* Steps to Living this Life to Live Again (2)

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy 

name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many 

wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, 

I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 

Matthew 7:22-23

Recap:

Living this life is the ‘meantime’ until we live again; until our eternal life begins; one way or another – either eternal life with Jesus or eternal damnation with Satan - Heaven or Hell. It’s a sad commentary that people have been deceived, flat-out lied to, or are flat out lying to and deceiving themselves with their man-made religions and righteousness. Because of this very thing, the Bible reveals some people will be cast from the Kingdom. It is for this very reason that it’s important to understand how to gain permanent residency in the Kingdom of God. The bible tells us that not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of God. It is only those who persist in doing the will of our heavenly Father. Jesus said:

 

Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. (Matthew 7:21)

Living this life to live again demands that we live according to the statutes of God and not the standards of this world.  This is not always an easy task to undertake but there are things that we can do to meet and overcome this challenge; particularly when we want to make heaven our eternal home:

Ø        RECOGNIZE WE ARE IN THE WORLD; no longer of the world:

      As new creatures in Christ, we are in this world, but no longer of this world.  The world loves it’s own and because we are no longer of this world, we no longer fit in it and thus just as the world hated Jesus, the world hates you and I.  This is bible.

 

I have given them thy word: and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14-16)

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:18-19)

So stop trying to fit into something that you’re no longer a part.  Understand that we are peculiar to the world, a treasure to God.

Understand that we will experience tribulation in the world:

These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Realize that gaining the world is not worth losing our soul:

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul. (Mark 8:36)

For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? (Luke 9:25)

Realize that if we love the world, we are an enemy of God:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:15-16) 

. . . know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.      (James 4:4)

Recognize the temporal nature of the world:

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. (1 John 2:17)

 . . .for the fashion of this world passeth away. (1 Corinthians 7:31)

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. (2 Peter 3:11)

Ø  RECOGNIZE WE ARE NOT IN BONDAGE TO THE WORLD:

As a believer, we do not have to be in bondage to the world system. Although in the past we were governed by the present world (Ephesians 2:2), we are no longer in this bondage:

Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:  Among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind: and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.  

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.  

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:2-3,13,19)

Romans 12:1-3 teaches that we no longer should be conformed to the world. We can be transformed (changed). We’re part of a new kingdom now. We’re residents of the Kingdom of God. We are no longer under the power of the world:

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God. (1 Corinthians 2:12)

There is liberty in God.  Read about the liberty that God asssures us of as we move from bondage to sonship (Galatians 4:1-7.)

Ø  GUARD AGAINST THE WORLD:

Now that we are free from the world, we set a guard against its influence in our life. We don’t pattern our life after the rudiments or basic principles of the world:

Beware lest any man spoil you...after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

 Do not love the world:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world... (1 John 2:15)

Do not let ourselves be spoiled by the philosophies of the world:

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

Deny worldly lusts:

Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. (Titus 2:12)

Keep yourself unspotted from the world:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this...to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)

Crucify the power of the world:

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14)

Crucifixion is an unnatural death. Like the flesh, the power of the world in your life will not die a natural death. You must forcibly crucify it.  

Ø  RECOGNIZE WE CAN OVERCOME THE WORLD:

We are not to be overcome by the world. Don’t let the cares of the world destroy the work of the Word in your life (Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:19). This "wearing away" with the cares of the world is one of the strategies of the antichrist spirit (Daniel 7:25). Jesus said:

. . . but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

We can overcome the world because Jesus dwells within you:

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

We can escape the corruption of the world:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:4)

We overcome the world by the new birth and our faith:

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4)

We overcome the world by the blood of Jesus and our testimony.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony... (Revelation 12:11)  

Ø  UNDERSTAND OUR MISSION IN THE WORLD:

We are not to be affected by the world, but we are to affect the world. The believer should be a light in a world of darkness, reflecting the glory of God and sharing the good news of the Gospel:

Ye are the light of the world. . . (Matthew 5:14)

The impact of the early believers on the world was so great that it was said of them that they "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).

As soldiers in an army sent on a mission in a foreign nation, believers are on a special mission of God in the world. They have been instructed:

 

. . . Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.  (Mark 16:15)

 

(Sermonette)