Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!
Thanks for joining us tonight as we continue discussing the topic of life under the New Covenant. Our focus is on the idea that even though the Bible says the New Covenant is a BETTER covenant with BETTER promises than the Law that was given to Moses (Hebrews 8:1-6), and even though the Bible instructs us with multiplicity to separate ourselves from that old covenant after we become believers, many Christians (perhaps most) continue to be bound to those old ways of religious thinking even though God has provided a better way. And as I see it that's because manmade traditions and a related lack of personal Word-knowledge are retarding spiritual growth and development within the Body of Christ.
Consistent with that focus, the main purpose of these recent articles has been to call attention to this particular challenge and then to make bible-based suggestions for having our minds renewed to PROVE God's will under the New Covenant (Romans 12:1-2). To be more specific about it, the process we're involved in is a transformation from works-oriented religion to life under the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2) and we're all at different levels in that process. Pastors and Teachers can only point believers in the direction they think we ought to be going, and after that it's a basic principle of Christian life that each of us pursue our own understanding by studying the Word and by developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit who is after all the real Teacher of ALL things (John 14:26). According to Scripture then, if you get any understanding as a result of reading these studies, it's actually the Holy Spirit who used them to teach you the principles you ultimately take into your belief structure. He's the only One who can effectively REVEAL eternal Truth.
Introducing Lordship
Now one of the main areas of concern is that many, many Christians these days haven't understood what it means for Jesus to be their LORD or that Lordship is even a requirement for living under the New Covenant. So we see all manner of lifestyles and beliefs in the community that calls itself Christian. To be clear about it, what the Bible actually says is that in order to be SAVED three major inter-related things have to happen: we have to make Jesus our LORD, we have to CONFESS with our mouths that we've done that and we have to believe with all our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 10:9). There's no works involved, it's just by faith.
For this article, I want to focus on the aspect of making Jesus one's LORD acknowledging that in this limited space it can't be fully explained. But note first that the Scripture says we have to "confess" with our mouths that Jesus is LORD. The original Greek behind the English word "confess" means to "agree" or to "profess" or to "acknowledge." So the Scripture is requiring of us that we verbally AGREE that we're SUBMITTING to the Lordship of Christ. In other words, we're voluntarily making Him our MASTER in all things. A LORD is a MASTER, a final authority but I see a lot of folks who call themselves Christians who seemingly haven't made Him LORD yet because they're NOT trying to live according to His Word which is where the LORD'S instructions and commandments are expressed. As a matter of fact they're often trying to manipulate the Word to try to make it agree with what they want to do under their own agenda.
Saying a Sinners' Prayer is the manmade tradition you won't find in your Bible and it's not the saying of that prayer that gets you saved. I understand that it's a convenient approach to help lead people to Christ. But it's the spoken ADMISSION that we're truly willing to submit to the authority of Christ that gets us saved which means that we'll start TRYING to live our lives according to the MASTER'S commandments and ways of doing things. Who are we "agreeing" with when we make that profession? We're NOT agreeing with the church Pastor or the congregation or some other person who's leading us to say the Sinner's Prayer. No friend, we're speaking our agreement with God that we're willing to submit to the authority of Christ in exchange for which we RECEIVE the forgiveness of our sins that has been waiting for us since Jesus FINISHED paying for them two thousand years ago. The forgiveness was available to us a long time ago but we have to RECEIVE that forgiveness by faith in order to be saved and receive eternal life.
Implications for the Final Judgment
On the other side of this issue, some of us have a tendency to look down on those we see as less righteous than ourselves because they don't seem to be living under the Lordship of Christ. And yes, I know that the Bible says we will know them by their fruit and we quote that a lot, but the context there is talking about false prophets (Matthew 7:16-20). I'm just talking about regular folks who call themselves Christians. I also know the scripture that says that the spiritual person judges all things (1 Corinthians 2:15) but if you pull that out of context to say that it's okay to judge other people you'll have to do something with a bunch of other scriptures that tell us to not judge other people: Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37, James 4:11-12, Romans 2:1-3, Romans 14:10-13 and a bunch of others. Rather, we're to judge the CONDUCT of others WITHOUT judging the people. It's Christ and Him only who can see the hearts of people and it's He who'll do the judging because He's the LORD.
I'm really glad I don't have to do any of that judging. I'm not qualified. There are however a whole bunch of believers in the Body of Christ who judge everything in their path but they aren't qualified either. But what I am qualified to do is point out what Jesus said Himself about His LORDSHIP. And what He said is that not everyone who calls Him LORD will enter the Kingdom of heaven even if they performed what they thought were some really righteous works. Rather, those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven will be those WHO DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER (Matthew 7:21-23). How does one actually DO the will of the Father? My answer to that question is that believers MUST be willing to submit to the authority of the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit has the necessary platform for leading us to do the will of the Father. The sons of God are to be Spirit-led (Romans 8:14) and in that manner we're led to DO the will of the Father by faith as best we can.
Some Concluding Thoughts
Jesus went on to say that at the end of days there will many who cry out to Him "Lord, Lord" that He'll deny and say to them: "depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matthew 7:22-23). He will call them lawless because they didn't DO the will of the Father.
A lot of people call themselves Christians these days yet deny the authority of the Bible and I think that's a really dangerous place to be. It will be up to Jesus to judge which of those people had a heart for the Word but failed to follow it as much as they should have and those who denied its authority altogether. There's a deception at work in this which is that the enemy has persuaded people that submitting to the authority of the Word and through that to the Lordship of Christ isn't essential for salvation. They even join with the secular community in condemning the "fundamentalists" who insist on a literal view of the Bible. We need to mourn for those people because many of them are likely to be the ones crying out "Lord, Lord" someday when they can't find the narrow gate to life (Matthew 7:13).
In conclusion, the way to grow spiritually in the Kingdom of God so you'll be able to find that narrow gate when the time has come is to study the Word and become a consistent student. Along with that, making Jesus your LORD is supposed to be a key part of living under the New Covenant. Along with these thoughts, I hope you're making it a point to look up the scriptures that I'm referencing in these articles so you can see for yourself that the Word of God contradicts many of our traditional ways of thinking and doing things.
Thanks for joining our discussion tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on November 8. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), pushing you to VICTORY in every area of life!
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Sinners' Prayer
If you've never invited Jesus to be your Lord, you can do so today by believing and saying out loud the following simple prayer:
Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and I believe that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven for all time and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.
If you were sincere as you prayed, God has already come into your life and you're a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
When you get a moment have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer and believing what you said:
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:8
Prayer Requests
If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM central time. Agree with us for God to answer your petitions.
About Prosperous Life Newsletter
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