Galatians 6:7-8
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
As an old farmer once said to me, “Son, you don’t plant corn and expect to get beans!” LOL. He’s correct. We reap exactly what we sow. If we “sow seed” that satisfies our desires, our harvest is death. That means eternal damnation, possibly sickness in the body here and now, and even a shortened lifespan. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commands.” Did He say, “Keep Moses’ Law?” No. He said to keep His law; the Law of Christ, the Law of the Spirit, the Law of Liberty from sin. You are not free from sin by believing Jesus is the Son of God. You become free from sin by obeying His commands, by doing them. Obedience = Righteousness.
Romans 6:16
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of OBEDIENCE, which leads to righteousness?
Is there a passage anywhere in scripture that says “Jesus’ righteousness was imputed upon us?” No. If you have heard someone tell you that, then you should mark that person, pastor, or teacher, and never have anything to do with them. They are deceived and deceiving others. They are damned unless God may grant them repentance. Everyone who misrepresents God’s word and is shown their error, but continue in it, is damned. They reject the love of the truth for lies, traditions, and commandments of men. They are victims of seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; Cursed beings.
1 Timothy 4:1-2
Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.
What are some ways the Beast system has influenced the culture we live in, that cause us to defy God’s law of reaping and sowing? Look at Adam and Eve; when they sinned, they tried to hide their nakedness through their own logic, with fig leaves. But God demanded a covering for the sin itself. That was the root of their shame; unlawful carnal knowledge. He demanded blood to cover sin. So when we sin, we are never to create our own way of hiding it. We come to Him humbly with it, and allow Him to cover it by His blood. We recognize it and we stop it. Then and only then is it covered, AS WE OBEY.
1 Peter 1:2
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Obedience = Covering by the blood
Look at the sin of Babel. God commanded Adam “be fruitful and multiply and cover the earth.” What was the unified rebellion of Babel?
Genesis 11:3–4 Come, let us make bricks and ⌊burn them thoroughly⌋.” And they had brick for stone and they had tar for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top reaches to the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, LEST WE BE SCATTERED OVER THE FACE OF THE EARTH.”
So they did not want to do what God decreed. They wanted their way and tried to build a monument to God to pacify Him to overlook their actions, like God can be manipulated. Seems preposterous, huh? People do the same thing every day still. They try to bargain and justify their own will to God. And God stands back and lets them. Then He judges them for it. (Remember Balaam in Numbers 22? The fact is, obedience is never up for debate. It is written and it is settled in heaven. Just because the punishment of our actions are not always swift is no sign that they are not imminent.
Psalms 119:89
Forever, O’ LORD,
Thy word is settled in heaven.
1 Timothy 5:24
The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.
There’s no debate. Obedience is the prerequisite of belonging to the family of God. Holiness is all about conduct and obedience. No man will see the Lord as He is without obedience to His law. No man is righteous without his own obedience, that Jesus Christ demonstrated in how we are to walk. Jesus didn’t walk it for us. He showed us by example how we are to walk.
2 John 1:6
“And THIS IS LOVE, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so THAT YOU SHOULD WALK IN IT.”
1 John 2:6
The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk JUST AS JESUS WALKED.
Complete obedience. Never compromising the commands of God for anyone or anything. We are the servants of the one we obey, whether sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness. Every situation is an opportunity to love God or deny Him. Whichever we choose is our god.
In the law of sowing and reaping, when sin entered the world through Adam’s failure, death in this life was the decree of God. Our bodies age, get frail, skin sags, things stop functioning properly, we lose hair, get cellulite, wrinkles, and on and on. So if God said so, as the punishment for sin to Adam upon his offspring, how has the Beast system , just like at Babel, influenced our culture and mindset? Do we seek to overthrow God’s judgment through creations of man? Medications to prolong a life here in earth that we want? Skin creams and products to slow aging? Makeup to hide it? Human growth hormones to stay young? Cosmetic surgeries and injections? Liposuction? Hair transplants and drugs to block hair loss? Estrogen and Testosterone to extend sexual function, or reduce suffering? And at the core of it all, what and who is the focus? Godliness toward Jesus, or vanity toward self-preservation and self-love? How can it be of God when it is all trying to circumvent the judgement of God?
What about with money? How does our money show who we serve? How many times have we seen a person who has a desire for things and wealth, who declares Jesus as Lord, try to justify taking on a job or venture that offers money, yet is antithetical to Christianity? Maybe a pyramid scheme, where they sell a dishonest product to others? Maybe politics, where they slight people and mislead with words for personal gain? Maybe they acquire something that was stolen or gained dishonestly, and can sell it for a big profit, without it ever being known? Maybe selling used cars or even new cars, but not operating honestly, because of a propensity for greed? The sky is the limit for opportunities to compromise and misrepresent God. It is damning to claim to represent Him and be “his child”, and misrepresent His character.
What about relationships? How do we hold His standard to people, yet set an example to them that is not of God, by giving in to their ungodly ways? How can that ever work for their salvation or our own? This is why God commands fake believers to be excommunicated from the churches. It is to keep the reverence of His holiness as important. We teach people how to see God by what we will or won’t tolerate. Their blood is on our hands when we teach them it is okay to minimize what God said in this or that area. If we commit a sin, or fail, that can be remedied by swift repentance, if we are repentant. We simply confess to God and stop then and there. But to have a heart to go on sinning, or justify it as if God understands , is a testimony against our own heart toward Him. It is to be unstable and double-minded. The things we are trying to justify has replaced Christ. To justify a sinner in their sin is to deny Christ. And it is justifying a person to receive them as a “believer”, when their deeds do not validate their claim to Christ. Paul calls that a false believer, and they are dangerous to all. Jesus referred to one such person as “Jezebel” to the church of Thyatira. This was a person or persons in the church who were influencing true believers to compromise on what God clearly commanded against. They were influencing others to commit sexual immorality (sex outside of God’s law), and to partake in consumptive behaviors that God’s word forbids. Basically, teaching flesh desires and not self-denial and death to this world. Their belly is their god. Everything that satisfies self comes before God with a justifying reason. In essence, it is the voice of “the dragon that speaks like a lamb”, saying “has God really said if you do this or that that you are not His child? Is He not love, and knows you are human? He will not damn you for a little sex, or inebriation, or not having a desire for the scriptures, or for putting your kids above His commands, or eating bloody meat, or not stewarding your money to be kingdom focused instead of materialistic.” That is the voice of Jezebel, Balaam, Korah, the Nicolaitans, etc. the voice of compromise. And no believer teaches those things, nor persists in those ways.
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ʻLord, Lord,ʼ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who DOES THE WILL of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ʻLord, Lord, didnʼt we speak in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?ʼ Then I will declare to them, ʻI never knew you. Go away from me, you LAWBREAKERS!ʼ
Revelation 3:1-3
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: ʻI KNOW YOUR DEEDS, that you have a reputation (with men) that you are alive (in Christ), but in reality you are dead (to Christ). Wake up then, and strengthen what remains that was about to die, because I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Therefore, remember what you received and heard, and OBEY IT, and REPENT. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I WILL COME AGAINST YOU.