But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13
In life we need to make compromises, for a simple example if you are going to paint a room and you want it white and your wife wants it green, well you cannot do both. There needs to be some sort of compromise, either a new color choice, or one side gives in. But you cannot have both. Nor is it a right or wrong decision. Either color is OK in life.
But the problem becomes when we are dealing with the things of God, we still carry over the idea of compromise. That with fellow believers in what we believe, there is some compromise or acceptance to what we want to believe and what the other guy wants to believe. And we seem to think God is up there accepting any and all contracts based on our doctrine, signing them into law and the son, this man Jesus is defending our contract with the Father.
In this kind of doctrine or belief system, then obviously everything is good, but is it? Does it work that way?
The short is no it does not. When John is writing above and says not born by the will of the flesh or men, but of God. This is what he is saying. Your will or way means nothing to God. We cannot keep living our own separated life with its own decisions and expecting God to be OK with you, he’s not. He expects you to surrender your views, your opinions, your way of living. And accept his. There is only one contract available to enter into, and it is in his Son, Yeshua. And Yeshua only does what his Father tells him.
Man makes salvation about many different things with their many different religions. But in the end there is only one thing acceptable to God. Do you know him, and by that it is meant do you hear him and obey him? This is what he wants, nothing more and nothing less. Through your obedience to his word or voice, he can work into you what you must work out. To overcome yourself and the things in you not acceptable to God. He will show you what those things are and how to live a better life, that is not a question. The question is will you die unto yourself so you can hear him to obey?
One last point this morning, the devil makes it in our mind like this is the worst possible thing you could do, stop making your own decisions and let God do it for you. By the way he is not going to make decisions like what color to paint a bedroom, that is not important. God’s thing is about how you live, what you believe, how you act and react. He expects your actions and reactions to be in his love, not in your own ways which in most cases is politically correct. God is anything but politically correct. His words and truth and way offend and demand things you cannot possibly accomplish on your own. But in him you can do all things. And when you obey, and he walks alongside and helps you overcome. Then the fruit or outcome you bear amazes you. YOu will see and feel the difference in yourself and others will notice also. Many will not like the new you, expect it. But they will notice.