"For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."
Today's quote is a continuation of yesterday's in that it, not only instructs the children of God as to how we are to live our lives after salvation, but also again reaffirms the security of the believer.
Paul said, "But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things ACCOMPANY salvation, though we thus speak." Therein, it is demonstrated that salvation runs concurrent with the things we do in our every day lives and is NOT dependent upon those things.
Jesus, in everything He either wrote, or inspired, commanded that we behave ourselves in such a manner as to continually honor and glorify God. He gave us two simple rules as to how that is to be accomplished. After being asked; "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Therefore, the sins for which the Holy Spirit will punish us are those things we do that either demonstrate our lack of love and respect for God, or those things which hurt others. In other words, if there is no victim, there is no sin.
The denial of Jesus Christ is a spiritual sin punishable by spiritual death and total separation from God, an eternity in a tormenting hell. However, if that sin has been forgiven and the soul has been sealed by the Holy Spirit, it can never again be subjected to Judgment so far as eternal salvation is concerned.~
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