Blog Archives
Whosoever draws his sword against the prince must throw the scabbard away
“Whosoever draws his sword against the prince must throw the scabbard away.” (English 17th Century Proverb)
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife or other large blade or gun, such as a rifle with a bayonet.
There are two princes who are at war. First is Jesus Christ the prince of heaven and the son of God. The other is Satan the prince of the fallen world (John 12:31) and the arch-enemy of God.
There is no scope for being a neutral party. The Bible is very clear about this:
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad (Matthew 12:30).
Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 4:8).
“The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16).
So when you choose the side of the prince of heaven, you’re at odds with the Devil. You must realize that Satan is on one evil mission. Some scriptures about this that tell about the problem by the Devil & the solution:
Violence like a lion:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8)
Pretense by the Devil:
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Thieving nature:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly. (John 10:10)
So know that the Devil is a violent, pretentious thief what must one do?
- Accept God; Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)
- Resist the Devil; Resist him and be firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. (1 Peter 5:9).
What do I do if the Devil reminds me of my past failings?
Remind him about his future. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)
Anything else?
Just keep working on doing the right things as mentioned above. You don’t need to much wisdom. You only need God’s grace which is given to those who keep his word.
Thanks for reading. Christ be with you!
(Note: This is a message I had given to a private audience about 4 years ago and had made a record of this. Suddenly during my prayers I felt like God wants me to share this with you, so that you benefit from it.)
Related articles
Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away our sins
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
Jesus appeared on earth to take away our sins!
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. (1 John 3:5)
The prophet Isaiah prophesied about Jesus coming as the Lamb of God to take away our sin. Let’s read Isaiah 53:6-11 which goes as follows:
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
It is Jesus who take away your sins and not your good works. Your good works are simply your duty towards God. You duty does not make atonement for your sins. It’s Jesus who set you free by his death on the cross and by his resurrection. Happy are those to who put their mind to Jesus above anything else in this world!
Jesus came to earth for you and me. His purpose was and is to reconcile us to God and save us from our sins. God himself sent his Son Jesus to save us.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:16-18)
For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost (Matthew 18:11)
Salvation is free for all those who believe in Jesus the Son of God. You never have to pay for it. As Jesus has once and for all paid the price for your sins. Therefore hold on to Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
No matter how bad you are. No matter how many mistakes your made. If you are willing to repent and believe in the Gospel there is hope for you through Jesus Christ.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:35-40)
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13)
Related articles
Can salvation be lost?
You salvation which comes from Jesus is highly valuable. This will keep you from going to hell when you die and away from eternal judgement at the Final Judgement. With salvation they joys and security of eternal life in Christ are promised. We must take care that we always have our salvation from God. So here’s a question that pertains to this; can salvation be lost?
A quick and direct answer to this is that salvation can be lost if you give up on Jesus and the Gospel. One can also say that if a person was a Christian but renounced the faith later and then became an atheist then he will automatically lose his salvation. It’s that simple. Now, I know that for a question like this, it’s important to know why salvation can be lost. Also some may wonder what does it mean by ‘give up’ in this case. I’d suggest that you read the following as objectively as you can to understand why a person may lose his/her salvation.
An uneasy question indeed!
This question that makes people very uneasy in church, office and school. The fear of eternal damnation is so compelling that people try to avoid this topic when at dinner at home or at a church picnic. They prefer if the preacher is preaching about dangers of being in sin to a general audience instead of smaller groups or one on one.
If you don’t ignore physical safety then why ignore spiritual security?
When it comes to your physical safety, you know there are rules and principles to be followed. You don’t fiddle with the law of gravity but take due precautions when going in an aircraft. Small babies by instinct scream when they see a vicious snake around and so alert their parents. If you see a landmine its unwise to step on it even if your captain says to tap it, you’d rather choose to disobey him and throw a stone on it from (real) far away to show him that is dangerous. So if we take care of our physical safety how much more must be aware of everything related to our spiritual security in this life and the life to come?
Beware of the bandwagon effect
Then as usual you have the denominational bandwagon effect in which legalistic people are of the opinion that if you follow all their rules you are saved but if you do not, then you’re not going to heaven. Also, there is the permissive crowd which has a feeling that everybody will go to heaven if they say the sinners prayer no matter how they behave later. It’s not wise to depend on someone’s feelings or opinions when it comes to salvation. You need to have the facts which prove themselves true in every situation and every time. This is a case of reality and not wishful thinking. No wonder you need to know that the Bible says about salvation and losing salvation.
To understand salvation lets read the below scripture verses. I’ve put an explanation in italics, where necessary.
- For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
- Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24) (‘my word’ means the Gospel which also includes repentance of sins)
- Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
- and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31)
- For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)
- If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)
- Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) (It’s Jesus who saves us and not our good works)
To get a clear picture of how a person can lose salvation you can refer to the following scripture verses. Lots of verses here, so you may like to slow down a bit, when reading them:
- Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)
- “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? (Luke 6:46)
- “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
- For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:24)
- He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. (Romans 2:6-8) (here ‘patience in well-doing’ means to continue to believe in Jesus’ work of salvation for them)
- Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
- But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. (Exodus 32:33)
- And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:19)
- The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us (2 Timothy 2:11-12)
- For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. (Hebrews 10:26-28)
- And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3-4)
- But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die. “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. (Ezekiel 18:24-26) (in context of the Gospel, this would indicate any person who turns away from the Gospel is deemed a sinner)
And finally please consider:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)
So by this we must have great regard of the salvation which comes to us from Jesus and never take it lightly. If you have sinned, there is hope. Simply repent of your sins and unbelief and choose to follow Jesus again.
Related articles
Covenant by the Blood of Jesus
Stained glass showing Lamb of God with vexillum and chalice, from chapel that used to be part of a convent in El Cajon, California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As a Christian, one must always regard the New Covenant with great respect. For it was founded by the shedding of Jesus Christ in atonement for sins of the whole world. Lets first reflect on the following two scriptures:
- For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
- The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works. (1 John 3:8)
Adam and Eve sinned against God and therefore lost God’s friendship and favor. Death entered by sin into the human race. The main work of the Devil (by his own choice against God’s will) on earth is to make man who was created in the image and likeness of God into the lowest spiritually dead person he can and then die and suffer in hell.
God knew that man by himself could not restore the lost oneness and fellowship with God. So he sent his only begotten Son Jesus to live a human existence to redeem mankind. That’s why Jesus called himself the Son of man. Because he was born of Mary the virgin who is also the descendant of David who descended from Adam. Jesus didn’t want to limit himself to only the Jews because the love of God is for the whole world too.
By identifying himself as the Son of Man he conveyed he is for everyone on earth. Now he came to destroy the Devil’s work of making man sinful and dead in spirit to God. He came to destroy the power of sin and death over man. He came to heal people and cast out demons. He came to restore man to God’s favor by his obedience, being obedient even to his death on the Cross for all.
Jesus gives true joy, hope and peace. Today you too can experience the salvation and hope of Jesus. You get this by believing in the New Covenant by the Blood of Jesus.
To take away the curse of death due to the sin of Adam and Eve, the Lord Jesus had to take that curse on himself and then himself become the curse and be cursed. The Bible explains this. When I was very young I used to wonder about a remarkable curse mentioned in the Bible. Here it is:
“If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)
With this curse I would wonder, what is the purpose of cursing a person who is hanged on a tree when he is already dead by the hanging? I didn’t understand at all, until some years later I succeeded in reading the whole Bible word for word. I realized that this curse was destined to be used by God to take away every curse that could ever harm mankind. Here’s that amazing scripture verse that came alive to me:
Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, (for it is written, Cursed [is] every one hanged upon a tree,) (Galatians 3:13)
When Jesus shed his blood on the cross, he was hanging on the cross made of a tree, hanging by the painful nails that were driven into his body. He then died on the cross taking away the curse of the law. By believing in this you are justified and purified.
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed–a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)
For he has made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Here’s what Jesus said about the New Covenant which he formed by the shedding of His Blood on the Cross:
In the same way also Jesus took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25)
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22: 14-20)
Please realize the need to believe in the New Covenant. Lay down your burdens of sin and of life at the feet of Jesus. Believe in the complete work of Jesus which is to restore you unto God in this life and the next.
Here are a few select scriptures that you can reflect upon:
- Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah (Jeremiah 31:31)
- Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, (Isaiah 49:8)
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
- Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)
- Then Jesus said to them,“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”(Luke 24:44)
- And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
- But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)
- In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:13)
- Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)
- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Related articles
Why was Jesus born?
Here’s a simple question and a simple answer to it. Here’s the question.
Why was Jesus born?
Answer : Jesus was born because God wanted to save mankind and give us eternal life through him. All have sinned. Sin brought it it death to the human race. However, nobody could have gained salvation by their own works or efforts. So God sent his only son Jesus to come as a man and reconcile all people unto God.
Bible verses to reflect on:
John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost
Related articles
- Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday to the Lord Jesus Christ Aka Christ Jesus (shawneejohnsonministries.wordpress.com)
- True Meaning (dontgetcomfortableblog.wordpress.com)
- WHY JESUS CAME- He Came to Save Us (heulu.wordpress.com)
- The First Christmas Gift (revsalmancini.wordpress.com)
- Jesus Is the Reason for the Season (grethestanley.wordpress.com)
Disciples of hope 