The list goes on. You just keep sinning. You begin to wonder where God is in all of this, and if He really cares about you. We can also read about His enormous hatred against sin and its consequences — so much so, that He sent Jesus, His only Son, to earth as a human being, in order to save us from our sins.
Jesus inherited the same flesh as all other people, but by obedience and faithfulness He denied and put to death the lusts that dwelt there, so He never — not once — committed sin. We can read how Jesus was raised from the dead as proof of this enormous victory over sin and death, and is now in heaven with God, His Father. Hebrews One day, we read, He will return in the clouds to fetch all of His brothers and sisters, to spend eternity with Him in heaven.
Impure thoughts, discouragement, anger, criticism, vanity — the lusts rear their ugly heads in a seemingly endless stream. The way out is the way that Jesus showed us. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. And why not do evil that good may come? Their condemnation is just. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. A Maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. But he gives more grace. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
For if you return to the Lord , your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. Whoever misleads the upright into an evil way will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance. A rich man is wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has understanding will find him out. When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, people hide themselves.
When I signed those documents it was just as if they had signed them. When I signed the promissory note to pay a certain amount each month, that act was as legally binding on them as if they had signed the note, because I was acting as their legal representative. In like manner, Adam was our legal representative in the garden, and when he sinned, his action was as binding on us as if we had sinned personally. We may object that we did not appoint Adam as our representative in the garden.
To do so is futile, however, for in our objection we are actually complaining against God. It should be enough for us to know that God, the Sovereign Creator of the universe and the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being, appointed him.
This is a glorious doctrine, but one so many Christians do not understand. Read this until you absorb it! To die to sin then means, first of all, to die to its legal or penal reign and, secondly, as a necessary result, to die to its dominion over us. This obviously does not mean we no longer sin, but that sin no longer reigns in our lives.
How did we die to sin? We have already noted that we died to sin through our union with Christ. Paul said in Romans that Christ died to sin, and in verse 8 he said we died with Christ. The unnamed believer in 1 Corinthians was punished temporally again, on earth yet was still saved and his spirit welcomed into God's presence, as Paul affirmed in v.
These examples prove that our sin does not separate us from God, as Paul says in Romans 8. Nevertheless, our actions as Christians do have other consequences, both here and in eternity.
As the examples above attest, God requires that we discipline those in the church who continue in a life of sin. Matthew gives clear instructions as to how sinning believers are to be handled. Ultimately, if they refuse to stop sinning, we are to put them out of the church. This is for the destruction of their flesh, not that they would lose their salvation see 1 Cor.
The Lord makes clear that He will discipline those He loves. Hebrews makes this clear:. We also face consequences in heaven for what we do here on earth as believers. Again, our salvation is not in question, but the level of rewards we will receive in heaven depends on how we serve God while on earth.
0コメント