The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Necessary Orientation, #6

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (Colossians 3:5-8—NIV)

Do you see any indication whatever in the above passage or its context that we will be saved and go to Heaven by grace even though we ignore the Apostle?

Do you see any implication whatever that it is impossible for us to obey these commands (the traditional Evangelical position)?

If you do not, then please realize Evangelical teaching is way off base. If we Christians throughout the present century had obeyed these commandments I do not believe we would have the present moral chaos in the government.

But God's people are not going to get busy and obey Christ and His Apostles until the preachers flee from the present unprofitable traditions and return to God's Word.

How do we put these sins to death, get rid of them, put off the old self and put on the new?

The first step is to embrace the one correct orientation to the Christian life, that we have been crucified with Christ, that we have been resurrected with Christ, and that we now are at God's right hand in Heaven. Our eternal life is hidden with Christ in God.

Having gotten down on our knees and stayed long enough to really accept this orientation, we now are ready to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He deals with the worldliness, sin, and self-will in our life.

In order to get rid of the sins of the flesh and to put on the new man of righteousness we have to be absolutely determined that this is what we desire. If we are double-minded concerning sin and righteousness it will be difficult for us to proceed. We must pray for resoluteness, for determination to lay hold on the new life promised us in Christ.

Are we willing to turn our back on the things of the world and spend time with God each day, now that we realize we are crucified with Christ and risen with Christ? It is easy to do when we keep our attention on things above.

Are we willing to turn our back on that adulterous affair, our desire to burn with lust, to rage, swear, slander, gossip? Much easier when we realize we have already placed all of these on the cross with Jesus Christ.

Are we willing to cease planning our future apart from God? Will the young person go to God first before committing to marriage, and then obey God no matter how it hurts? Entirely possible if we see our earthly life hanging on the cross and our new, born-again life in Heaven with Jesus Christ.

God is ready to clean up His churches today. Only those believers who correctly orient themselves to their position in Christ will be able to obey the Spirit of God as He deals with our worldliness, lust, and self-will. The remainder may hop up and down next to their pews like the priests of Baal, but they may lose their salvation in the days to come because of the moral horrors that will abound on every hand.

To be continued.