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Everything You Need

by Jon von Ernst
8/26/2023 / Bible Studies

Paul warns the believers in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For every one of us will have to stand without pretense before Christ our judge, and we shall be rewarded for what we did when we lived in our bodies, whether it was good or bad” (Phillips). At the coming judgment, we will have to give an account for how we lived.

The Apostle Paul proclaims in Philippians 2:9-11, "God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." At the coming judgment, many will try to give excuses for why we did not submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and live in obedience to Him.

Whatever our excuse, His response will be the same. “You are without excuse.” Jesus will say to each of us, “I gave you everything you needed. You simply chose not to avail yourself of it. Rather, you chose to live according to your own understanding, in the foolishness of your own wisdom, rather than to humble yourself and to submit completely to me.”

What excuse will you use? Perhaps you claim to be an atheist that does not believe there is a God. Romans 1:18-20 says, “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.” Jesus will say to the atheists, “You are without excuse. Through the testimony of all creation, I gave you everything you needed to believe there is a God and to honor Him as God.”

Perhaps you believe there is a God and have even sought to worship Him as God in your own way. However, when you heard the good news about how God raised Jesus from the dead and made Him Lord of all, you didn’t respond to the invitation to humble yourself and come to Jesus. Perhaps you didn’t believe He was the only way to God. Perhaps you thought to yourself, “There must be another way. Surely all the other religions can’t be wrong. What about the billions of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims?”

You felt so philosophical and wise according to your own understanding. Yet Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus was making it perfectly clear that He was the only way to the Father, and that all other ways were a lie and a deception. You, however, refused to believe Him. Jesus will say to these religious people, “You are without excuse. Through the testimony of Scripture and the witness of Christians, I gave you everything you needed to believe that I am the only way to the Father.”

Maybe you just had so many things you wanted to do before making a commitment to Jesus. In Luke 14:16-21 Jesus told a parable to the religious leaders of His day saying: “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. At the time of the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’ And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’ So the slave came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame!’” (HCSB). Perhaps you were too busy to listen and obey.

Romans 10:17-18 says, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. But I ask, ‘Did they not hear?’ Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world” (HCSB). So Jesus will say to those that did not respond to the good news and the invitation to come to Him saying, “You are without excuse. I gave you everything you needed by causing the good news about My being raised from the dead and being made Lord of all to go out throughout the entire world. This word was spread to the ends of the inhabited world.”

Perhaps you are one that has responded to the invitation to come to Jesus. Believing that God raised Jesus from the dead and made Him both Lord and Christ, you were born again and were filled with the Holy Spirit. However, you did not walk in obedience to Him, in righteousness and true holiness. Perhaps you tried as hard as you could, attempting by the flesh to complete what was begun in the Spirit, but you found it to be just too difficult. So you simply gave up and went back to your old ways.

In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus speaks to His disciples telling them a parable about the kingdom of heaven saying: “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

‘“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” The master was angry because the slave did not believe that he had been given everything needed to serve his master faithfully.

2 Peter 1:3-11 assures us saying: “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

“Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you” (NIV). To those believers that do not live godly lives, Jesus will say, “You are without excuse. I gave you everything you needed to live godly lives. Why didn’t you use it?”

1 Peter 1:13-25 commands us saying, “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’

“Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you” (NIV). The Lord has given us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness.

What is the one thing God requires of every born-again believer? God requires that we love one another. Jesus said in John 15:12: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” This is God’s one basic requirement for every believer. There are no exceptions.

If you are not fulfilling this basic requirement, it does not matter what else you might do for God, it is all meaningless and of no value. You may be a great evangelist, the pastor of a large church, a missionary to some distant land, a Sunday school teacher. You may have the gift of prophecy, or you may heal the sick, but as 1 Corinthians 13:3 says, “If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

I John 3:16-18 instructs us saying, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

It is only when we have fulfilled God’s command to love one another, that we will have boldness to stand before Him, and will not have to make any excuses. 1 John 4:17-21 says, “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.

"If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”

The real test of loving one another, for any believer, is whether they love the person that God has placed nearest to them. For many of us, this person would be our spouse. It is for this reason God has given very specific instructions in the Scriptures as to how a husband is to treat his wife, and how a wife is to treat her husband.

It is easy to love someone that you have no dealings with. It is difficult, however, to love someone that is always near us. They are the ones that are most likely to do things that offend us and cause us discomfort, and sometimes even bitterness. So the real test is, how do I treat this person that God has placed right here next to me? How do I treat my spouse? I say I love God, but do I love this brother or sister that God has placed right here next to me? If not, then I cannot love God.

Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Colossians 3:19 instructs us saying, “Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.” 1 Peter 3:7 says, “You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”

Ephesians 5:22 says, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Paul writes in Titus 2:3-5 saying: “Older women likewise are to . . . encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.” 1 Peter 3:1 instructs wives saying, “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives.”

God’s love and God’s life will lead each husband and wife to seek to please their spouse. This will be the evidence that we are in fact being led by the Spirit. Our focus will be more on pleasing our spouse than ourselves. Paul refers to this as the expected situation in a marriage. In 1 Corinthians 7:33-34 he says that the husband will be concerned about “how he may please his wife,” and the wife will be concerned about “how she may please her husband.”

The Scriptures command husbands to demonstrate their love for their wives by providing them with everything they need, including understanding, gentleness and affection, just as Christ does unto the church. The Scriptures also command women to demonstrate their love for their husbands by submitting to them as unto the Lord, with kindness and honor, just as Christ did unto the Father.

How can we live in such continually loving relationships with our spouses? In our own strength it is not possible. However, God quickens us. God strengthens us. God equips us. He gives us everything we need to live godly lives, but He expects “us” to do it. It is true that apart from Christ we can do nothing. However, if we have been joined to Christ and are one spirit with Him, then there is nothing that God requires us to do that we are not able to do.

Paul says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” If I have heard Christ, as the indwelling Spirit, speaking to me, instructing me to do something, there is no reason for me to sit idly by and wait for God to do something in my life. I can do all things that He requires of me through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. I do not need to wait. I have no excuse. Through Christ as the indwelling Spirit, I have everything I need. I simply need to trust Christ to empower me to do whatever God requires of me.

This is true spirituality, having an ear to hear, and a heart to obey. True spirituality is a godly life lived boldly, without fear and without excuses, in full obedience and full submission to the Lord, Jesus Christ. This life is lived by faith, believing that Christ is able to empower the believer to do everything that God requires.

Praise God! What a Christ we have! Let us look to Him in faith, believing He is able. He will empower, equip, and strengthen us to do everything God requires of us. Then we will be able to say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light - Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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