Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
When the Apollo astronauts ventured to the moon, it was a long trip, and they needed to be made as comfortable as possible. To do this, they were provided with new living quarters, inside of something known as the Command module. This served as their main accommodations for their entire space mission, but it was actually the only part of their ship that would return all of the way back home. After it fell back to the Earth, they would open up its parachutes, touchdown in the water, and then eventually it would be retrieved by a local ship. But there was another part of their vessel that went to the Moon with them, known as the Service module. Simply put, this was the power plant of the vessel, filled with the equipment that propelled them to and from the moon. But shortly before their reentry, the astronauts would have to disconnect the Service module from the command module. This part of their ship had to be left behind, completely forsaken, and never to be seen again, as it burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
To forsake something is to completely abandon it. To make it back safely, the astronauts would have to abandon part of their ship. It powered the ship at one time, but now it had to be completely rejected. As sinners, we must do the same by forsaking the power of sin for the power of Christ. We must flip the switch by renouncing and forsaking sinful living.
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7
Sometimes a semi driver will drop off a rental trailer at a yard somewhere, and never see it again. You might take a car to be crushed at the junkyard, and never see it again. You might hook onto a large fish in a lake, only to break the line and never see it again. To truly seek God with a full heart, we never want to see sin again.To become blameless before Him, we must cast it far from us. This is an extremely high calling, but we must begin the walk towards perfection, and eliminate iniquity in our lives.
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Timothy 2:19
Like the service module, sin has to be jettisoned from our lives. It’s a process of mortification, whereby the old person that we once were is destroyed, and the new vessel in Christ takes over. Each of us have our own weaknesses in the flesh, but to obtain eternal life we must overcome them by the power of the Holy Spirit. We must flip off the switch of sinful living, and turn on the lights through obedience to Christ.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
In order to find forgiveness with God, people need to do a few things. They must be humble enough to seek Christ with a contrite and penitent heart. Not only this, but they must show by their actions that they truly desire to walk in His will. You must turn away from sin to walk in the light of God’s truth. When you show God these intentions, and prove them by your actions, His blessings will draw near. He grants forgiveness to these types of people, those who are sincere and seek Him from the heart.
“For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.” 2 Chronicles 30:9
It’s always been said that there are great and precious promises throughout the teachings of scripture. But in order to receive them, you must believe in them enough to go and get them. You must become a doer of God’s Word. A restaurant might promise that they have great pizza, but you will never be able to eat one if you don’t go and get it. The Christian Life requires your effort. You must do the will of God, in order to walk in the blessings of God.
James 1 ²¹ Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ²³ For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: ²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
The wages of sin is death. This is why people must repent or they will perish. God promises us eternal life but in order to obtain it, one must turn away from sin and lovingly serve Him from the heart. Those who make that choice shall not die. They shall live!
Ezekiel 18 ²⁷ Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
²⁸ Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
The Apostle Paul spent a lot of time warning people about God’s punishment against sin. God is perfectly just, and in His Divine Justice will punish evil, both now and forever. God is to be greatly feared because He is everything that is good and righteous. Sin cannot abide in His presence. This is why we must turn from evil and walk in the light of His will. It is only when you fear Him, that you truly love and revere Him.
“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;” Isaiah 1:16
Ezekiel 33 ¹⁰ Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? ¹¹ Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
To live forever one must renounce your old life. It is to crucify the power of sin, for the power of Christ. God doesn’t want people to perish, He wants them to repent. In order to get all the way home to heaven, each of us will have to flip the switch, and completely disconnect ourselves from……
……The Service Module
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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