Holy Life

Posted : 8 Sep, 2014 06:00 AM

Brothers,

I want to quote what my friend Ella said:



"In Jesus you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit Ephesians 2:22



We must continue to allow God to create in us a clean heart and renew the right spirit in us.



God can only tear down the building that we have build within ourselves as we give Him permission and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us.



Once God has torn down what we have built on the wrong foundation, He begins a new work of reconstruction and restoration in us, rebuilding and remodeling our old structure removing ourselves as the old headstone, and replacing it with Jesus Christ as our new head cornerstone....



But this can't be done without us totally surrendering to the Holy Spirit, giving Him permission to do so, converting our old building into new creations and new creatures in Christ thus, presenting us before God as a new place acceptable for His holy and pure dwelling place.

He who began a good work in us, will not have this building competed until Jesus comes".



One Christian man said:

" If what your friend is saying is true then what is the purpose opf the blood of Christ? Is it not the blood that has made us pure? Is it not the blood that has made us whole? How then do we "allow" God to work in us if the work is done on the cross? How can we become more Holy or more righteous if our righteousness is in the blood of Christ? Our righteousness is as filthy rags is it not? I understand that sanctification is a process that we do-participate in with Spirit but I think our righteousness is secured by the blood not by our sanctification. Is that what your friend is talking about?



I don't think it is realistic or Biblical to believe that only God can make all of the changes in us. It's true that we become a new creation but the changes made in us can be made by us as we learn how to make those changes and come to understand what it means to grow spiritually. Your friend's thinking seems rather linear or two dimensional. What about a persons spiritual growth and ever expanding experience? Is only god responsible for that too? Isn't that the reason we pray and meditate? If god is doing all the work and all we are doing is giving Him permission how is that working together with Him. The Bible says that WITH GOD all things are possible. If we are not with God, working with Him and doing our part then how can all things be possible? How can we be sanctified if God does all the work and we just "allow" it? "



My response to this man was as follows:

"ur righteousness is as filthy rags is it not?"

No God imputed us the righteousness of His Son to live a GODLY/HOLY life.



This is Christianity.



Our Churches do not teach it.



But that is the main topic of the NT and Jesus in His teaching: HOLY and GODLY life of Christians.



If we do NOT live a godly life then we live in sexual immorality and other sins.



Is it ok to be a son of God and commit such sins?



If it is ok for you then you should know what our God Jesus said:



SEXUAL immoral people do NOT inherit the Kingdom of God!



For I tell you that unless your righteousness SURPASSES that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly NOT enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20



I mean it is our responsibility to live in sins or with God.



If we will live in sins then God does not live with us.

He abandons sinners (sexual immoral people..)



If we live in sins, we will die in sins and after death God will judge us for our sins.



That is CLEAR.



What is the result of such sins/life style? Sexual immoral people do NOT inherit the Kingdom of God, unbelievers/in-the name-only believers too.



That is why it is OUR responsibility to COOPERATE with God and ABANDON our sins in repentance to live with God...



Or we have the second option: ungodly life, leading us to the Lake of Fire.



More Bible references to ponder:



To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:



2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.



5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.



8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his OLD sins.



10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1



Let's analyze what we all have to possess?



God's divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness!!!



HOW? Through the knowledge of God in the Bible.



God called us by glory and virtue!



God gave us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be PARTAKERS of the DIVINE nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.



What we all have to do?



Giving all diligence, add to your faith (1) virtue-behavior showing high moral standards of God



(2) knowledge of God



(3) self-control



(4) perseverance



(5) godliness



(6) brotherly kindness



(7) love.





For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.



He who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to BLINDNESS, and has forgotten that he was CLEANSED from his OLD sins.



If you do these things you will never stumble!



And your entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our God/ Savior Jesus Christ.





The poison fang of sin!



"From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither soothed with ointment." Isaiah 1:6



We must go down into the depths of the fall to know what our



hearts are, and what they are capable of�we must have the keen knife of God to cut deep gashes in our conscience and lay bare the evil that lies so deeply imbedded in our carnal mind, before we can enter into and experience the beauty and blessedness of salvation by grace. When the Church of God fell in Adam, she fell with a crash which broke every bone and bruised her flesh with wounds which are ulcerated from head to toe. Her understanding, her conscience, and her affections were all fearfully maimed�her understanding



was blinded, her conscience stupefied, her affections alienated. Every mental faculty thus became perverted and distorted. When Adam fell into sin and temptation, sin rushed into every faculty of body and soul and penetrated into the inmost recesses of his being. As when a man is bitten by a poisonous serpent, the venom courses through every artery and vein, and he dies a corrupted mass from head to foot�so did the poison fang of sin penetrate into Adam's inmost soul and body, and infect him with its venom from the sole to the crown. But it is only as sin's desperate and malignant character is opened up by the Holy Spirit that it is really seen, felt, grieved under, and mourned over as indeed a most dreadful and fearful reality. The whole head is sick�and the whole heart faint! Every thought, word, and action is polluted by sin. Every mental faculty is depraved. The will chooses evil�the affections cleave to earthly things�the memory, like a broken sieve, retains the bad and lets fall the good�the judgment, like a bribed or drunken judge, pronounces heedless or wrong decisions�the conscience, like an



opium eater, lies asleep and drugged in stupefied silence." By J. C. PHILPOT



God speaks:



Why should you be stricken again?



You will revolt more and more.



The whole head is sick,



And the whole heart faints.



From the sole of the foot even to the head,



There is no soundness in it,



But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;



They have not been closed or bound up,



Or soothed with ointment.



�Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;



Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.



Cease to do evil,



Learn to do good;



Seek justice,



Rebuke the oppressor;



Defend the fatherless,



Plead for the widow.



�Come now, and let us reason together,�



Says the Lord,



�Though your sins are like scarlet,



They shall be as white as snow;



Though they are red like crimson,



They shall be as wool.



If you are willing and obedient,



You shall eat the good of the land;



But if you refuse and rebel,



You shall be devoured by the sword�;



For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 1





35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.�

John 3

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