Tag: cast you off forever

26.o. “Serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind”

 

Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

 1 Thessalonians 3:5    For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

 Romans 1:28    And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

 1 Corinthians 1:21   For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom,

 Ephesians 4:18   They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

 1 Chronicles 28:9  “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

Legalism caters to and recognizes our flesh by putting the focus on what we achieve for God, not on what Jesus did for us. We can have a living, free, relationship with God as a loving Father based on what Jesus did for us and who we are in Him. Or we can try to please God by our best efforts of keeping the rules, living in bondage as slaves, not sons. Living that way makes the whole gospel in vain.  Such is the battle we all face.  We lean more toward what we can do to make ourselves right before God rather than what He has done through Christ, thereby resting, relying on, and trusting in this alone.  It is when we recognize, take captive, and discard these thoughts of self-reliance we will truly be able to honor and glorify Jesus Christ through faith in Him alone.  If there was an equation, to sum up, this type of thinking it would be; My works + the work of Christ = eternal life.  This way of thinking literally says Christ’s sacrifice was not enough.  Anything added to Christ’s sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin = nothing, zero, failure.  In Christ alone, there is forgiveness, salvation, redemption, and eternal life.  Don’t be tempted or allow your mind to be tricked into thinking you can in any way add any benefit for your soul other than through Jesus Christ.

192. Broken cisterns that can hold no water.

2 Kings 21:19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them. He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

Deuteronomy 32:15     “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

1 Chronicles 28:9    If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

Jeremiah 2:13     for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

What kind of person do you have to be to have your servants conspire to put you to death?  At 22 years old Amon began his reign and we need to remember that his father Manasseh had done some very bad things.  He was into all sorts of spirit worship and idol worship and even burned one of his sons as a sacrifice.  This is what Amon would have seen so it is not much wonder that he would have learned very bad behaviors.

The Word of God was void during the time of Manasseh and Amon.  We see the result of this lack of regard and reverence for His Word.   It is very important we look at this, as well as other examples, and understand the issue at hand and how we can combat it.  The issue is one of the heart.  The heart is where we hold that which is dear and valuable to us.  If it is not God then it is something else.  The issue is one of the mind.  The mind is where we think, ponder, believe, imagine, and reason.  We will keep in mind what is dear and valuable in our heart.  The issue is one of the soul.  The soul is the subconscious and inner being of the person.  Whatever is in the heart and mind will reside in the soul of a person.  If we give our heart, mind, and soul to Jesus Christ with a deep desire to understand and know Him more and more so that we can best humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, trust, rely, and obey Him, we will continually be filling our heart with how precious and valuable Jesus Christ is, we will continually be thinking about His great and precious promises, mercy, grace, and steadfast love, and we will be in communion with the Holy Spirit in our soul.   

Open wide the faucet to God’s Word and intentionally choose to break off the valve so that it can never be shut off.  Drink from this faucet continually.  Share from this faucet freely, water seeds of His grace, mercy, and love with it.

140. Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit

1 Kings 8:54  Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

1 Chronicles 28:9  “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

2 Corinthians 7:1  Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Wholly true and with your whole heart and willing mind serving Jesus are indicators of a life that is intentional and committed.  There was a great price paid for our salvation.  Blood was shed and pain beyond what we can imagine was endured to death and freely given so that we could be redeemed from our sin and separation from God.  The Hymn says it like this; “Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”   When we are able to see the depth and width of our sin in the light of the Holiness of Jesus and we understand that were it not for His sacrifice we would be lost and awaiting our eternal doom and torment, our heart and mind become willing to wholly serve, honor, glorify, follow, and obey the author and finisher of our salvation.  Sin knocks at our door every day and comes in many forms; lies, pride, lust, greed, self-serving, jealousy, anger, envy….  The word of God exposes these temptations and things that are starting to root in our heart and mind.  If we think we can remain wholly true with a whole heart and mind and not be feeding on God’s word each day we are fooling ourselves.  “The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  Without His active word in our life, we will slowly drift away from Him and lose sight and awareness of the price that was paid for our sin.  Worthy of all praise is Jesus Christ.  Worthy of our whole heart and mind and soul is Jesus Christ.  Worthy of our service and obedience is Jesus Christ.