Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 9:26
9:26. "For whoever is ashamedof Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.
The requirements of our following to Jesus are as follows:
ad. 4. We have no sense of shame and fear.
Genesis 2:25
2:25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 3:7,9-10
3:7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
3:9. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
3:10. So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraidbecause I was naked; and I hid myself."
In the beginning, the men were created as glorious as God, so they were not ashamed and afraid. They were naked but they were not ashamed because they had the cloth of glory.
The human lost the glory of God because of sinning. They ate from the tree which God had commanded that they should not eat, so they were naked, ashamed, and afraid.
Day by day, the men are increasingly separated from God, so they will perish and be separated in the hell forever.
So, the requirement of following Jesus and being glorified with Him when He comes a second time is we are not ashamed and afraid. It is the same as having confidence.
There are three kinds of having confidence as follows:
God blesses us.
Luke 9:26
9:26. "For whoever is ashamedof Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.
The requirements of our following to Jesus are as follows:
- We must deny ourselves and take up our cross (verse 23).
- We must willingly lose our life because of Jesus (verse 24).
- We must be free from the influence of the world (verse 25).
- We are not ashamed and afraid (verse 26).
ad. 4. We have no sense of shame and fear.
Genesis 2:25
2:25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 3:7,9-10
3:7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
3:9. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
3:10. So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraidbecause I was naked; and I hid myself."
In the beginning, the men were created as glorious as God, so they were not ashamed and afraid. They were naked but they were not ashamed because they had the cloth of glory.
The human lost the glory of God because of sinning. They ate from the tree which God had commanded that they should not eat, so they were naked, ashamed, and afraid.
Day by day, the men are increasingly separated from God, so they will perish and be separated in the hell forever.
So, the requirement of following Jesus and being glorified with Him when He comes a second time is we are not ashamed and afraid. It is the same as having confidence.
There are three kinds of having confidence as follows:
- Having confidence toward God.
1 John 3:21-22
3:21. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
3:22. And whatever we askwe receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
The requirement to have confidence toward God is we must have good and calm conscience or our heart does not condemn us.
The heart will condemn us if there is something wrong, especially about sins. That is why, we have to finish our sin to God and others by making peace, namely confessing and forgiving one another.
The result is blood of Jesus finishes all of our sins, so our heart becomes calm and we have confidence toward God.
The practice of having confidenceis we can pray to God. It means we come boldly to the throne of grace, so we may obtain mercy to help us in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16
4:16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Having boldness in the day of judgment.
1 John 4:17-18
4:17. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
4:18. There is no fear in love; but perfect lovecasts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
The requirement is we must have perfect love.
The practices of having perfect love are as follows:- one loves others like himself.
Matthew 25:34-40
25:34. "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
25:35. 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
25:36. 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
25:37. "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
25:38. 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?
25:39. 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
25:40. "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
It means we give and visit others who are in need.
Matthew 5:43-44
5:43. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
5:44. "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
We love our enemies and pray for them. Do not be afraid and disappointed.
The result is we are blessed and we inherit the kingdom of Heaven, so we are free from punishment. - One loves God more than anything.
It means obeying the word of God until the flesh does not sound anymore.
It means the sorrow and flesh sacrifice to obey God like Jesus who became obedient to the point of death of the cross.
But, do not be afraid and disappointed, because there is success behind obedience.
Revelation 20:11-12, 14-15
20:11. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
20:12. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
20:14. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
20:15. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
The are three kinds of book that are opened in the judgement day, namely the Bible, books (personal book) and the Book of Life.
If one does not obey God, his name will not be written in the Book of Life, so he will enter the hell.
On the contrary, if we obey God, our name will be written in the Book of Life although we must suffer, so we will enter the kingdom of Heaven and we live forever and ever.
- one loves others like himself.
- Having confidence before Jesus at His coming.
1 John 2:28-29
2:28. And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
2:29. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.2
The requirement is we are not afraid and ashamed. It means we experience renewal by renewal until we become as glorious as God. We return to the first creation.
Numbers 12:1, 10, 12-14
12:1. Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
12:10. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.
12:12. "Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb!"
12:13. So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "Please heal her, O God, I pray!"
12:14. Then the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spitin her face, would she not be shamedseven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again."
The thing that must be renewedis leprosy, namely self-truth, self-interest, and self-will. It is the same as the face is spat, so one becomes ashamed and afraid.
Let us be changed little by little until we have a beaming face. The renewal of life is spiritual miracle and the physical one will happen too. Everything becomes beautiful in due time. Until we are changed to become as glorious and perfect as God to greet His second coming on the glorious clouds.
God blesses us.