God’s Plan For You
Published by Rob Skiba October 14, 2013 at 1:03 AM
Many people read my wall and they don’t exactly know where I’m coming from. Am I a legalist? What’s the deal with Grace? Can Law and Grace work together, or are they mutually exclusive, with one being replaced by the other? I’m going to try and break it down as simply as I can. It’s really not complicated:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God loves YOU! Yes… I’m talking to you there. HE LOVES YOU!!! 🙂 He even wants to spend eternity with you. How? Simple:
Ephesians 2:
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Free is a good price don’t you think? Seriously. Can’t beat that! Why would you not want to take this amazing, free gift that you have so little to DO in order to get and yet so much to gain when you do. What exactly do you have to do? Well, the Bible says…
Acts 3:
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
Romans 10:
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Awesome. So we get saved by the finished work of Christ – it’s a free gift accepted by Grace through Faith after repentance, believing in the heart and confession with the mouth. Okie dokie? Quick review: Repent. Believe. Ask. Receive eternal life. Simple enough right?
Now proof of salvation…
1 John 2:
1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
How did Yeshua (Jesus) walk? He walked in obedience to His Father. We should strive to do the same. In other words, don’t continue to live in sin. If you fail, no worries. You have an Advocate. Get back up and do better next time. It’s all about perfecting your love for God. After all…
1 John 3:
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Sin is lawlessness. So, what do you think you need to do to not sin? That’s right: Keep the law. Remember, it’s not about “working for salvation.” You’ve already got that and you’ve even been given an Advocate for when you fail. Don’t feel condemned. You’re covered in the sin-cleansing blood of the Lamb.
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet,They shall be as white as snow;Though they are red like crimson,They shall be as wool.
Romans 8:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Sa-weeet! Thank Him folks. Thank Him. Praise you YHWH!
Now… since He has done sooooo much for you, how do you show your love for Him? We’ve already learned a little bit about that, but just to be clear…
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
^^ It does not get any more clearer or complicated than that. ^^
See Jesus boiled it all down to just two simple rules:
Matthew 22:
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
He was really good at distilling it down to the most basic point of the whole thing: Loving God – loving one another. We learned from the Apostle John that we “love God” by obeying Him. Guess what? We love people the same way. This is true because His Law (the 10 Commandments) shows us how to do both.
You know what’s really amazing about the 10 Commandments? They were actually a marriage covenant given by YHWH to His Bride. Basically, He was making PROMISES to her, saying if you love Him and make Him your husband…
- You shall have no other gods before Him.
- You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
- [You shall] Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- [You shall] Honor your father and your mother (that your days may be long)
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet
We certainly have our part to play, but basically, He’s telling us that when we become one with Him, those are the things we will/will not do. He will transform you such that you will desire to comply with these things. With Him working inside of you, that will be the result.
Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
OK. We see that although we gained salvation by Grace, through Faith, we are to show our love for God and man. The above shows us how to love God. But we aren’t saved just to get free “fire insurance.” We’ve got work to do here on earth too! For…
James 2:
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
That’s called putting your faith into action. It’s not about man-made religions. It’s all about relationships.
James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Of course, there’s one more thing we should also remember. It’s what Jesus said:
Matthew 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
I’ll take the latter. Which category would you prefer? 🙂
Blessings and Shalom.
– Rob Skiba
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