Predestination (4 of 4)
Eddie Snipes
We are also told that to obey is better than sacrifice . We cannot barter with God and we can't work out an agreement where we do what we want to do and sacrifice to make up the difference. We either walk in obedience or we are in rebellion. Righteousness comes from our walk with Christ for as we abide in Him, we also abide in His righteousness. The Bible says that if we walk contrary to the scriptures and say that we have fellowship with Jesus, we are deceiving ourselves . We are made righteous by the cleansing blood of Christ when we walk and abide in Him. In fact, everything fruitful in our spiritual lives comes directly from that abiding fellowship with Jesus. The fruit of our works comes directly from Jesus Christ. Look at John 15:
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Unless we are connected to the vine through abiding in Christ, we can do nothing. We can work our hearts out, but our sacrifice means nothing without obedience and our works profit nothing unless it is the work of Christ in us. So it is not what we do for God, but what God does through us. This takes us back to our opening passage where we are told that God prepared our works beforehand that we should walk in them. We are being led by God down the path which He prepared beforehand and ordained our works before we even knew the right way.
Good works themselves profit nothing for if it is not the hand of God, there is no eternal significance. The human mind looks at the outward appearance of good but the Lord looks at the heart. If works are not coming out of the heart through the move of the Holy Spirit, they are merely the efforts of man. Many atheists do good deeds but this is clearly not the move of God. In the Great Depression, one of the most charitable men in America was Al Capone. Al Capone was also the most famous gangster and leader of ...
Eddie Snipes
We are also told that to obey is better than sacrifice . We cannot barter with God and we can't work out an agreement where we do what we want to do and sacrifice to make up the difference. We either walk in obedience or we are in rebellion. Righteousness comes from our walk with Christ for as we abide in Him, we also abide in His righteousness. The Bible says that if we walk contrary to the scriptures and say that we have fellowship with Jesus, we are deceiving ourselves . We are made righteous by the cleansing blood of Christ when we walk and abide in Him. In fact, everything fruitful in our spiritual lives comes directly from that abiding fellowship with Jesus. The fruit of our works comes directly from Jesus Christ. Look at John 15:
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Unless we are connected to the vine through abiding in Christ, we can do nothing. We can work our hearts out, but our sacrifice means nothing without obedience and our works profit nothing unless it is the work of Christ in us. So it is not what we do for God, but what God does through us. This takes us back to our opening passage where we are told that God prepared our works beforehand that we should walk in them. We are being led by God down the path which He prepared beforehand and ordained our works before we even knew the right way.
Good works themselves profit nothing for if it is not the hand of God, there is no eternal significance. The human mind looks at the outward appearance of good but the Lord looks at the heart. If works are not coming out of the heart through the move of the Holy Spirit, they are merely the efforts of man. Many atheists do good deeds but this is clearly not the move of God. In the Great Depression, one of the most charitable men in America was Al Capone. Al Capone was also the most famous gangster and leader of ...
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