Turn my eyes away from evil

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;”

Philippians 3:10 NASBS

Brothers and sisters in Christ, may the Holy Spirit inflame us with holy passions to be conformed into the image of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. I am not speaking of a works-based righteousness with an attempt to be justified in the eyes of God for that is impossible. Salvation is a sovereign work of God alone in man’s sinful heart, but here I am referring to an intrinsic desire for holiness. A holiness which has been created in our soul by God Himself with compelling influences by the indwelling Holy Spirit to obey His commandments. This is the miracle of salvation, that is, God upon the soul of the one Whom He is saving, giving holy unctions to walk according to the Spirit that has been birthed into him by regeneration, through faith. Oh, the blessedness of God’s love that He has for us through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Whom He crucified on a tree by using the wickedness of man’s actions to bring about redemption for you and me. Come all you saints, gaze upon the crucified hanging upon the tree covered in the spittle of His own creation, observe the torn flesh from the task master’s lash, see the crimson blood flow down His bruised body, and hear the anguish of His cries as He bears our sins. Again, I say, Harken your ears, beloved, and hear the cries of His soul as He is slowly drowning in His own blood, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Can you deny His love for you, Christian? Can you continue to walk-in open disobedience to his word seeking only to satisfy the lower instincts of the body?

Once more I ask you, beloved of God, is it too much for you to lay your life down as a living sacrifice for Him Who loved you with an everlasting love, Who redeemed you from the torments of Hellfire, and Who sought you out while you were prostituting yourself to carnal passions? Oh beloved, let us be moved with holy conviction to cry out as Paul, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Rest assured Christian, He was put to death and laid in a tomb for our sins but was also raised for our justification so that we may reign with Him in heaven forever.