Saturday, March 23, 2013

Obedience And The Resulting Life Or Death

Matthew 21 ISV

28“But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29His sonrreplied, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30Then the fathers went to the other sont and told him the same thing. He replied, ‘I will,u sir,’ but he didn’t go. 31Which of the two did the father’s will?”

They answered, “The first one.”

Jesus told them, “I tell all of youv with certainty, tax collectors and prostitutes will get into God’s kingdom ahead of you! 32John came to you living a righteous life,w and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. But even when you saw that, you didn’t change your mindsx at last and believe him.”

First, for those of you who desire to please God, I want us to look at Jesus' parable of the two sons. I believe the Lord has shown me something priceless which will be of great encouragement to you! 

The son who told his father he did not want to go into the vineyard and work, later changed his mind and Jesus makes it clear "HE DID THE FATHER'S WILL". The father did not bring up again about the son's rebellious "I do not want to". I see the following:
  • As born again children of God, we still have the old sin nature which we wrestle with and so often believe it is us, but we have a new spirit that came from God! 
  • The old nature does not define us! We are told to crucify and rule over it. If we sin, we are to confess and turn from it. Jesus forgives us and forgets the sin! 
  • We will war against this old nature until we die or are taken when the Lord returns.      
  • Our old nature was laid on his Son who paid for our sin.
  • Our Father God is pleased with us when we crucify the flesh (old nature) and obey!
  • We will be like our fathers in the faith as described in Hebrews 11. They were clearly shown to be sinners in the Old Testament, but when the Holy Spirit describes them in the New Testament they are great men of faith! There is no mention of their sins!!! (this made me cry). Blessed be your name Oh God. There is none like you!
The scriptures tell the results of obeying God or not so I must finish looking at what Jesus said above about the disobedience. If you are living in sin and walking in willful disobedience, you are rejecting the gospel. God has given you time to change your mind and believe in his Son Jesus the Messiah. I believe it is clear that if you die in this condition you will not be part of God's kingdom, but be separated from God forever (verse 32 above). Today is the day of salvation. You are not promised more time to repent. 

Proverbs 29 ISV
1After many rebukes, the stiff-necked man will be broken incurably, without any warning.


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