must understand, the children of God do not inhabit heaven in their worldly flesh, or while they are living on this planet because this planet is not heaven. The heavenly existence lives inside them, and the "atmosphere" of heaven exists there too. Our earthly flesh does not reside in heaven until our flesh is dead, yet we who are Christ's live as part of His body here and now and thus we strive to die daily to the will of our earthly flesh (more on that later) to live by God's will as part of the body of Christ Jesus.
In the parable of the wayward (lost) son in the bible, the wayward son departs from the family. When the departing son returns, he remains a son because of his return and reconciliation with his Father. He who is part of the family receives the same status he had before he went astray, provided he returns. People return to God from their waywardness through repentance and acceptance of the Father's will by which to live and the example is Jesus the man. The wayward son may also be one who claims to be saved yet lives a life in the flesh and the pursuits thereof, and then returns to the truth and the spirit to do God's will.
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Doing God's will means doing the works Jesus did as Jesus said we would according to the Father's will.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. John 14:12
Unfortunately for some there will be a rude awakening when they find out not all churchy stuff is God's will.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23.
Many today are wayward in their own churches as their life does not reflect a life in the spirit once they leave the confines of the sanctuary. The sanctuary of some has in some ways become a place where unclean birds hateful of the truth in the Word come to roost.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13. (Emphasis added).
From the bold above we have:
Will of the flesh, will of man, and of course the ever existing will of God.
The will of man chooses to live by the will of his flesh and what the flesh wants, OR the will of God and what God wants! The same rules applied to Jesus and that is why He prayed "...not my will, but thine be done."
From Ephesians 2:3 we find this phrase: "...the desires of the flesh and of the mind..." The word "desires" can be read "the wills". The Carnal mind is connected to the flesh. Thus, the will of one's flesh and the carnal mind act in concert with one another as a natural man to breed destruction.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.
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The enemy exists and the enemy IS the god of this world (small "g")! The devil is the true enemy and not your neighbor. The god of this world is the devil and NOT the one true almighty God in heaven. See for yourself:
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
I hear this response to the above text: : "But wait, you don't understand, I was made this way and I don't believe God would play some trick on me because the way I am is all I have ever known and thus it is the WAY I AM"...
Well, I was made this way too, as you, in the flesh and I don't believe as you do, and so we are individuals. I have the traits of my parents and some might say the curses thereof I might add, but the Word and life in it has set me free. If you want someone to blame for the nature of your flesh blame your parents, they made your flesh, however we are to be thankful to our parents and honor them with the proper use of our own flesh, NOT the misuse of it in sin. We are to rise above sin and we only do that by living as Jesus did. Jesus was a man and His spirit is the Word.
Let's ask the salvation question this way: IF you had eternal life, what would you trade for it? Everybody says nothing, I would trade nothing. Why don't we who claim to be saved live as if we are Born Again? So, what would you trade for eternal life? Would you trade your riches and keep your lifestyle, when God doesn't need riches, but wants your lifestyle to be as His son Jesus and how He lived? Nobody will be Jesus, yet even He said we would do the things He did, yet most people don't ever try or stop by say it's enough doing the churchy things and never seek to know what they themselves, personally and individually are supposed to do for God.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharoah, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? Romans 9:14-21.
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The mercy and compassion are on people in the above verse, and thus it is God's choice who receives mercy and compassion. Thus, "what's the point?" You might say, "If I am who I am because of God's will, how then can I resist Gods' will and be anything other than what he made?"
He made man and your parents carried out the reproductive cycle by the ability that God created in man. The answer is yes He made you to the extent we understand He made the souls of man and gave man the ability to reproduce in the design of the body, but God will decide WHO gets mercy and WHO gets compassion. Here's a clue: He is related to them and they are His children!
If there is no unrighteousness with God, and if He made you, then the way you are must be a work of righteousness correct. Why then does the bible say certain things are sin yet the people who do those things often say they are not: "because God me like this...". Does this mean the bible is unrighteous? No, God forbid, but to many it is not true. By their doctrine the bible must be wrong or incomplete and not capable of understanding how it is now, after all it was written by men.
Some might say this sounds like theology and religion brewing, and men wrote the bible, but they must know that if the bible is not spiritual or truthful to them then they are not His child-spiritual, but they can be.
If certain sins such as homosexuality, fornication, adultery, lust...are sins against the body as the bible says they are, did God make you a work of unrighteousness or is the bible wrong and your acts are righteous despite what the bible says in that such acts are sin?
If anyone says their sinful ways are not sin, but are okay and thus justifiable products of the flesh God purposefully and intentionally made as such as one claimed, the sinful acts are the will of God and righteous and the bible is wrong, OR, those that do them are a vessel of dishonor fitted for destruction according to God's will and plan and His power, in this case to show His wrath, which will be made manifest in them when he destroys evil and them as part of it. There is no in between, because there is NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS with GOD.
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NO FLESH IS JUSTIFIED If you don't believe God would make you a vessel unto dishonor to be destroyed, then consider He made Pilate have control over the life of Jesus, the Pharaoh have power over the children of Israel for years and years, and Jesus chose a devil in Judas to betray Him,... Thus, why is that you think you may not be made a vessel unto dishonor to be destroyed? Do you think you can challenge God and beat Him for doing so, and chastise God for doing what he wants to do? Do you think it isn't so because it might happen to be YOU as an unbeliever?
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Before we go on, you must know the grace doctrine that is taught in many churches today and advocated by many churchy people is actually mercy and God is withholding his WRATH on the unbeliever until later!
What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: Romans 9:22
Disobedience IS disobeying God's will and His will is that none should perish!
We, the brethren of Jesus the Christ start here:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13
We have a will of the flesh which has it's own thoughts and desires defined and governed by a "carnal mind". We can be a "carnally minded" person or a "spiritually minded" person. The "mind of Christ" is the mind that was and is in Jesus the Christ, and that is to do God's will ONLY!
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:6-8.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Romans 8:9-10
Remember, the spirit of Christ IS the Word of God! The Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit, and nobody can live properly before God and do His will without His spirit, not even Jesus!
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