For He is Our God

[Sue J Love]

I am still reading in Joshua 24. Joshua had just given the children of Israel a word from the Lord. And then he told them, therefore, that they were now to fear (honor, respect, obey) the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth (no fakery, no lies). They were to put away all their idols and all their sinful practices, and they were to serve the Lord with their lives in obedience to the Lord and to his commands. They had to make a decision as to who they would serve, the gods of their fathers, the flesh, their sins, or the Lord.

“The people answered and said, ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.’” (Joshua 24:16-18 NASB1995)

But then Joshua challenged them on that, and he let them know plainly that if they forsook the Lord to serve foreign gods, and so they continued in deliberate and habitual sin against God, that God would not forgive their sins, and that God would turn and do harm to them, instead. For after he had done good to them, if they then turned on him and did evil in his sight, because he is a God of his word, he would have to do what he warned that he would do if they chose their idols and sins over obedience to the Lord.

And do you know that is taught to us again in the New Testament, under the New Covenant that God has with his people Israel (Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ)? In summary…

We learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

So, same fundamental message in the Old Testament or New Testament.

“’Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’ The people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey His voice.’” And “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel.” (Joshua 24:23-24,31 NASB1995)

So, where are you in this? Are you living in rebellion against the Lord, still living for the sinful pleasures of this world? Are you still worshipping your idols of adultery, idolatry, and immorality? Or have you died with Christ to sin, and now you are walking in obedience to his commands in holy living, by the grace of God and in the power of God? For it is critical that you understand here that a mere verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ is not what will secure you salvation from sin and eternal life with God. All of us must die to sin and obey our Lord in practice as part of faith which saves.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Walking in The Light

Based off 1 John 1-2
An Original Work / November 16, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

When I lift up my voice, and
Sing praise unto God,
I will fellowship with my
Lord and Savior, King.
In Him there is no darkness.
He is in the light of truth.
If we walk in His light,
From sin He purifies.

If we repent of our sins,
He’ll forgive us now,
When we humble ourselves, and
Before Jesus bow.
The man who says, “I know Him,”
But does not obey His truth,
There is no truth in him.
In darkness still he’s found.

Do not love the world of sin,
For it is hell bound.
If you follow the world, you’ll
Not in Christ be found.
The world and its desires
Will not last; they’ll expire.
The one who does God’s will,
Receives eternal life.

See that what you have heard from
Christ remains in you.
Then, you’ll remain in Christ, and
In His Father, too.
This is what He promised us –
His eternal life with God.
So, continue in Him, and
You’ll receive a crown.

For He is Our God
An Original Work / November 8, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love