They could not enter in because of unbelief

Harden NOT your hearts.

Heb 3:7  Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Heb 3:8  Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Heb 3:9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Heb 3:10  Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11  So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Heb 3:12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

Take heed…
Lest there be in ANY of you...
An evil heart of unbelief…
In departing from the living God.

Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Exhort one another DAILY while it is called today-
Lest ANY of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Sin can harden us.
Sin can corrupt us.
Sin can do to us what it did to those who did not believe in God's love.
Sin's deceit- that it is harmless, that sin doesn't matter. The acceptance of sin as a part of our life rather than something to be despised, this is deceitfulness. We can't know what sin is except by God's moral law. Take God's moral law out of the picture and you are left with a lot of chaos. And yet some people live within that chaos as if it is a normal way of life, acceptable, and even good.

Sin- transgressing God's moral law in any way cannot be acceptable to us.  Sin's deceitfulness would have us accept it and this is the problem a lot of us are consumed by.  The sins we accept set about hardening our hearts causing us to depart from the living God and His truth.

Deceitfulness of sin.

Sometimes it is easier to see the sin in another's life than in one's own. Is it any wonder we need to exhort one another? That we need to daily involve ourselves in the spiritual warfare going on by recognizing first that we are in a war, second by realizing the weapons of this warfare are often fiery darts of our cherished sins, thirdly by repenting of those sins, seeking forgiveness from our Savior. Don't ever accept sin as being something good, something inevitable, something that is a part of us that we just have to forget about. Even a sin that is committed daily, hourly, minutely MUST be recognized for what it is! We cannot let any sin in our lives become acceptable to us.  Sin will deceive us every chance it gets. Sin wants to become acceptable to us so that we no longer repent of it, no longer call it sin.

How often we tell ourselves lies and do so long enough that we accept those lies as truth. Our reality becomes skewed to fit the lies as truths so that we do not embrace the pain and anguish of our sins. There is a horror in sin, that through that horror Satan will take every opportunity to destroy a person. There is a greater horror in the reality that choosing to live a lie rather than face the horror of sin, doing what you have to do just to stay sane and live your life as best you can, this is the deceitfulness of sin that will destroy our relationship with God because we do NOT fully believe in His love and all that entails, His saving grace. 

We need to EXHORT one another daily.

Exhort-
Strong's: From G3844 and G2564; to call near that is invite invoke (by imploration hortation or consolation): - beseech call for (be of good) comfort desire (give) exhort (-ation) intreat pray.

In many Bible translations the word exhort is translated - encourage-  Encourage one another daily. In others it is comfort, Comfort one another daily.

Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Exhorting one another so that we are not hardened by sin's deceitfulness- means what exactly? Sin will harden us against God because that is the nature of sin- to separate us from God's love. If I'm exhorting, encouraging, comforting, praying for others daily I'm doing so in such a way that sin won't be deceptive and allowed to harden their hearts. This really means revealing the love of God to others daily, because it is only that love of God that can stave off sin's hardening curse. It's only faith in God to love, to forgive that keeps sin from entrenching us in its hateful cement that threatens to destroy our belief in God.

When our belief in God's ability to love and all that means is gone then our hearts are hardened in unbelief and we will be as lost as they were who were left to die in the wilderness for choosing not to believe.

Heb 3:14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Heb 3:15  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Heb 3:16  For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
Heb 3:17  But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18  And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Heb 3:19  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

We must believe, all by the grace of God we must believe.

We must keep the belief in Christ alive and well, a living, breathing belief that would have us recognize that the sins in our lives need to be repented of and forgiven by our Savior.

We are made partakers of CHRIST…
IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.

And in the beginning of our walk with Christ we were very repentant of our sins, we were sure of Christ's forgiveness of our sins as we repented and asked to be forgiven. We can never cease to seek forgiveness, we can never stop repenting when sin fills our lives, never!  We must forever believe in our SAVIOR and HIS LOVE to save us.

An evil heart of unbelief

Heb 3:7  Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Heb 3:8  Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Heb 3:9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

The HOLY GHOST SAITH-

How important is it when we hear these words- the HOLY GHOST SAITH, that we listen? We know that the Bible is inspired by God. Men wrote as they were convicted by the HOLY SPIRIT. We know this and so when we read the words- 'the Holy Ghost saith' it's REEMPHASIZING the point that is being made. 

The Holy Ghost saith-

To day - IF you WILL HEAR HIS VOICE-

HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS.

What does He mean by this, He goes on to tell us.

Harden not our hearts as they did in the day of temptation in the wilderness, in the provocation, when our ancestors tempted GOD, proved GOD and saw GOD the Holy Spirit's works for forty years!

They'd been given so MUCH and it wasn't enough for them. They chose rather to doubt to NOT believe! Those who were shown miracle after miracle, after miracle and still they doubted!

Heb 3:10  Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11  So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

God was GRIEVED with them. They were ERRING in their hearts, NOT knowing God's ways.

They didn't WANT to believe, their hearts chose NOT to believe, not to know God's ways.  And they did that when God had shown them miracles!

WE though, have something they didn't have- we have the history of having a Savior born into our world, the promised Messiah, God's Son became man who lived and died as one of us, yet without sin, bringing Salvation into the world.

Those in Moses day had the future promise of the Messiah, we have the reality of that promise made good in our day.  And yet even with that wondrous miracle we still choose not to believe like those long, long, long ago and we are WARNED.

Heb 3:12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

An evil heart of UNBELIEF.

We don't want to think of unbelief as being evil. We'd rather once again just tiptoe around evil as if it doesn't really exist, and as long as we tiptoe it won't affect us. The truth is evil surrounds us daily, real, real evil.

I read something today - someone saying they believe 99% of people are good and only 1% aren't. 

Not true.

Not in the sense of good being those who believe in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Yet we do NOT want to say that people NEED to believe.  As long as they're good.  As long as they're not hurting anyone, as long as they're sweet, kind, and seemingly loving then they're good.  But there are thousands if not millions of people who are good- but choose not to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Love- GOD'S love.  Love given to us by God, His love, not the made up love of mankind, HIS love is truth and life in Christ Jesus. The love we've come to know is a warped love.  And we're told not to question kindness, and goodness because then we are bad for questioning.  Satan himself could feed us kindness to the point we believe he is pure goodness, but Satan will never ever accept Christ as His Savior, He cannot, He made His choice. Satan wants all to make the same choice- to NOT accept Christ as our personal Savior, as our Redeemer.  Satan doesn't care if we are as sweet as can be as long as we do not have a true relationship, a true belief in Jesus Christ.

An evil heart of unbelief.

All hearts that refuse to believe in the love of our God through Jesus Christ our Lord, are evil.  He along with His Father, along with the Holy Spirit only know the hearts of people- we cannot even begin to know the hearts of one another, we can scarcely even know our own hearts. We cannot judge anyone's eternal life, we aren't meant to! But we have to understand the reality of why we are being admonished not to harden our hearts as they did in the days of Moses, not to have an evil hear of unbelief- departing from the living God.

More tomorrow on this… by the GRACE and LOVE of our GOD, all through HIS MERCY!

Learn

Tit 3:14  And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

LEARN.

When you are born again into the Spirit, accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you aren't automatically transformed into someone else. There is often a newness of the love, the acceptance, the glory of being forgiven and given a new lease on a life that will be through eternity.  Much as there is a newness in the relationships we form with each other.

If you're young you many not have experienced the amazing joyfulness of finding a mutual love with another person, but you've most certainly seen movies that seem almost fairytale-ish because of that new love excitement and thrill.  It can be the same when you accept Jesus as your Savior, but the newness of ALL things wears off.

Automatically turning into a person who is loving, kind, even tempered, generous, charitable, sweet isn't something that is going to happen. The newness will wear away and you'll find yourself slowly giving into the negative traits you'd hoped were gone forever. Your temper will wear a little thin, you won't feel the desire to be extra giving especially if it's in a way that will put you out and keep you from doing other things you'd planned. When these traits resurface we'll feel the pangs of regret for them and that's a GREAT thing, because we know when we feel those pangs it's time to seek forgiveness and repent.

Christians are not given special knowledge, special powers of their own. If Christians were changed into perfect beings then they wouldn't need to be given these words- 'let ours also learn' - because they'd know already, right? Maintain good works would be automatic to them. But the truth of the matter is, we are changed spiritually- taken from a state of spiritual death, to a state of spiritual life through our Savior. And our instructions for daily living are many, they are varied, and they are constant.  The truth also is that we need to learn to walk in our new spiritual life.  It's all too easy to not learn because we get stuck on believing we simply are what we are, and our working to learn is bad because we get caught up in thinking we once again working for salvation which isn't true!

We are told that we need to LEARN to maintain good works for necessary uses so we are NOT unfruitful.

We must LEARN and in learning live as those who have learned.   When you've learned how to talk you don't unlearn it but keep on talking the rest of your life.  When you've learned how to do things you will get to a point where you are done learning because then you know how to do those things. We need to LEARN how to maintain good works and once we've learned then we will be fruitful in the work of our Lord.

Can we learn to be 'better' people than we are? Can we learn to be unselfish? Can we learn to be more even tempered?  It is possible, and we can learn best through our SAVIOR and His word!

WE can learn, we must learn and our teacher is Christ.

If you read His word and know How He wants you to be and you're not- then you know you need to learn to be as He will you to be.  We have to do our part in this learning, and that might mean studying over and over, more and more.  The learning might entail a lot of practice, constant practice in fact. This is a learning process that will go on and on for us and we need to live for our Teacher, live for His teaching.

ALL by HIS GRACE.

Learn to maintain good works

Tit 3:9  But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

Avoid foolish questions… about the law.
Avoid genealogies… about the law.
Avoid contentions… about the law.
Avoid strivings… about the law.

Why- they are UNPROFITABLE, and they are VAIN.

Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

What things are good?

Tit 3:1  Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Tit 3:2  To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

Maintain good works is profitable.

We are GIVEN INSTRUCTIONS!

We are told what to do, and what NOT to do.

Do speak evil of NO MAN.
Do NOT brawl.
Do BE gentle.
Do SHOW all meekness to ALL.

AVOID foolish questions, genealogies, contentions, strivings about the law.

We have instructions but do we follow them?

We should.

When we don't can others who do say this about us?

Tit 3:10  A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

That we are hereticks?  The Greek word is this:  Hairetikos and the meaning is this:

 Schismatic, factious, a follower of a false doctrine.

Someone who causes a divide among a group, someone who is trying to undermine others, someone who is a follower of false doctrine- these are hereticks.

Those who are caught up in speaking evil, brawling, not being gentle, having no meekness, those who are caught up in disputing the law in many ways are HERETICKS, right?

And people who are hereticks need to be ADMONISHED- they need to be told they are caught up in wrongdoing- in NOT following God's instructions. Out of LOVE for our SAVIOR we strive to live for HIS glory and living for HIS glory means understanding HIS words to us and following HIS words. We can't ignore His words, His instructions, we cannot! We can't abuse others, and be contentious and such and expect that this is how our Savior would have us live.  

We aren't perfect, we have our moments of failure and by the grace of God we can be forgiven those when we are truly repentant and seeking forgiveness. When we LIVE a life contrary to the word of God, we cannot expect those who are striving to live to God's glory to want us among them, we can't.

God's word says this--

Tit 3:11  Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

This is a reality and a possibility. Yet, we like to tout a Christianity that  doesn't reject anyone for any reason. We fear that we are judging others and we are, we have to.  We have to be able to judge actions and behaviors, but we CANNOT judge eternal life for anyone!  We have to realize this, that judging actions and judging eternal lives are two different things. We have to realize that we can't voluntarily immerse ourselves into a life that is contrary to all we believe in our SAVIOR.  Yes, we can help all those who are downtrodden, all those who are caught in sin, all those who do not know the gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus did that! Jesus loved all and died for all! Jesus forgave sinners and told them to go and sin no more. Jesus is our greatest example. Jesus wants us to LOVE all. We can't hate anyone, we can hate the actions that Satan induces from others, but we can't hat those people who are caught in his snare.  We cannot allow ourselves to be a willing part of sin, right? By the grace of God we will not.

Paul goes on to say--

Tit 3:12  When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.
Tit 3:13  Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.

Tit 3:14  And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

Tit 3:15  All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. It was written to Titus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretians, from Nicopolis of Macedonia.

Tit 3:14  And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

These are followers of Christ being told to maintain good works for necessary uses- that they be not unfruitful.

So you have to ask yourself-  do we do good works to God's glory or do we neglect good works for fear we are trying to make it seem as if we are working our way to salvation? Do we strive to enter the strait gate--

Luk_13:24  Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Do we lay aside every weight and the sin that would ruin us?

Heb_12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us

Do we press for the mark?

Php_3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Do we maintain good works for necessary uses?

Spiritual lives.

All of this guides us in our spiritual living.  We must live for our SAVIOR as HE would have us live and that really does mean studying His word and following it as well, all THROUGH HIM and HIS POWER!

Please LORD, help us!

WE need You in our lives, living and loving always.

Help us.

Be careful to maintain good works

Tit 3:1  Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Tit 3:2  To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

We are to SPEAK EVIL OF NO MAN.
We are to BE NO BRAWLERS.

We are to be GENTLE.
We are to show MEEKNESS to ALL.

We talk about living the spiritual life and this is a blueprint, a guideline for us. We have to read God's word to get the instructions, because it is our instruction manual. Seriously, it is.

We need instructions.

And just like following the instructions with most things it's ALWAYS best if we follow them step by step. If we decide we don't need instructions sometimes things will go fine, but other times they go terribly wrong.  The thing is, we have to follow Christ's instructions, and His greatest instruction is for us to BELIEVE. 

Joh_6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

This is the work of God- that WE believe on Jesus Christ our Savior.

We MUST Believe.

You say, "Easy, no problem."

And it's true, it can be easy to believe, or rather to say you believe and even mean it but your life can shout otherwise, can't it?

Seriously.  I can tell someone I'm a frugal person, and then go out and constantly waste all sort of money an things, not being frugal at all. I might still believe I am frugal, and I will tell others I am but my actions speak louder than any words I might speak.

We can BELIEVE and I know I've said this before, but we must remember that DEVIL believe too.

Does that belief that those devils have save them?

No.

Jas_2:19  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

There is such a thing as believing on a logical level, and yet not applying the belief to yourself personally.  You can believe something is true, because it is, but that doesn't mean that you CHOOSE to take hold of that belief for yourself personally.  I can believe that aloe vera will take the sting out of my minor burn, but if I don't take hold of that aloe vera and apply it to that burn the sting will remain. People can believe  that Jesus Christ is the SAVIOR of mankind, but still not make that belief a personal acceptance of Christ as being a part of their lives- their SAVIOR, their SUSTAINER.

That's why when we read things like this…

Tit 3:1  Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Tit 3:2  To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

…we know they are INSTRUCTIONS for us, for our spiritual life.

No, we will not be perfect by any means, and we can never even try to perfect ourselves. We have to find perfection in CHRIST, and CHRIST only and let HIM perfect us. He perfects us by giving us instructions and this allows us to comprehend the standard that is set when we are to follow those TWO great commandments that encompass all ten moral commandments. LOVE GOD and LOVE MAN.  These are the things we do out of that LOVE, not to perfect ourselves but to follow the LORD'S commandments, and live as HE desires us to live.  We aren't shown these things to bring us to despair but to bring us to our knees at the foot of the cross of our SAVIOR.   Satan would have us despair of EVER following the instructions of God, but our Savior would have us seek HIM and trust wholly in HIM. Our Savior wants us to seek forgiveness as we recognize our need of salvation, of living in HIM and allowing HIM to succeed where we fail so miserably.  Our Savior wants us to TRUST in HIM, not in ourselves.

Instructions reveals our need to seek forgiveness for our failings, and faith in Christ's ability to following all those same instructions to perfection. Instructions help us to live uprightly in CHRIST, and ONLY in CHRIST, on our own not a single thing we do no matter how great means anything towards our salvation. Only CHRIST matters.

Christ who instructs us, He knows us.

Tit 3:3  For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

Tit 3:4  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Tit 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Tit 3:6  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Tit 3:7  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

These THINGS I will that thou AFFIRM CONSTANTLY-

-that they which have BELIEVED in GOD might be CAREFUL to MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS.

These things are GOOD and PROFITABLE unto men.

Those aren't my words, those are GOD'S words given to us by men who were guided by the HOLY SPIRIT.

2Ti_3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness

ALL SCRIPTURE is given by INSPIRATION OF GOD!

We need to BELIEVE!

All by the GRACE of our SAVIOR we need to believe!

Please Lord, please… help our unbelief!

In YOUR LOVE!

Be ready to every good work

Tit 1:1  Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Tit 1:3  But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
Tit 1:4  To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.

From  PAUL a SERVANT of GOD, an APOSTLE of JESUS CHRIST-

To TITUS.

This is a message to US, because like TITUS we are followers of Christ. Titus was instructed by PAUL and we too are instructed by PAUL who was used of the HOLY SPIRIT to deliver the message of our LORD and SAVIOR.

This is God's WORD to US, read this with that in mind.  This isn't some letter written to someone else that has NO bearing upon us. This isn't something that can be studied solely as if it is irrelevant to us, that is doesn't apply to us at all. We have to believe that God is giving us HIS instruction in His Word.


Tit 3:1  Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

BE READY  to EVERY GOOD WORK.

We talk about being good and we MUST strive towards this end but NOT to earn anything.

Be ready to EVERY GOOD WORK.

Not be ready to some good work, but to EVERY good work.  We are not to be slackers when it comes to doing good.

Tit 3:2  To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

Speak EVIL of NO MAN.

Uhn?

But don't we do this all the time? Seriously, don't we?  We get caught up in the negative of people and it's EVIL. We cannot sugar coat it like Satan would have us do. Satan wants us to try and justify our desire to speak about others and not in a pretty way. Satan wants us to be gossipers and he LOVES when we consider ourselves gossipers with GOOD intentions. As long as our discussing the negative traits or actions of others is done with good intentions we love to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves for not really speaking evil at all.  We absolutely REFUSE to believe we are speaking evil because we seriously have convinced ourselves that we are speaking truth harmlessly. As long as it's true - that person really did that action we are speaking of- we tell ourselves it's not wrong. Yet speaking negatively about others is NOT building them up in Christ, is it?  Can you imagine our Savior sitting down at the table over tea telling us about Peter's awful temper tantrum?  Or how Luke's physician skills are downright lacking because he forgot something when treating someone? Or how the brothers John and James are just too clingy?  Seriously, can you imagine those scenarios?  Would our SAVIOR talk with others about the faults or failings of others unless there was a very serious lesson to be learned from it? Would He talk like that just because it filled the time with others and just seemed like good conversation?

We are NOT to be brawlers.

We ARE to be gentle!

We ARE to show ALL MEEKNESS unto ALL MEN.

Yet so often the meek are criticized for being meek, aren't they? They are called reserved, passive, introverted, submissive, and all in a way that makes those traits seem somehow inferior to those who do not have them.

Meekness.

meek

1.
humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.
2.
overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.
3.
Obsolete . gentle; kind.

Synonyms
1.  forbearing; yielding; unassuming; pacific, calm, soft. See gentle.


Did you read number 2?  Overly submissive or compliant, spiritless.

These are the traits that people love to pounce on and relate to those who are meek as a bad trait, not a good one.  Yet our God tells us that we are to show MEEKNESS to ALL MEN!

We are to be humbly patient with all men.
We are to be docile with all men.
We are to be submissive to all men.
We are to be gentle and kind to all men.

Yet are we?!  Seriously, are we?

We are to be ready to ALL GOOD WORKS, remember?!

By the GRACE of our LORD we will study more on this tomorrow. More about our SPIRITUAL walking through life that entails being ready unto ALL GOOD WORKS, by the GRACE OF OUR GOD, our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

In HIS LOVE!

Always!

All Glory to God!

Today I listened to a sermon on How Men Are Saved, and we know that it is through JESUS CHRIST and His sacrifice, His righteousness, it's all through Him. So how do we live a Christian life after we've accepted Jesus as our sole source of salvation? How do we put the actions of living a Christ life with the fact none of those actions earn us 'points' towards salvation? How do we not - DO the RIGHT things- out of a selfish desire to be good? I mean common sense tells us that we are to love Christ and in loving Him accept Him, living our lives for Him.  Why then are there so many people who believe that it doesn't matter at all how you live because living the perfect life will still not gain you salvation? 

Satan has taken the pure message of our Lord and perverted it yet again.

Our Savior does NOT want us to sin. Is there ANYTHING in the word of God that gives the remotest hint that Jesus didn't care if someone sinned, that sin didn't matter at all? 

He was accused of associating with blatant sinners, did that mean He condone and accepted their sinning?

Luk 19:2  And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
Luk 19:3  And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
Luk 19:4  And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
Luk 19:5  And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
Luk 19:6  And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
Luk 19:7  And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.

Luk 19:8  And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

Zacchaeus KNEW he was a sinner and immediately in the presence of the Son of God he wanted to right that which he'd done wrong. He no longer wanted to be that sinner. 

And Jesus responded to this man's change of heart with this--

Luk 19:9  And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
Luk 19:10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

THIS DAY is salvation come to this house.
The SON of Man came to SEEK and SAVE that which was lost.

And Zacchaeus a known sinner repented in the presence of Jesus.
Zacchaeus made a promise to LIVE as he knew was right- giving to the poor and righting his previous wrongs. He wanted to live this way because He knew that Christ, His Savior desired this of Him.

Jesus desire right living from us all, doesn't He?

Joh_5:14  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

Joh_8:11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Sin no more.
Sin no more.

Saved and admonished not to sin.

So why is it so hard for us to believe that we are to live uprightly as we KNOW our Savior desires, even while KNOWING that none of those actions have the consequence of earning us salvation, or bring us any merit in the eyes of God?

We are caught up in wanting our actions to earn us things. We want that PAT on the back. We WANT to be able to say WE did this, it was OUR action, it was OUR goodness, OUR rightness, OUR specialness, that made us able to do that good stuff.

The truth is NONE of our goodness means anything at all when it comes to salvation.

We can be 'good' because we know that our LOVING LORD desires us to live within His commandments given out of love to us, but do so knowing none of those actions are being put on a tally sheet towards our earning the salvation crown.

We aren't to be 'good' in order to gain anything- not even the slightest commendation, especially not to pat ourselves on the back. Focusing on our own goodness is the last thing our Savior would want us to do. 

Our focus is to be OUTWARD, not INWARD.

It's easy to get depressed and sink down into despair when we feel as if we are falling short of the mark- remember that verse I quote very often-

Rom_7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Paul an apostle felt this way too!  He lamented his inability to be the perfect man he knew that was desired of Him.

Did he stop doing good, did he give up the good fight? No. It was because HE knew that His salvation was in Jesus Christ alone not within his own ability to be sinless. He didn't give up, he engaged in the spiritual battle every day of his life from the point of his salvation. He knew it was a battle too, and not some strange belief that his actions no longer mattered because He been saved. He knew he was going to be in this fight until the end. He also knew that all the armor and the weapons we had on our side were from Jesus Christ. He knew that everything we had to fight with came from the source of all good, and none of that armor was of his own making.  Every victory in the battle, every single dart reflected off the shield, every wicked attack thwarted by the slicing of the sword, was a result of JESUS and JESUS alone!

The fight to acknowledge that we can't of our ourselves do anything good is a very real fight all it's own and the fight Satan wants all of us to wage.  He wants us convinced that we can do good all on our own. Remember with Eve, He wanted her to believe that she didn't need God, that God was trying to keep good things from them.  He was, and is a perverter of truth in every way. If we aren't interested in keeping God's moral laws because they won't let us earn points towards salvation, then Satan is THRILLED. If we are interested in keeping God's moral laws because was believe they do let us earn points towards salvation, then Satan is equally THRILLED.  If we ARE interested in keeping God's moral laws because we know they are the guidelines of love given to us by our God, and we know that it is through His power alone that we are able to keep any of those laws, and that we are not saved by keeping them, but through the same power of Christ we are given eternal life, then Satan is very, very unhappy!  Satan does NOT want us to live spiritual lives! Satan wants us caught up in all the things of this world and a very big thing of this world is selfishness and earning points for good behavior on some level.   How often have you done something around the house and wanted acknowledgement for all your hard work?  What about the work you've done on your job? You want the accolades even the tiny ones because they make you feel good, they make you feel as if you've are good for having done good and you deserve at the very least the recognition of your good actions.  This is the life Satan wants us consumed with. 

Being good by the GRACE of our LORD and SAVIOR earns us NOTHING, but it does something very, very special- IT GIVES GLORY TO GOD!

Yes! It GIVES GLORY TO GOD! Yet Satan would have us want to steal that glory for ourselves.  He's conditioned us to steal the glory, to in all our graciousness accept the praises that come and let them wash over us, filling our cup of self-gratification.

The glory belong to GOD, not to us!

All glory to GOD, this is something we truly need to comprehend.

All glory to GOD!

Less of us and way more of HIM!

Please LORD, help us to comprehend that living Spiritually in You means giving you ALL the glory, not just some of it!

Rom 4:16  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God

STRONG in FAITH - in believing in GOD, the unseen, the spiritual - giving GLORY to GOD!

Strong in faith - giving glory to God.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mat_6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The glory is GOD'S.

Act 12:21  And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.
Act 12:22  And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
Act 12:23  And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

The glory is GOD'S!

Rom 4:2  For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
Rom 4:3  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

All glory to GOD!

Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God

Giving glory to GOD!

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Glory of God!

Rom_8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

CHRIST'S GLORY!

Rom_11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.

Glory for ever!

Rom_16:27  To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever.

AMEN!

1Co_1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Glory in the LORD!

TRUTH- 1Co_10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

His word teaches us, by His grace may we learn and live what we learn all through Him, all glory to Him forever and ever, and ever!

All in the love and grace, the mercy, the righteousness, of CHRIST!

Glory to God in the Highest always!