I hope that this open letter comes to you in the nick of time. You handed me a form with a quote from the Bible. Here I quote additional verses to amplify its message.
"Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday."
(Psalms 37:1-6, KJV)
When we look around us, we see people flourish and enjoy the ease in life. Don't be surprised; this is not new; old days have described it. Don't be troubled; there's a promise; the kingdom of God is at hand! We may be tempted to think that their carnal ways are the true path to happiness and we're also tempted to follow their footsteps. "Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world--wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from Him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity" (1 John 2:15-17). Our whole duty is to fear God and to keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Fame and earthly riches are not permanent; they'll soon disappear like grass without rain. Therefore, we have no reason to envy the wicked because their weeping and grinding of teeth with pain will be eternal (Matthew 25:30).
Since the foundation of the world, God has seen you and me under the power of sin. He loves us and gives us the way out through knowing Him and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:8). The gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) is
- That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and
- That he was buried, and
- That he rose again the third day according to the scriptures
How can we obey this gospel and be saved? "We become part of Christ Jesus when we are baptized? In our baptism, we share in His death. Our old sinful life has ended. It's dead. So when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and took part in His death. And just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father, so we can now live a new life" (Romans 6:2-4). Obedience to the gospel is through
- Repentance (dead to sin)
- Baptism (buried with Christ) and
- Newness of life (like as Christ was raised up from the dead)
This is the same as Jesus Christ's message in Luke 24:46-49 to his disciples. Jesus said to them, "It is written that the Messiah would be killed and rise from death on the third day" (Luke 24:46). He described the obedience to this gospel in verse 47, "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Take note that the disciples would see these things happen; they would be witnesses (verse 48). His final promise was that He would send them the one the Father promised; they should stay in the city until they were given that power from heaven (verse 49, Acts 1:4-8). Let's summarize the statement of Jesus to His disciples before He was carried up to heaven:
- Repentance
- Remission of sins, and
- The promise of the Father
Nine days after at the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, the 120 disciples (Acts 1:15) were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4). This is the promise of the Father, the power from heaven, that Jesus mentioned in Luke 24:49. Peter explained with the eleven apostles what had just happened by quoting the prophecy of Joel (3:1-5) that "God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts 2:15-17). He further explained that God has made Jesus to be Lord and Messiah. He is the man they nailed to the cross! (Acts 2:22-36). When the people heard this, they felt very, very sorry. They asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" (Acts 2:37). Then Peter said unto them in Acts 2:38:
- Repent
- Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins
- You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost
It is clear that the promise of the Father is the outpouring of His Spirit upon all flesh. Jesus also referred it in Acts 1:4 as the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Now, we understand fully the answer of Jesus to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:3-5). Being born of water means baptism in water in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Being born of the Spirit, which the promise of the Father or the gift of the Holy Ghost, is the pouring out of God's Spirit upon believers with the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues (Acts 2:4; Acts 10:44-47, Acts 19:6).
"All who obey God's commands live in God. And God lives in them. How do we know that God lives in us? We know because of the Spirit he gave us" (1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13). "But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God. God raised Jesus from death. And if God's Spirit lives in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. Yes, God is the one who raised Christ from death, and he will raise you to life through his Spirit living in you" (Romans 8:9-11). This is synonymous to Paul's statement on the newness of life (Romans 6:4), that is, regeneration through the holiness principles of God (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10) and giving life to our bodies that die (Romans 8:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
This is the gospel that the early disciples of Jesus in the first century church preached. It is also the gospel that I received and wherein I stand, by which also I am saved. "But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned! What we have told you in the past I am now telling you again: If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that person be condemned!" (Galatians 1:8-9).
If the desire of our heart is to be with God in His kingdom, we must delight ourselves in the Lord by doing what the Lord wants or keeping God's commandments. If our desire is to receive the salvation of our soul, we must have faith in God and obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.