Our chief desire should be to advance the Gospel and Kingdom of God, and to bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, THE KING OF KINGS and THE LORD OF LORDS. Repentance and faith must be God's gift. Divine Mercy delights to visit spiritual poverty and misery. We all have sinned against God, exception none can boast, but he that feels the heaviest load will prize Christ's forgiveness most. Mercy is wonderful news indeed to those who are guilty; the wretches that sense their deep need will bless Christ's forgiving hand. My Salvation is not dependent on myself at all, but only on the Atoning Blood of God manifest in the flesh. Prompt, voluntary, cheerful, generous, hearty service for God. It should be a delight to obey Christ, not a burden.
What think ye of Christ? Do you think of Jesus with practical love, so much that you help His cause, minister to His poor and afflicted saints, proclaim His Gospel, aid His church, and pity lost sinners for whom He shed His Precious Blood? Do you think of Christ so as to speak well of Him and commend Him to those around you? Do your thoughts of Jesus keep you back from sinning, and motivate you to continue on in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake? Do you think of Christ so that you pray to Him, that you give to Him, that you work for Him, that you worship and adore Him? Is He worthy of your actual, practical, diligent service, or is it all empty talk, idle chatter, broken promises, and vain professions with you? What think ye of Christ?
Sanctification means, primarily, the setting apart of a people by God to be holy to Himself. We must be more and more set apart every day, we must seek after purity; this must be our motive object, not in order that we may be saved, for we are saved already, but in order that by others it may be clearly seen that we are saved, and they seeing our good works may glorify our Father which is in heaven. We are to be prayerful, watchful, fervent, diligent, obedient, earnest, and believing, but still the work is God's. Sanctification is the LORD'S work in us. The grace of God has made us new creatures in Christ Jesus, and now the love of God constraineth us not to sin but to walk in holiness all of our days.
Self-denial and purity is very irksome to those who love sin. To believe in Jesus is the highest wisdom; to repent of sin is the most delightful necessity; to follow after purity is the most enjoyable pursuit; and to serve God is the greatest delight. Be a part of the solution, not the problem. Ingratitude makes little of much, but gratitude sees much in little. Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and abstain from fleshly lusts, fornication, and from all appearance of evil.
Because of the Lamb of Calvary, I have nothing to do in order to put away the guilt of my sins. However, I have much to do by faith to overcome the power of sin in me, and to yield to the Spirit of God, and seek after purity and holiness; but so far as the guilt of my transgressions is concerned, the Lord Jesus Christ's one offering of Himself for all my sin has perfected me in the sight of God due to His imputed Righteousness to my soul. There is not one sin of mine remaining upon me, or a trace of guilt. Now understand - there is no holiness in me of my own creating; and there is no good thing in me of my own making. All the goodness and wisdom I may have is a gift and fruit of the Spirit of Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can help me inwardly digest and absorb spiritual, scriptural truth. The vital point of the Atonement of Christ lies in His bloody death. The great point of the putting away of human guilt was Jesus' obedience unto death, even the death of the Cross. The Victim of Calvary was slain on account of my sins, and so the Atonement was made on my behalf.
There is nothing that you can do which can help save you; and there is no merit whatsoever in anything that you can do or feel; by nature you are lost, utterly and helplessly lost, apart from the help of Christ. Only Jesus can save you; you cannot save yourself, nor can help Jesus save you. From top to bottom, Jesus alone must be your Savior. You must confess that you are nothing, and then Christ Jesus will be everything to you; you are simply to be the emptiness, and He will come and fill you. If you will just go now to Jesus as helpless, hopeless, lost and ruined, and confide yourself entirely to His Person and Blood, He will have abundant mercy on your guilty soul.
The Bible commands us to love God, love our neighbor, and to love our enemies. We shouldn't be slandering those folks that we love, right? You will not gossip about others that you are praying for. Just stop running others down. Don't run people down or criticize them habitually. Leave off badmouthing and needling your neighbor. A critical and hateful spirit demeans and runs others down. The Pharisees' condescending spirit led them to look down their nose at those that weren't as "religious" as they were. Human nature wants to be one of those people that matter and draw attention to itself.
We normally don't gossip about people we are praying for. Judgmental, critical, harsh, demeaning, slandering speech cuts others down. This harsh spirit lives and loves to simply find fault in others. Simply stop running people down with gossip, slander, or misrepresentation. Those who try to play God wind up playing the devil. The devil is the slanderer and accuser of the brethren. We would never shoplift, but we would be lazy at work and falsify our time card, and defraud our employer. The Pharisee would tithe dill seeds and mint leaves; he would be so worried about the minutia of his religiousness, but then he would devour and rob a widow house's with religious extortion. Don't judge the Law like the Pharisee, and say - I will keep that commandment, but not that one.
We should admonish, challenge, and warn others in love.
Can you go just 24 hours without running someone down? If you can't go 24 hours without a cigarette or a drink of alcohol, you might be addicted to those things? If you can't go 24 hours without saying something negative about someone, you may be addicted to finding fault with others. Just stop running people down, and Joy will surely follow.
An inward conflict with sin shows that you have been made alive by the Spirit of God. When the Spirit of Christ helps us to understand divine holiness, then we see how heinous sin really is. A pure outward life honors God somewhat, but an inward, spiritual, gracious life honors the LORD more abundantly. The fear of the Lord is to have a fear of grieving the God who is so loving, or doing something that would dishonor the name of Christ who is so forgiving and merciful.
Your greatest need at any time is the inward work of the Holy Spirit. Until the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to you your nothingness and sinfulness, and illuminate your heart and mind concerning Christ's Blood and Righteousness, you will never truly be born again, and you will never grow in grace as a Christian. Truth in the inward parts and honesty before God is vital to a Christian's spiritual health. Holy Spirit, quicken Thou me. The Holy Spirit creates tenderness in our heart towards God and watchfulness against sinning against God, and deep humility and thankfulness towards God. Spending much time at Jesus' feet and learning of Him is always safe and profitable. Prize Jesus most of all!
Our guilt makes us fearful of God, for we have broken our Maker's moral laws, and therefore we are afraid of His justice. But our Maker came from Heaven to Earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God. He came here as a Jewish man, and bore our sins that we wouldn't have to bear God's divine wrath, and whosoever believeth in Jesus shall find free Salvation in His blood and wounds. Christ Jesus suffered for me, my guilt is gone, my punishment was endured by the Substitute for sinners. The one sole object of faith for the free pardon of sin is the man Christ Jesus. Saving faith is an entire reliance upon God Incarnate who came here to be a Propitiation for human sin.
You have broken God's Laws, you have acted rebelliously and arrogantly towards Him. God must punish for sin, for He cannot lay aside His justice. Through the sinless, atoning Sacrifice of Christ Jesus Himself, God has devised the perfect way by which without any injury to His Holiness, He can have full mercy upon guilty sinners. God is ready to forgive you freely through faith in Jesus' Precious Blood. God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The atheist's way - Dishonor your Creator, insult Christ, blaspheme the Holy Ghost, scorn holiness, avoid purity, prefer darkness, causeless hatred of the Bible, base ingratitude, return evil for good, break the Law, despise the Gospel, enjoy your sins and then die in them, and ruin and lose your soul for all Eternity. The licentious atheist thinks purity is another name for slavery. Teaching an atheist about purity is like trying to teach a pig about cleanliness which wallows in the mire with delight - the pig loves uncleanness, and after uncleanness it will go every time it can. Purity is a terror for the atheist; for they love sin and count it a delight, but purity is to them a slavery and grievous burden.
