04/13/24 DO AND DON'T ARE BOTH BIBLICAL

04/13/24 DO AND DON'T ARE BOTH BIBLICAL

Saying, "No!" is essential if you want to align with God, but you must be Biblical in what you reject. This does not make salvation a rules and regulation religion. Even God says, "No," to some things.

We need to be Biblical in our understanding in order to know what is good and what is bad, what is positive and what is negative, what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. God's word, in both the Old Testament and New Testament, gives us do and don't, "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not," be and be not directives. Even God's salvation (which is all positive) has a positive and negative side. To be saved we must turn to Christ and turn from sin. To be, "sanctified," means to be, "set apart," both set apart FROM SIN and set apart TO GOD.

The Christian life is not a set of rules, but the Christian life (as any orderly existence) recognizes laws. We are not saved by keeping the "Law of Moses," or the "Law of Works," but we are not saved if we do not live by the "Law of Faith" (Romans 3:27) which is manifested through the "Royal Law," also known as the "Law of Love" (James 2:8, Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14) and the "Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," which sets us free from the Law of the Wretched Man, The Carnal Mind, The Law of Sin and Death (Romans 7:24-8:14). The more Biblical understanding we have, the more victoriously we will live.

I am currently compiling a list of New Testament, "Do Be's" and "Be Nots." Divine "Dont's" are God's way protecting us, they are not Divine deprivations designed to hurt us. It is taking me a little time to compile this list, since it is so extensive. God has provided us with many wonderful truths, which will bless our lives. With God, it is either, God or "other" (such as Satan or self), sin or righteousness, life or death, good or evil.

God has provided the way of escape from the penalty, power and pollution of sin, through faith in His Son and His sacrificial death and physical resurrection. In the redeemed life of faith, we must, and we will, trust and submit to God. The faithful believer will not have a divided loyalty, a double mind, a double vision.

Remember, Christians are told to grow in grace and knowledge. The Christian life has Divine directives which lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. We have a choice, either surrender to God and live, or rebel against God and be separated from Him forever.