“Will you take Jesus as your Savior?” is a common question asked by those attempting to get someone saved. That is the wrong question. Jesus is either our LORD (MASTER) or He is our nothing. As the series titled Hope and Salvation proves (key word–Hope), if He is not our Lord in this life’s walk, He will not be out Savior upon His return. The “walk” the New Testament writers wrote about involves Jesus being our LORD–THE ONE WE MUST OBEY IN LETTER AND SPIRIT. The “Jesus loves you the way you are” Savior is the figment of the counterfeit church’s imagination. I know, because I believed that sewage for many years, and even preached it.

In a previous series titled “Nothing can Separate you from the Love of God” (key word–Separate) I prove Scripturally that the Lord loves every person He created solely BECAUSE HE CREATED HIM/HER. However, that love will not save the sinner. He loved Adolf Hitler. Hitler went to his death in the same condition in which he lived. JESUS DEMANDS HIS LORDSHIP OVER OUR EARTHLY LIVES. Otherwise, He will not be our Savior upon His return. The problem with the billions of “salvation experiences” that have been proclaimed over the past 2000 years is that they never took place. Whether or not Jesus becomes our Savior depends on HIM BEING OUR LORD UNTIL HE RETURNS. At THAT TIME He will resurrect His “first fruits” who made Him their LORD during their converted lives. Only these will spend eternity inside the HEADQUARTERS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Read The Kingdom of God. Key word–Kingdom.

The Apostle John made the above statements clear in the third chapter of his first epistle to the church. Let us examine the first ten verses of that chapter where he stresses the Bible Truth that one must change–totally reverse life’s course–after recognizing Jesus as the solution to one’s spiritual problem. If one is a thief, one must stop stealing (Eph. 4:28). If one is queer, one must become straight. This Truth highlights the problem with the “Jesus loves you just as you are” theology. As I proved in a previous series, God has two kinds of love. One is general love that He has for all created human beings because He created them. Then there is His specific love for those who obey Him. THE LORD COMMANDS TOTAL CHANGE OF LIFE’S “WALK” UPON EMBRACING HIM. HE MUST BECOME ONE’S LORD. A LORD MUST BE OBEYED WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Satan’s call to “Come as you are, stay as you are; Jesus loves you just the way you are” is the devil’s roadmap to the Lake of Fire. True conversion must be manifested in the convert’s “walk” which consists of his thoughts, words and actions. The old man must die; a new man must be created. Nothing of the old can be part of the new. “Behold, ALL THINGS are made new.”

In verse one of chapter three John notes that those who make Jesus their LORD are called “sons of God.” Romans 8:14 tells us that only those who are led by God’s Holy Spirit are His true sons. So-called “saved sinners” are counterfeit sons. God’s grace does not cover such people for they are not led by His Spirit which does not lead God’s people to sin, at all, ever. Isaiah 59:2 tells us that sin separates us from God. Separation means that one cannot “walk with God” because one is not in agreement with Him and proves it by disobeying Him (Amos 3:3). It is impossible to be together and separated. Nor do God’s saints waffle back and forth between obedience and disobedience. There is no fence-straddling in God’s church. So-called “sinners saved by grace” do not exist therein.

In verses two and three John tells us that true sons of God keep themselves as pure “as He (Jesus) is pure” (free of sin) by obeying the Holy Spirit as Jesus did as a human being. Only the pure, John tells us, will look like Him when He returns. John is referring to saints having the same body composition as does Jesus Who, having been born again, is totally spirit. In order to have this (born again) HOPE (vs 3) we must “walk as He walked” in this life (1 Jn. 2:6). Read Born Again. Key word–Born.

Verse four highlights a lie that has led billions of salvation seekers to follow Satan as did Adam and Eve. We must understand what sin is according to the Lord’s definition. He defines sin as “the transgression of the LAW.” This is the same Law the church nailed to Christ’s cross and the same Law she blatantly and proudly breaks every Biblical Sabbath (Saturday) and every Satan’s sabbath (Sunday). Read the series on the Sabbath. Key word–Sabbath.

In verses five and six John, writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit (read 2 Pet. 1:21) tells us that Jesus came to remove all sin from His people. He did not remove sin from believers so that it could be replaced by future sins. Those who are “in Him” (true sons of God) cannot sin, for there is “no sin in Him (Jesus)” (vs 5). One who claims to be “in Him” (saved) and continues to sin cannot be “in Him.” “Sinning Christians” have not “seen Him” and do not “know Him.”

In verses seven and eight John tells us that we must “DO (WALK IN) RIGHTEOUSNESS EVEN AS HE IS RIGHTEOUS.” That is not a misprint. Those are the Lord’s words that must be believed and obeyed. Those of the “only believe” and “be sure to repent after each sin” persuasion are both deceived and deceivers who serve the devil. Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil” in His true saints. “Destroy” means to put to death permanently. Through the power of the Holy Spirit living within the true convert he/she will keep the devil at bay by warding off his “fiery darts” of temptation (Eph. 6:16) by keeping themselves pure by “the washing by the water by the WORD of God” (Eph. 5:26).

In verses nine and ten John tells us that a true sons of God (saints–holy ones) do not sin because His SEED–(WORD) remains active within him so that he “cannot” sin because he is “born of God.” This is not the same a “born again” in which one’s bodily composition changes from flesh to spirit. Read Born Again. Key word–Born. The conjunction “cannot” in the Greek language is comprised of two words: “can”–DYNAMIA–meaning to be able to, ability, having power to, and “not”–OU–meaning no, not, absolutely not, in no way. The true saint is capable of sinning but absolutely refuses to do so because of God’s Words abiding within his heart. Recall that Jesus recited Bible verses when tempted to sin by Satan. As a man like all other men, He had only God’s Words to strengthen Him against temptation. Remember also that “He was tempted as are all men, but without sin” (Heb. 4:15). God’s Words were enough. for the Son of God. They are also for us.

But let us not forget that we are, after all, human. For that reason John included chapter two verse two where he tells us that it is God’s will that we SIN NOT, but “IF, IF, IF anyone happens to sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Praise His holy name.

“The walk” of the child of God is one in which Jesus is not yet his Savior, but IS MOST DEFINITELY HIS LORD. Where there is no Lordship, there is no sonship. If there is no sonship, there will be no salvation. Having Jesus as one’s Lord Who is obeyed creates righteousness in the obedient one. Righteousness identifies the children of God and distinguishes them from the children of Satan (3:10). There are only two kinds of people: God’s people and Satan’s people. John proclaims this Truth in verse ten: “Whosoever does not do (“walk” in) righteousness is not of God.” The Apostle Paul echos John’s Truth in Romans 5:21 where he declares that the END, END, END RESULT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (CHRIST’S LORDSHIP OVER OUR LIVES) IS ETERNAL LIFE.

Let us “walk” in the spiritual footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth. Let us manifest Him and His Father in our daily lives. But let us not forget what John tells us in verse 13: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you” as it hated Jesus and the apostles and disciples who came before us. Let us not forget that the non-churched world does not care what we do, say or think. Those who hate God’s people are the members of the counterfeit church. Their ancestors killed the Lord of life and His apostles because their light exposed the darkness of their haters. Those days will return just before Christ’s return. Read Persecution by that name. L.J.