“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Jesus
spoke these words and they are not difficult to understand. In the original language they mean… “If you
love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Yet
many people do their best to interpret them in some other way…any other way! Desperately trying to secure grace without
sanctification. Trying to find a way to twist the words of Christ into fire
insurance so they can keep living as their own god.
We
love the gospel…the good news that we are redeemed…but we balk at obedience….
nevertheless, redemption is always offered with transformation.
Why
would God pay for your sin and not deliver you from its power? Grace and sanctification are the bookends of salvation. They identify it as valid and offer assurance
to the believer.
If
you try to claim grace without sanctification - you end up with license.
If
you strive for sanctification without grace - you are involved in legalism.
The
definition of salvation requires both…
Which brings us back to our verse - “If you love me, you will keep my
commandments.”
You
are saved by grace alone - but saving grace is never alone…It changes you. Ignoring this truth results in people
carrying around chains that were unlocked years ago… and worse, others
confidently lost in their religion.
This
point was too important for Christ to mince words… He said “it is finished” - he
was referring to the rescue mission that freed you from the power of sin. You are no longer a slave to your old life - you
have the ability to resist temptation. You may not be perfect…but you will be
different.
Scripture
is clear …resist the devil and he will flee from you…Stop sitting in your open
prison cell … The cross not only paid for your sin, it freed you from its power.
You are pushing a Ferrari…get in, start the engine, and go.
Stop
listening to the lie that you must obey your flesh… that body perished, and you
have been reborn. There is nothing
sadder than a Prince living like a pauper…put on the armor of God and live like
the champion God made you to be!
“Sanctification
grows out of faith in Jesus Christ. Remember holiness is a flower, not a root;
it is not sanctification that saves, but salvation that sanctifies.” - Charles
Spurgeon
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