The Commitment To Follow Christ VS The Church At Philadelphia

[Enow]

Revelation 3: 7And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

One that has little strength. I would take that to mean that there is no disillusionment of how much they need the Lord to live as His and not just for eternal life. They live by faith in the Son of God as they trust Him to be their Good Shepherd as well as their Saviour.

I have found much disillusionment coming out of the altar call of making a commitment to follow Christ which was offered to those believers whom were not sure if they were saved. From it, many believers doubts "backsliders" of their sincerity and wonder if they were ever saved at all. Some will say that they were not trying hard enough, thus a religious overtone. A few have testified of becoming agnostic because some believers testified that they have kept their commitments and look down on others, but yet knew they did not keep that standard either as they give grace towards themselves through some persuasion of a man's speech of having kept that commitment.

I had always been a believer until I was led astray to believe that I needed to make a commitment to follow Christ to show that He is Lord over me, but all it did was make that "commitment to follow Him" lord over me. As I kept failing to keep it, it was exposing to me the knowledge of sin by it. I would ask Jesus for help, then once He had placed me on my feet again, I felt I owed Him and so once again, to show my appreciation and love for God, I would try to do the best I can in following Him, winding up like a yo-yo of double-mindedness until He had set me free to rest in Him and all His promises to me to live by faith in Him.

He had never said "make a commitment to follow Me". He simply said to follow Me. That is the "huge" difference between a religion versus a relationship based on trust, and why it is written that the just shall live by faith.

I had to recognize my full confidence in the Lord and none in my flesh by ceasing to be identified as His by that commitment to follow Him which speaks of me anyway.... and seek to be identified as His by declaring my faith in the Son of God that speaks of Him as My Enabler in living this christian life which is to His glory also.

So whenever anyone say that they have "tried" Jesus, and "it" doesn't work, they were doing it religiously and not by trusting in Jesus Christ. :BangHead:

There can be no disillusionment of our need for the Saviour to be Our Good Shepherd as well, otherwise, a double-minded state will result or a complete turning away of those from the faith when they "fail" religiously.

We cannot live the christian life by the flesh of keeping that commitment to follow Christ. We can only live that reconciled relationship of trust by faith in Him and all His promises to us if we are to ever rest in Him to live as His as well as resting in Him for eternal life. :sleeping_2::jesus:

 

[BobRyan]

1 John 2 "The one who says he Knows Christ" will be seen to know Christ.

Matt 7 -- "by their fruits you shall know them". Not everyone "who SAYS Lord Lord will enter"

1John 2

3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.[/b]
4 The one who says, "" I have come to know Him,'' and [b]does not keep His commandments, is a liar[/b], and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoever keeps His word[/b], in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.[/b]

Romans 6
14For sin shall not be master over you[/b], for you are not under law but under grace.
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin[/b], you
became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
[/quote]

Freedom in Christ is more than "freedom to remain a slave to sin".

in Christ,

Bob

 

[Enow]

The point is.. if anyone wants to overcome the flesh... it shall be done by faith in the Son of God because you cannot overcome the flesh by the flesh.

If anyone made a vow not to sin ever again, God is going to step back and let you do it until you fail so that when you declare your faith in Him to help you over come sin, then you will be witnesses of that faith in Him and not of yourselves by keeping that commitment to follow Him.

All your verses are promises from God that sin shall not have dominion over us. It is by trusting Him at His Word to be Our Good Shepherd in leading us away from temptation and delivering us from the evil one BECAUSE thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever... Amen.

Anyone that claims they have overcome the flesh by their commitments, in the religious eyes of the world and by the words of their mouths, you did it. Not God.

Anyone that has been a part of Alcoholic Anonymous or Narcotic Anonymous will know that in spite of the choice of any higher power they claim, it is that person by their commitment that did it. Amazing how the varieties of higher powers chosen shows the vanity of them when it really is about the glory of man in doing it.

If we could obtain righteousness by our flesh and willpower, Christ died in vain, but He did not.

1 John 3: 7Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

That is a promise for all those that look to Jesus to destroy the power of sin over their lives. :jesus:

2 Timothy 2:19Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. 22Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. 24And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.