LIVE LIKE JESUS
We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus lived. 1 Jn. 2:3-6
This passage of scripture clears up any confusion regarding the ‘gospel’ of today. The generic query from one person to another; ‘Do you know the Lord?’ is used as to ask if they are a Christian. But the other always answers in the affirmative, if they think they are a Christian. This scripture clearly assures them that they are NOT, because from Genesis to Revelation God demands the absence of sin from His kids. Even after Calvary!!
For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome.
The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong;
you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, LORD, detest. Ps. 5:4-6
I know this is beyond your ability to compute, but it is real, reasonable, logical and biblical. God agape’s all sinners which is an active love, rather than an emotional love. Agape is choosing with His will to do what’s for the highest good of sinners, regardless of what it costs Him. Sending His Son to this planet is a GREAT example of that. That does not negate his ability to hate sinners.
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who have sex with men, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. 6:9-10
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Eph. 5:1-3 [All sin is impure]
Those were written by the apostle Paul who had been trained by Jesus to teach His gospel, and were written well after Calvary, where Jesus ‘finished all His work.’
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Col. 1:21.
Sin has and always will separate any human being from a holy God. Every so-called ‘Christian’ ignores this truth.
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Col. 3:8
Preachers NEVER teach this today. So, we have 'faithful pew-warmers' using filthy language all over the place. Many of them are VERY prominent people who love to claim they are Christians. Donald Trump is a perfect example. Pastor Robert Jefferes had Donald say some words after him, then declared Donald a child of God. You don’t have to search far to find much obscene language written on social media by Donald. They claim they know and love God, but knowing or loving God is obeying Him and choosing for His highest good, regardless of personal cost. Using foul language is NOT for God's good. Sinning in any way is NOT for God's good.
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Rom. 6:21-22
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Rom. 6:16-18
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Rom. 6:6
I could include many more, but if you don’t get the truth from those, then you never will. We also see in that scripture; ‘But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.’ That is agape [true] love, folks. To choose to do what’s for God’s highest good is to stop sinning, obviously! That’s why the saints of the Old Testament stripped, put on sackcloth, climbed onto dung heaps, sat there for days without eating or drinking, throwing dung dust and ashes over their heads when they realised that they had done something that was grievous to the God they confessed love for. That is true repentance, folks. James offers us a New Testament version of that, because by then there were no dung heaps in communities. But the emotion of the sinner must be the same. Turn your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom, weep, wail, and humble yourself before God. Once you really get to know God, you WILL choose to agape Him, guaranteed. You will also learn to fear Him, due to His wrath when sin is present. That will cause you to experience those deep emotions when you do something that grieves Him, after you have chosen to agape Him. That is why the bible teaches us over and over that the fear of God stops one from sinning.
Moses said to the people, do not be afraid: God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be with you to stop you from sinning. Ex. 20:20
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. Prov. 3:7
To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. Prov. 8:13
Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord. Prov. 28:14
Through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided. Prov. 16:6
Humility and the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honor and life. Prov. 22:4
The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble. Prov. 19:23
Whoever fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a person from sin. Prov. 14:26-27
Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. Acts 10:34-35
Now let’s look at the next profound truth in this scripture:
Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus lived.
Jesus actually came to this planet as a revolutionist! He came to radically transform culture. Up to that time, God’s people were forced to obey a whole lot of rules to remain as part of ‘His Chosen People.’ Few of them actually accomplished that, because these rules were harsh in the mind of mankind. Most of them had been written so that a nomadic people numbering in the millions could live in workable relationship with each other. That concept had changed, so these rules were obscure, outdated, and a burden to humans. Jesus came to cancel the Mosaic Law, which He did on the cross. Col. 2:14. He also made the ‘gospel’ true for Gentiles, as well as Jews. No person has ever had to sacrifice an animal on an altar to be forgiven, since Calvary. Any human being can be forgiven now by getting to know God, learning to fear Him, so that they repent, to receive the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins. Acts. 2:38. There is ZERO forgiveness in the absence of repentance. We see that many times in scripture. 2 Chron 7:14, Mk. 1:4, Lk. 3:3, 24:46-47, Acts 2:38, 3:19. Repentance is described in Ezek. 33:11-20, and my article on Substack or Facebook’s life abundant, REPENTANCE.
Basically, Jesus changed a ‘ruleship’ to a ‘relationship,’ for humans to be accepted as His children. Getting to know God, we develop a meaningful relationship with Him, which, once we receive the Holy Spirit, is permanent, unless we use our free will to rebel against our once great choice to love, fear and obey God, then sin again. At that time, there is ZERO opportunity to repent again, as we see in Hebrews 6:4-6. Repentance can only happen once in a sinner’s life. The event of repenting transforms a sinner to a saint. How any saint could ever choose to throw away that pure, godly, blameless, righteous, holy life willingly, is beyond me.
While Jesus trudged the dusty tracks of Galilee, Judea, and Samaria, He often told His followers that He did not do anything of His own free will, but only what His Father told Him to do. He was absolutely subjected to God at all times. When John told us that God’s kids must live as Jesus lived, that is exactly what he meant. There CANNOT be any single thing in our lives that comes before our submission to God’s will. Nothing on our bucket list that sits above that of pleasing God. Many folks claiming to be Christians have been caught in that ‘money trap’ of Satan, and they have the storing up of earthly treasure above the desire to please God. If they come to know God, and learn to fear Him, they will repent of that ‘priority sin’ and give up all that treasure just as Jesus commanded us to do in Luke 14:33. I am sure the Holy Spirit will show them how that money could be used for the advancement of God’s kingdom. I will always remember a man who owned the largest department store chain in New Zealand who claimed to be a Christian. He tithed 90% of his income to God’s kingdom, or what was accepted as such at the time. According to scripture, a child of God would NOT disclose how much of his income he gave to the church, so his claim was dubious at best. But he surely had the right concept of worldly wealth and Christianity.
We MUST believe, accept, and embrace the truth that any sin is totally unacceptable to God if one claims to be His child. VERY sadly, ALL ‘Christians’ unashamedly confess to sin today!! That is how far the ‘gospel’ has gone from a biblical doctrine once taught from pulpits across America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The impact that truth had on the culture in America was named The Holiness Movement. That very sadly ended when the civil war broke out. Since then, the gospel is what Satan replaced the true gospel with. Fawning over Jesus is the devil’s masquerading as an angel of light, now. He sure has attracted many millions to his ‘hell trap.’ Jesus Himself assured us that fawning over Him was NOT the way to be sure of eternal life in heaven, but doing God’s will is.
Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Mat. 7:21-23
If we check X today, we see many poor deceived souls posting all sorts of utter nonsense about Jesus, without any reference to God. They are VERY serious in their belief that Jesus paid the price for all their sins on the cross, so they are simply not ashamed of sin at all. “The blood covers their sin!” Try to inform them otherwise, and you had better duck real quick!!
I actually researched ‘American Christianity’ across America from 1992 to 2011, and it broke my heart. It was the same as it was in my home country of New Zealand, but here, it was ‘more disguised.’ When I returned to NZ in 2011, I sat down and wrote a book relating my spiritual journey, and how God has a plan to turn all of this around, and bring healing to America, and any other country that has accepted Satan’s gospel. Amazon or B & N have ‘A Nation Broken.’ It’s a MUST read for anyone who truly loves America.