God is the only one who can deal with one’s sin. In salvation, God delivers you from anger, fornication and any other sin you commit. Salvation is an ongoing proposition. God will deliver you from all of these things, but you must pray for God to search your heart.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. 18 Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
Three elements of salvation:
God’s love (agape love)
God’s wisdom (the knowledge of how to live as a different person in Christ)
God’s power (the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you)
People who truly love The Lord will chase after Him. That is the love relationship that He desires to have with each of us.
John 8:39-42
39 “Our father is Abraham!” they replied.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. 40 But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! 41 You’re doing what your father does.”
“We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father—God.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on My own, but He sent Me.
The way you act and the way you live should not contradict your words. You should always ask yourself the question, “Would Jesus do it?” If you are really saved, you know all about the Son and the Father. You can’t say that you love God and not follow Jesus.
Matthew 10:34-39
34 Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to turn
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and a man’s enemies will be
the members of his household.
37 The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. 39 Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.
If you put your life into something other than Jesus Christ, you have lost your life. It is not about negating your responsibility, but it is about the priority that is placed on these relationships in comparison to where Christ is in your life.
No affection allowed to interfere in this relationship (1 Kings 11:4)
No earthly tie must restrain you from God’s work (Luke 9:59, 18:23)
No pride of self can interfere (1 Peter 5:5)
There has to be a separating process. It’s the sword (that cuts).
In order for you to be the believer that Christ wants you to be, you will see how He cuts away from your life the things that God wants you to get away from. The sword must be used to cut ties that hinder your growth in Jesus Christ. The sword separates in order to create a new person.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
The battle between the Spirit and the believer is in the separation of all things that hinder us from doing His will.
Galatians 5:17
For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want.
God is trying to remove your worldly image to bring you to more of a Christian image.
To admit you are saved, but fail to administerthe elements of salvation is to deny–or neglect–your salvation.
Ephesians 4:30-32
30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by Him for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Matthew 10:33
But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.
2 Peter 2:1-2
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them.
We are neglecting our salvation when we are indifferent about the things of The Lord.
Three major things that have to be cut away in our lives:
The world (Love not the world, its system, or its things)
The flesh (the lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh)
The pride of life
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