This document has been a work in progress. I have been born-again and have done my own Bible study to be taught and be corrected by the word of God, and I'm feeling confident with what I have written here, if I have said anything in error I pray that it would be corrected. I'm trying to speak the truth in mercy. This document shows my current understanding at the time of writing. I'm not judging people. This is just a Bible study. I have just wanted to read the Bible for myself to understand and apply the Scriptures, come into agreement with God's Truth and share my understanding it with others for accountability purposes, and also affirm truth as I am renewed in mind by it. I don't presume to be always right. Also, just because I have quoted some pastors and authors does not mean that I affirm everything they have ever said, but I have selected quotes which I have found to be relevant and helpful. I want to let the Bible smash bad theology. I've also added parts of my own testimony. It's my hope that this Bible study helps other people to come to the obedience of faith in God through Jesus Christ.

Acts 20:25-32 - And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock ; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (ESV)

Psalms 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (ESV)

Job 42:7 - After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. (ESV)

• We are accountable to our Lord Jesus Christ for our actions and beliefs: youtube.com: Isn't Veganism Closer to God's Original Design?

Romans 14:4 - Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (ESV)

This is a short preview of where I'm at with my theology. I don't claim to know everything or to have perfect theology:

 1  If we trust God, believing on Yeshua's (Jesus's) name, it's typically the
 2  initial act of obedience of a Christian, Jesus having commanded us to trust
 3  Him, and believe Him, especialy concerning His name as Son of God, Christ,
 4  Messiah as foretold by the prophets, and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit when
 5  we do this.
 6  
 7      Acts 10:43 - To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who
 8      believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
 9      (ESV)
10  
11  Then we call on Jesus to save us, (usually out of desperation).
12  Noone calls on a law to save them. We call on Jesus to save us.
13  This is another act of obedience to the Gospel.
14  
15      Ephesians 1:7-12 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the
16      forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which
17      he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the
18      mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in
19      Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him,
20      things in heaven and things on earth.
21      In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according
22      to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his
23      will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the
24      praise of his glory.
25      (ESV)
26  
27  Trust, obedience, belief and faith are not really separate things when it
28  comes to believing the Word of God in the heart, and if a person has put their
29  trust in Jesus then they've done something which is in the will of God.
30  
31  Our faith and obedience are supposed to continue as we are sanctified and are
32  taught by Christ, especially by the teachings He taught while walking the
33  earth even before His crucifixion.
34  
35  Trust, belief and obedience, and even agape and knowledge of God when they are
36  settled in the heart is what God sees and God is our justifier, and He
37  justifies the one who puts their faith/trust in Jesus Christ, and we continue
38  trusting Him so we are teachable by Him - we accept His sayings and believe Him
39  and are corrected by Him.
40  
41  We believe by faith that we are justified by the blood of Jesus and just get
42  to serving God with agape love proceeding from a good conscience having
43  believed the Gospel and placed our faith in Christ.
44  
45  Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, He was
46  raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and He appeared to many
47  eye-witnesses.
48  
49  In this way did God agape love (treasure/value) the world, that He gave His
50  Only-Begotten Son that everyone who is trusting/believing in Him may not
51  perish, but may have life everlasting which is to be reconciled to our Creator
52  and His Son, in relationship with God forever, never perishing nor being cut
53  off from our source of life and all that is good.
54  
55  Agape love is a treasuring/valuing/preserving/compassion love and God the
56  Father and Jesus God the Son should be our first agape love, and those in the
57  family of Christ we must also agape love, and our spouses we must agape love
58  and we are even called to agape all people, but we're supposed to have no
59  agape for this world.
60  
61  Agape-loving our neighbour as ourself necessitates not bearing a grudge against
62  our neighbour and not taking vengeance - there is no fear or grudge or
63  vengence in agape love because agape love is selfless and compassionate and
64  agape love gives everything and holds nothing back to have a chance to
65  preserve and protect, to save. God would have sent Jesus even if there was
66  only one more person to save. Agape comes from God. God loved us this way and
67  paid the price for us for sin to be defeated that we may be reconciled back to
68  Him through Jesus. And we pass this type of love, agape love, forward to
69  others.
70  
71  We move forward serving God with hope to see His glory.
72  
73  Obedience is in the heart, along with belief in the Truth and understanding of
74  the gospel.
75  
76  Obedience can exist without work - a willingness of the spirit.
77  
78  Jesus said, "The spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak." The law can
79  also be followed by faith where it's a matter of seeking praise from God and
80  not from men.
81  
82  Our faith should be modelled on Abraham's faith.
83  By faith Abraham obeyed God. By faith Christians obey Christ.
84  
85  We're supposed to have joy in our obedience to God.
86  
87  We're supposed to go from agapeing darkness to agapeing God's light, and into
88  walking in the light, walking in God's will, and we're supported by God's
89  Spirit as we are doing this.

We serve the Only True God, the Most High God, Jehovah and Jesus Christ who He has sent - the same God, and we are found in Christ Jesus:

I Corinthians 8:5-7 - For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as indeed there are many gods and many lords — yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. (ESV)

Deuteronomy 10:17 - For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. (ESV)

Jesus is preparing us to be able to stand before Father God blamelessly:

I Thessalonians 3:11-13 - Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (ESV)

Our relationship with God is based on our purity, not just our forgiveness:

II Corinthians 6:16-18 - What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. (ESV)

Father God is pleased with showing love for people, especially those who the world neglects. Father God is pleased when we keep ourselves unstained from the world, and not in love with the world and not in love with the lusts of the world. We should have agape love for people (treasuring people) and no agape for the world:

James 1:27 - Religion that is pure and undefiled (283. amiantos) before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (ESV)

James 4:4 - You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (ESV)

This morning (<2024-09-14 Sat>) I had this running through my head during my sleep and as I was waking up - I love it when God does that. I feel much cleaner today. This morning <2024-09-18 Wed> (4 days later) I was hit with some spiritual attack (including strange dreams) so I purposefully stayed up singing this song in my heart and mind and as I did, trying to 'will from the heart' to desire to do God's will and I was able to beat the spiritual attack back this morning :):

• youtube.com: Purify My Heart {Refiner's Fire} | Jeremy Riddle - Worship Moment: Purify my heart. Let me be as gold and precious silver. Purify my heart. Let me be as gold, pure gold.

  Refiner's fire, My heart's one desire is to be holy, set apart for You, Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for You, my Master, ready to do Your will

• Sermon: youtube.com: Unstained from the World: The Battle for Purity - Tim Conway

To let go and let God purify us is generally incorrect. The Bible teaches that we should cleanse our hearts, and it also teaches that God will cleanse our heart. I like the phrase "let go of darkness and trust God" more. See: youtube.com: Billy Graham Messages 2024 | LET GO & TRUST GOD:

James 4:8 - Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (ESV)

Acts 15:9 - and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. (ESV)

Christ is reigning until all things are subjected to Him. We must come under the Lordship of Christ Jesus. I consider any so-called god which is in rebellion to Christ to be a demon:

I Corinthians 15:25-28 - For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (ESV)

Luke 4:8 - And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. (ESV)

Daniel 7:13-14 - I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (ESV)

• Quote by John Piper: So if I were to put a title on this message it would be "No neutrality. [There is] nothing in-between for and against (i.e. there are only two options: for and against) - No neutrality. If you're not for Him, [then] Jesus says you're against Him.

  And I can imagine a person coming into this room and saying, "I'm not against Jesus. I don't even think about Jesus most of the time."

  To which I would respond, "You need to think about what you just said, because to be against Jesus is to be against his purpose for your life, and his purpose for your life does not mean you should spend 99% of your time not thinking about him. That's not his purpose"

We have no other Lord, King, no other Master than Jesus Christ, but we serve Jesus in serving each other:

Matthew 23:8-11 - But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor (2519. kathégétés), the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. (ESV)

Matthew 12:28-30 - But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. (ESV)

II Corinthians 4:5 - For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. (ESV)

We don't worship foreign gods. We don't worship other servants of God, angels or demons. We worship Jehovah God, and most Christians worship Jesus Christ as God the Son, reigning as God with His Father - that's totally all good:

Revelation of John 22:8-9 - I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. (ESV)

I'm trying to side with Jesus over issues regarding the evil which is still present in the world and "hate the sin, not the sinner", and starting by first taking a look at my own problems but by no means endorsing sinful things even things I consider I do which are sinful, I don't endorse them for myself either:

John 7:6-8 - Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. (ESV)

Psalms 82:1-8 - God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: A Psalm of Asaph. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations! (ESV)

• youtube.com: Deuteronomy 32 World View - There are Principalities That Rule over Nations @time: 17 min 56 sec: Here's just one observation from I John 3 and John 1. You go back in the Old Testament. Who are the holy ones?

  Overwhelmingly, like 98% of the time, it's members of the heavenly host, the Divine Council. In the New Testament, holy ones, your English Bible will have 'saints'. That title is never used of the heavenly host, the angels, it's only used of you - of believers. Why the switch? Because we are the new sons and daughters of God. We are going to replace what was lost in all these rebellions both on Earth and ultimately in heaven, or the new Earth, the new Eden. You go to Hebrews 2 where this is the passage where Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers, siblings. Where does that scene take place? If go read the passage? Before the congregation. Before the council. It's right there in the text. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 tells the Corinthians who are basically doing everything wrong, he says "Look, will you stop taking each other to court. Don't you know that you're going to rule or judge angels.

  What it means is: How are we going to judge angels? If you keep reading Revelation 2, Revelation 3, in the new Eden we are put over the nations. To him that overcomes I will put him over the nations. To the one that overcomes I will let him sit on my throne and rule the nations. Who rules the nations now? The fallen gods, the principalities, the powers the rebellious sons of God. Who gets to replace them? Who judges them? Who will ultimately rule over them and displace and replace them? That would be us. This is not a throwaway line in Paul.

• Quote from Mari Mari Emmanuel: So fear nothing, love everyone, but be firm when it comes to speaking the truth. Truth cannot be compromised. It cannot be sold.

• Amen: youtube.com youtube.com: Day 9: Repent New York City | Phillip Blair

I agree whole heartedly with Keith Green here:

• youtube.com: Keith Green 1978 : Make My Life A Prayer to You {live}

I agree whole heartedly also with MP Nick Fletcher:

• youtube.com: Christian MP: "A life in Christ is the most wonderful thing"

I agree whole heartedly with John Piper in these videos. I've been watching some sermons from Desiring God:

• youtube.com: The Blazing Center by John Piper
• youtube.com: God's Delight in Obedience
• youtube.com: His Voice in Yours: How Christ Wins the World
• youtube.com: God is the Gospel
• youtube.com: How to Seek the Holy Spirit @time: 48 min 13 sec
  • AMEN!!

I agree whole-heartedly with David Mathis also:

• youtube.com: What Is It Like to 'Know Christ'?
• youtube.com: Work Out What Christ Has Won: The Christian Life as Gift and Duty

I affirm this man's message:

• youtube.com: The most eloquent, well spoken street preacher I've ever heard! | Preaching Times Square, NYC

I appreciated hearing about Tucker Carlson's journey here and I also appreciate Living Waters' very straight-forward gospel message:

• youtube.com: Recent Demon Attack Leads Tucker Carlson to CHRIST?
• youtube.com: Tucker Says Supernatural Beings Are Taking Physical Form. Here's What He Means.

• Acknowledgement: To be able to have affection for God and treasure God, and have a desire for God is such a gift…. Thank you John Piper for helping me to see that, and lead me into that truth… It makes so much sense in hindsight. Nothing in this world could replace the gift of being able to know God Himself and have an affectionate, treasuring, obedient, believing, desiring love for God.

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)

Because God loved us first:

• The Apostle Paul endeavours to know Jesus ('makes it his own'. See Php 3:9-13 below) because Jesus made Paul His own
  • To be found in Jesus is what Paul describes as the righteousness from God that depends on faith
  • We know Jesus by believing in Him and obeying His commandments, and when we love and forgive we know God loved us and forgave us first
• We should love because He loved us first
  • Romans 5:7-8 - For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (ESV)
• We must forgive as we have been forgiven

Philippians 3:9-13 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

• youtube.com: The Deception Behind the Saying: God is Love {@DerekPrinceMinistries} @time: 5 min 9 sec: I agree that love is the greatest thing. But the trouble is that people are not always clear about the nature of love as it is described in the New Testament. First of all, love in us is expressed in obedience to the Lord. Any kind of love that does not result in obedience is unscriptural love. In John 14:15 Jesus said to His disciples: "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Or in a perhaps better text, "…you will keep my commandments." In other words, what is the evidence that you love Him? The evidence is keeping His commandments. Then in verse 21 (John 14:12), the first part, Jesus says: "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…" And in 1 John 5:3 it says: For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments…"

  Therefore, any kind of love that does not result in the obedience to the will of God revealed in His word, it is not scriptural love. It's a counterfeit, a substitute for the real thing.

  Then we need to consider the way that God expresses His love toward us. True, God is our Father and He loves us. But as a Father, if necessary, He is prepared to discipline us. In the messages to the seven churches depicted in Revelation, I would say that Laodicea is probably the one that corresponds most closely to the contemporary church in the West. And to that church the Lord said: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent." So God's love is not sloppy. It's not sentimental. It is right down to earth. If we are straying from His ways and if we are disobedient, His love is expressed in rebuking us and chastening us, and He commands us to repent.

  Once again we have the problem of trying to get what God promises, but bypassing the basic condition of repentance which is a deception. I recently read the following comment by a British Bible teacher. "Some Christians take the text "God is love" and turn it around to mean "Love is God." In other words, nothing can be wrong if it is rooted in love. However, any love that comes between us and God is an illegitimate love. Likewise, any love that diverts us from obedience to God's word is illegitimate.

It's perfect self-humbling obedience throughout His sinless life as He walked the earth in the flesh that only Jesus Christ has reached, was able to reach and was destined to reach:

Philippians 2:8 - And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

I Corinthians 15:45 - Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (ESV)

• youtube.com: Is repentance an aspect of faith, or is repentance a good work? {@ligonier} @time: 1 min 42 sec: NICHOLS: Yeah, I think what we need to see is faith is the trusting in, and repentance is the turning from. And so, you know, as you come to God, we are all oriented away from God, we are seeking not God, and so a conversion is a 180.

  And as we are turning towards God in faith, we are turning from ultimately the self and from sin, and that's repentance. So, if ever a soul is to get to heaven, the two wings of faith and repentance will get that soul to heaven.

  LAWSON: Yeah, and to even merge that together, all faith is a repentant faith and all repentance is really a believing repentance. I mean, they really are merged together. And you put it so well and it's true, the faith is the turning to and repentance is the turning away from, and you can't have one without the other. I mean, it's a package deal.

We obey the truth. We believe the gospel and obey the truth. We live according to the truth. We are saved to serve/obey and be taught by Christ. In my view it's all obedience to the truth and essentially means accepting the gospel and letting it work in your life through belief-obedience. The gospel being inclusive of all the sayings which Jesus spoke during His ministry recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the deeds which He carried out, including making atonement for sin:

Luke 4:18-19 - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (ESV)

Luke 4:42-43 - And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose. (ESV)

John 12:44-50 - And Jesus cried out and said, Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me. (ESV)

Luke 8:15 - As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. (ESV)

Luke 8:21 - But he answered them, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. (ESV)

When we are living in faith in God for His promises we are living in an obedient way. Belief and obedience are not separate things in my opinion, but we must have both obedience and belief in the heart - we must agree that gospel of Jesus is Truth and live in that reality holding faith and being obedient to Jesus and God will make it happen. So living by faith walks according to the will of God with hope in His promises, trust in Jesus and faithfulness-obedience to His commandments, walking in the ways of God seeking God's commendation, trusting in God, and living as though He exists:

I Peter 1:22 - Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, (ESV)

Acts 15:9 - and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. (ESV)

• youtube.com: Hope and the Fruit of Love @time: 13 min 58 sec: "You have cleansed your heart by obedience to the truth." Acts 15:9 says, "God cleansed their hearts by faith." The gospel demands faith. Therefore, obedience to the gospel is faith and faith is hope - faith in the future that God is providing. Faith in all these truths of chapter 1 (i.e. [I Peter 1]), means "hoping faith is the assurance of things hoped for."

Our faith should be in God and our hope should be for God's promises as we serve God through Jesus. God has spoken a lot already in the Scriptures and about how we should listen to Jesus. Saving faith trusts God:

I Peter 1:20-23 - He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; (ESV)

Both belief and obedience come out of a trust of God in the heart. So our faith should be based on hope that is based on truth. We must understand the truth in our hearts, and allow it to work itself out in us. The word of God in the heart saves us.

When we trust in the name (onoma) of the Son of God, we receive forgiveness of sins. Everyone who believes/trusts in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His name:

Acts 10:43-45 - To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. (ESV)

The Apostle Paul was obedient to God. This is Paul exercising his faith in God through obedience. Also, this was obedience to a heavenly vision - a vision in which Jesus was confessed (I John 4:3) - and it was a truthful vision that is in accordance with the gospel which the earlier Apostles were teaching:

Acts 26:14-15 - And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. (ESV)

Acts 26:19 - Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, (ESV)

We abide in Jesus when He washes us. When the Holy Spirit washes us, the Holy Spirit helps us to put sin to death:

John 13:8 - Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. (ESV)

Peter believed/received/obeyed/trusted like a child of God (he cooperated) to let Jesus wash him but it was Jesus doing the work:

John 13:9 - Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head! (ESV)

Jesus' servants (people who believe and obey Him) are found in him. We know Christ by living in the pattern in which he lived. Jesus' servants are those who have accepted Jesus to wash them, and they ought to then wash one another:

Psalms 34:22 - The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (ESV)

And they were put in Him by Him:

Titus 3:5-7 - he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (ESV)

When we walk in trusting, believing, obedient faith, God works in us and to deliver us and makes our paths straight for us:

Philippians 1:6 - And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Matthew 7:15-20 - Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (ESV)

Matthew 12:33-35 - Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. (ESV)

• youtube.com: STOP Trying To Be a Better Christian… {Let Me Explain}: So I want to give you an illustration say for example you take a piece of fruit and this represents righteous living, as the Bible commands us to live as Christians.

  Now, what I want to say is that Christians spend too much time focusing on the fruit rather than the tree. There are so many Christians that are trying to live right in order to be made, right rather than knowing that they've been made right, so they live right out of that place.

  Now, if I was to take a piece of fruit and I was to stick it on a tree that is not a fruit tree, would that make it a fruit tree? Of course not. Why? Because that tree can't produce fruit naturally on its own. But what if we were to look at a fruit tree? How would we know that it's a fruit tree? Because that fruit tree produces fruit on its own. If it's planted in good soil, if it has water, if it has adequate sunlight, that tree is going to produce good fruit naturally on its own. It's not going to stress and strive to produce the fruit. It's going to produce the fruit in due season simply because it is a fruit tree and that's what a fruit tree does.

  And this is very similar for the Christian. So many Christians spend their time basically trying to stick pieces of fruit on a tree rather than recognizing that they are a tree that has been made right.

• David Mathis: "Don't think that becoming like Jesus in his death means that Paul is anticipating that he himself will be crucified, or that we will be crucified, but that he wants us to know Christ as we live in the pattern in which he lived; That we would have his heart, we would have his mind (mindset). We would know him by walking in that mind, in that heart. That's the pattern Paul wants to be conformed to. And knowing Christ by sharing in his sufferings means walking in the footsteps of his self-humbling, and experiencing Jesus' help and the fellowship of having Him near and His resurrection power on the path of our obedience when it's the hardest".

Very well put by David Mathis. I'd say that in obeying Christ and imitating Christ, we endeavour to be found in Him, and He is our righteousness, and He is also our strength. We believe Truth because we believe Jesus. We obey Righteousness because we obey Jesus.

Since the real Jesus is Faithful and True, He is trustworthy. If we trust in Jesus then we trust the real Jesus which means we trust the words He spoke. We are teachable by Jesus:

Revelation of John 19:11 - Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. (ESV)

I still believe that the upward call of God in Christ Jesus may result in some being martyred. Holding to the Truth (remaining faithful to the Word of God) while practicing righteousness (being obedient to Jesus, obedient to His commandments), a person will receive persecution.

II Timothy 3:12 - Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, (ESV)

John 21:19 - (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, Follow me. (ESV)

We must act out our new nature:

• youtube.com: The Hidden Snare of Bitterness @time: 4 min 6 sec: So when Paul says, "Put it on, this new nature, he means, 'Act it out'." If you have been created anew after the likeness of God clothe yourselves with godly garments. Now what is clothing? Clothing is what people see. When you put clothing around yourself you give something for people to look at that's presentable. So when Paul says "clothe yourselves, put on your new nature," he means, "let that inner reality that God has created work itself out in visible actions and behaviors and attitudes. Become what you are within."

• Mathetes to Diognetus: They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. To sum up all in one word–what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible.

Philippians 2:15 - that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, (ESV)

Jesus follows us and supports us:

I Corinthians 10:4 - and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. (ESV)

Thanks to Jesus' endurance, His spirit empowers us to live as He lived, and to be conformed to His image. Jesus wants us to practice His love, His faith, His commandments:

Hebrews 12:1-3 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (ESV)

Hebrews 2:16-18 - For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (ESV)

This is Christ's law:

John 15:12 - This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (ESV)

We must have faith in Jesus to be justified by faith. God justifies the person who trusts in Jesus and since we trust Jesus we should be doers of Christ's law (which is not outside the law of God, so we are doers of the law), and God justifies the person with the blood of Jesus. If we're trusting in Jesus then we're trusting in God who justifies the ungodly. We're not trusting in God to justify our ungodliness, but to justify us as we keep our faith in Jesus:

Romans 2:13-16 - For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (ESV)

God's strength does not guarantee that we will not suffer as a result of following Jesus. But God gives us the power at the time we need it to endure the suffering:

Hebrews 12:1-3 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (ESV)

• youtube.com: Sanctify Christ as Lord @time: 21 min 49 sec: When I stress that the glory of Christianity is that God wants His name to be hallowed through your hoping in what He does for you rather than for what you do for Him, that does not lead to passivity. It never has in the history of the Christian church.

  The people that believe that most dearly and most intently have the Holy Spirit working not instead of them but inside of them, stirring them up to maximise their enjoyment of the grace of God shed abroad in their labours.

  God took the sting out of death and He took the futility out of labour, so that He says, "You will mount up like wings like eagles. You will run and not grow weary. You will walk and not faint." His power doesn't take the joy of meaningful labour and productivity away from up.

  It gets under it. It gets behind it. It gets in it. It gets in front of it with reward.

  It empowers it so that it's satisfying and freeing and liberating and you come to the end of your day wonderfully weary, not excruciatingly weary.

  The main point of the message is that God's name and His Son's name should be hallowed in our hearts and it should be hallowed best when we hope most in Him.

• Quote from John Piper: God took the sting out of death and He took the futility out of labour, so that He says, "You will mount up like wings like eagles. You will run and not grow weary. You will walk and not faint."

AMEN to that!

The followers of Paul the Apostle live by (walk by) faith; those are the righteous ones. It's a lifestyle:

Galatians 3:11 - Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for The righteous shall live by faith. (ESV)

The crown of life is gifted to those who are obedient, and have been tested. I think this verse can also be taken in the literal sense:

Revelation 2:10 - Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (ESV)

Jesus will manifest to those who keep His commandments:

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

Even the Apostle Paul explains that our freedom is for serving one another:

Galatians 5:13 - For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (ESV)

Our freedom is so that we might live to God:

Galatians 2:19 - For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. (ESV)

Psalms 119:45 - And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts. (NASB)

God is our life. We must love, obey, and hold fast to Him. Faith is not without obedience, but we are to obey Jesus Christ and to believe in Jesus is to have begun to obey Him:

Deuteronomy 30:20 - loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (ESV)

God is our life because Christ is our life. Our life is hidden with Christ in God:

Colossians 3:1-4 - If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (ESV)

Obey God, obey Jesus. This doesn't say that obeying the 10 commandments is not important. To love God and your neighbour in truth from the heart is the way to do this. But Mark 10:17-21 does say that following Jesus (treasuring Jesus, His words and putting them into practice) is vitally important:

Mark 10:17-21 - And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother. And he said to him, Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.

To get to know Jesus, we must obey His commandments:

I John 2:3-4 - And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (ESV)

Christ Jesus has set us free to serve God, living for Him. Obeying Christ Jesus, we are found in Him:

John 13:34 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (ESV)

In Christ Jesus seek to follow the pattern of His life to get to know Him, and He gave us commandments to follow to do that. Faith in Christ Jesus is not just a belief in the head but faith is trusting Him, and trusting in Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Both our belief in Him and obedience to Him flow from our trust in Him. Anyone who claims to have come to know Jesus but does not do what Jesus says is a liar and they are not in the truth:

Galatians 2:1-5 - Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. (ESV)

Yes, Jesus has set us free, but it's to serve God by serving Christ. We are freed in order to love and serve God:

Galatians 5:1 - For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (ESV)

Daniel 7:27 - Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’ (NASB)

• Song: youtube.com: Satellite - Let Freedom Ring {Live at Eastercamp 2013}

Slaves worship idols. Christians obey God, and in obeying God we are free. We love God and trust God and love Jesus and follow Jesus:

Exodus 20:2-3 - I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. (ESV)

In believing we have eternal life, but we need to continue in obedience to Jesus Christ or will not see life, so there should be a change of behaviour. We should have changed to serve God. Even if "apeitheó" is better translated to "not be pursuaded", trusting in Jesus Christ is still obedience. Unless you believe that trusting in Jesus is disobedience, which it is not. It's obedient to trust in Jesus because He commanded it in John 14:1. They're not separate things. A heart that is pursuaded to trust Jesus is an obedient heart:

John 3:36 - Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuōn - is believing (verb)) in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey (544. apeitheó) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

• G4100 πιστεύων (pisteuōn): This is the present participle form of the verb "πιστεύω" (G4100 pisteuō), meaning "to trust" / "to believe" / "to have faith." In the participle form, it functions as a verbal adjective and can be translated as "believing" / "trusting."

I John 5:10-13 - Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuōn - is believing (verb)) in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (ESV)

But we must not believe in vain. We must continue trusting Jesus. We must believe and hold fast to the gospel:

I Corinthians 15:1-2 - Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast (2722. katechó) to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (ESV)

• 2722. katechó: Usage: (a) I hold fast, bind, arrest, (b) I take possession of, lay hold of, (c) I hold back, detain, restrain, (d) I hold a ship, keep its head.

Of first importance is that we are believing in the correct Jesus. We must be teachable / correctable by Jesus (accepting as true His words and his deeds):

I Corinthians 15:3-9 - For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (ESV)

John 18:37 - Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. (ESV)

Matthew 23:10 - Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor (G2519 kathégétés), the Christ. (ESV)

• kathégétés: Definition: Teacher, Leader, Guide. Meaning: a leader, teacher, guide, master.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it like this, “Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.”

• Read: gbtseminary.org: Cheap Grace: Bonhoeffer and the Cost of Discipleship - Grace Bible Theological Seminary

• Read: goodreads.com: The Cost of Discipleship Quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I can't say I agree with everything Bonhoeffer is purportedly said to have believed, but as I said at the top of this document, just because I have quoted some pastors and authors does not mean that I affirm everything they have ever said, but I have selected quotes which I have found to be relevant and helpful:

• Read: newcriterion.com: The ambiguous witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer | The New Criterion

Although I can see how listening to Jesus and having faith in Jesus can be seen as being obedient to God, God having commanded us to do so, I also understand that it's God who miraculously purifies our heart as we put our faith in Jesus.

John 13:7 - Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. (ESV)

Acts 15:8-9 - And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. (ESV)

However, I do also believe in the imputed righteousness that we can have from God who is the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, and that's the righteousness of Jesus. However, God is the justifier, the one to grant this righteousness, and I maintain the hope that God will justify me or has already justified me as I continue in obedience. I think this is the right way to think about it.

We should disobey sin, and present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God. We should be practicing righteousness, practicing love and holiness and truth:

Romans 6:12-13 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (NASB)

We need to receive the Holy Spirit:

• Quote by John Piper: Hold fast in obedience to what you have heard and believed.

Father God loved Jesus, Jesus loved us, we love God back by loving Jesus back by keeping Jesus' commandments, and Jesus sends His Holy Spirit to us, and we come to know Jesus intimately:

John 15:9 - As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (ESV)

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

We love in the way Jesus loved us, which is how God loved Jesus:

John 17:26 - I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. (ESV)

John 17:23 - I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (ESV)

John 14:15-17 - If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (ESV)

I John 4:7 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (ESV)

I John 4:13 - By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. (ESV)

God loves Jesus, God loved us first through Jesus. Jesus loved us. Love comes from God. We then endeavour to love one another in the way Jesus loved us, passing forward this love. We don't take Jesus (God the Son) out of the equation, nor do we take Father God out of the equation. We were loved first by God:

I John 4:9-10 - In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (ESV)

Jesus and Father God manifest to those who keep His word and obey Him:

John 14:22-23 - Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

II John 1:9-10 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, (ESV)

• Quote by John Piper: Hold fast in obedience to what you have heard and believed. John 14:22 really bothers some people. John 14:22, here's what it says: "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." This is not unconditional love. This is profoundly conditional. I'll read it again: "Lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world, to us - we are your disciples. If anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him - In a way that he doesn't love everybody! My father will love him, and We will come to him to that one who loves us and keeps our word. We will come to that one, make our home, our abode, with him. There is an experience of intimacy and at homeness with Jesus and the father that comes only through obedience. Those who love me so much that keeping my word is not the works of the law, but the overflow of their affections for Me - and how could we not move into such in such a heart with the fullness of the at homeness that you longed for. If anyone keeps My word, holds fast treasures it, in obedience, that person will not be quenching the spirit, that person will not be grieving the spirit, but will know the fullness and sweetness of fellowship with the Father and the Son. If you're watching pornagraphy every week, do not expect this experience - you wont have it. If you're harsh with your wife, you wont have it.

AMEN!!

• youtube.com: Accept the Holy Spirit - Derek Prince Sermon @time: 9 min 47 sec: I don't believe you can be saved without meeting Jesus. I don't mean that you mean that you meet him visibly as the disciples did but I don't believe there's any way into the true church of Jesus Christ except Jesus. He said, "I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved." So I believe this is a pattern for the new birth for every person. We have to meet Jesus. Not just believe a Doctrine or join a church, but have a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ and receive from him the in breathed Breath of God which is the Holy Spirit and become a new creation. We pass from death to life. I remember when I met Jesus face to face, not visibly, but face to face in an army barracks room in the British Army in World War II. I didn't have any doctrinal knowledge of Salvation. I couldn't say I was born again. I didn't know what you had to do to be saved, but believe me I was saved. Later on I got the doctrine. But I'd met Jesus and I just want to tell you dear friends that you cannot meet Jesus and stay the same. You can join a church and remain unchanged. You can believe all sorts of things with your head and remain unchanged, but when you meet the resurrected Christ it's transforming and it's permanent.

• youtube.com: Jesus Is Not Just A Prophet Or A Guru @time: 3 min 52 sec: I'd been deeply involved in yoga. And when I was challenged with the gospel and the presentation of Jesus Christ, I simply was not able to acknowledge Him as Son of God and Messiah until I had a tremendous deliverance.

  That was the first deliverance I was ever in, it was the middle of the night, it was in an army barrack room.

  I was flat on my back on the floor and I have no idea how many demons came out of me. But many. And the moment that yoga demon left I knew that Jesus is the Son of God, I didn't have any more doubt.

When I was born again of the Spirit, in faith I confessed Jesus - I wasn't told "this is Jesus here making you born-again" - I asked Jesus to save me, and then continued walking in faith, believing I had an experience with God, so I believed God existed, but I sought then to demonstrate my faith to Jesus in my walk, through my inward thoughts, my prayer life with Jesus, my outward actions and my outward words:

Romans 8:23-25 - And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (ESV)

Then after a month I confessed Jesus a second time after "giving God my first-fruits" in response.

OK, so in response for being forgiven and born-again, we should live to serve God through serving Christ, getting to know Christ, and disobeying sin.

Romans 7:1-4 - Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (ESV)

I believe that if I am disobeying sin and obeying Jesus then I am cooperating with Jesus as He fights for me to overcome the sin and to put the sin to death:

Colossians 3:5 - Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (ESV)

That is the obvious conclusion. I should not be a hypocrite about it.

• youtube.com: Jeff Vines - Ready or Not: Here Comes Temptation Pt 2 - 21 November 2024 @time: 5 min 47 sec: Trial and temp[tation] - are they the same? No. But a test in your life either takes you closer to God or takes you farther away from God, depending on your response. A test is a test until you respond inappropriately at which point it becomes a temptation. Now please stay with me, this is so important, you are going to encounter all kinds of stuff and it's either going to make you grow in your relationship with God or it's going to take you further away from God, but you will not remain the same.

Jesus has set me free, and there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ, but we should have a response of love for Jesus, and live to serve Jesus, and it's very, very important to embrace sanctification, and to put a stop to willful sin.

• desiringgod.org: The High Cost of Sexual Sin | Desiring God: I'm trying to explode the doctrine that the battle for obedience is optional because only faith is necessary for salvation. This is very tricky the way words are used here. The battle for obedience is absolutely necessary for salvation because it is the fight of faith. The battle for obedience is absolutely necessary for getting to heaven because it is the battle against unbelief. It is the fight of faith. There are not two battles: one to get yourself saved by a single act of faith, and the other to collect rewards by work. There is only one battle - it's the one that gets you started, it's the one that gets you there, and it's the fight of faith not works! Faith is what severs the root of covetousness, misplaced shame, anxiety, lust, envy, and six more before we are done this year. There is one warfare, and it is the warfare of faith.

AMEN!! If only someone had told me this first. Repentance (metanoia) from sin is an important part of salvation.

John Piper - We should rely entirely on the righteousness of Christ imputed to us by faith alone as the ground of God being 100% for us after which necessary sanctification comes.􀀱􂮌

I don't think repentance from sin is a separate issue from salvation but is a continuation of accepting the gospel. We continue to believe the Truth, being washed in the Truth, God's Word, and alongside that our souls are being purified through obedience to the Truth, God's Word. Jesus is the Son of God, the Word of God, the Word of God made flesh. God's spoken Word is the Word of God. Jesus' Words are also the Word. We trust, believe and obey the Word of God, and this repentance is absolutely necessary for salvation.

We must embrace sanctification, and be slaves of God, obeying God, obeying righteousness:

Romans 6:16 - Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (ESV)

Romans 6:20-23 - When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

I do believe that now. After receiving the Holy Spirit, we must use the spirit to put sin to death, and stop willfully sinning. Committing sin against our own bodies is very, very unwise:

Romans 8:13 - For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (ESV)

The Apostle Paul still recognises that we are supposed to have a heart of obedience to Jesus. And I imagine the others who Paul came into an argument with were also concerned about going on without love. In return for the grace given to us, we are supposed to love Jesus back in obedience to His commandments:

Galatians 2:10 - Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. (ESV)

Those who teach others to disobey Jesus, calling Jesus' commandments contrary to grace, are not being humble. We're not being set free from Jesus - we're getting married to Him. But Jesus indeed did give us freedom. We can resist people who try to put us under a yoke of slavery, but we don't teach people to disobey Jesus as to do so is to teach pride and lawlessness and against trusting in Jesus, and against obeying Jesus, and against believing Jesus regarding all the warnings about disobedience and disbelief, and I think it's without the fear of God to teach others to disobey Jesus.

God gives grace to the humble (not the self-righteous). That is true. But recognising your own sin and calling it sin is humility. And in wanting to turn from it, God may give grace to do so:

James 4:6 - But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (ESV)

We are supposed to have a response of repentance from sin. God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance from sin. And turning from sin is a loving response to grace given:

Romans 2:4 - Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (ESV)

Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ is available for all who believe. It is received by faith, and God is the one who justifies us. We must hold faith in Jesus and seek God's justification. We don't justify ourselves. Faith continues. I think it's really important to believe, trust in and obey Jesus since that's what Abraham's faith was like - it was believing, trusting and obedient:

Romans 3:20-26 - For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (ESV)

Those in the kingdom of God hold faith in Jesus and serve Jesus:

Romans 14:17-18 - For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. (ESV)

There are commandments from God which even Paul the Apostle regarded as important to follow for all people who serve Jesus, such as the 10 Commandments and the commandments which came from Jesus Himself, including the Golden Rule:

Romans 13:9-10 - The commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (ESV)

• Quote by John Bunyan: Interpreter explained, "This parlor is the heart of a man which has never been sanctified by the sweet grace of the Gospel. The dust is his original sin and inward corruptions, which have defiled the whole man. He who began to sweep at first, is the Law. The maiden who brought and sprinkled the water, is the Gospel. "You saw that as soon as the man began to sweep, that the dust thickly swirled around the room, and became even more difficult to cleanse, nearly choking you to death. This is to show you that the Law, instead of cleansing the heart from sin—does in fact arouse sin, giving greater strength to it—and causing it to flourish in the soul. The Law both manifests and forbids sin—but it has no power to subdue sin. "Again, you saw the maiden sprinkle the room with water, upon which it was cleansed with ease. This is to show you, that when the Gospel comes in the sweet and precious influences thereof to the heart—then, I say, even as you saw the maiden subdue the dust by sprinkling the floor with water—just so is sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean, through faith, and consequently fit for the King of glory to inhabit."

• youtube.com: Servants or Secret Agents? @time: 17 min 4 sec: Sin is a power and not just an act. So many people think that sin is like stealing or killing or lying. And of course that is sin, but that's not the main problem.

  If that were the main problem, willpower could save us. The main problem is that sin is a power, and it takes captive desires.

The law is good. It's not our source of justification but we don't teach people to disobey it, especially those who follow it by faith.

Romans 14:10-14 - Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. (ESV)

The command to believe is a command to obedience, the obedience of faith. The command to obedience is not to the law but to have faith in Jesus. While the law of God revives the soul while we are actually meditating on it and doing it, the law doesn't save to perfection - it doesn't purify the heart:

Psalms 19:7-9 - The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. (ESV)

Hebrews 7:19 - (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. (ESV)

Psalms 1:1-2 - Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (ESV)

The obedience we have in the heart which saves is trust in Jesus Christ Himself where we become trusting, believing and obedient to Jesus, and as we hold fast to His gospel, Jesus brings us to God. God purifies our heart as we hold faith in Jesus:

I Peter 3:18-20 - For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. (ESV)

And, if we live in the flesh, the sinful passions are aroused by the law to bear fruit for death:

Romans 7:5 - For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. (ESV)

We are not perfected by the law, but by the Spirit:

Galatians 3:3 - Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (ESV)

Instead we focus on following Jesus first and foremost:

Romans 14:22-23 - The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (ESV)

And we are perfected through obedience to the Truth (Jesus) and faith in Jesus as His Spirit sanctifies us:

I Peter 1:22-25 - Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (ESV)

Matthew 5:43-48 - You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (ESV)

• Quote by John Piper: That's who we are as Christians. When we walk according to the Spirit, we fulfill the just requirement of the law. That is, we keep the commandments, we love. We are doers of the law. Not sinlessly perfect law-keepers. Nobody is nor anybody has been except Jesus, which is why we depend on Him, but rather, radically transformed people, through faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit, leaning on the grace of God that comes to us through Jesus Christ.

We're saved and rescued from idolatry and from other lawlessness, and in order to serve God and obey His commandments as Jesus has taught us to keep them:

Ezekiel 36:25-27 - I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (ESV)

• Polycarp 2:1: Wherefore gird up your loins and serve God in fear and truth, forsaking the vain and empty talking and the error of the many, for that ye have believed on Him that raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and gave unto him glory and a throne on His right hand; unto whom all things were made subject that are in heaven and that are on the earth; to whom every creature that hath breath doeth service; who cometh as judge of quick and dead; whose blood God will require of them that are disobedient unto Him.

A short version of my testimony of being born-again and Jesus setting me free:

• Baptised as a teenager in Vanuatu in 2005
• I've been writing software since then
• Life had been hard. I was a slave to the world, to sin and was in darkness (I could only see the world, and didn't have a love for God)
  • I was a hopeless case. I was looking for salvation through working harder, and trying to get ahead of the curve with AI stuff
    • Ephesians 2:12 - remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (ESV)
  • I was full of guilt, and I had so much shame and life has always been difficult
  • I didn't have much love for Jesus. I struggled to believe He was for-me.
  • My priorities were not in order. God wasn't my number one love or treasure
• I began seeking God out, particularly in the second half of 2020, and began having bolder faith in Jesus
  • web.archive.org mullikine.github.io: Prayer // Bodacious Blog
  • trying to follow God's commandments from the heart, accountable to God, and getting more confident talking about God
  • began taking steps of faith, believing in God and standing up for what I considered good and condemning what I considered evil
    • One thing which made me very angry is how big tech was/is using AI to steal GNU software
  • It seems that God was working in my life
  • I think God was working in my heart, making a new heart for me
  • I had begun seeking God, but I still needed God to rescue me from darkness:
    • Psalms 14:2-3 - The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. (ESV)
• I started researching AI fiction in 2021, invested in the Aletheia AI crypto with their Noah's Ark project for preserving personalities on the block chain
  • I was building Pen.el. Initially the software was
    • to insulate myself against AI fiction, and
    • to inform people about what was coming around the corner
    • as a labour of love for the person I really like
    • It was like an 'Ark'
      • However, I wouldn't say I was instructed to build it as Noah was, but I thought it was more important for the world for me to do good than for me to get paid work, and as I did this I was saying on Reddit, etc. that people should not use this AI large language model stuff to rule like gods over others
      • Hebrews 11:7
• I got born-again of the Spirit on 2 April 2022
  • I woke up to observing my regenerated 'spirit-man' and called out to Jesus in this spirit body saying I didn't know what was going on but asking him to save me
  • I found out recently this was the 1st day of Nisan
  • https://www.jhiblog.org/2017/05/29/the-first-of-nisan-the-forgotten-jewish-new-year/
• I put down the AI stuff and began pursuing God full-time
  • I wrote about God's law written on my heart, for example:
  • web.archive.org mullikine.github.io: The Tapestry of Truth // Bodacious Blog
• I had an immersive vision of healing people with compassion soon after, just 2-3 weeks before Pentecost that year
  • Agape love feels like "A deep longing or very intense treasuring compassion and desperate yearning in the heart for someone to be OK, for them to not perish or be in pain." - This is what it felt like coming out of me.
    • John 7:37-38 - On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. (ESV)

I really affirm Marc's message here:

• youtube.com: When You Become Chosen You Will Find Yourself Alone

I'll also add Geoff Winter's testimony:

• youtube.com: Testimony of Geoff Winter, 2017

Romans 10:12-13 - For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (ESV)

AMEN!!

Confessions of faith

The order of salvation

I plan on adhering to what the Word of God says, even if it offends other Christians when it comes to contentious topics as the order of salvation, or salvation by obedience and I want my theology to be 'raw and real', and always Scriptural.

The gospel in a nutshell:

Acts 26:14-20 - And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. (ESV)

Acts 28:25-28 - And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: Go to this people, and say, You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen. (ESV)

The general order of salvation from what I can dilvulge from Acts 26 and Acts 28:

• See with their eyes
  • II Corinthians 4:6 - For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (ESV)
  • Isaiah 42:6-7 - I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (ESV)
  • Luke 4:18-19 - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (ESV)
  • John 8:12 - Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (ESV)
• Hear with their ears
  • Matthew 11:15 - He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (ESV)
  • Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (ESV)
• Understand with their heart
  • Romans 10:10 - For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (ESV)
• Turn from darkness to light
  • They believe the truth, and place their faith in Jesus
    • Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)
  • They believe in / trust in Jesus Christ's name
    • Acts 10:43-45 - To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. (ESV)
  • They become trusting to God, pursuaded in the heart, believing and obedient
    • John 3:36 - Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuōn - is believing (verb)) in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey (544. apeitheó) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)
    • Hebrews 11:8 - By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (ESV)
• Turn from the power of Satan to God
  • Satan stops controlling them. God starts working through them, as we believe and obey, and our house is built.
    • Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (ESV)
    • Psalms 127:1 - Unless the LORD (3068. Yhvh - Phonetic Spelling: (yeh-ho-vaw'), Meaning: Jehovah) builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (ESV)
      • If Jehovah builds the house then those who build it do not labour in vain
    • Luke 6:48 - he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. (ESV)
    • II Timothy 2:24-26 - And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (ESV)
    • II Corinthians 5:1-3 - For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. (ESV)
• Sin is forgiven as a person turns from darkness to light and turns from satan's will to God's will
  • Acts 26:18 - to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (ESV)
• God heals
  • Sanctification is received through working faith, obedience, belief, trust - receiving healing, being renewed in mind, being conformed to Christ's image
    • Luke 8:15 - As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. (ESV)
    • I John 4:17 - By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. (ESV)
    • Acts 26:20 - but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. (ESV)
• Receive the inheritance

God is the justifier, not us:

Romans 3:26 - It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (ESV)

God raised Jesus up on the cross of Calvary and word got around with the preaching of gospel the Kingdom of God, so that those who trust in Him and believe Him, putting their trust in Him for who He is (the Son of God, the Messiah, our Lord and Saviour) and what He taught might be saved from the wrath of God and have eternal life.

I also take John 3:14 in the sense that in a way God still does this to remind us. For example, with the popular TV series the Chosen, I feel like God has reminded the world about Jesus.

John 3:14-19 - And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (KJV)

Jesus is brought into the spotlight. Those who would put their trust in Jesus, believing in Him are not condemned.

I really like John MacArthur's church's doctrinal statement. I just think it's helpful and quite accurate, but I may have my disagreements.

When we are born of God, I believe we have willed/done something which is in God's will. John 1:12-14 I think shows that when a person's will becomes God's will through believing (4100. pisteuó) faith in Jesus Christ's name, they have the authority to become children of God:

John 1:12-14 - But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (ESV)

Living in observance of the Law is fine, and even encouraged

Given that Moses had been already been proclaimed in those cities of the Gentiles mentioned, they sought to remind them to observe these 4 things:

Acts 15:19-21 - Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues. (ESV)

God (who knows the heart) gave the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles who had trusted/believed the word of truth, just as he had given the Holy Spirit to those Jews who had believed, and God cleansed their hearts by faith. The Apostle Peter made a point that he (Peter) and the other Apostles were also relying on the grace of God, believing that they (the Apostles) would be saved, just as the Gentiles who believed would be saved:

Acts 15:5-11 - But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. (ESV)

Also, Luke 11:13 says God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. So I think it's typical to believe God, believing the gospel, and to ask God for His Holy Spirit, expecting that God will cleanse our heart through faith, being prepared to continue obeying the truth for a sincere brotherly love:

Luke 11:13 - If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (ESV)

The same Apostle Peter made a point here about how we obey the Truth for a sincere brotherly love from a pure heart, purifying our souls. We believe and obey the good news, the gospel:

I Peter 1:22-25 - Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (ESV)

• Step 1 and ongoing: Believe the gospel / good news / the word of the Lord, cleansing our heart by faith.
  • The heart is purified by faith - believing the gospel.
  • Hold fast to the gospel.
• Step 2 and ongoing: Love one another earnestly from a pure heart, obeying the Truth who is Jesus and the Truth which is the Word of God, even the Scripture.
  • The soul is purified by obeying the Truth for a sincere brotherly love issuing from a pure heart.
  • This obedience to the Truth is primarily continuing to obey Jesus who is the Truth and our Lord and Master and may be done while observing the Law (Torah) which is useful for correction and training in righteousness, but we do not call the Law our Master. We are primarily slaves to Jesus who is our Righteousness. We don't teach against following the Law by faith but we follow Jesus first and foremost and have freedom as we do this, and the law doesn't condemn us as we are following Jesus.
  • Also we continue holding fast to the gospel.

So you see that whoever hopes in Jesus (has faith in Jesus) purifies himself as He is pure by obedience to the Truth. So this is really about turning away from sin, even after having come to faith in Jesus:

I John 3:2-7 - Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. (ESV)

It's the flesh which is weak thanks to sin in the flesh. But in our inner being, we delight in the law of God. This is definitely true to me:

Romans 7:16-25 - Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (ESV)

And whoever doesn't have the heart to do this is of the devil. God's seed does not sin. Whatever is born of God does not sin:

I John 3:7-11 - Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (ESV)

But also, not only the flesh but worldly people rebel against us when we want to obey God. I get all sorts of opposition against me for obedience to God or when I say we must obey God.

I John 5:19 - We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (ESV)

We must believe in, trust, believe, obey, follow Jesus:

John 8:12 - Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (ESV)

John 12:46 - I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (ESV)

It seems that people can indeed be both zealous for the Law (Torah), observing the Law (Torah), and at the same time be believers in Jesus. Paul wasn't telling people to forsake Moses, as far as I understand, but there was some circulating rumor that he had been doing that:

Acts 21:20-25 - And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. (ESV)

It's interesting that the KJV reads quite differently here, but I'm comfortable with the ESV

Acts 21:20-25 - And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication. (KJV)

Proverbs 28:9 - If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. (ESV)

I'm non-denominational

I do not consider myself to be a part of any particular denomination; I have an affinity to churches which have strong Biblical teaching, and a focus on applying Jesus' commandments.

• Saint Justin Martyr: Fragments of the Lost Work of Justin on the Resurrection {Roberts-Donaldson}: The word of truth is free, and carries its own authority, disdaining to fall under any skilful argument, or to endure the logical scrutiny of its hearers. But it would be believed for its own nobility, and for the confidence due to Him who sends it.

Romans 14:22 - The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. (ESV)

1689 Baptist confession of faith

• Read: https://www.the1689confession.com/

Chapter 1

 1  Paragraph 10
 2  
 3  The supreme judge, by which all controversies
 4  of religion are to be determined, and all
 5  decrees of councils, opinions of ancient
 6  writers, doctrines of men, and private
 7  spirits, are to be examined, and in whose
 8  sentence we are to rest, can be no other but
 9  the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit,
10  into which Scripture so delivered, our faith
11  is finally resolved
12  
13  21 Matt. 22:29, 31, 32; Eph. 2:20; Acts 28:23

AMEN!!

Notes for Chapter 2, paragraph 1

Numbers 14:18 - The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation. (ESV)

Romans 4:5 - And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (ESV)

Romans 14:18 - Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. (ESV)

If you have trusting faith in God then you will walk according to the will of God (walk the way Jesus Christ calls us to walk in obedience to Jesus, as a response of love to God in the knowledge He loved us first). Led by the Spirit = following Jesus.

John 12:26 - If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (ESV)

That's not working but it is walking and it is being obedient to Jesus. The Israelites through the Red Sea were being led by the Spirit - they were not working for God as they walked in obedience:

Galatians 5:16-18 - But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

• Song: youtube.com: Shane & Shane: I Will Wait For You {Psalm 130}

Jesus' disciples here were being led by Jesus. As I understand it, we're only not guilty if we're trusting Jehovah God who justifies the ungodly by trusting Jesus. Serving Jesus = Following Jesus. We've got to follow Jesus:

John 12:26 - If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (ESV)

Matthew 8:22 - And Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. (ESV)

Luke 9:60 - And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. (ESV)

Trusting Him who justifies the ungodly has noticeable fruit of following Him because those who trust Him follow Him:

Matthew 12:1-8 - At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. (ESV)

As you can see, the disciples still generally followed the commandment to rest on the Sabbath day:

Luke 23:56 - Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (ESV)

But Jesus is lord of the Sabbath:

Mark 2:27-28 - And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath. (ESV)

Jesus will serve His servants who are awake:

Luke 12:37 - Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. (ESV)

Matthew 23:11 - The greatest among you shall be your servant. (ESV)

Notes for Chapter 9, paragraph 3

 1  Paragraph 3
 2  
 3  Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has
 4  wholly lost all ability of will to any
 5  spiritual good accompanying salvation;4 so as
 6  a natural man, being altogether averse from
 7  that good, and dead in sin,5 is not able by
 8  his own strength to convert himself, or to
 9  prepare himself thereunto.6
10  
11  4 Rom. 5:6, 8:7
12  5 Eph. 2:1,5
13  6 Titus 3:3–5; John 6:44

I don't entirely agree with this paragraph saying all ability of will is lost (I could be wrong). But I do believe that without God's assistance in drawing us to Jesus, it is impossible for us to be saved.

Isaiah 1:19 - If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; (ESV)

Man's inability to do any spiritual good accompanying salvation is essentially like a broken-down car's inability to drive and without God's assistance by empowering us with His Holy Spirit (either inside or around us), though a person might seek after God or will to repent, they're not able to save themself.

Acts 17:26-27 - And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, (ESV)

So the problem in my opinion is not the will to do the will of God but the ability to carry out the will of God.

John 7:17 - If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. (ESV)

Matthew 7:7 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (ESV)

Matthew 26:40-43 - And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. (ESV)

Romans 7:16-18 - Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. (ESV)

Heidelberg Catechism

• https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/confessions/heidelberg-catechism

I affirm almost all of the Heidelberg Catechism. However, I see it as a teaching resource, and not Scripture. Though, after doing the independent Bible study below, I am pleasantly surprised to be in (from what I can currently tell) almost full agreement with it, with some minor differences. For example, when I read its logical statements such as "Q. What is the aim of the tenth commandment? A. That not even the…", I think there's a bit more to it.

Also, I believe that believer's baptism is Scriptural and should result in following Jesus.

I link the Heidelberg Catechism here for others' reference. By all means read the Heidelberg Catechism first.

Also, I think that Q&A 133 could more greatly emphasise that we should covet God alone; that Jesus must be our #1 treasure, our Pearl of Great Price:

Luke 12:15 - And he said to them, Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. (ESV)

Colossians 3:5 - Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (ESV)

 1  Lord’s Day 44
 2  Q&A 113
 3  Q. What is the aim of the tenth commandment?
 4  A. That not even the slightest desire or thought
 5     contrary to any one of God’s commandments
 6     should ever arise in our hearts.
 7  
 8     Rather, with all our hearts
 9     we should always hate sin
10     and take pleasure in whatever is right.
11  
12  1 Ps. 19:7-14; 139:23-24; Rom 7:7-8

I may use the catechism to make adjustments to my theology document if I find errors in my understanding.

My thoughts and bible references regarding theology

I've been thinking about belief, faith, works, law and receiving the Holy Spirit! Please let me know what you think if you have the time.

I'm trying to get clearer on this. Please feel free to discuss it with me.

Bible versions used in this document

Almost all of verses are taken from the ESV (English Standard Version) bible with the odd NASB (New American Standard Bible), KJV (King James Version), and BSB (Berean Study Bible) used here and there.

I have also used the original Hebrew and Greek from the Interlinear Bible on Biblehub.com a couple of times.

By default I will use the ESV and where it is not from the ESV, I have almost certainly marked it with the alternative version used.

Being born-again

• Billy Graham really explains this quite well: Born Again | Billy Graham Classic - YouTube @time: 10 min 50 sec

I believe we are set free from sin and from being condemned by / under the Mosaic Law to become a slave to Christ Jesus under grace - a slave to righteousness.

Romans 6:20 - When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. (ESV)

Romans 8:1-2 - There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (ESV)

Romans 6:22-23 - But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB)

Galatians 4:8 - Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. (ESV)

Romans 6:18-20 - and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. (ESV)

We are saved while believing in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son of God:

John 3:18 - Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (ESV)

And brought into doing the will of God:

Romans 15:17-18 - In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed,

Job 22:24-26 - if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent bed, then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. (ESV)

• God wants us to love Him, treasure Him (25. agapaó), value Him with all our heart, and love and value and treasure one another (25. agapaó) as ourselves: youtube.com: What Is It Like to Enjoy God? @time: 35 min 16 sec

Yeah, I agree with John Piper, for the most part. Loving God is not actually first working for God. But it is to truly desire God, and treasure Him (25. agapaó), and treasure His word, and treasure His commandments, to give Him due praise, and to honour God, and give Him the glory, to love Him in the affectionate and treasuring sense is what God wants of us, and Jesus says that if we love Him then we will keep His commandments. Where John Piper says 'affectionate love comes before obedience', I prefer to say that 'treasuring God includes a heart of obedience, trust, belief, desiring God, and affectionate love' and I also think that obedience (being in the will of God) may produce work for God but doesn't strictly mean work. We want to keep His commandments so I believe we should treasure God with all our heart. God also commands us to love one another as ourselves, so we should also love and value other people with that same treasuring love, but God wants Him to be our number one treasure, and I think we have to make God our number one love.

God wants Him to be our treasure. We must obey Jesus and Jehovah Jireh will provide:

I have also had a lot of suffering as I keep a good conscience with God, having been obedient to Him.

I Timothy 1:3-5 - As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (ESV)

I Timothy 1:18-20 - This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. (ESV)

But a good conscience with God remaining obedient to Him, enduring suffering and continuing to be faithful to God, and keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ while feeling like a zombie having what you love stolen from you by the enemy - this is still love for God to continue keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ.

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

• youtube.com: Especially for someone who is feeling downcast - Lamentations 3: 22-23 | 29th September @time: 14 sec: The book of Lamentations is unlikely to be the most popular book in the Bible, and the reason for this is it's a book of laments. It's written round about the time of the Babylonian exile and it's it's written from the point of view of someone who has lost everything and doesn't hold back in how he feels about this. But nevertheless, if you look hard enough, you'll find that the book of Lamentations does contain some nuggets of pure, pure gold, and this week's verses are a case in point.

  They help us show the difference it can make if we focus our eyes not so much on what we have lost but on what we still have. If all we do is focus on our eyes on all that we have lost, the result will be a soul that is downcast. Whereas, if we remember to focus on what we still have, the result is a soul that still has hope for better times to come.

Lamentations 3:19-23 - Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (ESV)

Consider Job. Obedience is in the heart, along with belief in the Truth and understanding of the gospel. Obedience can exist without work. Jesus said, "The spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak."

Matthew 26:41 - Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (ESV)

Some people endure great suffering for serving God. Our obedience to God, having accepted Jesus, and passing forward love and forgiveness, is having a heart close to Jesus through keeping Jesus' commandments - see I John 4, John 14,15,16 and 17. Now having affections for God is great, but joy can exist alongside . Having a good conscience with God is great. John Piper I think incorrectly says just after 9:39 here that loving Jesus cannot mean obedience to Jesus' commands in this verse. We have to remain faithful to Jesus above all, I think. For the sake of making testimony of Jesus to those who are in darkness, for example. To bear the reproach that Jesus did for the sake of Jesus and His gospel. To remain obedient to the Truth as things are taken away from you, like what happened to Job - this is still love for God, but God wants us to treasure Him more than anything.

As I understand it, I John 5:2-3 isn't saying that God's commandments are universally unburdensome to all people. It's saying that when we love God then keeping His commandments is unburdensome. If we're struggling with keeping the commandments of God and struggling with sin then we should make Him our number one love heart's desire and treasure and seek Him first with all our heart and we will be able to find His commandments unburdensome! It's true.

I feel like I could still say, "Loving God is obedience to God," but I would rather rephrase it as, "God in His love gifted me to be able to love Him back and live. I can see in retrospect He had been working in my life and it's awesome and magnificent and I just want to cherish and obey God now, and God made the way for me to do that!"

John 16:27-28 - for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. (ESV)

We have confidence when we keep His commandments, believing in the name of God's Son Jesus Christ and loving one another and our heart doesn't condemn us:

I John 3:21-24 - Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (ESV)

When the apostles said that Jesus rose again, they meant that his physical body came back to life. The risen Jesus wasn't a phantom or ghost, but a breakfast-eating, flesh-and-bone, human being. This is gospel Truth:

Luke 24:36-43 - As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, Peace to you! But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. (ESV)

John 21:10-14 - Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast. Now none of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. (ESV)

Holding the mystery of the faith (believing the Truth, believing Jesus, holding faith in Jesus, believing the gospel Truth and the facts about Jesus ) with a clear conscience, we serve Christ:

I Timothy 3:9-13 - They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

God desires all people to be saved, coming to a knowledge of the Truth (not without coming to a knowledge of the Truth), ceasing to do the will of the devil (not without ceasing to do the will of the devil):

I Timothy 2:3-6 - This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (ESV)

We agape love even the people who are lost in the hope that God will grant them repentance to life, leading to a knowledge of the Truth, that they might cease to do the devil's will. Make no mistake, spreading dangerous heresy about Jesus Christ is the devil's will. So we hope that God grants the heretics repentance to come to a knowledge of the Truth, to be sanctified in the Truth. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is the Word of God and is God's revelation of Himself to us and is the Bread of Life. Amen:

II Timothy 2:24-26 - And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (ESV)

God's mercy is ultimately not dependent on human will, but on God who has mercy to grant us repentance to Life:

Romans 9:15-16 - For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (ESV)

It's obedience which leads to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith. God grants us repentance:

Romans 6:16 - Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (ESV)

• Song: youtube.com: Delirious? - Touch

We end up thinking in a similar fashion to Jesus:

I Corinthians 2:16 - For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (ESV)

Philippians 2:5-7 - Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (ESV)

Jesus was self-humbling and obedient to God, and we end up thinking this way:

Philippians 2:8 - And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

We become enslaved to righteousness in Christ, not enslaved to corruption, but through persevering obedience to Jesus, we consolidate walking in the light, in obedience and faith to Jesus and we are conformed to practicing righteousness, walking as He walked:

II Peter 2:19 - They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. (ESV)

I John 2:6 - whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (ESV)

We become conformed to Christ's image practicing righteousness - doing works of righteousness which are done in faith in Him:

Romans 8:29 - For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (ESV)

I John 3:7-8 - Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (ESV)

In Christ Jesus there is freedom from things which were bad for us, including selfishness, condemnation, slavery to sin and death, and feeling like we're not good enough for God. There is freedom from anything that tries to hinder us from obeying God in truth:

I Peter 2:16 - Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. (ESV)

Galatians 5:1-6 - For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (ESV)

We are freed from, for example, making the worries of the world our first thought in the day such as thinking always in terms of "will I have enough money, for example", to instead, with the Holy Spirit in us, thinking correctly, having joy in being able to live out the great commandments in actuality, to be able to love God, I believe with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves, and as we abide in Jesus Christ, focused on Jesus as our Pearl of Great Price, obeying God in word and deed, passing-forward Christ's love to others, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin:

II Corinthians 3:17 - Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (ESV)

• youtube.com: Toward Need, Not Comfort: The Blood-Bought Path of the Good Samaritan: Father, I ask now that [in this room] you would put all of us onto the blood-bought path that leads to eternal life, the path of love, the path where we move toward need, not comfort.

• youtube.com: God Is Our Savior from What? 1 Timothy 1:1-2, Part 2 @time: 2 min 33 sec: Salvation? Savior? From what? There's a whole world view implied in that word 'Savior' that many people do not grasp at all. Unbelievers don't know what they need to be saved from.

  …

  One of the things we're saved from is this awful bent towards sinning.

Without blood atonement, corruption gets progressively worse and we perish:

Hebrews 9:22 - Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (ESV)

Our salvation looks like being cleaned up by His spirit, behaving in a way now reflecting that we have knowledge of God (i.e. godliness), and not worldliness, treasuring God and one another, and letting go of treasuring/valuing worldly things, with hope for eternal life:

Titus 2:11-13 - For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (ESV)

Titus 3:3-7 - For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (ESV)

We're supposed to arrive at doing the will of God from the heart, loving one another in peace:

I Timothy 2:1-4 - First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (ESV)

We must embrace sanctification:

Romans 6:20-23 - When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

• Song: youtube.com: Jesus All for Jesus {Lyrics}

• Lyrics: Jesus, all for Jesus; All I am and have and ever hope to be; All of my ambitions, hopes and plans; I surrender these into your hands; For it's only in your will that I am free;

I believe this. If anyone is trusting that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then they have life in His name. That doesn't mean they have come to know Him yet. But if they have just begun to trust that Jesus is the Christ, they have started on their journey to get to know Him. They are an infant in Christ:

John 20:31 - but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (ESV)

We must get on the path of having faith in Jesus, believe in the name of Jesus, God's Son, and obey God to have confidence:

Proverbs 10:17 - Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray. (ESV)

I John 3:21-22 - Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. (ESV)

• Quote by John Piper: Christ by his death and resurrection dealt a decisive defeating blow against Satan, he cannot destroy you except by tempting you to distrust Jesus and walk in sin. Believe in the triumph that you already have - down payment by the spirit in your life and walk in this victory.

As we hold our faith in God, we understand that He loved us first. As we hold our faith in God, we draw closer to God as we practice Christ's love towards others:

I John 4:8-11 - Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)

While obedience exists in the heart, as belief does, as faith is believing and obedient trust, works are the actions we do out of that obedience, that love for Jesus, and out of ongoing believing, obedient faith, out of obedience to the Holy Spirit. Doing the will of God isn't "work", but is a just mode of walking. It's a mode of walking that is different from doing the will of satan. Satan is not God's equal and opposite.

John 3:36 - The [one] believing (G4100 pisteuōn) in the Son has life eternal; the [one] however not obeying (apeithōn) the Son not will see life but the wrath - of God abides on him (Interlinear)

We need a trusting, obedient heart. It's not just about obeying one point of belief in Jesus, but about having a heart which believes Jesus, trusts Jesus, obeys Jesus, and accepting Him and His words.

 1  3588      4100      1519 3588    5207  2192     2222  166
 2  ho        pisteuōn  eis  ton     Huion echei    zōēn  aiōnion
 3  ὁ         πιστεύων  εἰς  τὸν     Υἱὸν  ἔχει     ζωὴν  αἰώνιον  ;
 4  The [one] believing in   the     Son   has      life  eternal
 5  Art-NMS   V-PPA-NMS Prep Art-AMS N-AMS V-PIA-3S N-AFS Adj-AFS
 6  
 7  3588      1161     544         3588     5207   3756 3708
 8  ho        de       apeithōn    tō       Huiō   ouk  opsetai
 9  ὁ         δὲ       ἀπειθῶν     τῷ       Υἱῷ  , οὐκ  ὄψεται
10  the [one] however  not obeying the      Son    not  will see
11  Art-NMS   Conj     V-PPA-NMS   Art-DMS  N-DMS  Adv  V-FIM-3S
12  
13  2222    235  3588    3709  3588    2316   3306     1909 846
14  zōēn    all’ hē      orgē  tou     Theou  menei    ep’  auton
15  ζωήν  , ἀλλ’ ἡ       ὀργὴ  τοῦ     Θεοῦ   μένει    ἐπ’  αὐτόν  .
16  life    but  the     wrath  -      of God abides   on   him
17  N-AFS   Conj Art-NFS N-NFS Art-GMS N-GMS  V-PIA-3S Prep PPro-AM3S

The reason Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness is because no distrust made him waver (Abraham faithfully trusted God regarding the promise). Abraham believed God was able to do what He had promised. So a good indicator that Abraham was totally trusting of God is that Abraham walked in the promise of God. I think the most important takeaway from this is that faith is trusting, even if our trusting faith may waver, our faith intrinsically is trusting of God, and trust naturally elicits both belief and obedience:

Romans 4:20-22 - No distrust (apistia) made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. (ESV)

And the obedience doesn't end. We continue to be sanctified through faith. We are saved from darkness, believing the word of God, and in obedience we are saved from sinning and try to fulfill the Royal Law, and even using our freedom in Christ to do good works that are pleasing to God:

Titus 3:8 - The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. (ESV)

• Talk by: John Lennox - How Christianity Is Different From Every Religion - YouTube

• youtube.com: John Lennox: How do I choose which religion to follow? @time: 8 min 12 sec: You've heard about my wife. Well, over fifty years ago, I saw this vision in Cambridge, so I decided I'd like to marry her. So I came to her one day and I had a little present wrapped up for her. It was a cookbook. So I said, "I'd like to marry you, Sally. Now the condition would be this: Let's look at page 147 - it's apple cake, and here are the laws for making apple cake. Thou shalt take some what's flour, thou shall take some what sugar, and there you are. Now, here's the way it's gonna be: If you keep these laws for the next forty years, I think about accepting you. If you don't, you can go back to your mother."

  But, look why are you laughing? That is what many of you sitting here think about God. And you would never insult a fellow human being by basing a relationship on merit. You wouldn't. And so my marriage, it's been good, why? Because my wife is not cooking in order to gain my acceptance. She likes cooking because she's got it. And the wonderful thing about Christianity is precisely that. It's not religion in that sense, it's a relationship.

Amen to that.

Christianity is a relationship, like a marriage:

• Acceptance comes at the beginning; Jesus gives us the benefit of the doubt. Just start serving Jesus
  • We must still forgive and love our family in Christ. This isn't 'work', but it is obedience, and it is a required heart attitude
  • Romans 14:18 - Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. (ESV)
• Salvation is based on Jesus' merit but also on our working-out of that free salvation gift with hope, faith, repentance and obedience
• We must have a response of love for Jesus
  • John 14:21 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)
  • John 16:27 - for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. (ESV)
• In whatever we do, we should be serving the Lord Jesus Christ
  • I Corinthians 10:31 - So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (ESV)
  • Colossians 3:17 - And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (ESV)
  • I Corinthians 16:14 - Let all that you do be done in love. (ESV)
  • Romans 12:9 - Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. (ESV)

Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (ESV)

Belief in Jesus Christ continues in obedience, and imitating Christ as we continue trusting Him and in Him:

John 14:12 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (ESV)

It's imperative that we continue in obedience to abide by the Lord Jesus' teachings, and that includes repentance from sin because He taught us to turn from our sin:

Colossians 3:23-25 - Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Psalms 119:11 - I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (ESV)

We must forgive each other:

Colossians 3:13 - bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (ESV)

We must love our brother and our sister in Christ. It's imperative that we follow Jesus Christ's teachings and commandments:

I John 4:20-21 - If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (ESV)

Jesus is our brother - He is not ashamed to call those brothers who He sanctifies:

gotquestions.org Jesus-our-brother.html: Is Jesus our brother? | GotQuestions.org

Hebrews 2:11 - For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, (ESV)

Romans 8:29 - For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (ESV)

Mark 3:34-35 - And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. (ESV)

Galatians 4:4-5 - But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (ESV)

I Corinthians 15:20-23 - But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (ESV)

The will of Father God is for us to love, trust and obey His Son Jesus Christ:

II Thessalonians 1:8 - in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (ESV)

Romans 2:7-8 - to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. (ESV)

I confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and I believe that God loved us first and that we must love God and love one another:

I John 4:15 - Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (ESV)

Someone who has just put their faith in Jesus for the first time and is believing that Jesus is the Christ is a newborn Christian:

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

The Jesus which the Apostles proclaimed is the same Jesus we need to proclaim in Church - so Jesus' teachings should be taught right along with the gospel and along with all that the prophets have spoken which relate to Jesus:

II Corinthians 11:4 - For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. (ESV)

• Talk by John Piper: youtube.com: You Cannot Obey God Without God

It's imperative that as we go ahead, we must abide in the teaching of Christ, or we won't have God (Jehovah God), and God is love and love comes from God, so we need to abide in Christ's teachings, by belief and by obedience. For example, in Mark 10:18, Jesus affirmed that God is Good. Therefore when we read this, we must also be sanctified by this truth, affirming and coming into agreement that God is Good. Also, Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loved us John 13:34-35:

II John 1:9-10 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, (ESV)

Jesus said to these believers that if they abide in His word (and I believe that means keep His word, even in obedience), they are His disciples - so a person can be a believer before they are a disciple. But we're supposed to make this transition:

John 8:31-32 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (4100. pisteuó, pepisteukotas) in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (ESV)

Don't stop believing. We must continue trusting and believing the Truth to be saved:

Luke 8:12 - The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. (ESV)

Be grounded in the Truth and able to overcome testing / trial / tribulation:

Luke 8:13 - And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. (ESV)

Continue walking in the light, and does not go back to falling in love with the world. (i.e. they gave up earthly treasure, and in doing so stored up heavenly treasure, and go after Jesus, their Pearl of Great Price), trusting, believing and obeying Jesus:

Luke 8:14 - And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. (ESV)

Holding fast in faith, out of an honest and good heart, bear good fruit including works of righteousness, even remaining steadfast through trial and tribulation:

Luke 8:15 - As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. (ESV)

• Quote from John Piper: If God in fact in his grace and power enables us to do things that are good, He is going to reward them, not ignore them. He's going to say, "Well done good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21). Works of Faith are going to be rewarded, not thrown away as filthy rags.

II Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (ESV)

God considers being obedient from a forgiven heart, trusting in Jesus, to faithful service:

Matthew 25:23 - His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. (ESV)

• Quote from John Piper: He bought us by grace, he sustains us by grace, he enables us to do good works by grace and we do the works trusting that grace.

Ephesians 6:8 - knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. (ESV)

Hebrews 10:36 - For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. (ESV)

Luke 6:45 - The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (ESV)

Bearing fruit looks like "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God".

Colossians 1:3-12 - We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (ESV)

Right after the parable of the soil, Jesus says this:

Luke 8:21 - But he answered them, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. (ESV)

Bear good fruit to prove to be a disciple of Jesus:

John 15:8 - By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (ESV)

People will recognise we are Jesus' disciples by the love we have for one another:

John 13:35 - By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)

Jesus is the Rock:

I Corinthians 10:4 - and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. (ESV)

Belief is important (and is an initial act of obedience):

Matthew 16:15-18 - He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (ESV)

Obedience is important:

Luke 6:46-49 - Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. (ESV)

Our obedience is not without trust. We obey because we trust God - we obey out of faith in God:

Jeremiah 17:5-8 - Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. (ESV)

Our obedience is in the heart. We want to obey because we love Jesus (we will to):

Luke 10:25-37 - And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go, and do likewise. (ESV)

 1  2036     25             2962       3588     2316
 2  eipen    Agapēseis      Kyrion     ton      Theon
 3  εἶπεν  , Ἀγαπήσεις      Κύριον     τὸν      Θεόν
 4  he said  You shall love [the] Lord the      God
 5  V-AIA-3S V-FIA-2S       N-AMS      Art-AMS  N-AMS
 6          +-------+
 7  4771    |1537   | 3650     3588     2588     4771
 8  sou     |ex  <--+ holēs    tēs      kardias  sou
 9  σου     |ἐξ     | ὅλης     τῆς      καρδίας  σου  ,
10  of you  |with   | all      the      heart    of you
11  PPro-G2S|Prep   | Adj-GFS  Art-GFS  N-GFS    PPro-G2S
12          +-------+
13  2532    |1722   | 3650     3588     5590     4771
14  kai     |en     | holē     tē       psychē   sou
15  καὶ     |ἐν     | ὅλῃ      τῇ       ψυχῇ     σου  ,
16  and     |with   | all      the      soul     of you
17  Conj    |Prep   | Adj-DFS  Art-DFS  N-DFS    PPro-G2S
18          |       |
19  2532    |1722   | 3650     3588     2479     4771
20  kai     |en     | holē     tē       ischui   sou
21  καὶ     |ἐν     | ὅλῃ      τῇ       ἰσχύϊ    σου  ,
22  and     |with   | all      the      strength of you
23  Conj    |Prep   | Adj-DFS  Art-DFS  N-DFS    PPro-G2S
24          |       |
25  2532    |1722   | 3650     3588     1271     4771
26  kai     |en     | holē     tē       dianoia  sou
27  καὶ     |ἐν     | ὅλῃ      τῇ       διανοίᾳ  σου
28  and     |with   | all      the      mind     of you
29  Conj    |Prep   | Adj-DFS  Art-DFS  N-DFS    PPro-G2S
30          |       |
31  2532    |3588   | 4139     4771     5613     4572
32  kai     |Ton    | plēsion  sou      hōs      seauton
33  καὶ     |Τὸν    | πλησίον  σου      ὡς       σεαυτόν  .
34  and     |The    | neighbor of you   as       yourself
35  Conj    |Art-AMS| Adv      PPro-G2S Adv      PPro-AM2S
36          +-------+

• youtube.com: The Joy of the Puritans: Love for God is from the heart. Now, Luke's version of the great commandment gives a clue that that's the case. Luke's version: Just to read it now in the ESV, the lawyer expresses this and Jesus approves it, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind" but that translation isn't exactly right. Because those four prepositional phrases in the English are all the same, and in Greek they're not. The first one heart has a different preposition than the other three. It has the preposition EX "from or out-of" and the others are all EN "in or with/by".

  So literally I would say it goes like this, "You shall love the Lord your God from (or out of) your heart, with your soul, and with your strength and with your mind." Now, why does that matter?

  That's a clue, that's a that's a hint that the human heart is unique in its role that it plays in loving God.

• Quote by John Piper: The essence of love is heart work, not mind work.

AMEN.

We learn Christ, and are taught by Christ (becoming obedient to His teachings and commandments) while we are in Him:

Ephesians 4:20-21 - But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, (ESV)

Therefore, even before I was noticeably "born-again of the water and the Spirit" in 2022, I had begun to try to practice Jesus' commandments in 2020/2021 in an effort to seek God, Jesus must have been already working in me, but I say this to explain how I believe that it might be quite hard to pinpoint the starting point, but we know that it's God's grace through faith (believing, obedient, trusting faith) that it happens, but that doesn't mean believing and obeying Jesus are not important to receive the Holy Spirit, because they are.

Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV)

By His grace we have to actually come into obeying Jesus to find life. Think about what it means to obey Jesus: It's to walk in the Spirit, to abide in Jesus' Spirit, to be obeying Jesus' commandments, to seek to follow the pattern of life that He lived to be found in Him. You can abide in Jesus' Spirit if you have faith in Him, believing in Him, believing, trusting and obeying Him, knowing Him, and being found in Him!

Philippians 3:9-13 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

Faith in Christ I believe means believing in Him and being obedient to Him, having communion with Him, etc. becoming intimate with Him, following Him. This isn't our own merit, but we still obey Jesus to be found in Him. In Him we have Jesus' righteousness:

Matthew 16:25 - For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (ESV)

And we should be building each other up, helping each other attain unity of faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God:

Ephesians 4:12-13 - to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (ESV)

It's unity in faith and truth and love:

Colossians 3:14 - Beyond all (G3956 pas) these things put on love (G26 agape), which (G3739 hos) is the perfect bond of unity.

John 17:23 - I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (ESV)

II Timothy 1:13 - Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

Being prone to stir up division, particularly over foolish controversies, is bad. Rather, we want unity in faith, love and Truth. The Truth does matter:

Titus 3:10-11 - The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division (141. hairetikos), after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. (ESV)

• 141. hairetikos:: Definition: causing division. Usage: disposed to form sects, sectarian, heretical, factious.

We must agape love God, and our family in Christ and called to agape love even our enemies - How Christians agape love:

Agape is definitely a treasuring love. God is worth infinitely more than anything. God must be our first agape. People are worth infinitely more than chatbots or anything worldly, for example.

26 (agápē) typically refers to divine love (= what God prefers).

See where else this word used to describe agape love is used:

• https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_john/2-15.htm
• https://biblehub.com/greek/agapa_25.htm
• https://biblehub.com/greek/agapate_25.htm
• https://biblehub.com/greek/26.htm

Agape-love can be misplaced. We go from agape-loving (treasuring, valuing) darkness to agape-loving (treasuring, valuing) light:

John 3:16-20 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved (25. agapaó) the darkness rather than the light (5457. phós) because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. (ESV)

Genuine agape loves the light. The Truth of God is light and is good and is not wicked:

Romans 12:9 - Let love (G26 agapé) be genuine (G505 anupokritos). Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. (ESV)

Thus so (Houtōs) (in this way) did God love (25. agapaó - value,treasure) the world, that He gave His Only-Begotten (G3439. monogenēs - unique,only begotten) Son that (G2443 hina - in order that) everyone who is trusting/believing in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting:

biblehub.com 3-16.htm: John 3:16 Interlinear: for God did so love the world, that His Son – the only begotten – He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during.

Who Christians must agape love:

• God (Father God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit)
  • https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_john/2-15.htm
  • https://biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/22-37.htm
  • Matthew 22:37 - And He said to him You shall love (25 Agapēseis) [the] Lord the God of you with all the heart of you and with all the soul of you and with all the mind of you (Interlinear)
  • https://biblehub.com/interlinear/john/14-23.htm
• Your spouse
  • https://biblehub.com/interlinear/ephesians/5-28.htm
• Others in Christ
  • Colossians 3:14 - And above all these put on love (26. agapé), which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (ESV)

Who Christians are called to agape love:

• All people, even enemies
  • https://biblehub.com/greek/agapa_25.htm
  • https://biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/5-44.htm

What Christians must not agape love:

• https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_john/2-15.htm

Agape love must not be to anything of the world:

• Book: timothykeller.com: Counterfeit Gods - Timothy Keller

• Sermon: youtube.com: Counterfeit Gods - Tim Keller

Agape-ing things of this world is worldly-mindedness and makes it very difficult to discern the will of God:

Luke 11:43 - Woe to you Pharisees! For you love (agapate) the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. (ESV)

• youtube.com: Petra - Beyond Belief @time: 29 min 43 sec: I've been looking over your recent stats. You're going to have to run well in this one, guy. yes sir. We still think you've got potential. The scholarship could be yours, but you're going to have to really want it. I do sir. Good, cuz as far as your concerned this race is the most important thing in your life. Be out there in 30 minutes.

  Danny, can I ask you something? Sure. When you grow up and move away, would you still be my brother? Chad, you can't change that. You think you'll forget about us? How can I forget about you? You're my brother. Hey, tell you what, I've been wanting to give this to you for a long time. As God is our witness, brothers forever. Woww. okay boys, let's settle down. Dad, can I ask you something? Sure, pal. When we grow up and move away, will you still be my dad? I'll always be your dad and that'll never change. Do you promise? Son, the most important thing in our our Lives is that we always love each other. Now, you remember that, okay? Okay boys, prayers.

It's not just about agape loving our neighbour / other people. We must agape love (treasure, value) God too and that means remembering His name and His Son and His words. This is an absolute must. The gospel still needs to be preached:

Psalms 9:17 - The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God. (ESV)

• Lord of Eternity - Fernando Ortega (Live): Lord of Eternity; Blessed is the man; Who walks in Your favor; Who loves all Your words; And hides them like treasure; In the darkest place; Of his desperate heart, They are a light; A strong, sure light.

Those who will to agape love God must also will to love his brother or they are not loving God:

I Peter 1:8 - Though you have not seen him, you love (G25 agapate) him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, (ESV)

I John 4:20-21 - If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves (G25 agapōn) God must also love (G25 agapa) his brother. (ESV)

John 20:29 - Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. (ESV)

I think I John 2:15-17 is essentially saying, "Do not agape love the world or what's in the world. Do not love the things of this world with the type of love that we have for God and for people, namely agape love." If we fall out of agape love for the world and are not conformed to the world but are transformed by the renewing of our minds then by testing we will be able to discern the will of God:

I John 2:15-17 - Do not love (agapate) the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (ESV)

OK, so we accept forgiveness from God, we forgive others, and we then walk in that reality and don't turn back - we live that reality out. We accept that God has loved us by making atonement through Jesus' blood, and then we pass-forward that loving forgiveness to others and we walk in that reality and don't turn back.

II Corinthians 4:11-12 - For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (ESV)

We must have faith in Jesus to be justified by faith. I believe the finished work of Christ is enough, but that God is still working, His grace extending through faithful obedience to Jesus, Jesus grace reaches more people:

II Corinthians 4:11-15 - For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed, and so I spoke, we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. (ESV)

We also try to live holy lives - be holy as He is Holy.

We put on Christ:

Galatians 3:27-28 - For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

When the day of judgement comes, we must have accepted forgiveness from God, or face the wrath of God:

Romans 4:7-8 - Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (ESV)

When the day of judgement comes, we should be loving our brother and sister in Christ, or we may face the wrath of God:

I John 4:17-21 - By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (ESV)

Our sins are forgiven and we love one another the way Christ loved us. It should be our aim to have arrived at this point where we are living in this reality as soon as possible:

I John 2:11-12 - But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. (ESV)

If we are merciful then we will receive mercy:

Matthew 5:7 - Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

James 2:13 - For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

To get to know Jesus, we must obey His commandments:

I John 2:3-4 - And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (ESV)

Belief leads to obedience which leads to knowledge of the truth:

John 8:31-32 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (4100. pisteuó, pepisteukotas) in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (ESV)

Eternal life is knowing God and Jesus Christ who He has sent:

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)

We need to take hold of it:

I Timothy 6:12 - Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (ESV)

In order to know God we must love one another in the way that God has loved us:

I John 4:7-12 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (ESV)

We live through the life of Jesus in this intellectual and experiential knowledge - a bit like an umbilical cord:

I John 4:8-11 - Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Jesus Himself is the bread of God - Jesus Himself is the source of life:

John 6:33 - For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

We should labor for the food that endures to eternal life:

John 6:27 - Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal. (ESV)

John 4:34 - Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (ESV)

We have to put sin away after we come to believe in Him:

Colossians 3:5-10 - Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

A new creation lives for Christ:

II Corinthians 5:14-17 - For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Being born-again, my old man died and now my life is hidden with Christ in God, and I'm seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ living to serve Jesus:

Colossians 3:3 - For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (ESV)

Ephesians 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (ESV)

Ephesians 2:6 - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (ESV)

We have authority in God:

Matthew 28:18-20 - And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (ESV)

Matthew 20:27-28 - and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (ESV)

We must be in Christ Jesus. Those who have been born-again have become obedient to Jesus Christ. Having been born-again, we walk by faith, not sight:

Romans 8:23-25 - And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (ESV)

II Corinthians 5:6-7 - So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. (ESV)

We don't transition away from being servants of Jesus when we become friends of Jesus - we still serve and obey Him. Jesus started calling His servants His friends because Jesus had explained to them all He heard from Father God. Jesus' friends still serve Jesus, and they obey Jesus but they also know what Jesus is doing.

John 15:14-15 - You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

We must be born-again:

• Quote of John Piper: Your life becomes a foretaste for others of your cherished future. But if your future that you cherish is grace coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ and that is your treasure, and that is your hope and that is your faith and that is your vision and what you hold onto and embrace, you cannot return evil for evil. You know why you cannot return evil for evil? (If that's where your heart is.) Because the cherished grace that's coming is that He's not going to return evil for evil to you. Then we cannot turn around and have a lifestyle of returning evil for evil or insulting for insulting, and therefore the point of saying it's a condition for that is simply this, "You must be born again." Therefore, it's a condition, not in the sense of earning anything but in the sense of bearing witness that you've fallen in love and live out of that confidence.

Amen. I want to say though that I obey Jesus when I'm feeling depressed and having a bad day myself, it most certainly still counts as love to Jesus. If I'm suffering for exercising obedient faith in Jesus, that obedience is still loving Jesus. In fact, it's more blessed to give than to receive. The obedience is still done out of love for Jesus and out of faith in Jesus. I believe that obedience to Jesus is an expression of faith in Jesus, and an expression of love for Jesus, and hope in Jesus. I've invested my life in Jesus, and happy about it because I believe and hope in Jesus.

To love your neighbour as yourself means forgiving them too, and remember that Jesus forgave us. It also means to not take vengeance (Christ's law includes not rendering evil for evil):

Leviticus 19:18 - You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (ESV)

OK, so to be obedient while enduring suffering, which God has allowed is love which is greater than faith and hope which both abide; It's more blessed to give than to receive. I would argue though that to maintain an affectionate love for God while enduring suffering which God has allowed to happen is even more difficult and more blessed than to maintain good works while suffering. Love gives - love obeys Jesus' teaching. Love forgives and gives while being stolen from and abused - love obeys. Love praises God and affectionately loves God despite experiencing being thrown into darkness and God allowing them to be tormented by the enemy..

Faithfulness to Jesus, though, is a baseline requirement:

Matthew 24:12-13 - And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (ESV)

See how faithfulness is related to faith - faith is faithful to God. Having faith in God is keeping accountability with God with regard to His commands and promises and maintaining faithfulness with God who sees in secret:

II Timothy 2:13 - if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. (ESV)

I have a strong desire to do what God wants me to do as I feel comfortable that God is on my side and will not put me to shame for my shortcomings because I am trusting Him. If the devil tries to damage me to make me sin and I sin I know I have confidence that God is still taking care of me and knows everything. Now I know I want to love other people because I have joy in knowing God. But on a bad day, especially during this intense trial that I face, I have confidence that even though I may have a Job 23:1-17 day, I will still I will still keep my heart of obedience to God, especially the call to love others because I do not want to misrepresent God or shame God in public which would be akin to taking His name in vain.

Job 23:1-17 - Then Job answered and said: Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me. There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face. (ESV)

So I have a joy that's in God, yes, but it does not mean that on a bad day (when I complain to God and feel as though I have no joy) that I have no love for God. I'm fully convinced that Job still loved God, and the "joy" of God was most likely still deep in Job's heart even though he felt bitter. That's how I feel sometimes. I love Jesus but I tell him I'm angry at him. Perhaps a bit like Martin Luther's psychosis:

• youtube.com: The Insanity of Luther: The Holiness of God with R.C. Sproul: He had such a fear of the wrath of God that early on in his ministry somebody put this question to him: "Brother Martin, do you love God?" You know what he said? He said, "Love God? You ask me if I love God? Love God? Sometimes I hate God. I see Christ as a consuming judge who is simply looking at me to evaluate me and to visit affliction upon me.

And I am convinced that God still loves Job even when he had a bad complaint and he felt bitterness. And I'm convinced that Martin Luther also loved God and God loved Martin Luther.

Jesus says that the one who loves Him is the one who keeps His commandments. Amen.

I love it when I have the II Corinthians 8:2 joy which spills over into following Jesus' commandments - it makes it much easier!

We should be serving in gladness and joy because we have perspective - we have God, and we should have joy in serving God and being used by God:

• youtube.com: Overcoming Spiritual Dryness @time: 9 min 7 sec: The fight for joy is not a fight to be comfortable or have security or be prosperous or any other of the American 'ideals' that are advertised to us every day. It is a fight to join Jesus on the Calvary road. The fight to be happy is a fight to join Jesus on the Calvary road.

  It's not a praise God anyhow road. It's a road of suffering, it's a road of tears, it's a road of empathy with all the dying people that you're aware of, or who's marriages are in trouble or who's kids are on drugs. It's the people you know that are broken in your vicinity and your joy is going to become a high pressure zone that begins to make wind when it bumps up against low-pressure zones of need and that wind is called love. Because your joy is moving out and spilling over - "I have so much in Jesus, I know I have a lot of stuff but oh I'm brimming with what really counts in life and I'm going to use my stuff and my time and my energy to make your day for Jesus. I want to serve you for Jesus."

Joy in God spilling over into serving God is where we want to be:

II Corinthians 8:2 - for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. (ESV)

This is the road we should be on:

Hebrews 12:2 - looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (ESV)

• youtube.com: Overcoming Spiritual Dryness

It's good to have God. Having God is truly having everything we need:

II Corinthians 6:10 - as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. (ESV)

We're actually commanded to delight ourselves in God, and it's for our own good. It's the correct way to think:

Psalms 37:4 - Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (ESV)

Philippians 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (ESV)

• Cesare Borgia (Atheist): While I lived, I provided for everything but death. Now I must die and I'm unprepared to die.

• Sir Thomas Scott: a privy councillor of James V. of Scotland, was a noted persecutor of the reformers. Being taken suddenly ill, and finding himself dying, he cried out to the Roman priests who sought to comfort him, "Begone, you and your trumpery; until this moment I believed that there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and I feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty."

If you're keeping Jesus' words, and valuing them and seeking to live by them then you'll be loved by Jehovah God, Abba Father God for loving Jesus:

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

The following is Scripture and trumps my own thoughts. I affirm these verses wholeheartedly:

II Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

A new creation has faith working through love and keeps Jesus Christ's commandments:

Galatians 6:15 - For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. (ESV)

We both love/obey (25. agapaó) Jesus and believe/trust (4100. pisteuó) in Him and receive the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls:

I Peter 1:8-9 - Though you have not seen him, you love (25. agapaó) him. Though you do not now see him, you believe (4100. pisteuó) in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (ESV)

And our trusting love is not merely obedient by affectionate:

John 16:27 - for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved (5368. phileó) me and have believed (4100. pisteuó) that I came from God. (ESV)

1  Cognate: 25 agapáō – properly, to prefer, to love; for the believer, preferring to "live through Christ" (1 Jn 4:9,10), i.e. embracing God's will (choosing His choices) and obeying them through His power. 25 (agapáō) preeminently refers to what God prefers as He "is love" (1 Jn 4:8,16). See 26 (agapē).
2  
3  With the believer, 25 /agapáō ("to love") means actively doing what the Lord prefers, with Him (by His power and direction). True 25 /agapáō ("loving") is always defined by God – a "discriminating affection which involves choice and selection" (WS, 477). 1 Jn 4:8,16,17 for example convey how loving ("preferring," 25 /agapáō) is Christ living His life through the believer.

1  5368 philéō (from 5384 /phílos, "affectionate friendship") – properly, to show warm affection in intimate friendship, characterized by tender, heartfelt consideration and kinship.

• Song: Steve Apirana - Born Again - YouTube

Out with the old selfish self and in with the new selflessly loving self:

Galatians 5:6 - For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (ESV)

Baptism should result in faith working through/by love; maintaining faith in Jesus, and passing-forward love. This is really what it means to have put on Christ - to have received forgiveness and love from God through faith and then to forgive and love others:

Galatians 3:25-27 - But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (ESV)

Out with the old selfish self and in with the new selflessly loving, and obedient to God self:

I Corinthians 7:19 - For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. (ESV)

There is a change in our lives:

Ephesians 2:3-7 - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

And eventually His commandments become unburdensome, and we're keeping them, and we have confidence we have come to know Him:

I John 2:3-4 - And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (ESV)

We must live in the spirit the way God does, not for human passions, but for the will of God:

I Peter 4:1-6 - Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. (ESV)

When we believe God's word given through Jesus, we have passed from death to life. We should definitely then listen to Jesus to see what He has actually spoken.

I think John 5:24 reads that the one who is trusting the words spoken through Jesus, trusting God, trusting Jesus is holds/posesses eternal life and has passed from death into life.

• ****2064. erchomai: to come, go

• ****3327. metabain: to pass over, withdraw, depart

In trusting Jesus' words - or even His name (onoma) and He is the judge - we do not come into judgement, but change direction, and instead our destiny is life eternal. Jesus is the judge of that. We do not come into judgement:

John 5:21-24 - For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears (191. akouó) my word (3056. logos) and believes (4100. pisteuó) him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come (2064. erchomai) into judgment, but has passed (3327. metabain) from death to life. (ESV)

John 3:18 - Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuōn) in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name (onoma) of the only Son of God. (ESV)

An indication that we have passed from death to life is that we agapé / treasure our family in Christ:

I John 3:14-20 - We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love (agapōmen) the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. (ESV)

Belief (in the heart) that Jesus is the Son of God leads to:

• experiencing the love of God, and
• overcoming the world, which feels like:
  • God's commandments are not burdensome
    • Having agape for God and family in Christ and even for other people, and
    • not having agape for the world or worldly things

I John 5:3-5 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (ESV)

Acts 28:27 - For the heart of this people has become dull, And with their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes; Otherwise they might see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.”’

• Song: youtube.com: Pat Barrett - Build My Life {feat. Chris Tomlin} {Live}

New creation love:

• Quote from John Piper: Love is the overflow of joy that meets the needs of others.

II Corinthians 8:1-2 - We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. (ESV)

• Quote from John Piper: Christ-exalting love for people is the overflow of joy in God or it's not love in a Biblical sense.

New creation love is emulating Christ's love towards others from a position of a good conscience with God having been obedient to the gospel or it's not love in a Biblical sense.

Feel free to quote me on that. It's continued obedience to God that proceeds from a good conscience with God.

• Quote by Mari Mari Emmanuel: Until I had a true encounter with Christ, the love of my life, there was never joy within, never joy. When my sins are forgiven, when that beautiful voice, that loving tender kind voice says to me, "I forgive you," then I rejoice. That's why joy is to do with salvation.

Fear of God is not only about having the heart to repent from sin and "beat hand on chest and ask God for mercy", but it is also having a changed heart, endeavoring to please Christ with our actions:

II Corinthians 5:6-11 - So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. (ESV)

Isaiah 66:2 - All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (ESV)

The repentant sinner next to Jesus on the cross knew he deserved his punishment, and he even demonstrated that he had a heart that obeys the gospel (whereas the other person appears to have been disobedient to the gospel to death):

John 7:17 - If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

The unrepentant sinner wanted Jesus to save his present life:

Luke 23:39 - One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

The repentant sinner feared God and put his hope on Jesus Christ, not to save him from the cross, but to save his soul:

Luke 23:40-43 - But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

 1  Our Father in Heaven,
 2  
 3  thank You, God, for loving us first by paying
 4  the price for our sin with Jesus' blood.
 5  
 6  Thank You God that we can now love You and our
 7  neighbour from a good conscience with You,
 8  showing others forgiveness and love as we have
 9  received forgiveness and love.
10  
11  Please God, help us to trust and obey You
12  through trusting and obey Jesus Christ our
13  Lord.
14  
15  Please God never let us fall away but sanctify
16  us through Your Spirit.
17  
18  In Jesus Christ's name I ask.
19  
20  AMEN!!

Being born-again of the Spirit

People were being born according to the Spirit for quite some time before Jesus was born of the virgin Mary but it has been restricted to the children of promise i.e. Abraham's descendants through Isaac:

Galatians 4:28-31 - Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (ESV)

Rather than being born according to the flesh, to be born according to the Spirit happens being born through promise:

Galatians 4:23 - But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. (ESV)

OK, so the Spirit is received through faith (faith like Abraham's) in Jesus Christ to all who believe. The promise was made to Christ. Now we must be found in Christ. Amen:

Galatians 3:13-16 - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, And to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, And to your offspring, who is Christ. (ESV)

It's a very big mystery to me that I was born-again of the Spirit on the first day of Nisan, and had a meeting with the Holy Spirit (apparently) at the tail end of Nisan. Well, whatever it was that happened to me happened.

Interestingly, the dates also line up very closely with Ramadan, but it was actually Nisan, which was a Saturday (Shabbat) that I was born-again:

lmc.edu a-coincidence-that-happens-only-about-every-33-years.htm: In 2022 Passover, Ramadan, and Easter all fall in April, a coincidence that happens only about every 33 years

1  In 2022 Passover, Ramadan, and Easter all fall
2  in April, a coincidence that happens only
3  about every 33 years.

vercalendario.info compare-5782.html: Jewish Calendar 5782

Event	Dates
Ramadan	Evening of Fri, 1 Apr 2022 – Sun, 1 May 2022
Nisan	2 April 2022 (Saturday) - May 1 2022
Passover	Evening of Fri, 15 Apr 2022 – Sat, 23 Apr 2022
Lent	Wed, 2 Mar 2022 – Thu, 14 Apr 2022
Born-again of the Spirit	2 April 2022
Meeting with Holy Spirit	3 May 2022
Marriage proposal	10 Aug 2022
Pleaded guilty in court	3 May 2023

1  1 Nisan Lunar new year, marking the month of
2  Aviv meaning spring, as the first month of the
3  year, which month was later called Nisan.
4  
5  The first national mitzvah that was given to
6  the Jewish people to fix the calendar to the
7  new moon of Aviv, according to the Book of
8  Exodus 12:1-2, 12:18. (c. 1456 BCE)

So I was born-again of the Spirit on 1 Nisan, which commemorates the death of Abraham and the day the floodwaters receded from the earth:

1  1 Nisan The day the floodwaters receded from the earth, after the dove was sent out by Noah and returned with an olive branch, according to Genesis 8:10-13
2  1 Nisan (c. 1638 BCE) – Death of Abraham according to the Talmud[2]
3  1 Nisan (c. 1533 BCE) – Death of Isaac according to the Talmud[2]
4  1 Nisan (c. 1506 BCE) – Death of Jacob according to the Talmud[2]
5  1 Nisan (c. 1455 BCE) – Tabernacle (Mishkan) inaugurated on the second year "Exodus 40".
6  1 Nisan (c. 1455 BCE) death of Nadab and Abihu[3]
7  1 Nisan (c. 3761 BCE) – Creation of the Universe according to Joshua ben Hananiah's opinion in the Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah 10b–11a).
8  1 Nisan (1772) – Birth of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov[citation needed]
9  1 Nisan (1892) – Death of Rabbi Elimelech Szapira of Grodzhisk

lifecenter.ca the-hebrew-month-of-nissan-2022.html: THE HEBREW MONTH OF NISSAN {2022} - Ahava Life Centre

Exodus 12:1-2 - The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. (ESV)

I Peter 3:21 - Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (ESV)

I just want to say that I don't observe any of these seasons, but it still happened that way. I guess God has liberated me from observing them, among others things, if that makes sense:

Galatians 4:6-11 - And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. 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. (ESV)

New creation (kainē ktisis) - All things new

By a sovereign act of God we are born-again of the Spirit. For me, from my perspective, it felt as though all my relationships were reset after 2 April 2022. As we are reconciled to God, all things become new.

II Corinthians 5:17 (Interlinear)

 1  5620      1487 5100     1722    5547      2537          2937 [e]  3588
 2  hōste     ei   tis      en      Christō   kainē         ktisis    ta
 3  ὥστε      εἴ   τις      ἐν      Χριστῷ  , καινὴ         κτίσις  . τὰ
 4  Therefore if   anyone   [is] in Christ    [he is] a new creation  The
 5  Conj      Conj IPro-NMS Prep    N-DMS     Adj-NFS       N-NFS     Art-NNP
 6  
 7  744        3928             2400     1096 [e]            2537
 8  archaia    parēlthen        idou     gegonen             kaina
 9  ἀρχαῖα     παρῆλθεν  ;      ἰδοὺ  ,  γέγονεν             καινά  .
10  old things have passed away behold   has come into being [the] new
11  Adj-NNP    V-AIA-3S         V-AMA-2S V-RIA-3S            Adj-NNP

Galatians 6:15 - For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. (ESV)

 1  3777    1063 4061         5100     1510     3777 203
 2  oute    gar  peritomē     ti       estin    oute akrobystia
 3  οὔτε    γὰρ  περιτομή     τί       ἐστιν  , οὔτε ἀκροβυστία  ;
 4  Neither for  circumcision anything is       nor  uncircumcision
 5  Conj    Conj N-NFS        IPro-NNS V-PIA-3S Conj N-NFS
 6  
 7  235     2537    2937
 8  alla    kainē   ktisis
 9  ἀλλὰ    καινὴ   κτίσις  .
10  instead a new   creation
11  Conj    Adj-NFS N-NFS

II Corinthians 5:16-21 - From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)

Repentance after being born of the Spirit

As I have repented to be corrected by the Word of God, agreeing with it and endeavoring to obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it feels as though I have been rejecting lots and lots of heresies, and rejecting lots and lots of false religion, and I hope that this helps others also to be corrected. I have been trying to be corrected by obedience to the Gospel of Jesus a lot since recording this 'dream' / conversation in my sleep. After actively trying to be obedient to the Truth (obedient to Jesus), corrected and believing the Truth (Jesus and His words, Scripture), I have come to distrust odd spirits which speak to me in my sleep.

I believe that among other things I have had to fight against, reject or repent from:

• a spirit of Mormomism
  • youtube.com: Mormon Religion in a nutshell - John MacArthur {@apologetics-jude1383}
  • Thanks, John MacArthur. Yeah, I do not affirm Mormonism at all.
  • youtube.com: Mormon Jesus vs Bible Jesus - Jeff Durbin {@apologetics-jude1383}
  • youtube.com: Dr. John MacArthur on Mormonism {@JmPizzle1}
    • According to Mormon theology, the Mormon couples that have been baptized in the temple in Salt Lake and have been faithful Mormons and done what you're supposed to do they get their own planet and they just make Gods with some kind of strange celestial sex forever and ever and ever - that part of it folks is very much like the 70 virgins that the jihadist terrorists think they're going to meet when they blow themselves up along with the infidels. This is a very, very pagan religious system.
    • different God, a different Christ a different gospel different Source material and you got a false religion.
    • Joseph Smith is a false prophet.
• a spirit of Islam
  • youtube.com: How Thomas Aquinas refuted Muhammad and Islam {@SanctusApologetics}
  • Summa Contra Gentiles of St. Thomas Aquinas
  • youtube.com: The Heresy of Islam | St. John of Damascus {@SanctusApologetics}
• a spirit of LGBT
• a spirit of Hinduism
• a spirit of Gnosticism
• a spirit of New Age
  • youtube.com: Demonically Oppressed to Divinely Saved, New Age to Jesus Testimony {@samkalawart}

I have also had to:

• be sanctified through obedience to the Truth, faith and the Spirit
  • John 17:19 - And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (ESV)
  • Acts 26:18 - to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (ESV)
  • I Peter 1:22 - Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, (ESV)
• get to know Jesus better through following His commandments
  • I John 2:4 - Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (ESV)
• allow the LORD to build my house
  • Psalms 127:1 - Unless the LORD (3068. Yhvh - Phonetic Spelling: (yeh-ho-vaw'), Meaning: Jehovah) builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (ESV)

I appreciated Bryce's testimony here as he also had to turn away from false religion to follow Jesus:

• youtube.com: Bryce Crawford's testimony: Sharing Jesus With An Atheist! {@thebrycecrawford}: So there was a night I was going to take my life - it was on Christmas of 2020 - and I went to go have my last meal and I had a supernatural encounter with Jesus - not religion - Jesus Christ I had a supernatural encounter with. Right before, a few months before, I had actually looked into all these other religions cuz like you said, you were like, "Oh, any sort of faith provides good structure and that's what I had heard all my life. So I was like, "Man, if I just believe in something, maybe it will get me out of this depression pit." So I was looking at Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age, like everything on the planet. And when I was looking at these things, like in Islam, for example, you have like the five pillars of Islam, basically. You got to pray five times a day, give alms to the poor, and the goal is to be a good person. When you die, Allah is going to weigh your good and your bad, and if you did more good than bad you're good but if you did more bad than good, not good.

  And then I was like, "Well, it doesn't say how much is enough, so how do I know if by the time I'm dead if I did enough? And then, you know, Buddhism and Hinduism, they've got thousands of gods and you're trying to get enlightened and not get bad karma cuz then you might get reincarnated into something bad. And so I was like looking at all these religions and I felt hopeless because I thought, "I have a hole in my heart. And if I'm a broken human being - you know how wicked this world is - and [with] a broken heart - I couldn't even heal the broken heart with the broken world." So I was like, "If I live in a broken world with a broken heart how could I ever work to perfection?"

  It seemed impossible, and I knew I couldn't do it, so I was ready to take my life that night in Waffle House and I had this Supernatural Encounter With Jesus. I realized, man, I'm not following religion. I mean, yes, like Christianity is like a labeled religion but I'm not following structured religion, I'm following Jesus. I'm putting my faith and trust in him.

• Quote from Mari Mari Emmanuel: Buddhist monks, you ask, why are you leaving the world and living in absolute isolation? They'll tell you we are trying frantically to achieve what one thing. To kill the human desire, because when we are able to kill the human desire we are in control.

  Why do you become enslaved to something? Because of your desire if you did not desire this thing you wouldn't have been so weak when you e faced it. True.

  When you desire money money becomes your God you start worshiping money when you desire fame fame becomes your God.

  But they have failed to realize this truth: They can never kill desire. You know why? Because the one who put desire in the human being is God and what God gives no one can take away. God put desire in us so we can desire Him in order to worship Him. Without desire, there is no worship.

Now I had gone into court willingly after being born-again as I held my faith in Jesus and submitted to the authorities, but not perfect. After breaking bail to get baptised and bring everything into the light, obeying God and not man (See this video), the whole thing felt outside of my control (extremely graceless), and I was under clear impression especially later in 2022 that I was battling an antichrist spirit pressuring me into several things:

• Justification by works after I had already received the Spirit earlier that year:
  • Galatians 3:3 - Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (ESV)
• Tempting me to out of faith with Jesus, by making me fearful of jail
  • Hebrews 12:16 - that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. (ESV)
  • I John 4:18 - There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (ESV)
• Pressuring me to not pass forward the love of Christ
  • Matthew 6:14-15 - For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (ESV)
  • Colossians 3:13 - bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (ESV)
• Pressuring me to affirm all my error instead of embracing sanctification:
  • I Peter 1:2 - according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (ESV)

As interesting as the parallels or similarities are with my own testimony, I think this Mormon doctrine shows interesting parallels or similarities with my own testimony but I cannot affirm everything, nor their extra books, and I am not a Mormon :: thechurchnews.com: Isaac: Child of the promise and heir of the promises - Church News (Mormonism)

I don't need to prove myself to men, as God sees the heart, but I have my relationship with God:

• I Chronicles 29:17 - I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. (ESV)

So through obedience to the gospel, I came into the light, I pleaded guilty, I made testimony of Jesus, etc. "whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." This is Biblical gospel teaching, that through faith in Jesus we may be saved, and I disagree with the Mormans' interpretation.

• John 3:21 - But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God. (ESV)
• Matthew 16:25 - For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (ESV)

It's really interesting what has happened regarding my testimony of getting born-again, my blog writings of 2022 and of course, court and how it relates to Isaiah 1:12-17. I think the take-away from this is that we should cease to do evil and learn to do good. It is odd that although I do not observe new moons or religious 'feasts', whatever has happened has happened. I think everyone involved should repent before God going forward:

Isaiah 1:12-17 - When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. (ESV)

I also do not affirm the LDS doctrine here:

• en.wikipedia.org: Melchizedek priesthood {Latter Day Saints} - Wikipedia

I see the LDS stuff here as heretical, and I do not consider their extra books to be Scripture.

I've been attending Bible studies and allowing myself to be corrected and renewed in mind by the Truth which is the Word of God:

John 17:17 - Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (ESV)

And I think that the spirits which I attacked me tried to bundle in my desire to marry the girl I had met with false religion.

I affirm that I wanted to marry her when I met her at the Baptist church long before (if I recall the events precisely) I had even visited the Mormon church, so I have a good conscience before God with regards to the marriage proposal and that. Jehovah God as my witness, it was love that issued from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith and I believe the enemy tried to sabotage me:

I Timothy 1:3-5 - As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (ESV)

I cannot affirm spirits or dreams which do not confess Jesus. Neither can I affirm as without error my own writings, especially those I have written as I've been repenting from error:

• web.archive.org mullikine.github.io: Dream: King John the Baptist // Bodacious Blog

I John 4:1-3 - Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (ESV)

Now I endeavour to take every thought captive to Christ:

II Corinthians 10:5-6 - We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (ESV)

• No, You Do Not Hold The Melchizedek Priesthood: So he is King of Peace and King of Righteousness, serving bread and wine, praising God, a priest, and Abram tithes to him! However, I don’t believe he is actually a preincarnate appearance of Christ—Hebrews 7:3 tells us that Melchizedek resembled Jesus, not that he was Jesus.

  And that is a key point: The text isn’t saying that Jesus is like Melchizedek, but that Melchizedek is like Jesus—that Jesus is the true and better Melchizedek, just as he is the true and better Temple, Lamb, Passover, Moses, David, on forward. This is another case of typology, that this is about that. God wrote the story of Melchizedek in living history, to later teach us something of the Person and work of Jesus. So that is the origin of this designation.

AMEN!!

For a long while now I have affirmed that Jesus is the only King, and my King and in doing so I really mean to say that I am not a king, but would happily let Jesus call me His brother and a royal priest in His kingdom:

• Song: youtube.com: Only King Forever | Live | Elevation Worship

Revelation of John 19:19 - And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. (ESV)

Psalms 82:6-8 - I said, You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations! (ESV)

Verses such as this demonstrate the holy justice of God. God nearly put Moses to death:

Exodus 4:24-26 - At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me! So he let him alone. It was then that she said, A bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision. (ESV)

Thus so (Houtōs) (in this way) did God love (25. agapaó - value,treasure) the world, that He gave His Only-Begotten (G3439. monogenēs - unique,only begotten) Son that (G2443 hina - in order that) everyone who is trusting/believing in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting:

biblehub.com 3-16.htm: John 3:16 Interlinear: for God did so love the world, that His Son – the only begotten – He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during.

John 3:16-17 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (ESV)

We are found in Christ by having faith in Christ and putting on Christ. This was my behaviour during 2022 after being born-again. I was acting obediently and in faith knowing I was born-again and saved already and had to pass on love and forgiveness, and also repent from error - all of these:

Galatians 3:22-29 - But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (ESV)

• Quote from John Piper: The most profound change in the universe is when a human being passes from death to life - from spiritual deadness to spiritual aliveness and this text is about how to help that change happen.

AMEN!

• youtube.com: How to Seek the Holy Spirit @time: 48 min 13 sec: "If anyone keeps Jesus' word, holds fast, treasures it, in obedience, that person will not be quenching the Spirit, that person will not be grieving the Spirit, but will know the fullness and sweetness of fellowship with the Father and the Son."

AMEN to that, John Piper.

Ephesians 3:6 - This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (ESV)

We must be children of the promise:

Romans 9:6-8 - But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. (ESV)

Romans 2:26-29 - So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (ESV)

The promise is to be an heir of the world:

Romans 4:13 - For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. (ESV)

We trust/believe in the one true God who raised Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead. We have peace with God through trusting faith:

Romans 4:23-25,5:1-2 - But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (ESV)

We have faith in Almighty God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Our faith is modeled on Abraham's:

Romans 4:16-17 - That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. (ESV)

We need to call on God for help:

Romans 10:8-13 - But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (ESV)

OK, so the Spirit is received through faith (faith like Abraham's) in Jesus Christ to all who believe. The promise was made to Abraham and to Christ. Now we must be found in Christ. Amen:

Galatians 3:13-16 - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, And to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, And to your offspring, who is Christ. (ESV)

Becoming born-again of the Spirit may be receiving the inheritance

Then there may be some nuance between receiving the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance, and being born of the Spirit which may be [part of] our inheritance.

I Corinthians 15:50 - I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (ESV)

In trusting in Jesus Christ, we may receive the Holy Spirit:

John 7:37-39 - On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts (G1372 dipsaó), let him come to me and drink (G4095 pinó). Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuó) in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (ESV)

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

John 3:5 - Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (ESV)

The living water, the Holy Spirit of promise is the seal of our inheritance, and received through faith in Jesus

John 4:10 - Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. (ESV)

John 4:14 - but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (ESV)

Jesus being glorified means we can receive the Holy Spirit through faith

John 13:31-32 - Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. (KJV)

John 20:22 - And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. (ESV)

Acts 2:4 - And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (ESV)

When we are born of the Spirit, we receive a regenerated spirit-man. This is part of the inheritance, I think

Being born of the Spirit / spiritually regenerated I think is a different event to receiving the Holy Spirit which typically happens beforehand, particularly for Gentile Christians when we give our heart to the Lord Jesus:

Galatians 4:28-31 - Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (ESV)

Romans 4:13-18 - For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, So shall your offspring be. (ESV)

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

Any spiritual experience should be in the character of the Holy Spirit

• youtube.com: How to Preach with Supernatural Power @time: 8 min 16 sec: He does not mean that something spiritual is religious or mystical or other-worldly. That's what most people think about spiritual… Well, no it's not. Instead spiritual for Paul meant originating by the Holy Spirit and having the quality of the Holy Spirit, formed by the character of the Holy Spirit. It is supernatural, wrought, shaped by the Holy Spirit… The problem with the 'mind of the flesh is not that it fails to be religious, or that it fails to be mystical or that it fails to be other-worldly. In fact, the mind of the flesh may be intensely religious. The mind of the flesh may be very mystical, very other-worldly. The problem with the mind of the flesh is that it's hardened againsnt the beauty of God, the worth of God, the authority of God. It's hard against God. It's unable to welcome and love and delight in and enjoy God.

AMEN John Piper. Thanks.

youtube.com: C. S. Lewis 2024 - Characteristics of the Holy Spirit's personality

Romans 8:6-9 - To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)

My testimony of being born-again of the Spirit

Being born of the Spirit is something which is genuinely unpredictable but we can sense its coming and going. It's not the same thing as getting someone to pray a sinner's prayer, for example, otherwise Jesus would not have used this analogy. We can sense it (hear it's sound, such as making testimony of being born of the Spirit), but we don't know where it comes form or where it goes:

John 3:3-8 - Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (ESV)

People were being born according to the Spirit for quite some time before Jesus was born of the virgin Mary but it has been restricted to the children of promise i.e. Abraham's descendants through Isaac:

Galatians 4:28-31 - Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (ESV)

I was born-again 'of the Spirit' on 2 April 2022 where I was given a new body, or it was regenerated - a blue light-body.

Galatians 6:14-17 - But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. (ESV)

II Corinthians 5:5 - He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (ESV)

• Sermon: youtube.com: Be Who You Are: Living Out Identity in Christ, Part 1

We are saved to serve Christ:

II Corinthians 5:15 - and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (ESV)

We are meant to serve God. We are saved from not serving God, that we serve God through serving Christ:

Luke 4:4-8 - And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. (ESV)

We are saved to work for Christ for the sake of Christ and the ministry of reconciling other sinners to God through Christ:

II Corinthians 5:18 - All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; (ESV)

The Apostles were working with Christ. I believe the Apostles also here are exhorting believers to work with Christ to receive the grace of God:

II Corinthians 5:21-6:1 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (ESV)

James 2:22 - You see that faith (G4102 pistis) was working with (4903. sunergeó) his works (G2041 ergon), and as a result of the works (G2041 ergon), faith (G4102 pistis) was perfected (G5048 teleioo);

• 4903. sunergeó: Definition: to work together. Usage: I cooperate with, work together.

II Corinthians 7:15 - And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. (ESV)

God put our sin on Jesus:

• youtube.com: John MacArthur | The Gospel in 1 Minute | #paulwasher #voddiebaucham #billygraham #johnmacarthur: The Bible, II Corinthians 5:21 - He made Him who knew no sin sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Let me unpack those 15 Greek words. He, God, made Jesus sin. What do you mean He made Jesus sin? Only in one sense he treated him as if he had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe, though in fact he committed none of them. Hanging on the cross, He was Holy, harmless, undefiled. Hanging on the cross, He was a spotless Lamb. He was never for a split second a sinner. He is Holy God on the cross. But God is treating him - I'll put it more practically - as if he lived my life.

  God punished Jesus for my sin, turns right around and treats me as if I lived His life.

  That's the great doctrine of substitution and on that Doctrine turned the whole Reformation of the church - that is the heart of the gospel. And what you get is complete forgiveness covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When He (God) looks at the cross he sees you. When He looks at you he sees Christ.

Being born-again of the spirit was a total gift received through faith in Jesus, none of my own merit at all - simple very imperfect repentance from sin and faith in God exercising faithfulness:

I don't really know what this is. It was something like a singularity event and my perception of the world is now spiritual. Most of my life I have not been a very faithful Christian. I was a 'nominal' Christian but I didn't really have a lot of faith or knowledge of God. I had not been seeking out Jesus. For the 2 years leading up to 2 April 2022, I can tell now in retrospect that God was working in my life, and I had begun seeking Jesus, and trying out repentance, and eventually arrived at the point where I was crying to God for help. So when was I born-again? Was it when I first believed as a child, or when I was baptised as a teenager? Not in the same way I was born-again on 2 April 2022. On 2 April 2022 I was truly born-again of the Spirit, and my best explanation as to what had changed was that I had begun to authentically seek God and to be obedient to Jesus, accountable to God who sees in secret, and not to man, and that activated a real prayer life, and actively believing God exists and sees, and I had asked God to give me His Holy Spirit. Even though I could not yet hear His voice, I was praying and seeking and beginning to repent. On the 2 April 2022 I was born-again the Spirit - I was spiritually regenerated - whatever it was that happened which I described. When that happened God had put the fear of Him in my heart so that I would not turn from Him, and it was receiving a new spiritual light-body like being birthed from a womb. When I first 'believed' the gospel, this had not happened yet, but I had the testimony I guess. This event, what I experienced on 2 April 2022 I consider to me being born of 'water and the Spirit'. But hearing and keeping the gospel of Jesus, and asking God to receive the Holy Spirit, or seeking God I guess they will have some events, probably different to my 2 April 2022 event something similar happen then or in their future some time, I assume, or perhaps it is 'entering the Kingdom of God'. I don't know exactly how it works. I'm retroactively trying to figure things out by reading the Scriptures.

As I understand it, if someone is "born of God", they would love Jesus. If someone loves with Christ's love then they are "born of God and know God" and they would love Jesus if presented with Jesus. If someone is "born of the Spirit" then they have been spiritually regenerated. Being born of the Spirit is what I understand is to be "born-again of water and the Spirit".

Maybe these two things are at the same time if a person believes without doubting.

A person may not yet have received the Holy Spirit at the time they believed. I think it's certainly essential to have obedience to God in order to be born of the Spirit, as far as I can tell.

When the following says "they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus", I'm sure this is baptism in water. It's also apparent that a person may receive the Holy Spirit at the time they believed, and the passage also seems to suggest that believing alongside being baptized in water, the person is expected to receive the Holy Spirit:

Acts 19:1-6 - And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, Into what then were you baptized? They said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (ESV)

Also, a person may not have been "Born of the Spirit" (whatever it was that happened to me on 2 April 2022) when they intially believed. But rather, I think they are "born of God", that is if they do in truth believe that Jesus is the Christ:

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

I had begun to authentically seek God and to be obedient to Jesus, accountable to God who sees in secret. Then I was born of the Spirit.

We must love Jesus by keeping His commandments:

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

A friend said this at church the very day after I was born again of the Spirit, " Just because some messages may have been wrong, don't quench the work of God's Spirit among you by banning all prophecies, but rather make sure you test them. Hold onto what is good and dismiss those that are not good (i.e. those that are evil). "

I Thessalonians 5:20-21 - Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. (ESV)

I feel that way about my experience of being born-again of the Spirit and then undergoing purification and ongoing repentance and correction.

Over the course of 2022, I was actually speaking a lot of prophecy. There was a lot of truth in it, and a lot of error, but my defense is Jesus and I was getting to know Jesus through being washed in the word, and in obedience to Jesus' commandments, and being corrected by the word, but we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Revelation of John 19:10 - Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (ESV)

I Thessalonians 1:4-5 - For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. (ESV)

Romans 8:9 - You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)

I Corinthians 6:19 - Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, (ESV)

As a result of being born of the Spirit and subsequent obedience to Jesus' commandments has resulted in a huge amount of worldly resistance, and also I've had to fight against a spirit of justification by law compliance, and I've had to fight against a spirit which denies my sins were atoned for and tries to get me to do good works for justification. I still do good works out of obedience but I resist the spirit pressuring me to work for justification (it is a very vindictive, Christ-denying spirit, and it is incredibly persistent):

Galatians 4:29 - But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. (ESV)

Experiential heart belief through obedience

If you want to really get to know someone then you would learn to walk in their footsteps. Belief must arrive in the heart, not merely the head. There's a confession, an admittance, and a belief in the heart:

Romans 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (ESV)

We should definitely confess Jesus to others:

Luke 12:8-9 - And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. (ESV)

Faith presses on to walk the same way Jesus walked - even to spend the rest of the time on earth obedient to Jesus to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, becoming like Him in His death (i.e. being faithful to God, stopping sin, exercising righteousness, becoming a scapegoat, even to death like the Apostles, sharing in His sufferings, living has He lived) and His resurrection:

Philippians 3:9-13 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

Repentance from sin may come before believing in Jesus

Acts 19:4 - And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. (ESV)

Born of God

I think being born of God might in some way mean being born of the will of God:

John 1:13 - who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (ESV)

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

I find both of these helpful:

• youtube.com: "Whosoever is Born of God Doth Not Commit Sin" 1 John 3 Explained {@OnoDiamante}
• youtube.com: Does the Bible Say True Christians Never Sin? {@desiringGod}

I think this verse could likely mean that the person who is born of God has the power to not sin, as opposed to "never sins", but I'd have to research that:

 1  3956    3588    1080             1537 3588
 2  Pas     ho      gegennēmenos     ek   tou
 3  Πᾶς     ὁ       γεγεννημένος     ἐκ   τοῦ
 4  Anyone   -      having been born of    -
 5  Adj-NMS Art-NMS V-RPM/P-NMS      Prep Art-GMS
 6  
 7  2316    266       3756 4160      3754    4690
 8  Theou   hamartian ou   poiei     hoti    sperma
 9  Θεοῦ  , ἁμαρτίαν  οὐ   ποιεῖ  ,  ὅτι     σπέρμα
10  God     sin       not  practices because seed
11  N-GMS   N-AFS     Adv  V-PIA-3S  Conj    N-NNS
12  
13  846       1722 846       3306     2532 3756
14  autou     en   autō      menei    kai  ou
15  αὐτοῦ     ἐν   αὐτῷ      μένει  , καὶ  οὐ
16  of Him    in   him       abides   and  not
17  PPro-GM3S Prep PPro-DM3S V-PIA-3S Conj Adv
18  
19  1410       264                 3754
20  dynatai    hamartanein         hoti
21  δύναται    ἁμαρτάνειν  ,       ὅτι
22  he is able to continue sinning because
23  V-PIM/P-3S V-PNA               Conj
24  
25  1537 3588    2316  1080
26  ek   tou     Theou gegennētai
27  ἐκ   τοῦ     Θεοῦ  γεγέννηται  .
28  of   mfs -   God   he has been born
29  Prep Art-GMS N-GMS V-RIM/P-3S

One thing for sure, the person born of God is brought into doing the will of God:

I John 5:18 - We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. (KJV)

I John 5:4 - For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (ESV)

Someone who has just been born of God is a newborn, an infant in Christ.

Keeping Father God's commandments, we love Father God and we love all those who have been born of Him. We must love all those who believes that Jesus is the Messiah because anyone who believes Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God:

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

The one who believes Jesus is the Son of God is loved by the brethren, joins the family and overcomes the world:

I John 5:5 - Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (ESV)

John 8:42 - Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. (ESV)

We put away the false gods, and only worship the One True God: Jehovah, and Jesus Christ who He sent

Jehovah is God Almighty who was working through Jesus Christ who is the Son of God who also is to be worshiped as Jehovah God, now reigning on the throne of His Father:

Exodus 6:3 - I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. (ESV)

• Exodus 6:3 (Interlinear): and I appear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; as to My name Jehovah, I have not been known to them;

Jesus reigns and inherits all things. Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God:

Hebrews 1:1-4 - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (ESV)

Jesus is to be honoured just the Father is honoured:

John 5:22-23 - The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. (ESV)

The Bible actually teaches that other so-called gods (all those Hindu gods, for example) are not the One True God who created everything. I affirm Christianity's perspective on this. According to Christianity, to serve them is actually to live in some kind of delusion:

I Corinthians 8:3-7 - But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one. For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. (ESV)

It's true that there are such heavenly beings, but we're not supposed to worship them:

Psalms 82:6-8 - I said, You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations! (ESV)

Colossians 2:18 - Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, (ESV)

In times past, God overlooked the worship of false-gods:

Joshua 24:15 - And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (ESV)

John 10:34-38 - Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, I said, you are gods? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, I am the Son of God? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. (ESV)

But now God calls all people everywhere to repent. Christians must turn away from worshiping false-gods, practicing witchcraft, etc.:

Acts 17:29-32 - Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, We will hear you again about this. (ESV)

Christians do not worship foreign gods:

Joshua 24:23 - He said, Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel. (ESV)

Genesis 35:2-3 - So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. (ESV)

As a Christian, I want nothing to do with false-gods:

Revelation of John 9:20-21 - The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (ESV)

And as a prophetic person, I do not want to encourage anyone to worship false-gods and so be labeled as a false-prophet:

Revelation of John 16:13-15 - And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. (Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!) (ESV)

Peter initially protested, but then came to trust Jesus and have a "share with Jesus"

John 13:6-9 - He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head! (ESV)

Jesus created disciples of Himself

We must turn to obedience to Jesus and loving with Christ's love to come to know Him. We ought to love as Christ loved us, as He is our Lord and Teacher, but Jesus WASHED (past-tense) us and then we ought to love as He did and we practice personal righteousness while having His imputed righteousness, as he is our Master.

We are forgiven to do the will of God. We are saved to obey God better. God puts us into Christ. We obey to wash others, and for ourselves to be sanctified, like a branch becoming healthier in the tree:

John 13:12-16 - When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (ESV)

John 13:34-35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)

Everyone who is actively and actually believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

Whoever loves with Christ's love has been born of God and knows God

I John 4:6-12 - We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (ESV)

A person who is really believing in Jesus will do the works of Jesus - they'll produce good works

This doesn't necessarily mean that obedience is nonexistent before good works, as believing in Jesus is obedience, and repentance is obedience and these things are not done in a heart of "working for justification". It is obedient to end (turn away from) the bad works:

John 14:12 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (ESV)

We just turn away from doing satan's will and turn torwards doing God's will:

Acts 26:18 - to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (ESV)

But repentance and belief should result in good works (serving the living God):

Hebrews 9:14 - how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (ESV)

Receiving the inheritance naturally comes after hearing the word of truth and believing in Jesus

The initial seal of the Holy Spirit comes with hearing the gospel and believing in Jesus.

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

Acts 20:32 - And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (ESV)

Further repentance from sin and to come to love in the way that Jesus did is an inevitable consequence of being born of God i.e. truly believing in Jesus

People are able to repent from sin before coming to believe in Jesus but it's much easier and inevitable after coming to believe in Jesus.

• Sermon :: youtube.com: Killing Lust with the Cross of Christ: Step 1: The sin is cancelled by the blood of Christ. We're Justified before God, and then Step 2: We purge that sin from our lives; Can't ever get that backwards. Sin canceled, then sin purged.

God's spirit really helps us to stop sinning. Actively believing in Jesus should produce the fruit of putting a stop to sin.

We need to heed Jesus' warning that we need to change our minds or perish. We have to stop believing falsehood and believe the truth, believe/trust Jesus and Jesus' words:

Luke 13:3 - No, I tell you; but unless you repent (3340. metanoeó), you will all likewise perish. (ESV)

I John 3:9 - No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. (ESV)

I John 5:18 - We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. (ESV)

Knowing God by obeying Jesus and loving with Christ's love implies you have at some stage been born of God

I John 4:7 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (ESV)

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

Obedience lead to belief which leads to obedience (loving with Christ's love with the help of God's spirit) which leads to overcoming the world

I John 5:4 - For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (ESV)

We overcome the world with a new spirit God has given us to wait and trust on Him and obey Him

I John 5:4 - For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (ESV)

We overcome the world, reigning in life thanks to the free gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ:

Romans 5:15-17 - But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign (basileuó) in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (ESV)

• Polycarp 5:1: Knowing then that God is not mocked, we ought to walk worthily of His commandment and His glory.

• Polycarp 5:2: In like manner deacons should be blameless in the presence of His righteousness, as deacons of God and Christ and not of men; not calumniators, not double-tongued, not lovers of money, temperate in all things, compassionate, diligent, walking according to the truth of the Lord who became a minister (deacon) of all. For if we be well pleasing unto Him in this present world, we shall receive the future world also, according as He promised us to raise us from the dead, and that if we conduct ourselves worthily of Him we shall also reign with Him, if indeed we have faith.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 - And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (ESV)

We receive the spirit by getting Jesus' words into us, believing them and obeying them. Feeding on them, we get Jesus' spirit and life into us:

John 6:63 - It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (ESV)

We can repent from sin as an act of obedient faith to God:

Jeremiah 4:4 - Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds. (ESV)

Deuteronomy 10:16-17 - Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. (ESV)

It's simultaneous:

James 4:8 - Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (ESV)

And God helps us to do that. God changes our heart to love Him, so that we will live:

Deuteronomy 30:6 - And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (ESV)

I believe that as we believe and obey Jesus, God sends His Spirit to help us to obey Him.

In other words, believing the gospel and trusting repentance leads to getting born-again of the Spirit.

I just want to illustrate how people who hear, believe and do are trusting of Jesus. And we gotta trust Jesus (Isaiah 12:2, Hebrews 12:2). We should believe Him and obey Him - not one without the other. Believers who are not obeyers are like people who only turn left. 'Obeyers' who are not believers are like people who only turn right. People who believe and obey when they hear any of Jesus' teachings including commandments are like people who take the straight and narrow. Jesus commanded us to trust in Him so if we hear His word to trust in Him and we do trust in Him we have become obedient. I think we're supposed to continue to trust Jesus, and get off the milk and onto the solid food as Hebrews describes. We have to abide in Jesus' teachings.

Hebrews 5:14 - But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (ESV)

I believe that belief and obedience to Jesus naturally comes before being born-again of the Spirit, but that obedience is much easier after being born-again of the Spirit, because this is the way it happened with me, and it's also scriptural.

John 14:15-17 - If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (ESV)

Marriage should not become idolatry

The Hebrew has two words for 'helper'. The word which the greek in John 14 refers to I believe is the Saviour one:

1  מוֹשִׁיעַ
2  savior, deliverer, helper, saviour

But the Hebrew for helper in Genesis 2:18 is not the 'saviour' but the assistant!:

1  עוֹזֵר
2  assistant, aide, helper, second

Genesis 2:18 - Then the Lord (H3068 Yhovah) God (H430 'elohiym) said (H559 'amar), “It is not good (H2896 towb) for the man (H120 'adam) to be alone (H905 bad); I will make (H6213 `asah) him a helper (H5828 `ezer) suitable (H5048 neged) for him.”

The importance of loving one another

Believing Jesus, having the love of God within us, loving Father God, and loving one another who are children of God, all should be true together:

John 5:37-42 - And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. (ESV)

Those who trust Jesus and believe Jesus is the Son of God, now being far more obedient to God, cheerfully obey His commandments rather than find them difficult (for example: they find it unburdensome to act like the good Samaritan):

I John 5:1-3 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (ESV)

We don't justify ourselves. The lawyer here was desiring to justify himself. God is the justifier. Jesus explains that the one who proved to be a neighbour is the one who showed compassion for and took care of the helpless person, taking care of them with mercy:

Luke 10:25-37 - And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go, and do likewise. (ESV)

Romans 3:26 - It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (ESV)

Also being true together with believing Jesus Christ is obeying His commandments, and being obedient to Him. The way I read the following is, "Whoever trusts that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world through their believing, obedient faith and God's commandments are no longer burdensome to them":

I John 5:4-5 - For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (ESV)

Their heart is purified through faith, believing in and obeying Jesus, and now they love God and they love the children of God:

I John 4:7-17 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. (ESV)

To get close to us we must accept God's love and love God back:

James 4:8 - Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (ESV)

In order to know God we must love one another in the way that God has loved us:

I John 4:7-12 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (ESV)

Receiving the Holy Spirit

So we must receive the Holy Spirit.

I learned a lot from John Piper about this today. I really affirm this message:

• youtube.com: How to Seek the Holy Spirit

I also really affirm Derek Prince here:

• youtube.com: Accept the Holy Spirit - Derek Prince Sermon

When the following says "they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus", I'm sure this is baptism in water. It's also apparent that a person may receive the Holy Spirit at the time they believed, and the passage also seems to suggest that believing alongside being baptized in water, the person is expected to receive the Holy Spirit:

Acts 19:1-6 - And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, Into what then were you baptized? They said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (ESV)

Again, these people were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, but they hadn't yet received the Holy Spirit. So the point I'd like to make is that there may be some delay, or another vector for receiving the Holy Spirit, such as through the hands of the Apostles:

Acts 8:14-17 - Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. (ESV)

For me it was years after being baptised in water that I was born-again of the Spirit, and being born-again of the Spirit happened shortly after I had begun seeking God in truth, and repenting from sin.

I think this guy puts it well here:

• youtube.com: There Is No Baptism In The Holy Spirit Without Repentance | Bishop Macedo Meditation @time: 15 min 19 sec

  1 I believe that this answers the 2 questions of many people that say, 3 "Oh, I've bent over backwards to receive the 4 Holy Spirit and I still don't have Him. 5 I've been the church for 30, 50 years, I'm 6 in the church for 47 years and I still 7 haven't received the Holy Spirit." 8
  9 Why? because you haven't repented. You have 10 not repented. And if you are waiting to feel 11 something in order to repent you never 12 repent because it doesn't depend on a 13 feeling. 14
  15 ... 16
  17 But they do not make the decision to 18 abandon their old life. The same thing, 19 you get married but you don't want to 20 stop being single, you want to continue 21 acting as though you are single. Of 22 course your marriage won't work - it's a 23 pretense, it's fake.

Jesus gives both repentance and forgiveness:

Acts 5:31-32 - God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (ESV)

Stephen stressed the importance of being circumcised in the heart (something that they should have been able to be) and in the same sentence implies that to be uncircumcised in heart is to resist the Holy Spirit:

Acts 7:51-53 - You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. (ESV)

It's totally fair to say that anybody should be able to circumcise themself to the LORD, and that makes a person a Jew inwardly. We must repent in this way:

Jeremiah 4:4 - Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds. (ESV)

Romans 2:29 - But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (ESV)

Ruth 1:15-17 - And she said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you. (ESV)

I know I had begun to repent according to the 10 commandments even a year in advance of being born-again of the Spirit in an effort to seek God and I got born-again.

It's been commanded all the way back here in Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 10:12-17 - And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. (ESV)

Simon had believed and been baptized but he needed to repent so that his heart was right before God:

Acts 8:13-23 - Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. (ESV)

Water baptism as an appeal to God

Water baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I think baptism of water is an appeal to God and identifying oneself into Christ's death and resurrection but the sacrament maybe is not strictly required to be saved (as far as I understand).

I Peter 3:21 - Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (ESV)

We need are sealed with the Holy Spirit through accepting the truth of the good news of Jesus and God's Living Word works in us to save us

youtube.com: How Do I Know If the Holy Spirit Is in Me?

We are sealed when we give our heart to Jesus, believing / trusting in Him:

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

II Corinthians 1:21-22 - And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (ESV)

I John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (ESV)

Romans 8:9 - You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)

Ephesians 4:30 - And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (ESV)

The word of God works in us as we believe and trust Jesus, and are obedient to Jesus:

I Thessalonians 2:13 - And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (ESV)

Galatians 3:13-14 - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (ESV)

It's the power to be changed from doing evil deeds to walking in obedience and love to God, in a relationship with God:

Colossians 1:21-23 - And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (ESV)

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (ESV)

We need to be born-again and we want to be filled with and baptised by the Holy Spirit

It's natural to water baptize a person after they believe:

Acts 8:36-38 - And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. (ESV)

Also, the Lord Jesus Himself baptized Gentile believers in the Holy Spirit, people who were not yet baptised in water:

Acts 10:44-48 - While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. (ESV)

Matthew 3:11 - I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (ESV)

• Interlinear Bible: biblehub.com 3-11.htm: Matthew 3:11 Interlinear

We need to be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God:

John 3:5 - Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (ESV)

And as it happened for me, the water baptism was a precursor to being born-again of the Spirit spontaneously years later and my Holy Spirit baptism happened shortly after being born-again of the spirit.

Therefore, I see water baptism as firstly to be baptized into Jesus Christ's name, in the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the death and resurrection of Jesus, appealing also to be born-again of the Spirit and to receive the Holy Spirit baptism.

And begin born-again of the Spirit and receiving the Holy Spirit helps us to obey God.

I Corinthians 2:14 - The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (ESV)

John 3:3-5 - Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (ESV)

The Holy Spirit may teach us even before He is in us, by helping us as He dwells with us

John 14:16-21 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

Our will should be for God's will to be done, and to will to do God's will

We may ask God for a willing spirit:

Psalms 51:10-12 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (ESV)

Obedience is good:

Psalms 40:6-8 - Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. (ESV)

I believe that eventually our own will lines up with God's will for us, and I believe that His will is that we will to do His will, and that we will for His will to be done. So I believe we should desire both to do His will as God has revealed to us though the Scriptures, and also to desire that God's will be done over our own will, but that our will may become His will.

• Song: So Will I {100 Billion X} - Hillsong Worship - YouTube

Matthew 6:10 - Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (ESV)

Matthew 26:42 - Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. (ESV)

I Peter 3:17 - For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. (ESV)

I Peter 4:19 - Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (ESV)

Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (ESV)

What God does by way of initiative and what we do as a response is inextricably woven together [to the point where our obedience and God's work may be indistinguishable]. God turns our enmity to love and our disbelief to faith:

• Sermon: Born Again - Alistair Begg, Parkside Church - YouTube @time: 34 min 12 sec

Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (ESV)

Paul toils, struggling with all God's energy that God works powerfully within him:

Colossians 1:29 - For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (ESV)

Father God in Jesus was also doing His work through Jesus:

John 14:10 - Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. (NASB)

Here it is further echoed by Paul that though these people were acting of their own free will, they were doing God's will:

Paul commends giving oneself to others by the will of God (their will was doing God's will):

II Corinthians 8:3-5 - For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. (ESV)

Paul commends both desiring to do the will of God, and then encourages to complete the work they desire to do, but says that if the will (obedience of heart) is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has:

II Corinthians 8:10-12 - And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. (ESV)

In "The Blazing Center: Part 3 - YouTube" John Piper says, "Maybe my will could correspond to God's will so I could do His will and it would be my will?!" I agree with him.

And through our obedience to Jesus we are saved. The Bible is clear - a works-based gospel based on God working through us saves:

Hebrews 5:8-9 - Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, (ESV)

It's actually a faith-based gospel, and the works are a gift. So believing, obedient faith comes first and God works in us to change our heart to be transformed to love in the likeness of Jesus:

Ephesians 2:8-10 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)

Jesus can work in a person to bring them to belief in Him.

When you obey Jesus' commandments, Jesus may be working in you, and you may arrive at belief.

Psalms 127:1 - Unless the LORD (3068. Yhvh - Phonetic Spelling: (yeh-ho-vaw'), Meaning: Jehovah) builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (ESV)

Matthew 7:24 - Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (ESV)

Can a person be saved through:

• reading their Bible, or
• listening to the word of Christ?

There are people who would say that a person is not saved through obedience to the gospel, but by making that claim they are contradicting many scriptures:

Hebrews 5:9 - And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

Like the:

• Israelites walking through the Red Sea, or
• Noah building the ark, or
• The lame man standing up to be healed, or
• Peter allowing Jesus to wash his feet

Obedience to the gospel leads to eternal salvation. I believe obedience should arrive at belief, and belief should yield obedience, and knowledge.

John 8:31-32 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (4100. pisteuó, pepisteukotas) in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (ESV)

Obeying Jesus is quite simply one aspect of having faith in Jesus.

Jesus is the vine. We can do nothing without Jesus working through us. We just have to be a believing, willing, obedient vessel for Him:

John 15:4 - Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. (ESV)

That obedience may, for example, look like proclaiming the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

Luke 8:39 - Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. (ESV)

I Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (ESV)

Therefore, we teach people to both believe and to obey the Gospel. When we obey Jesus' commandments it's actually Jesus working in and through us. We want Jesus to be able to carry out work in us, so we obey Him - our will and God's will come into alignment when we obey Jesus' commandments.

In Christ Jesus, through faith in Him (through trusting Him, believing Him, believing in Him and obeying Him), we have Jesus as our righteousness, and sanctification and redemption:

I Corinthians 1:30 - He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. (ESV)

• Song: youtube.com: Be Thou My Vision - Audrey Assad

Believing in your heart is an initial act of obedience before continuing in the teaching of Christ. If we believe in Him we have obeyed Him, but belief doesn't end there:

John 14:1 - “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe (G4100 pisteuo) in God, believe (G4100 pisteuo) also in Me. (NASB)

It's imperative that as we go ahead, we must abide in the teaching of Christ, or we won't have God (Jehovah God), and God is love and love comes from God, so we need to abide in Christ's teachings, by belief and by obedience. For example, in Mark 10:18, Jesus affirmed that God is Good. Therefore when we read this, we must also be sanctified by this truth, affirming and coming into agreement that God is Good. Also, Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loved us John 13:34-35:

II John 1:9-10 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, (ESV)

And our obedience is not burdensome:

I John 5:3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (ESV)

We receive the spirit by getting Jesus' words into us, believing them and obeying them. Feeding on them, we get Jesus' spirit and life into us:

John 6:63 - It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (ESV)

We rest in believing what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf, but our heart should have become obedient to Jesus.

We don't claim perfect obedience, but God also helps us and supports us:

Isaiah 64:4 - From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. (ESV)

Also, waiting on the LORD our strength is renewed:

Isaiah 40:31 - but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (ESV)

It's crucial to keep Jesus Christ's commandments:

I John 3:20-24 - for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (ESV)

Work flowing from obedience is still totally by grace because we needed Jesus to obey God perfectly first! We must still obey Jesus.

II Timothy 1:6-14 - For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. (ESV)

Believing in Jesus should result in continued loving obedience to Jesus (following Jesus), and doing the work which is similar to the work that Jesus did:

John 14:12 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (ESV)

I think works that we can expect to come from believers in Jesus are:

• helping to bring about the obedience of faith
• loving selflessly while not breaking faith with God

John 13:34-35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)

The Apostle John also commands us to:

• follow Jesus' commandment to believe in the name of God's Son Jesus Christ, and
• love one another just as He commanded us.

1 John 3:23 - And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (ESV)

Whoever keeps (5083. téreó) His commandments (plural) abides in Jesus, and Jesus in them. Yes, so I think we must believe Jesus and obey Him:

I John 3:24 - Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (ESV)

John 14:10-15 - Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (ESV)

John 15:13 - Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. (ESV)

John 4:32-34 - But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought him something to eat? Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (ESV)

Romans 16:26 - but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith — (ESV)

Romans 15:17-18 - In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed,

Like Jesus, we should do the will of God:

Hebrews 10:7 - Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. (ESV)

Being filled with the Holy Spirit

• Being a servant of God is a likely precursor to being filled with the Holy Spirit
  • Acts 5:32 - And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (ESV)
• Speaking the word of God with boldness is a sure sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
• Saying one's own belongings are not our own [but belong to God] is a sure sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
  • Giving to others freely to relieve the burdens of others is a another sure sign.
    • Acts 2:45 - And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. (ESV)
  • Job 1:21 - And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. (ESV)
  • Romans 11:36 - For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (ESV)

Acts 4:24-35 - And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. (ESV)

• 1Clem 2:1: And ye were all lowly in mind and free from arrogance, yielding rather than claiming submission, more glad to give than to receive, and content with the provisions which God supplieth. And giving heed unto His words, ye laid them up diligently in your hearts, and His sufferings were before your eyes.

• 1Clem 2:2: Thus a profound and rich peace was given to all, and an insatiable desire of doing good. An abundant outpouring also of the Holy Spirit fell upon all;

In God's mercy, we come to obedient faith and come into Christ Jesus

"At one time disobedient…" means we are brought to obedience. Therefore, God's mercy is that we become obedient:

Romans 11:30-32 - Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience (543. apeitheia - willful unbelief, obstinancy, disobedience), that he may have mercy on all. (ESV)

Mercy is so that we can be forgiven and change our ways:

John 8:11 - She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more. (ESV)

• Song: King of Kings {Lyric Video} - Hillsong Worship - YouTube

In Christ Jesus, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin

We trust that our sin is covered by Jesus Christ's blood, as we abide in Him through belief and obedience:

Romans 4:5-8 - And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (ESV)

Revelation of John 1:4-6 - John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

In Jesus Christ we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and are transferred into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ:

Colossians 1:13-14 - He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (ESV)

As we walk in the light, as He is in the light, that is in the Truth, walking in, believing, professing and obeying Jesus Christ in Truth, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin:

I John 1:6-7 - If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (ESV)

We are sanctified in the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with His blood:

I Peter 1:2 - according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (ESV)

Hebrews 7:22 - This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. (ESV)

Hebrews 10:9-14 - then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (ESV)

We are ransomed:

I Peter 1:18-19 - knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (ESV)

The blood of Jesus secures an eternal redemption:

Hebrews 9:11-15 - But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (ESV)

The eternal redemption is in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, (ESV)

Hebrews 5:9-10 - And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (ESV)

Obedience is absolutely within our ability

God's commandments are not too difficult to follow.

We may ask God for a willing spirit:

Psalms 51:10-12 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (ESV)

Love the LORD your God:

Deuteronomy 30:10-11 - when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. (ESV)

Serve God:

Joshua 22:5 - Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. (ESV)

Love God [from the heart and soul] so that we may live:

Deuteronomy 30:6 - And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (ESV)

To love your neighbour as yourself means forgiving them too, and remember that Jesus forgave us. It also means to not take vengeance (Christ's law includes not rendering evil for evil):

Leviticus 19:18 - You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (ESV)

Jesus' commandments us to even love one another, anyone around you, with selfless love:

John 13:34-35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)

And the Apostle John echos that the commandment is still extremely important:

II John 1:5-6 - And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. (ESV)

Loving our neighbour as ourself should look like showing merciful love to those around you:

Luke 10:29-37 - But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go, and do likewise. (ESV)

We should be loving our neighbour continually:

John 13:1 - Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (ESV)

Mark 12:30-31 - And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. (ESV)

Mark 12:32-34 - And the scribe said to him, You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. (ESV)

We are supposed to fulfill the Royal Law, even after having received forgiveness:

James 2:1 - My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. (ESV)

James 2:8-9 - If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (ESV)

The same way that Jesus loved, selflessly:

Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (ESV)

Loving one another includes forgiving one another. Forgiving others means not holding a grudge:

Leviticus 19:18 - You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (ESV)

We should aim to fulfill these great commandments while being merciful:

James 2:11-13 - For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (ESV)

It's perfect self-humbling obedience without committing sin which only Jesus Christ managed to reach, was able to reach and was destined to reach:

Philippians 2:8 - And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

We come to having obedient faith in God through obedient faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ obeyed Father God perfectly, and sinners put Him to death, and He became the source of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him:

Hebrews 5:8-9 - Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, (ESV)

John 1:29 - The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (ESV)

Observing Jesus, continuing to believe in Him and believe His words and abide in His word, we will live forever

We should be led into the knowledge of the Truth:

John 8:31-32 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (4100. pisteuó, pepisteukotas) in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (ESV)

We should come into a relationship with Jesus Christ and with Father God:

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)

Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, is not condemned. But the person who is not believing in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God is condemned already:

John 3:18 - Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (ESV)

There is always more chances to believe:

Romans 11:23-24 - And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (ESV)

In believing we have eternal life, but we need to continue in obedience to Jesus Christ or will not see life, so there should be a change of behaviour. We should have changed to serve God. Even if "apeitheó" is better translated to "not be pursuaded", trusting in Jesus Christ is still obedience. Unless you believe that trusting in Jesus is disobedience, which it is not. It's obedient to trust in Jesus because He commanded it in John 14:1. They're not separate things. A heart that is pursuaded to trust Jesus is an obedient heart:

John 3:36 - Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuōn - is believing (verb)) in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey (544. apeitheó) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

• G4100 πιστεύων (pisteuōn): This is the present participle form of the verb "πιστεύω" (G4100 pisteuō), meaning "to believe" or "to have faith." In the participle form, it functions as a verbal adjective and can be translated as "believing."

I John 5:10-13 - Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuōn - is believing (verb)) in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (ESV)

But we must not believe in vain. We must continue trusting Jesus. We must believe and hold fast to the gospel:

I Corinthians 15:1-2 - Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast (2722. katechó) to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (ESV)

• 2722. katechó: Usage: (a) I hold fast, bind, arrest, (b) I take possession of, lay hold of, (c) I hold back, detain, restrain, (d) I hold a ship, keep its head.

Of first importance is that we are believing in the correct Jesus. We must be teachable / correctable by Jesus (accepting as true His words and his deeds):

I Corinthians 15:3-9 - For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (ESV)

John 18:37 - Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. (ESV)

Jesus Christ is our Lord and Teacher - that means we believe and obey Him:

John 13:13-14 - You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. (ESV)

If you hear Jesus' word and believe Father God, then you have eternal life, and don't come into judgement. I don't doubt it. We must continue trusting. But the enemy will certainly try to condemn the person after they are born-again.

Trusting Jesus' words we do not come into judgement, but change direction, and instead our destiny is life eternal. We do not come into judgement. Jesus is the judge of that:

John 5:21-24 - For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word (191. akouó) and believes (4100. pisteuó) him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come (2064. erchomai) into judgment, but has passed (3327. metabain) from death to life. (ESV)

I think John 5:24 reads that the one who is trusting the words spoken through Jesus, trusting God, trusting Jesus is holds/posesses eternal life and has passed from death into life.

• ****2064. erchomai: to come, go

• ****3327. metabain: to pass over, withdraw, depart

If we actually believe Jesus Christ is who He says He is, the Son of God, Messiah, we are not condemned. We're never condemned if we are believing in Jesus Christ, Son of God:

John 6:35 - Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (ESV)

If you look upon Jesus Christ and believe in Him, you should have eternal life:

John 6:40-44 - For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (ESV)

John 6:47-51 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (ESV)

John 6:53-58 - So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. (ESV)

Eternal life is given to anyone who believes in Him. I guess there are simply some things I wont understand fully, but I do believe it. I trust in God, and lean not on my own understanding. I believe Jesus' words that are written in the Scriptures:

John 6:47 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. (ESV)

I John 2:27 - But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything—and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you—abide in him. (ESV)

I John 2:24 - Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. (ESV)

God commanded eternal life for those who believe: God's word never comes back void:

Isaiah 55:11 - so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (ESV)

In this current time (world) we may receive more than we lose for the sake of the kingdom, and eternal life is also received in the age to come:

Luke 18:29-30 - And he said to them, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life. (ESV)

I do not affirm all religions. But I affirm Romans 10:9. I affirm that individual people are saved through belief and I think it should be true belief that's in the heart:

Romans 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (ESV)

We should definitely confess Jesus to others:

Luke 12:8-9 - And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. (ESV)

Everything is in subjection to Jesus, God has left nothing outside Jesus' control.

From our perspective it may look like things are still being brought into subjection to Him. It still looks that way to me:

Ephesians 1:22 - And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

Hebrews 2:5-8 - Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

Everything is put in subjection under Jesus and in subjection under Father God:

I Corinthians 15:24-28 - Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Including our own mortal bodies!

Philippians 3:21 - who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (ESV)

Consider that in truthfully confessing that Jesus is Lord, that person has faith in Jesus, and in believing in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, that person has faith in God even in the matter that Jesus was resurrected, even for our justification. So it's faith not only in the finished work of Christ on the cross, but faith in Jesus Himself.

That's important in my opinion because we must trust Jesus Himself to follow Him, to love Him, to keep His words, to keep His commandments, to keep our eyes on Him, to abide by His teaching.

• youtube.com: John Piper - Saved Forever @time: 9 min 58 sec: Salvation is not static, as though I did something once to get saved (I believed), and God did something once to save me (He sent Jesus to die and rise from the dead) and that's all there is to it. Now this verse is one screaming announcement that is not all there is to it and what I want to try to do in these last moments is is take a Sunday school understanding that's true that simple past, "I believe, He died, I'm saved - period" and grow it into biblical proportions with a verse like Hebrews 7:25 because Hebrews 7:25 says there is not only more that Jesus did, there is more that you do as well. What Jesus does is go on praying for you, interceding for you, coming between you and the Father and making a case for you, and standing up for you.

And out of the heart should flow rivers of living water. Now that re-emphasises that belief should be in the heart:

John 7:38 - Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. (ESV)

Walk as an imitator of Christ:

Philippians 3:17-18 - Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. (ESV)

I Corinthians 11:1 - Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (ESV)

We must be imitators of Christ Jesus. See what Paul is doing as an example of imitating Christ. We repent from sin, we do what God says, we are accountable to God with His precepts and are doers of His commandments, we forgive others as we've been forgiven and we love others as we've been loved, and we have our minds set on heavenly things and the promises of God:

Philippians 3:12-21 - Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (ESV)

Do not be an enemy of the cross of Christ, submit to the righteousness of God - we needed Jehovah God, Father of Jesus Christ, to pay for our sin - and we must imitate Christ, passing forward Christ's love and forgiving as we have been forgiven, and repenting from sin:

Hebrews 13:7 - Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. (ESV)

III John 1:11 - Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. (ESV)

Jude 1:4 - For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Jude 1:4 - For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ

It's God's grace that enables us to be saved through faith. While we are saved exercising obedient, trusting, believing faith, Paul says it was actually God's doing:

Ephesians 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (ESV)

Just because we're gifted repentance to life, that doesn't mean that to go ahead and obediently repent makes the gift of repentance no longer a gift!

Acts 11:18 - When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.

There are varying amounts of grace given to each person according to mercy, need or stewardship:

Romans 12:6-8 - Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (ESV)

Ephesians 3:2 - assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, (ESV)

Ephesians 4:7 - But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. (ESV)

Romans 12:3 - For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (ESV)

I Peter 4:10 - As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: (ESV)

I Corinthians 12:7-11 - To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (ESV)

We can still ask for more grace when we are in need:

Hebrews 4:16 - Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (ESV)

God gives grace to the humble (not the self-righteous). That is true. But recognising your own sin and calling it sin is humility. And in wanting to turn from it, God may give grace to do so:

James 4:6 - But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (ESV)

• Sermon: The Heart of the Gospel - YouTube

We believe on Jesus Christ and receive eternal life, and we are saved through Jesus Christ. We see that Jesus Christ obeyed God perfectly and He is the light. We have our hope on Jesus to save us when we believe on Him. We should trust Jesus enough to obey His commandments when we are presented with opportunities to glorify God with our actions. God works through us as we obey Jesus.

John 3:16-19 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. (ESV)

We must hear the words of God. If we hear them then we are of God. I know I hear them. If we keep Jesus' word (obey Jesus) we will not see death:

John 8:47 - Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. (ESV)

John 8:51 - Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. (ESV)

To keep Jesus' word means to hear them and to obey:

Proverbs 7:1-3 - My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. (ESV)

Keeping means, not only having them but also keeping, obeying them:

John 14:21-24 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. (ESV)

• Lord of Eternity - Fernando Ortega (Live): Lord of Eternity; Blessed is the man; Who walks in Your favor; Who loves all Your words; And hides them like treasure; In the darkest place; Of his desperate heart, They are a light; A strong, sure light.

Essentially, we must believe Jesus. We must not reject Jesus. We must receive Jesus' words. We must be teachable by Jesus:

John 12:48 - The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. (ESV)

Jesus comes to dwell in our hearts through faith, His spirit in our inner being, as we are rooted and grounded in love:

Ephesians 3:14-21 - For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

I John 5:3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (ESV)

John 8:55 - But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. (ESV)

We are not condemned if we believe in the name of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. That's really good news!:

John 3:18 - Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (ESV)

AMEN!!

Trusting Jesus' words we do not come into judgement, but change direction, and instead our destiny is life eternal. We do not come into judgement. Jesus is the judge of that:

John 5:21-24 - For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word (191. akouó) and believes (4100. pisteuó) him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come (2064. erchomai) into judgment, but has passed (3327. metabain) from death to life. (ESV)

I think John 5:24 reads that the one who is trusting the words spoken through Jesus, trusting God, trusting Jesus is holds/posesses eternal life and has passed from death into life.

• ****2064. erchomai: to come, go

• ****3327. metabain: to pass over, withdraw, depart

AMEN!!

II Timothy 2:11 - The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; (ESV)

Justification comes through through the righteousness of living by faith:

Habakkuk 2:4 - Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. (ESV)

We are justified by His grace as a free gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, received by [living by] faith:

Romans 3:21-25 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (ESV)

Even the new believer is not condemned:

I Corinthians 3:1 - But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (ESV)

And as we know, no-one in Christ is condemned:

Romans 8:1 - There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

• youtube.com: God Is Our Savior from What? 1 Timothy 1:1-2, Part 2 @time: 5 min 20 sec: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This was the main problem.

  …

  The main problem is God's response to sin is a legal and just and holy condemnation - we must escape this. And in Christ Jesus we are saved from condemnation.

Romans 5:9 - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (ESV)

We must continue in our faith. We must continue to believe Jesus and trust in Jesus:

Philippians 3:9-13 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

John 8:31-32 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (4100. pisteuó, pepisteukotas) in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (ESV)

I believe that we are saved not because of our own merit, but, still, obedience to the Gospel leads to righteousness which leads to salvation:

Hebrews 5:9 - And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, (ESV)

Acts 5:32 - And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (ESV)

John 14:15-16 - If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, (ESV)

John 15:26 - But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (ESV)

Romans 6:16-18 - Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (ESV)

II Timothy 1:7-10 - for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (ESV)

I believe that becoming the righteousness of God is cooperative in that we allow Jesus to wash us, and work in us, and that a childlike trust in Jesus (a believing and obedient trust), following Jesus, walking in faith, and behaving as one of God's children is how we receive and walk into the kingdom which is given to us and that walking (living, katergazomai) in a childlike faith in Jesus is how we have the righteousness that is by faith. Living by faith is walking in faith, is following Jesus. I really wish there was not a chapter break between these two verses because it's revealing to to read them side by side:

II Corinthians 5:21-6:1 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (ESV)

James 2:22 - You see that faith (G4102 pistis) was working with (4903. sunergeó) his works (G2041 ergon), and as a result of the works (G2041 ergon), faith (G4102 pistis) was perfected (G5048 teleioo);

• 4903. sunergeó: Definition: to work together. Usage: I cooperate with, work together.

We should disobey sin, and present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God. We should be practicing righteousness, practicing love and holiness and truth:

Romans 6:12-13 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (NASB)

We become obedient to Jesus

The righteous try to be obedient. They make mistakes sometimes, they mess up sometimes but they return to God with the fear of God (they repent):

Proverbs 24:15-18 - Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous; do no violence to his home; for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him. (ESV)

John Piper - "Mercy means that our obedience doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be penitent."

He paid the price for our sin:

Romans 4:25 - who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (ESV)

And we are justified and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who we are following:

Romans 5:1 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Long before we ever believed in / obeyed Jesus, God had chosen us to believe in Him and to take part in His holy calling:

II Timothy 1:9 - who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, (ESV)

Jeremiah 1:4-5 - Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. (ESV)

II Timothy 1:13 - Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

We love our neighbour the way Jesus commanded:

I Corinthians 9:21 - To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. (ESV)

Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (ESV)

John 13:34-35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)

Jesus loved us selflessly. We should love one another selflessly:

John 15:13 - Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. (ESV)

We should disobey sin, and present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God. We should be practicing righteousness, practicing love and holiness and truth:

Romans 6:12-13 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (NASB)

There's some bonuses to suffering for Christ's sake and for endurance

If we keep His commandments, keep His works we will reign with Him:

II Timothy 2:12-13 - if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. (ESV)

Revelation of John 2:26 - The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, (ESV)

Romans 8:17 - and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)

But suffering for Christ's sake should be for giving glory to Jesus:

Eternal life and salvation is a gift received through faith and obedience to God

We put our hope on Him to be our High Priest and Advocate, we obey Him as He saves us.

These should really go hand in hand:

• Believing in Jesus Christ for His finished work to receive justification and eternal life and remain in relationship with Father God and with Jesus
• Obeying Jesus Christ (repenting from sin, loving God and your neighbour) to be saved from the wrath of God should really go hand-in-hand.
  • Toss Me in the Water - YouTube @time: 3 min 37 sec
  • youtube.com: Live Like You Belong in Heaven: Philippians 3:18-21, Part 7

When you believe Jesus' words you are trusting of Jesus. If you believe Jesus then you believe when He says He is the Son of God, for example. Someone who hears Jesus' voice and does it is someone who believes Jesus and trusts Him. A person can have a heart of obedience to Jesus and that's a heart of trust, it's a heart of belief. If you trust Jesus you will believe what He says and you will have obedience to Him.

At it's most basic form repentance (metanoia) means a person changes their mind to believe and trust and have a heart of obedience - accepting of the will of God. To repent means stop distrusting and start trusting God.

We have believe Jesus and to trust Jesus. When Jesus says He is the Son of God, we must believe it because we trust Him. Likewise when He commands us to repent from sinning we should agree with Jesus and be obedient:

John 16:8-9 - And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; (ESV)

We need to heed Jesus' warning that we need to change our minds or perish. We have to stop believing falsehood and believe the truth, believe/trust Jesus and Jesus' words:

Luke 13:3 - No, I tell you; but unless you repent (3340. metanoeó), you will all likewise perish. (ESV)

We keep eyes on Jesus and trust Him:

Hebrews 12:2 - looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (ESV)

Isaiah 12:2 - Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. (ESV)

We must be taught by Jesus. We must be teachable. We must accept what God says and accept he one He sent (Jesus):

II John 1:9 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (ESV)

Here is a verse that shows that repenting from evil deeds is important:

Revelation of John 2:22 - Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, (ESV)

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)

We endeavour to be justified in Christ - in Christ means abiding in Christ - through faith; trusting, believing, obedient faith:

Galatians 2:16-19 - yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith (G4102 pistis) in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed (G4100 pisteuo) in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. (ESV)

Abraham's trusting faith was counted to him as righteousness. I guess it was counted because he was fully conviced, and trusting God. This same justification will be counted to those who trust in God who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification:

Romans 4:20-25 - No distrust (apistia) made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (ESV)

We believe that our justification comes by faith so we place our trust in God and continue trusting; we just get on with living for God and serving God and trusting in God for that justification as we serve God and live in the peace of God. We don't justify ourselves. We have faith in God that He will/does justify us, and we get on with living for and serving God:

Romans 5:1-2 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (ESV)

Being justified by Jesus' blood, we are saved by Him from the wrath of God. We have faith in God also to be saved from the wrath of God. That come with God asking us to turn from our sin:

Romans 5:9 - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (ESV)

Continuing to be sanctified by faith is a process where a person continues in Jesus' words because they are sanctified by faith in Jesus and that means ongoing trust and faithful obedience.

Acts 26:18 - to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (ESV)

To be sanctified by faith in Jesus is an applied process, I think:

Acts 26:18 - to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (ESV)

• Immediately we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. We are justified,
• and then we are saved from the wrath of God by His life, repenting from sin and keeping His commandments, being sanctified, not resisting the Holy Spirit's work of sanctifying us to correcct out behaviour and thoughts, and separated from the world, since friendship with the world is emnity with God
  • Ephesians 2:3 - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (ESV)
• also, we meanwhile rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ

Romans 5:8-11 - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (ESV)

Jesus' act of obedience leads to:

• justification
• life
  • I believe that the life of Jesus helps us to stop sinning
    • youtube.com: The Effort Needed to Fight Sin: Living Out Identity in Christ, Part 2
  • Even though we are born of the Spirit, we still live the rest of the time on earth in obedience to Jesus to get to know Jesus and become like Him in His death

Romans 5:18 - Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. (ESV)

I Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (ESV)

Faith presses on, faithful to Jesus, walking in the manner which Jesus walked - even to spend the rest of the time on earth being obedient to Jesus to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, becoming like Him in His death (i.e. being faithful to God, stopping sin, exercising righteousness, becoming a scapegoat, even to death like the Apostles, sharing in His sufferings, living has He lived) and His resurrection:

Philippians 3:9-13 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

We are saved from the wrath of God by the life of Jesus Christ. I think that's in part saying that the life of Jesus helps us to stop practicing sinful things:

Ephesians 5:5-7 - For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them;

Ephesians 2:3 - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (ESV)

That's confirmed here:

I John 3:5-6 - You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

We need to obey Jesus to see the life. That obedience isn't "working" but it is "performing/carrying out" but our justification isn't contingent on "working":

John 3:36 - Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuōn - is believing (verb)) in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey (544. apeitheó) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

• G4100 πιστεύων (pisteuōn): This is the present participle form of the verb "πιστεύω" (G4100 pisteuō), meaning "to believe" or "to have faith." In the participle form, it functions as a verbal adjective and can be translated as "believing."

I John 5:10-13 - Whoever believes (G4100 pisteuōn - is believing (verb)) in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (ESV)

But we must not believe in vain. We must continue trusting Jesus. We must believe and hold fast to the gospel:

I Corinthians 15:1-2 - Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast (2722. katechó) to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (ESV)

• 2722. katechó: Usage: (a) I hold fast, bind, arrest, (b) I take possession of, lay hold of, (c) I hold back, detain, restrain, (d) I hold a ship, keep its head.

Of first importance is that we are believing in the correct Jesus. We must be teachable / correctable by Jesus (accepting as true His words and his deeds):

I Corinthians 15:3-9 - For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (ESV)

John 18:37 - Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. (ESV)

On the other hand, if we obey Jesus we will never see death:

John 8:51 - Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. (ESV)

In treasuring Jesus' words, keeping them, guarding them, observing them, in Him the agape (treasuring, valuing love) has truly been perfected. Having Jesus' teachings in us clearly should result in us walking as He did:

I John 2:5-6 - but whoever keeps (5083. téreó) His word (G3056 logos), in him the love (G26 agape) of God (G2316 theos) has truly been perfected (G5048 teleioo). By this we know (G1097 ginosko) that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (ESV)

Repent, be sanctified, love God and your neighbour, believe and obey Jesus:

Luke 10:25-28 - And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live. (ESV)

• youtube.com: Steven Curtis Chapman - For The Sake Of The Call: We will abandon it all for the sake of the call; No other reason at all but the sake of the call; Wholly devoted to live and to die; Not for the sake of a creed or a cause; Not for a dream or a promise; Simply because it is Jesus who called; And if we believe we'll obey

Repent from sin and receive with meekness the implanted word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is able to save us, and persevere with it and allow it to change us:

James 1:21-24 - Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. (ESV)

Matthew 24:9-13 - Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (ESV)

Being saved by Him I think involves us becoming obedient, and faithfully obeying Jesus Christ our Lord:

Ephesians 5:5-10 - For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Eternal life is in Jesus:

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

I John 5:11 - And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (ESV)

We receive / walk into the eternal life through faith in Jesus:

John 10:27-28 - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (ESV)

If you hear Jesus' words which came from God and trust God then you have eternal life:

Trusting Jesus' words we do not come into judgement, but change direction, and instead our destiny is life eternal. We do not come into judgement. Jesus is the judge of that:

John 5:21-24 - For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word (191. akouó) and believes (4100. pisteuó) him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come (2064. erchomai) into judgment, but has passed (3327. metabain) from death to life. (ESV)

I think John 5:24 reads that the one who is trusting the words spoken through Jesus, trusting God, trusting Jesus is holds/posesses eternal life and has passed from death into life.

• ****2064. erchomai: to come, go

• ****3327. metabain: to pass over, withdraw, depart

John 7:16 - So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. (ESV)

II John 1:9-10 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, (ESV)

I Timothy 6:3-4 - If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, (ESV)

Treasuring anything else more than God is sin

• Quote by Tim Keller: Know what the Bible says: Sin is craving something more than God. Sin is making something more important than God. Sin is is living for something more than God. If God is at the periphery of your life, if you're just religious occasionally, if God [is] sort of on the outskirts of your life, that is sin. That's the essence of sin.

Luke 10:27-28 - And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live. (ESV)

John 8:42 - Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. (ESV)

youtube.com: Love Jesus More Than You Love Anything

Philippians 3:8 - Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (ESV)

Eschatology

• I really appreciated Allie's video here: youtube.com: Eschatology, End Times and What's to Come | Ep 134

Before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ there is the appearance of the "man of lawlessness":

II Thessalonians 2:1-4 - Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. (ESV)

How we should act how we're instructed to act while awaiting the Lord's return

• Sermon: youtube.com: Live with the End in View

Luke 21:36 - But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. (ESV)

I Peter 4:7-11 - The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

Jesus doesn't delay. We must be vigilant and ready to serve Jesus:

Hebrews 10:37 - For, Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; (ESV)

Matthew 24:48 - But if that wicked servant says to himself, My master is delayed, (ESV)

God wants as many people as possible to be saved (I think of this a bit like as 'delaying' the second coming - my own speculation on eschatology is just me speculating), but not like delaying Jesus' work, as we should be vigilant about anticipating Jesus. Jesus does not delay. Jesus literally visits people imminently in this life time, and we should also consider the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to be imminent:

I Timothy 2:4 - who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (ESV)

John 1:12-13 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (NASB)

• hymnary.org: All People That on Earth Do Dwell | Hymnary.org: All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the LORD with cheerful voice; Him serve with mirth, His praise forth-tell; come ye before Him and rejoice!

II Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (ESV)

Ezekiel 18:23 - Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (ESV)

Receiving Jesus, we have the 'right', the 'authority' to become children of God, even by receiving Him through the knowledge of His name (onoma):

John 1:12 - As many as however received Him He gave to them authority children of God to be to those believing in the name of Him (Interlinear)

 1  3745       1161     2983     846       1325     846
 2  hosoi      de       elabon   auton     edōken   autois
 3  ὅσοι       δὲ       ἔλαβον   αὐτόν  ,  ἔδωκεν   αὐτοῖς
 4  As many as however  received Him       He gave  to them
 5  RelPro-NMP Conj     V-AIA-3P PPro-AM3S V-AIA-3S PPro-DM3P
 6  
 7  1849      5043     2316   1096        3588     4100
 8  exousian  tekna    Theou  genesthai   tois     pisteuousin
 9  ἐξουσίαν  τέκνα    Θεοῦ   γενέσθαι  , τοῖς     πιστεύουσιν
10  authority children of God to be       to those believing
11  N-AFS     N-ANP    N-GMS  V-ANM       Art-DMP  V-PPA-DMP
12  
13  1519 3588    3686  846
14  eis  to      onoma autou
15  εἰς  τὸ      ὄνομα αὐτοῦ  ,
16  in   the     name  of Him
17  Prep Art-ANS N-ANS PPro-GM3S

John 6:40 - For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks (2334. theóreó) on the Son and believes (4100. pisteuó) in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (ESV)

I consider the 'coming of the Lord' to be something which happens during one's time on earth probably to every servant of the Lord:

Matthew 25:11-15 - Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, lord, open to us. But he answered, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. (ESV)

Matthew 24:42 - Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. (ESV)

Just as it is inevitable that every son or daughter of God will be disciplined:

Hebrews 12:6 - For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. (ESV)

I still hold imminence with regards to rapture a possibility on the basis that when I was born of the Spirit, things progressed very rapidly I was quickly baptised in the Holy Spirit and I asked God in prayer that the whole of my city would be saved. My words seemed to have a lot of impact during this time. This is my own speculation. I was riding by the seat of my pants after being born of the spirit.

• video: youtube.com: Life or Death by Your Tongue

I guess that God has been testing me and using me similarly to as He did with Paul the Apostle after he was taken into service by Jesus but also I had much error and my tongue was not well-bridled. We need to be corrected by God's Word and be doers. Talking about religious doctrine is worthless without doing the Word in obedience to Jesus.

James 1:23-27 - For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (ESV)

Paul was an Apostle by Command. As for me, I'm just acting on faith after confessing Jesus.

Perhaps I still speak too much.

James 3:3 - If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. (ESV)

I received lots of visions and many of them came from the enemy I believe after I had even been reading Apocryphal gospels which I think are misleading and I do not affirm them. Then, after I had said towards the end of 2022 on my blog that we should get ready for Armageddon, war broke out in the middle east soon after. I felt as though I nearly did actually get 'raptured' or it was quickly progressing that way or something like that, and then I made a declaration to court that Jesus is the Truth, I forgive everyone etc. That resulted in some very rapid changes. Things in my life spiritually began to stabilise as I have gone through police corrections and used the time to attend Bible studies, and be corrected by the Scripture in my beliefs, obedience and deeds. I'm still trying to be sanctified ongoingly. I am really sorry for misleading people with regards to any error in my writings, but the way to handle this, I believe, is not to throw the baby out with the bath-water but to be corrected by the word of God. I'm still a work in progress.

A friend said this at church the very day after I was born again of the Spirit, " Just because some messages may have been wrong, don't quench the work of God's Spirit among you by banning all prophecies, but rather make sure you test them. Hold onto what is good and dismiss those that are not good (i.e. those that are evil). "

I Thessalonians 5:20-21 - Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. (ESV)

I feel that way about my experience of being born-again of the Spirit and then undergoing purification and ongoing repentance and correction.

Over the course of 2022, I was actually speaking a lot of prophecy. There was a lot of truth in it, and a lot of error, but my defense is Jesus and I was getting to know Jesus through being washed in the word, and in obedience to Jesus' commandments, and being corrected by the word, but we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Mark 13:20 - And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. (ESV)

Ultimately, we are waiting for incorruptible bodies, and I totally believe in rapture and ultimately a completely new heavens and earth (not just a renewal, although I do believe God is still taking care of and reigning on the earth), so I think that whatever Paul the Apostle is referring to here, well I have my speculatinons, is something more imminent, and perhaps more to do with God's kingdom work on the earth, but I still hold the eschatological view that there is ultimately an entirely new heavens and earth without any corruption:

I Corinthians 7:29-31 - This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (ESV)

Acts 14:22 - strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. (ESV)

In some sense I think the rapture and judgement is imminent, and I think probably when each son or daughter is brought into the kingdom they may have a 'taste of it'. In other words, God is still adopting sons and daughters and we don't know who the last one to be adopted is.

So in a sense it's been on the verge of the second coming of Christ for quite a long time:

Luke 21:20-24 - But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (ESV)

The Bible also predicts scoffers - but as Peter puts it, with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day:

II Peter 3:1-8 - This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (ESV)

Those are my current eschatological thoughts, but I am no expert.

"When Jesus became my Lord and Savior, a battle between good and evil started." as one commenter said on this video.

After I began obeying Jesus, and especially repenting and denouncing sin and heresy, that's when I started getting attacked spiritually, as this guy (MarcTheMessenger) describes:

• youtube.com: God Leveled Me Up Now I'm Depressed

Matthew 3:10 - Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (ESV)

Even regards to the rapture, ultimately we leave this world behind. Ultimately, I think we need to go all-in for Jesus and get used to relying on God completely, and be ready to leave this world behind. If we go all-in for Jesus now then we will experience the kingdom of God on earth.

The present form of it will pass away and is passing away:

I Corinthians 7:30-31 - and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (ESV)

Matthew 19:21 - Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (ESV)

I think I John 2:15-17 is essentially saying, "Do not agape love the world or what's in the world. Do not love the things of this world with the type of love that we have for God and for people, namely agape love." If we fall out of agape love for the world and are not conformed to the world but are transformed by the renewing of our minds then by testing we will be able to discern the will of God:

I John 2:15-17 - Do not love (agapate) the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (ESV)

Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (ESV)

The repentant criminal on the cross next to Jesus was sold out for the kingdom of God and ready to leave this world behind:

Luke 23:42-43 - And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. (ESV)

Also, this is interesting:

youtube.com: Strive to let everything bodily die within you, and you will rise before the general resurrection

As Christians, we've got to repent of evil deeds and keep Jesus' works - keep imitating Christ, even in holiness

John 14:12 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (ESV)

II John 1:9 - Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (ESV)

We follow Christ's teachings:

Revelation of John 2:15-16 - So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. (ESV)

We absolutely must put a stop to sexual immorality and idolatry:

Revelation of John 2:17-24 - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they *repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan*, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. (ESV)

We must keep Jesus' teachings to the end:

Revelation of John 2:25-29 - Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (ESV)

We absolutely cling to Jesus as well

I Corinthians 7:25-31 - Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (ESV)

Luke 20:33-36 - In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife. And Jesus said to them, The sons of this age (G165 aion) marry (G1060 gameo) and are given in marriage (G1061 gamisko), but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age (G165 aion) and to the resurrection (G386 anastasis) from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

Disobedience towards God is sin. Treasuring anything else more than God is sin

• Sermon: God is very happy about obedience, and listening to His word. Disobedience is sin, and disobedience is rejecting the word of the LORD:

I Samuel 15:22-23 - And Samuel said, Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king. (ESV)

Leviticus 5:17 - If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity. (ESV)

The disobedience of mankind started in the Garden of Eden:

Genesis 3:17 - And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, You shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; (ESV)

Jesus helps us to overcome sin. Jesus delivers us from it:

Romans 7:22-25 - For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (ESV)

God's commandments through Jesus is within the Law of God:

I Corinthians 9:21 - To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. (ESV)

God makes us born-again, so we can love Him, obediently

John 3:7 - Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. (ESV)

We must follow Jesus:

John 8:12 - Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (ESV)

We must believe Jesus is who He says He is:

John 8:24 - I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins. (ESV)

We must love Jesus:

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (ESV)

In my understanding, I consider all who are repentantly trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, for their salvation, if they are willing turn to and obey Him, if Father God puts them in, obediently trusting Jesus Christ who is their life, to be in Christ Jesus, no matter what else I say in this document.

I have been just trying to figure out my theology. One God, three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I don't have the say though. God puts a person in. AMEN!!

I Corinthians 1:30 - But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, (NASB)

We are given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cleanses our hearts by faith. As we obey Jesus, going against the resistance, our hearts are being cleansed:

Acts 15:8-9 - And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.

If we have faith in Jesus then we obey Jesus' commandments when presented with opportunities. We walk by faith, not sight. When other people discourage you from following Jesus' commandments, but you choose to obey Jesus anyway, this is overcoming the enemy by faith:

II Corinthians 5:7 - for we walk by faith, not by sight. (ESV)

With God's help, we must drop the old selfish self and allow Jesus to come in with the new obediently loving self:

Psalms 37:27 - Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. (ESV)

Selfish people killed Jesus. Jesus was selfless. Christian selfless love is based upon God having loved us first; i.e. Christ's love has more nuance to it than mere charity.

I John 4:19 - We love because he first loved us. (ESV)

Jesus was obedient to God unto death. We identify with Christ with a death like His (dying to sin and living to serve God), to be united with Him in a resurrection like His! This is why obedience to Jesus is so important. How can a person be resurrected if they don't die? We need to die a death to be resurrected:

II Timothy 2:11 - The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; (ESV)

Dying to sin an immediate thing and living to Christ, becoming like Jesus in His death is a lifelong (while on this earth) process. Also, starting to live for God is an immediate thing, and to be with God is the long-term thing:

Romans 6:8-10 - Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (ESV)

I think baptism of water is an appeal to God and identifying oneself into Christ's death and resurrection but the sacrament maybe is not strictly required to be saved (as far as I understand).

Romans 6:3 - Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (ESV)

Romans 6:1 - What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

As I understand it, in water baptism we make an appeal to partake in the resurrection of Christ, and live to serve Christ. Also in being born of the Spirit / regeneration, we definitely die to sin and live to serve Christ, being able to see the Kingdom of God. But then we spend the rest of our lives on earth becoming like Jesus in His death - being obedient to death here on earth, to become like Him in His resurrection:

Philippians 3:8-11 - Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (ESV)

I think that water baptism in part is an appeal to partake in the baptism of the Holy Spirit:

I Corinthians 12:13 - For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (ESV)

I Corinthians 10:1-4 - I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. (ESV)

Nevertheless the one who trusts in Jesus and dies will yet live. AMEN!! And the following verse, I believe actually applies to baptism (identifying with Christ in His death and resurrection)! So a nice way of reading the following is: If someone, while believing in Jesus Christ, dies to their old selfish nature to live as someone who loves selflessly, they will live, and the one who lives abiding in Jesus Christ's love, having died to their old selfish nature, and believes in Him will never die:

John 11:25-26 - Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

I like that way of thinking of it because it encapsulates both belief and obedience to Jesus - both which I think are important.

Jesus' selfless love also faithful to God. Without breaking faith with God, Jesus loved back his persecutors:

Hebrews 5:8-9 - Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, (ESV)

No-one took Jesus' life, but Jesus laid it down of His own accord. Nevertheless, he was killed by sinners. To put it another way, while needing to fulfill the law and the prophets, he did not sin, and sinners killed Him and cast lots with His clothes, but actually you could say that Jesus gave His life, and let them have His clothes:

John 10:18 - No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. (ESV)

Matthew 5:40 - And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. (ESV)

I Peter 2:22 - He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. (ESV)

Matthew 27:35 - And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. (ESV)

I Peter 3:17-18 - For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (ESV)

And Jesus prayed for his persecutors:

Luke 23:34 - And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments. (ESV)

Likewise, that's the type of selfless love we should have. Selfless love while trying to maintain faithfulness to God:

I Peter 2:20 - For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. (ESV)

I Peter 4:19 - Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (ESV)

The purest selfless love loves while not breaking faith with God. Jesus maintained faithfulness to God while maintaining selfless love. We should endeavour to have the same mind:

Philippians 2:5-8 - Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

The Apostle Paul strove to maintain a clear conscience with God:

Acts 24:14-16 - But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. (ESV)

Yes, it's very important for Christians to practice righteousness:

I John 3:7 - Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. (ESV)

We are commanded to be innocent, and to bear witness of Jesus before men who persecute us:

Matthew 10:16-18 - Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. (ESV)

Philippians 2:15-16 - that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (ESV)

I conjecture that, effectively, Obedience = Believing the gospel, and Selfless love (no longer serving yourself but serving Christ. It's obeying Jesus.).

Nevertheless, where we fall short of obedience, Jesus has us covered. But if we are keeping Jesus' commandments then we're abiding in His love.

Is it crucial to obey the gospel? Yes. Is that a 'works-based' gospel? If we must put a label on it, I'd describe it more of a my-willingness-to-work-serving-Christ-based-on-Jesus'-finished-works-and-God-working-in-me-based gospel.

When we walk in trusting, believing, obedient faith, God works in us and to deliver us and makes our paths straight for us:

Philippians 1:6 - And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Jude 1:21 - keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. (ESV)

Although, we will arrive at rest:

Heb 4:1-6 - Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, As I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter my rest, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And again in this passage he said, They shall not enter my rest. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,

Heb 4:9-11 - So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

We work then find rest:

Revelation of John 14:13 - And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them! (ESV)

That rest looks like living for the will of God:

I Peter 4:1-2 - Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. (ESV)

I John 5:3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (ESV)

Psalms 46:10 - “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (NASB)

So it's still extremely important for us to try to keep His commandments, and His commandments are to love God and one another as He loved us, selflessly.

Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV)

And I wont stop following Jesus Christ until I know Him as personally as possible - I want His thoughts running through my mind like Father God's thoughts ran through His. Anything less than that and I am unsatisfied.

I Corinthians 2:11-16 - For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (ESV)

Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (ESV)

Jesus knows us and we know Jesus:

John 10:14 - I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, (ESV)

We must be keeping Jesus' commandments for us to be sure that we have come to know Him:

I John 2:3-4 - And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

Jesus commands us to take His yoke (obey Him) and learn from Him (believe Him):

Matthew 11:29 - Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (ESV)

So receive the words of Jesus and the Apostles to know the thoughts of God inside your own mind:

I Corinthians 2:11-14 - For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (ESV)

We need to perform our salvation in obedience to God:

Philippians 2:12 - Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out (**[G27