TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 4TH May 2023)
“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:20-23 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 124TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS & WONDERS!
How great is His mercies towards us! How great is His goodness stored up for those who fear Him! No end to the compassion that comes from Him each day. We stand in the power of the mercies of His presence. Hidden away, sheltered from harm. How great is His love!
Today is another day we have in our hands to use in the direction of His will. The LORD has been speaking to us on Righteousness, Purity and Holiness – ingredients that are to be added to the patience of the saints. If we walk with the word of the LORD, and give it the attention it deserves, we will come out with the fruit in our lives.
If there is any time to become patience with the LORD and pure at the same time, it is now. The prophecy of the falling away, should make everyone of us submit to a life of purity and patience with the LORD. We cannot afford to fall away in a time like this.
Jesus made another statement that needs double attention, so long as securing our walk with GOD through the patience and purity of the saints this end time is concerned. This is not a season to fall back to slavery of any sin. He said;
“They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.
And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.” Luke 13:29-30 NKJV
Among other things, Jesus was talking about replacements that will take place in the end time. He was also referring to how the gentile nations will replace the Jewish nation in some matters of salvation.
They were the first to hear the gospel, but will be the last to respond, according to prophecies. But thank God they will respond.
However, there is another dimension of this that needs our attention. Not all who started the journey of faith first will make it, and not all who started it last will not make it. Patience and purity, or lack of it, will play a major role.
From this prophecy, it is clear that those who seem to have responded to the LORD with great zeal now, stand the risk of losing and returning back to their vomit, if they do not embrace the patience and purity of the saints; thereby becoming the last.
THIS WORDS FROM THE LORD ARE REAL AND ARE CAPABLE OF MANIFESTING EVEN IN OUR DAYS.
On the other hand, those who have not even responded, or who will respond last, embracing the patience and purity of the saints, stand the chance of responding powerfully and going to lead the very Christian life that those who responded first refused to continue living, thereby becoming the last that became the first.
These prophetic statements from the LORD should worry and make us sit up.
Words like that should be our worry as end time saints; not earthly desires, because as it stands now, many who were first have become last, by returning to the sinful ways that those who were last have abandoned. In other words, the once righteous have returned to the wicked ways that the once wicked have abandoned for the LORD. It is a spiritual tragedy!
One of the major things that is responsible for this tragedy is the lost of the fruit of salvation by those who responded first, due to their rejection of a life of the patience and purity of the saints. Even those who are responding now, must watch it, so that the same tragedy will not happen. Satan will seek to repeat with one what he did with another.
The rule remains, if we are serious with the LORD at the start of our journey, embracing the patience and purity of the saints, and remain serious with Him, we will end well. But if we lose our seriousness in-between, and stop bearing this and other fruits of salvation, and did not wake up from slumber and return to the LORD, we will be damned at the end.
Talking about this and other fruits of salvation, many do not know that in God’s kingdom it is by our character fruits that we are known not by our claims. Bold confessions and claims could be good, but they do not matter so long as critical things like making Heaven are concern. It is character fruits that counts.
There was this generation of believers in the days of Paul who were like us, who did not understand that God was looking for character fruits. The took salvation matters to be matters of faith and confession irrespective of how they were living their lives. The man of God would later write to Titus, one of his sons in the faith to caution them, describing them as people who;
“….profess to know God {to recognize, perceive, and be acquainted with Him}, but deny and disown and renounce Him by what they do; they are detestable and loathsome, unbelieving and disobedient and disloyal and rebellious, and {they are} unfit and worthless for good work (deed or enterprise) of any kind” Titus 1:16 AMPC
OUR CHARACTER FRUIT IS ALL ABOUT WHAT WE DO, NOT WHAT WE SAY OR CLAIM.
It is what we do that matters to God not what we claim!
It is what we do with the grace and truth from the salvation He has given us that matters to God not what we say or claim. And by what we do, so many of us preachers are heading for hell. Yes, by what we do, so many of Church goers are heading for hell.
If we realize that it is what we do that counts unlike what the false grace preachers are peddling, we will begin to repent of all the evil we do. Genuine salvation will foster a life best described as the patience and purity of the saints. Psychological salvation will not.
I believe the very caution Paul sent to the city church that Titus was pastoring, is required today, because with our mouths many of us profess of knowing the LORD, but by what we do (our Character fruits), it’s very clear that we have not even met Him. Our lives are not proving a change of heart; our lives are proving that our hearts have not changed. And it is a change of heart that will make us Heaven worthy.
John the Baptist, while doing his ministry at the river Jordan, saw the Pharisees (in other words the Church leaders of that age), coming to his baptism.
The good thing about them is, they humbled themselves and knew they were not saved unlike many church leaders of our age and time, and came to John for salvation. But when he saw them coming, he said something that needs our attention.
He said to them; You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee and escape from the wrath and indignation [of God against disobedience] that is coming?
Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance [let your lives prove your change of heart];
And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our forefather; for I tell you, God is able to raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!
And already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 3:7-10 NKJV
THERE IS SO MUCH IN THIS SCRIPTURE FOR OUR AGE AND TIME!
If you look at it carefully, you will realize that the Cry of the Spirit of God in the mouth of John the Baptist, was urging them to truly show they have repented of their sins, by bearing the fruits of salvation. It made it clear that bringing forth fruits that are consistent with repentance, is a requirement of escaping eternal judgment. That if the heart has truly changed like the mouth is saying, the life style will also change.
Many do not realize that when we say “we are born again,” we are saying our hearts have changed from sinful hearts to holy hearts. Our lives are therefore expected to be proves of the changed that we claim have happened in our hearts. But sadly, we claim born again but live like devils, doing all and even worse than what those who are not claiming born again are doing. That is a prove that we are not saved at all.
It is a prove that we are not bearing the fruits of salvation, and the Bible says the axe of judgement is lying on the root of the tree (the secret places of those whose lives are not bearing the fruits of salvation), and that every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire; the lake of fire.
Our devotional text presents two kinds of character fruits people bear on earth. It is important that we look at them, because the Bible says, “by their fruits we shall know them.” In other words, it is by fruits that trees (people) that will be cut down and thrown inter the lake of fire in the day of judgment are known, not by leaves.
Leaves represents generosity and kindness.
MANY ARE VERY GENEROUS AND KIND BUT THEY ARE HEADING TO HELL BY THE FRUITS GOD SEE THEM BEAR.
There are false prophets who have established foundations and are using them to do many good things; they are growing very beautiful and attractive leaves but their fruits are poisonous and wicked.
Sadly, people look at their leaves not their fruits and blame us for calling them by their fruits. By their fruits they are messengers of Satan, but by their leaves they are children of God. And it is not by leaves things are known in God’s kingdom but by fruits.
Looking at fruits instead of leaves, is a realm of discernment that only those God has given to function in (with the aim of helping the elect), can operate in. But we are looking at our individual character fruits. Who are we by fruits? Are we born again or are we just liars who are hell bound? A portion of our devotional text says;
“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” Romans 6:20-22 NKJV
The two kinds of fruits outlined in this text is the fruit of the saved and that of the unsaved. The fruit of the saved is a Holy Spirit enabled purity, patience and righteous deeds, which tells us what that of the unsaved is. Meaning, if we are not living holy and pure lives after salvation, we are still unsaved. Let no one deceive us. The Bible says;
“Everyone who commits (practices) sin is guilty of lawlessness; for [that is what] sin is, lawlessness (the breaking, violating of God’s law by transgression or neglect—being unrestrained and unregulated by His commands and His will).
You know that He appeared in visible form and became Man to take away [upon Himself] sins, and in Him there is no sin [essentially and forever].
No one who abides in Him [who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] commits (practices) sin.
No one who [habitually] sins has either seen or known Him [recognized, perceived, or understood Him, or has had an experiential acquaintance with Him]. 1 John 3:4-6 AMPC
I encourage you to read this scripture over and over again. Light and understanding will come if you do. You will realize how much we have deceived ourselves on matters of salvation. You will also realize the damage many preachers are causing by how they handle matters of holy living, the purity and patience of the saints.
The Bible is very consistent in what the fruit of salvation should be. It says habitually living in sin and calling yourself saved is the life of the unsaved not that of the saved. Those who are saved will never do any of that. It consistently presents a life of Righteousness, Purity and Holiness as the fruit of salvation.
We must wake up to the Bible truth that presents salvation as a child of the regeneration of the heart. If the heart is regenerated, it is saved. The fruit of a heart that is saved, is a life that is pure, holy and righteous. In other words, the life of a heart that is regenerated and saved will be a life of righteousness, purity and holiness.
We must also guard against the corruption of the heart that is a possibility after salvation, because anytime it becomes corrupt, it will lose its purity and leads us back to sin.
We must understand that when the heart loses its purity, our place in heaven is lost. The life of Judas Iscariot tells us that.
He was a son of God when Jesus called him, just as He called many of us and made us sons of GOD. But he became a son of perdition when Satan entered his heart and the heart lost its purity. Today he is in hell! May that not happen to us!
For that not to happen, is the reason these truths are in our hands. As we bring this to a close, we must understand that it is what lives in our hearts that determines whose sons we are, not what we say with our mouths. And we can tell what live in our hearts by what comes out of our lives; our character fruits.
Genuine salvation involves Jesus coming to live in our hearts, and we making sure our hearts remain dedicated to Him. When Jesus lives in our hearts, the patience and purity of the saints will become the hallmark of our lives. We will no longer be slaves to the sin that lives in us. Rather it will become dead. It will only be resurrected when our hearts start drifting away from His presence; when we no longer spend time with Him, His word and His Holy Spirit.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as salves of righteousness for holiness.” Roman 6:15-19 NKJV