Are You Prepared to be Judged? quotes

1) “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.” Revelation 19:7-9.

2) “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:2-8.

While it is true that the saints’ righteousness is obtained through Jesus, yet they do not just give lip service to the fact that God’s law is “holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12), but these followers of the Lamb live and exemplify God’s law in their own lives by obeying it!

3) The saints purify themselves through an active and living faith in Jesus Christ, and have truly become “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). They have, through faith in Jesus working in and through them, been cleansed from and overcame all sin and all defects of their characters. They exemplify the following Scripture:

4) “the marriage of the Lamb is come” only after “his wife hath made herself ready”! (Revelation 19:7). This then means that the delay in Christ’s return is due to the fact that His bride or wife, being those followers of Christ who compose His church, have not yet prepared or made herself ready to meet Him. This is why Christ is actively seeking to cleanse and purify His people – His church – His bride so that He can help her get ready, so that He can come and put an end to this great controversy!

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27.

5) Jesus came to earth as the Saviour of all mankind. In order to save mankind, Jesus brought “the words of eternal life” (see John 6:63 and 68), and all who would receive and faithfully follow these words would indeed obtain salvation. But all who would refuse to receive and follow these words of life would be judged unworthy.

The first phase of the investigative judgement is where all evidence is presented, then the evidence is reviewed and weighed before a decision is made as to whether guilt exists or not. If it is determined that the accused party is innocent, he is declared not guilty, his trial is then ended with an acquittal, and he is rewarded with complete freedom to live. Paul speaks of this to Timothy:

8) How will God determine whether we have been good or evil? Since fallen human beings would either be saved – if they have accepted the Lord God Michael/Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Substitute and have all of their confessed and forsaken sins forgiven and covered with His blood, or would be destroyed if they have refused Him and His shed blood and instead clung to their sins, then there had to be a record kept of this fact to prove it. These facts of acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ are recorded in a book called “the book of life” (see Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 15, 21:27, 22:19). This record book of life is directly connected with the plan of salvation carried out by and through the life of Jesus Christ. And this record book of life is absolutely necessary to keep in order to avoid any claim that someone was either saved or lost because God Himself decided their fate through favoritism, partiality, animosity or by being arbitrary.

Also, to prove that God was completely impartial in this issue of whether a human being was saved or destroyed, in addition to this book of life, other detailed records must be kept that documented the entire life’s history of every person ever conceived on the earth.

These heavenly record books had to precisely document every aspect of an individual’s life and character so it could be easily determined why they were either saved or lost. For instance, every sin and disobedience against God and His commandments, as well as every good deed and obedience to God and His law had to be recorded in detail as to time and date, as well as documenting all the internal motivating factors that led to the committing of these actions. These record books had to show every time the devil tempted them to sin, as well as every time God had encouraged them through their conscience to instead obey His law. These books also had to document the amount of times that the truth had been given them, under what conditions, and whether the truth was resisted or followed. These books had to document whether they had accepted Christ as their Saviour and Substitute, and especially whether they continued to follow Christ from that time and date or had later refused Him. And these record books also had to document exactly where each person was born, whether it was in a wicked city or place or a good city or place, as well as document what type of influences surrounded each person as they grew up, which of course worked in influencing the particular type of characters they formed!

“I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there.” Psalms 87:4-6.

“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” Daniel 7:9-10.

9) “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:11-12.

These verses plainly show us several amazing and truly solemn things. 1) Just before Jesus comes again, all people on the earth will have already been judged and pronounced by Him to forever be from that time on either righteous and holy or unjust and filthy. This means that the probation of all people will have closed just before Christ comes. 2) When Jesus comes, He brings with Him the reward of either eternal life or eternal death to all people. This means that any who are lost do not get a second chance at salvation! 3) This further means that for any who decide to wait until the second coming of Christ before they then get themselves all ready for their judgment, will have waited too long and they are lost!

So now, today is the accepted time to come to Christ and find salvation, not tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come for you! Please do not harden your hearts in pride and decide to wait until a more opportune time to get ready, but do it now! Do not become one of those who sing this bitter and wailing cry: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jeremiah 8:20.

In every trial, when the guilt of the defendant has been determined, there is a date set for sentencing. During this period of time, the evidence that has been produced in the trial is evaluated and the sentence determined based upon the seriousness of the crimes committed. It is in this second phase that the righteous saints participate – as “kings and priests unto God” (Revelation 1:6, 5:10), and for the next 1000 years they will be going over all the books of the wicked dead to determine along with God and Christ (Revelation 20:6) exactly what punishment should be meted out for each lost person.

Just as there was a resurrection to life of all judged righteous at the second coming of Jesus Christ, so there is yet one more resurrection to be experienced – “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). The lost, or those judged unrighteous and who were not part of the first resurrection and taken to heaven, come forth from their graves at the end of the thousand years (see Revelation 20:5). At this same time, Satan is also released for a little while and he immediately begins again his work of deception (see Revelation 20:5,7-8).

In just a short time, Satan has all the wicked convinced and motivated to completely surround and try to capture the saints and take over the holy city (Revelation 20:9). This plainly shows that all these wicked are selfishly determined to the bitter end in their hatred against all righteousness. And it also plainly shows that the same type of character they died with is the very same type of character they have when they were given life again! This further proves that there is no second chance at salvation after Christ comes!

It is at this time when the wicked are surrounding the saints and the city of God that the third and last phase of judgment occurs – or the execution of the sentence. Stopped from carrying out their purposes, the wicked suffer the executive judgement determined against them in the sentencing phase. Fire comes down from God out of heaven which completely covers the entire earth like a huge lake. This lake of fire does not harm the holy city or any of the inhabitants within it, but it completely burns up all the wicked – including Satan or Lucifer himself as well every one of his evil angels – until nothing remains of any of them except ashes (see Ezekiel 28:18; Malachi 4:3). Thus all sin and sinners are forever removed from the universe, all traces of rebellion are eternally eliminated, and even death and hell or the grave itself, is forever eliminated!

“...and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 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....And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:10, 14-15.

13) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life....that the world through him might be saved....and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:16-17, 36.

“And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteousness: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:1-6.

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life....

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him...Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you...

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness....and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” Romans 6:1-4, 6-8, 11-14, 17-18, 22.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; an purify your hearts, ye double-minded....Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:7-8, 10.

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:4-11.

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:23-26.


	"LET THERE BE LIGHT" Ministries home \| Sermon Quotes ARE YOU PREPARED TO BE JUDGED? quotes 1) “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.” Revelation 19:7-9. But who is the bride of Christ? “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:2. “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.” Ephesians 5:23-24. 2) “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:2-8. While it is true that the saints’ righteousness is obtained through Jesus, yet they do not just give lip service to the fact that God’s law is “holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12), but these followers of the Lamb live and exemplify God’s law in their own lives by obeying it! “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12. 3) The saints purify themselves through an active and living faith in Jesus Christ, and have truly become “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). They have, through faith in Jesus working in and through them, been cleansed from and overcame all sin and all defects of their characters. They exemplify the following Scripture: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. “For to me to live is Christ.” Philippians 1:21. 4) “the marriage of the Lamb is come” only after “his wife hath made herself ready”! (Revelation 19:7). This then means that the delay in Christ’s return is due to the fact that His bride or wife, being those followers of Christ who compose His church, have not yet prepared or made herself ready to meet Him. This is why Christ is actively seeking to cleanse and purify His people – His church – His bride so that He can help her get ready, so that He can come and put an end to this great controversy! “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27. 5) Jesus came to earth as the Saviour of all mankind. In order to save mankind, Jesus brought “the words of eternal life” (see John 6:63 and 68), and all who would receive and faithfully follow these words would indeed obtain salvation. But all who would refuse to receive and follow these words of life would be judged unworthy. “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:48. 6) In any trial there are actually three phases of judgement – investigative, sentencing, and execution of the sentence. The First Phase of the Judgment -- Investigation. The first phase of the investigative judgement is where all evidence is presented, then the evidence is reviewed and weighed before a decision is made as to whether guilt exists or not. If it is determined that the accused party is innocent, he is declared not guilty, his trial is then ended with an acquittal, and he is rewarded with complete freedom to live. Paul speaks of this to Timothy: “Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgement; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.” 1 Timothy 5:24-25. 7) “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. 8) How will God determine whether we have been good or evil? Since fallen human beings would either be saved – if they have accepted the Lord God Michael/Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Substitute and have all of their confessed and forsaken sins forgiven and covered with His blood, or would be destroyed if they have refused Him and His shed blood and instead clung to their sins, then there had to be a record kept of this fact to prove it. These facts of acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ are recorded in a book called “the book of life” (see Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 15, 21:27, 22:19). This record book of life is directly connected with the plan of salvation carried out by and through the life of Jesus Christ. And this record book of life is absolutely necessary to keep in order to avoid any claim that someone was either saved or lost because God Himself decided their fate through favoritism, partiality, animosity or by being arbitrary. Also, to prove that God was completely impartial in this issue of whether a human being was saved or destroyed, in addition to this book of life, other detailed records must be kept that documented the entire life’s history of every person ever conceived on the earth. “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalms 139:16. This then means that each and every human being ever conceived has a record book with their own name on it in heaven! “Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.” Job 16:19 (see also Exodus 32:32-33; Psalms 56:8, 69:28, 139:16; Malachi 3:16 regarding record books in heaven). These heavenly record books had to precisely document every aspect of an individual’s life and character so it could be easily determined why they were either saved or lost. For instance, every sin and disobedience against God and His commandments, as well as every good deed and obedience to God and His law had to be recorded in detail as to time and date, as well as documenting all the internal motivating factors that led to the committing of these actions. These record books had to show every time the devil tempted them to sin, as well as every time God had encouraged them through their conscience to instead obey His law. These books also had to document the amount of times that the truth had been given them, under what conditions, and whether the truth was resisted or followed. These books had to document whether they had accepted Christ as their Saviour and Substitute, and especially whether they continued to follow Christ from that time and date or had later refused Him. And these record books also had to document exactly where each person was born, whether it was in a wicked city or place or a good city or place, as well as document what type of influences surrounded each person as they grew up, which of course worked in influencing the particular type of characters they formed! “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there.” Psalms 87:4-6. It is these very record books that will be brought forth as evidence to determine whether we are saved in Christ, or whether we are lost at the time or our own investigative judgement and trial. “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” Daniel 7:9-10. 9) “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:11-12. These verses plainly show us several amazing and truly solemn things. 1) Just before Jesus comes again, all people on the earth will have already been judged and pronounced by Him to forever be from that time on either righteous and holy or unjust and filthy. This means that the probation of all people will have closed just before Christ comes. 2) When Jesus comes, He brings with Him the reward of either eternal life or eternal death to all people. This means that any who are lost do not get a second chance at salvation! 3) This further means that for any who decide to wait until the second coming of Christ before they then get themselves all ready for their judgment, will have waited too long and they are lost! That is why the Scriptures plainly tells us all that; “...Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts…” Hebrews 3:15. “...behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2. So now, today is the accepted time to come to Christ and find salvation, not tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come for you! Please do not harden your hearts in pride and decide to wait until a more opportune time to get ready, but do it now! Do not become one of those who sing this bitter and wailing cry: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jeremiah 8:20. 10) “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Revelation 3:5. 11) The Second Phase of the Judgment -- The Sentencing. In every trial, when the guilt of the defendant has been determined, there is a date set for sentencing. During this period of time, the evidence that has been produced in the trial is evaluated and the sentence determined based upon the seriousness of the crimes committed. It is in this second phase that the righteous saints participate – as “kings and priests unto God” (Revelation 1:6, 5:10), and for the next 1000 years they will be going over all the books of the wicked dead to determine along with God and Christ (Revelation 20:6) exactly what punishment should be meted out for each lost person. “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?...Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” 1 Corinthians 6:2-3. 12) The Third Phase of the Judgment -- The Execution of the Sentence. Just as there was a resurrection to life of all judged righteous at the second coming of Jesus Christ, so there is yet one more resurrection to be experienced – “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). The lost, or those judged unrighteous and who were not part of the first resurrection and taken to heaven, come forth from their graves at the end of the thousand years (see Revelation 20:5). At this same time, Satan is also released for a little while and he immediately begins again his work of deception (see Revelation 20:5,7-8). In just a short time, Satan has all the wicked convinced and motivated to completely surround and try to capture the saints and take over the holy city (Revelation 20:9). This plainly shows that all these wicked are selfishly determined to the bitter end in their hatred against all righteousness. And it also plainly shows that the same type of character they died with is the very same type of character they have when they were given life again! This further proves that there is no second chance at salvation after Christ comes! It is at this time when the wicked are surrounding the saints and the city of God that the third and last phase of judgment occurs – or the execution of the sentence. Stopped from carrying out their purposes, the wicked suffer the executive judgement determined against them in the sentencing phase. Fire comes down from God out of heaven which completely covers the entire earth like a huge lake. This lake of fire does not harm the holy city or any of the inhabitants within it, but it completely burns up all the wicked – including Satan or Lucifer himself as well every one of his evil angels – until nothing remains of any of them except ashes (see Ezekiel 28:18; Malachi 4:3). Thus all sin and sinners are forever removed from the universe, all traces of rebellion are eternally eliminated, and even death and hell or the grave itself, is forever eliminated! “...and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 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....And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:10, 14-15. 13) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life....that the world through him might be saved....and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:16-17, 36. “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteousness: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:1-6. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”. Philippians 2:5. “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.... “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him...Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you... “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness....and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” Romans 6:1-4, 6-8, 11-14, 17-18, 22. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; an purify your hearts, ye double-minded....Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:7-8, 10. “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:4-11. “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:23-26. “Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.” 2 Corinthians 8:11.