Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to ask you a little question.
What is something that you continue to do every single day? I think most of us would agree that you probably get out of bed and get dressed. Perhaps you grab a glass of water and then comb your hair. As humans, I think that each of us tend to be very routine-oriented. Sometimes, you can see the routines at your local gas station, as people gather together to socialize over a hot cup of coffee. Even people who study animals recognize that that God’s creatures have certain patterns and behaviors that they participate in all the time. Hunters up in our area know the routines of certain critters and the specific game trail that they walk each and every day.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
To live a successful life for the Lord Jesus requires having the correct routines in our day. Rather than walking in sin, we need to continue to walk down the path of God’s Truth. When we continue to do something, it means to persist in a certain activity or process diligently, doing the same thing over and over again repetitively. After all, this is what a professional pianist does when they are preparing to perform for a recital. They get up each day, sit down on the piano bench, and practice, practice, practice. But not all routines are beneficial to somebody’s life, and some routines will need to be extracted from our lives, just like a fly in a pail of milk. We are in an age of Grace. but there are many people who profess Christianity who actually abuse this incredible gift of God. They will go out and get involved with sin, and then expect to be forgiven for it later. But just like walking across a thin sheet of ice, this is very dangerous territory to tread upon. God grants us forgiveness for the purpose of breaking the routine of sin, but those who continue to sin against Him are sinning against the blood of Christ. As I told a high school student one time, every time that you sin, it’s like pounding another nail into our precious Lord Jesus.
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Each of us has sinned at one time or the other, but in order to get to heaven, we must learn to go and sin no more. Perhaps there is a new stop sign in your town, one that you keep driving through because you have routinely driven that road for years going to work. The local policeman wants you to stop at that intersection, and you will have to train yourself to do that very thing. But there is a big difference between making the attempt to correct your behavior, and not making any attempt at all, and I’m certain that this is what the Apostle is teaching us in this passage. Sin ultimately leads to death, and the consequence for impenitence is an eternal lake of fire. But you have to remember that this is not God’s first choice. After all, Jesus died on the cross to save us from that punishment.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
So why would people who profess to follow Jesus go out and purposely get involved with sinful behavior? I’m speaking about behavior that they know they shouldn’t be doing, but they choose to do it anyway. Those who do this type of thing are treating God’s grace with contempt, the same way that Esau treated his own inheritance. We are never supposed to receive God’s grace in vain, meaning that when you get forgiven for your sins, it should result in activities that display your regret and your humble desire to submit and obey the will of God from your heart. Those who profess to be Christian and sin willfully against His grace, are a whole different category of people. These are the false Christians, who profess that they know God, but by their actions they prove that they hate Him. They are the false apostles, false teachers, and false brethren, who surround themselves with Jezebel and women teachers. They are the God mockers, who resist biblical teachings, and hate those who preach the truth.
Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
Although some of us may be slow learners, (just like myself), not all the mistakes that we make are intentional. But some people will sin willfully, thinking that they will be able to get forgiven for it later, but this really isn’t the Christian life at all. Actually, it’s not even love for God who shed His own blood in order to redeem us. Grace is given to us by God for a specific purpose, to overcome sin, and become new creatures in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
With this in mind let me ask you a question. How many of you would spend all day washing, drying, and folding all of your clothes, only to put them neatly into a box, and then go outside to the barn and dump them onto the mature pile? Why would somebody spend an hour washing their car, and then take it out on some muddy back road for a joyride? Obviously, if you are going to go through the effort of cleaning something up, why would you want to get it dirty again? Through the grace that is in Christ Jesus, we have a clean sheet, a blackboard full of sins that are completely erased in His sight, but God’s grace is given to us for a reason, to get cleaned up, and stay clean!
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works,…
Our lives are a process of daily learning. As children, we might fall down many times, until we finally learn how to walk. When we get our first bicycle, we might fall down a few times until we finally learn how to ride. There is a learning curve each day of our lives as we understand our own weaknesses and frailties, and then learn to overcome them. The Christian life is about learning the lessons from our past mistakes, and moving on to perfection. If we cannot learn from the wrongs that we have done, then a person is doomed to repeat them. We have to overcome sin to eventually inherit eternal life, and this is going to require faithful obedience to the will of God and the teachings of Holy Scripture.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Rather than continuing in sin, we must develop a new pattern of good works. We must begin to walk routinely on the narrow path of Christ Jesus, just like all of God’s creatures who keep on…..
……The Game Trail
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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