The Best New Year's Resolution!
Following the Lord daily in His Word
... but what is the best resource to use? Today, January 1st, is when many make a New Year's Resolution, and most resolutions revolve around doing something to make themselves better in one way or another. As Christians, our first resolution for the year should be to develop a deeper relationship with Christ, and we can do that only through studying God’s Word and prayer. From the day our eyes were opened, we have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ into our lives, and those who accepted were provided the Holy Spirit to indwell their hearts so that the Holy Spirit provides the constant help we need. We then have the option of serving and following Him for the rest of our lives or we can later choose to walk away from the Lord and reject Him (parable of the Sower among dozens of other passages). When we accepted the Lord, He provided us a Service of Calling, tasks that we must do to serve Him. He also provided us with Spiritual Gifts that will enable us to perform those tasks. He has also instructed us to put on the armor He has provided for us so we can resist Satan and this world. God takes this very seriously! Throughout the entire scriptures (from Genesis through Revelation), there is an extremely important word that is said over and over again which most pastors intentionally skip, and that word is “IF”. The scriptures make it clear constantly that we have a choice. IF we continuously follow and obey Him until our death, we will be saved; otherwise, we won’t. These are but an extremely few verses that say this: - IF we hear His voice AND follow Him, He will give us eternal life (John 10:27)
- IF you want to be Jesus’ friend, you will do whatever He commands you (John 15:14)
- IF you want to abide in Jesus’ Love, you will keep His commandments (John 15:10)
- IF you do the will of the Father, the same is Jesus' brother & sister (Matt 12:50)
Jesus Tells Us That Not Many Will Enter Heaven - WHY!? There are hundreds of millions of people today who call themselves Christians who do not have a personal relationship with God. Yes, they may go to church each Sunday and they might even give tithes, etc. but their hearts are far away from God and God has no part in their daily life. We are told, "Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt 7:14). Jesus Himself tells us that in the end there will be people who call themselves Christians but will not be permitted into heaven. Jesus tells us that some of them even prophesy, cast out devils, and do many wonderful words in the name of Jesus - yet they will not be permitted into heaven. Why? They are not permitted into Heaven because they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and they do not obey his commandments. "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 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 (they don't have a personal relationship with Jesus): depart from me, ye that work iniquity (they don't keep Jesus' commandments)." (Matt 7:21-23) Only those that Follow Jesus will Enter Heaven! We are told consistently throughout the scriptures that only those who follow Jesus till they die will be saved and go to heaven. Salvation is not for those who call themselves Christians nor simply go to church but for those who “follow” Jesus and make Him Lord of their life daily and are led by the Holy Spirit in their hearts! Paul makes this abundantly clear when he tells us that even if we have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries, can even perform miracles, give away all our goods to the poor, and even give our lives we will still go to hell if we don’t have Jesus’ Love in our lives. (1 Cor 13:1-3). Many people want to believe that because at some point in their life, their eyes were opened and the Love of Christ was revealed to them, and they have been taught that this realization automatically makes them “saved” and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Christ himself gives us a parable – and then defines exactly what it means so there would be no misunderstanding. It’s about people who have the “Word” (Jesus) planted in their hearts and start to walk with God and then “fall away” from walking with God (they later reject Jesus). The parable of the Sower explains the necessity to “follow Christ”. There are many different groups of people in this parable who heard and accepted the Word of God and it started to grow in their hearts, yet most ended up not following God in the end for various reasons. Only those that held onto the Word and grew in Him produced fruit for God (Matt 13:3-23). And ONLY those that produce fruit for God will enter heaven (Matt 3:8-12). The Scriptures affirm that the Holy Spirit can be resisted by both the believer and the unbeliever (Acts 7:51; Matt 23:37; Matt 12:50; 7:21; Luke 7:30; John 7:17; John 2:17). Don’t resist His leading in your life! - “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” (Heb 6:4-6).
- “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb 10:26-31).
- “But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” (Ezek 18:24).
We are human and we will slip and at times unintentionally sin, and perhaps even at times regrettably intentionally sin. It is those times should we repent and are deeply and intensely sorry for our actions and if we then turn away from them, God has promised that He is faithful to forgive us and put us back in a right relationship with Him (1 John 1:9). God will NEVER forsake us and will always forgive us if we wish it. It is always up to us whether we desire to follow Him or not. How Do You Follow the Lord in Earnest? First of all, commit your life to follow the Lord! Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit continuously throughout each day of your life. Hate evil and run from it as this is the Fear of the Lord. Know that you are leaving the Kingdom of Darkness to never have anything to do with it again, and a citizen of the Kingdom of Light, and as such you receive your orders from the Lord. Set in your heart what Jacob said so many years ago: “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Josh 24:15b). Determine your Service of Calling and use the Gifts of the Spirit that He will provide to you to perform whatever He desires for you as you serve Him (yes, think of yourself as a willing servant, a bondservant, just as the Apostles did as they served the Lord). “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom 6:16). Put on the full armor of God, Study the Word of God and hide it in your heart (memorize it) so that you won’t sin against Him (Ps 119:11) and seek His guidance in Prayer. The principle we are to follow is to "Prove all things by the Word of God” (1 Thess 5:21). That includes all ministers, teaching, preaching, doctrines, sermons, writings, opinions, and practices. Examine all by the light of the Bible. Any teaching that is not 100% supported by the Scriptures you are to reject wholly. Studying is not optional for Christians but is required of God. We are commanded by God to “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15). What is One of the Best Resources to Use? Most people have their favorite translation that they were raised with or find easiest for them to read. But is it accurate? There are hundreds of Christian denominations which have hundreds of contradictions among themselves and all of them point to their preferred "translations" as their guide. How can God's word be so divided that it has created so many different disagreements. Since there is only One God, One Body, and One Word, that is a simple answer in that God didn't create the discrepancies but rather man did [link to “Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge”]. The real problem is that there is no such thing as a perfect English translation that tells us exactly what God’s word is. There is always a discrepancy between the original Greek (NT in this case) to English and mankind has created more than 450 different English translations which have thousands of differences between themselves. So which version should you be studying if they are all saying different things? The best you can hope for is to find a translation that mirrors as closely as possible the original meanings of the scriptures. How much easier would it be to study God’s Word if an English New Testament translation existed that took each of the original Koine Greek words and applied the original meaning along with the original parsing assigned to each of those words? This is something that even the King James scholars did not do because of the constraints placed on them by King James, their lack of knowledge of Greek, and their time constraints. The Pure Word is a New Testament reference that does just that! It is the perfect resource that every Christian should have to dive into God’s Word and use along with your preferred version of the Scriptures. While you study, I would suggest using “The Pure Word” as a complement to your favorite translation to understand more fully the meaning of each verse. Over the centuries, definitions of individual words have been slowly changing. It is the only translation that incorporates the original meanings of each of the 5,624 Greek root words as written over 1,900 years ago, along with their detailed parsings. Revealing the Original Depth of Meaning as Written by the Apostles Over 1,900 Years Ago! |
Posts