like Israel, the adulterous wife of Jehovah – also to be reunited with her Lord. Then Joseph:- who in hundreds of ways is a glorious type of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The accuser may go away rebuked by this, that God has justified us; the judge may go away rebuked by this, that the Lord Jesus has died - has already suffered the judgment, and His work has been accepted to the full in heaven itself; the executioner may go away rebuked by this, that all the malice of earth and hell together shall never drag us away from the firm embrace of our God.
If we are walking by faith, as risen with the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan, the world, and the flesh are under our feet. -J.N.D.
Our Father disciplines us that we may be more fully free from the old nature, and find everything in the Lord Jesus.
I bring you into the desert to learn what you are, and what I am; but it is as those I have brought to Myself!' He gives us a place with the Lord Jesus, but then shows us what He is and what we are.
When we come to see that all the old nature was taken down into the death of the Cross, and in Christ Jesus we are completely clear of its penalty and power, it is then that we begin to welcome the work of the Cross upon all that of which the Holy Spirit convicts us.
You can be sure that you are in the will of God when He keeps you dependent upon Himself, walking in the Holy Spirit, and abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (2 Cor. 4:11, 12), and as in weakness and nothingness we look to him (2 Cor. 3:18). -A.M.
The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (2 Cor. 4:11, 12), and as in weakness and nothingness we look to Him (2 Cor. 3:18).” -A.M.
For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11)
Jesus paid the price for sin and He broke the power of sin when He died on the cross.
They believed in God – but now they must believe in the Lord Jesus.
Son of God
Imagine John’s dismay when He saw the sinless Son of God on Whom the Spirit was to rest coming to him to be baptised in water. “I need to be baptised by You,” he protested. But God always has His reasons and all that Christ did was under the guidance of the Spirit of God and in perfect harmony with the will of the Father – and for God’s glory. Jesus reassuring His humble herald said to the faithful John, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness,” and so He was baptised.
Sinner’s Saviour
There were a number of reasons that Jesus said, “Allow it for now,” and perhaps the most poignant reason was that He had come to this earth to be the sinner’s Saviour.
Kingdom of Heaven
The baptism in water of Jesus was also a marker that pointed to the beginning of His public ministry.
Spirit Baptism
Were John and Jesus alone when He was unveiled as the Christ or were there other onlookers?
Unique Role
It is a beautiful picture of the triune Godhead uniting on the banks of the Jordan to encourage the Lord Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man to fulfil His unique role as Prophet, Priest and King – as He took His first step on the road that led to Calvary. Let us never be content to skip through the pages of Scripture without a deeper look into the gracious soul of our Saviour – Who gave His life as a ransom for you and me.
Look into the book of the Revelation: great multitude, which no man could numberten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.The number cannot be expressed in human language and they have been gathered since the travail of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus derived much strength from this knowledge of purpose with which His life was bound up.
Jesus Christ was maintained in God strength all the way through, because He was dominated by the sense of His mission, because He kept firm His purpose.
We have got to know as definitely as the Lord Jesus knew, that we are in God purpose.
If we are truly to bear witness of the Lord, this old adage had a valued point, for it is only as we look to Jesus and know Him that we can bear witness of Him.
This newness of life does not involve strenuous effort in our witnessing of Jesus – for is it not in Him that we should live and move and have our being.
Jesus said, I, if I am lifted up will draw all men unto Myself.
Many have been on our position in Christ rather than the circumstances of life; looking away from the world and looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.
A man who waited God’s time. We read the following in Luke 2:26 and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. It is a truly fearful thing for anyone to see death before seeing Christ Jesus.
Pray and Praise
For you tarnish your life with much fretting. You spoil your walk with much worry. Fretting and worry crush the treasures that the Lord has to offer, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, confess your faults and your needs, and His peace that surpasses understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
Love As He Loved
The Lord Jesus wants each of His children to be united in love – united in Him..
until we all come to the knowledge of the Son of God. For God is love and love is of God and we are to be one in Him – united in Him. We are to love as Jesus loved us – to love others as His love flows through us.
Looking to Jesus
Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
While others may bewail that: the Lord delays His coming, remember the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him: He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Calvary’s Victory
The life-walk of Paul illustrates his relationship to his Lord, Jesus Christ.
Initial prideful, bitter hatred of all who followed Jesus of Nazareth, was exchanged – replaced, with such a deep love of his Master, as reflected in his penmanship.
Blood of Jesus
We read that it was “neither by the blood of goats or calves, but by His own blood that Jesus entered in once into the holy place – having obtained eternal redemption for us. The blood of Jesus did not cover for our sins.
The Perfect Man
Only God’s eternal Son was good enough to pay the incredible price for humanities sin, but God is Spirit and without the shedding of human blood – is no forgiveness of sins. He had to lay aside His glory, leave His heavenly abode and become the Son of Man. And so at God’s appointed time Jesus was born – as the innocent and perfect Man. Only the blood of an innocent and perfect Man was sufficient to pay the price for sin.
Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah and the Saviour of the world, but during His earthly ministry, we are reminded that He only came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The loose-living woman at the well in Samaria warranted death by stoning under the Law, yet was offered living water by the Messiah,rather than words of condemnation.. and by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ she was given eternal life.
It was the Lord Jesus Himself Who said... to the man, or woman, who has..
‘Divine’ Appointment
Here was her modern-day, appointment that day – just as Jesus had His divine appointment that other day, at Samaria’s well.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ.
A Believer’s Appointment
Jesus, needs must go through Samaria, for there was a woman.
Rachel needed to go to Ontario hospital, for there was a man. And we too need to go where God sends us, for there are many men and many women… The Lord Jesus is coming back – and he is coming soon..maybe today..
Jesus Christ
The central character of God’s never-ending love-story features the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the fulfilment of the past – and the promise of the future.
We read that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, but it required the Creator breaking into His own universe to achieve the impossible – a Man, born of a human mother, Who was Son of the Most High God..
forever. And he validated His redeeming role, for she was to call His name “Jesus“..
All in All
When Christ is not a Christian’s fullness, that one is filled with self, not Christ. When Christ is not all in all to the body of Christ, it becomes an empty vessel. When the Lord Jesus is not preeminent in our lives, we fail in our ministry.
He told of all the things Jesus began.
He told of all the things which Jesus began to do and to teach, until He was taken Acts 1:1
No wonder the Lord Jesus wept over the old creation in Jacob – Israel: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kill the prophets, and stone them that are sent out unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
the Church – through whom He will work for the new man in Christ was to become the mystical body of the Lord Jesus Christ – until it is no longer I that lives but Christ – that lives in me.
God set a guard over the tree of life until man could resume his role as king – until His Man, (the Man Christ Jesus) would govern the earth through God’s heavenly sovereignty.
This will be the time when the earth is filled with the glory of God; a time when the lion will lie down with the lamb; a time when Christ is set on God's holy hill of Zion as Lord of lords; a time when His people Israel will be the head of the nations and not the tail; a time when Satan is bound for a thousand years and Jesus Christ is King of kings.
All things are moving towards the kingdom rule of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth.
World System
In Revelation, we read: the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and His Christ – so why did Jesus say His kingdom was not of this world.
Heavenly Rulership
Jesus had said to Herod, My kingdom is not of this world system, for a reason.
King Jesus will reign on “the throne of David” in His earthly Kingdom.
King Jesus will reign from “My throne” in His heavenly Kingdom, for He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. 1 Corinthians 15:25
So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:7
Principle of Consecrated
The principle of consecration is that God might use that one as a sign –‘His sign.’ Not only as a sign of His immeasurable grace in the ages to come, but here and now, in the corner of the field where He has planted you. And every consecrated saint points in one-way or another to Jesus Christ.
Jesus: Set Apart
The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect example of a life, consecrated to God. He spent His earthly walk living His life through the power of the Father.. Every work He undertook, each word He spoke, was a sign of consecration to God. His was a life that signified the infinite wisdom, power and sovereignty of God, His was the life exemplifying God working in and through a man – He was a Man set-apart to God.
Thy Will Be Done
Paul reminds us: let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus… Philippians 2:5 Isaiah prays: have Thine Own way Lord – Thou are the Potter , I am the clay.
Spiritual Blessings
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. God the Father chose you and me in Christ before the foundation of the world. God preordained that we are to be adopted as His sons because of the Lord Jesus. God has blessed us with abundant blessings, in and through His beloved Son.
Heit was that needed to visit Jerusalem to rehearse these principles to the apostles. He was required to inform those who walked with Jesus three and a half years of new revelation, and throughout Paul’s epistles we see the great doctrines on which our faith rests.
Godly Challenge
All he writes is for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. His writings give us the bedrock upon which to stand and to live for God, in this evil day. The godly wisdom he wrote is directed at a Christian’s growth and sanctification, and we in this generation do well to study carefully his instructions and warnings. He writes to the saints in Christ Jesus – to those that are set apart unto God.
No, though sadly some believers do worry that they are not truly born again. Get once and for all the gospel truth ever firmly fixed in your mind and heart.. believe… just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved – forever. No, the majority of truths in Paul’s epistles are for the saved man or woman, so that we can live the life that is best for us, as directed by the Holy Spirit.
Godly Love
Jesus initially touches on the secret that was given to Paul and expounded by him:- You must love the Lord your God with all your HEART – and Paul tells us HOW. You must love the Lord your God with all your SOUL – and Paul tells us HOW. You must love the Lord your God with all your MIND – and Paul tells us HOW. Paul tells us how our thinking and thought processes must love and trust the Lord.. with every part of your being.
Godly Focus
When Paul’s heart and soul and mind was set on the Lord Jesus, his life was one of victory, joy, faith and love... despite life’s circumstances.
The Lord Jesus was the central thought on Paul’s mind.
A single mind is one that places the Lord Jesus in His rightful place.
The Apostle Paul
And Paul tells us how to achieve this:- set your thoughts and your mind and your heart on the Lord Jesus..
look to Jesus, knowing that the return of the Lord is at hand..
Give thanks in all things knowing that all things work together for good. And Paul says that if you do this… the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Wise Instructions
Have you noticed something here – every instruction starts with a thought, and every thought allows you a choice… FIRST: Set your thoughts and your mind and your heart on the Lord Jesus. If you choose to set your mind on Christ, you will experience inner peace.
The peace of God is freely available to every believer in the Lord Jesus.
The Perfect Law
The perfect Law became our tutor to lead us to Christ, so we may be justified by faith. It was Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews who came to Jesus by night. Like all religious leaders he was a man who was separated unto legal righteousness. He knew every nuance of the Law and at this time he was the main teacher in Israel.
Imperfect Man
No doubt he studied the Scriptures diligently thinking that in so doing he would earn eternal life and yet these very writings testified of Jesus in Whom abides eternal life.
Secret Disciple
Nicodemus was a man with the veil of the Law shrouding his heart – but the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ shone down on this needy man – that dark night. And later we discover him to be a secret disciple – at the tomb of his Lord.
Impossible Standard
The reality that the Law, in which Nicodemus trusted was related to the flesh, must have been shattering to this religious-minded Pharisee – this esteemed teacher. Though the Law was God’s benchmark for the man that is born of the flesh it was an impossible standard to keep – but the new life in Christ, which is a gift of God’s grace to the one that believes, is a new work of God in man – a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Spiritual Life
Man must be born of the Holy Spirit – if he is to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual life of which Christ spoke is something entirely separate from the Law. The spiritual life is rooted in grace and truth, which comes to us from Jesus Christ.
Jesus had told his Jewish brethren that He would return at a very special time.
Jesus would only return to set up His kingdom when Israel repented of their sins, acknowledged their offense, and called on His name: for I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Matthew 23:39
But a day is coming when this world’s kingdom will become the kingdom of Christ – and the Lord Jesus Christ will reign over His people – forever and evermore.
Judas Replaced
They selected Matthias to replace Judas – the one that betrayed Jesus with a kiss, for they knew that the twelve were to sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Promised Messiah
For three long years, Jesus had taught the disciples of the coming kingdom of God.
For the one who has placed their trust in Jesus for salvation, and rested their eternal destiny on His finished work at Calvary, the Bible is the divine authority, upon which our lives should be founded.
Singular Sufficiency
For those who have trusted Jesus as Saviour, Scripture is singularly sufficient for all we need to live as God requires.
Indeed to understand God’s plan for our live, we need to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Word, for we live in a world which is no friend to Jesus, the enemy of God and antagonistic towards His children – but His grace is sufficient.
The life and ministry of the Lord Jesus took place before today’s Church Age started.
Refreshing Times
This final prophet of Israel witnessed to the fact that Jesus was the Son of God.
Messiah’s Mark
Jesus lived His whole life under the shadow of the Law.
Prophet, Priest, King
In former times God had spoken to Israel through the prophets, priests, and kings, but Jesus came to announce Himself as Israel’s final Prophet, Priest and King.
Israel’s Messiah
The beautiful words and works of the Lord Jesus are worthy of our regard and study, but we must never forget that His ministry was primarily to the lost sheep of Israel.
A Future Church
He fulfilled biblical prophecy – identifying Himself as the anointed One from God, yet we see an occasional glimpse of God’s future plans for His future church. He was fully God, and He was fully Man but He lived His life as an example to us all. He adhered to the Law of Moses for Jesus lived all of His life before Calvary’s cross.
Convicted of Sin
Were God dealing with us as sinners, the Spirit would use the law as a schoolmaster, for the Law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and we all fall short of God’s law. The law exposes our sins and contrasts it with the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus:- personal sins, faults and transgressions, filth and foulness would be our fallen focus. He would convict us of sin, of righteousness and judgment.
The judgement we deserve was poured out over Christ, Who bore our sins, and we have been declared righteous by God, and because He is righteous, we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
No Condemnation – in Christ
We are sinners saved by grace and there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But we are sinners saved by grace and there is no condemnation – there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Close Presence
Directly we begin to speak to Jesus, we must know Him to be literally present. Even though it appears that His presence is veiled, there comes an answering voice which shows that He is in the shadow..
We stand by revelation, God who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
By knowing the Lord Jesus in this inward way, by revelation.
That the LIFE of JESUS might be made manifest in our mortal bodies - 2 Cor. 4:11.
It is God who hath shined in our hearts... in the face of Jesus Christ, therefore you can go through and survive.
Nothing can carry us through but the revelation of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit in our hearts; an inside knowledge of Him - not mental assent to a creed or a doctrine, but a living, vital reality in our very being.
In other words, we are immediately going to come up against that force of antagonism to stop what has come in through the death and resurrection and exaltation of the Lord Jesus, the heavenly thing.
Jesus had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.Hebrews 2:17
Romantic Nonsense
There has been much romantic nonsense written about the early life of the Lord Jesus, but Jesus lived a hard life and yet a simple life in the little despised village of Nazareth. There have been many false gospels written about the time that God in His wisdom chose to keep Jesus hidden from our view – with a few, thought-provoking exceptions.
Veiled Life
In the main, God chose to veil our view of Jesus, until the time of John the Baptist’s ministry, when Jesus started to walk in and out among the disciples of John. And yet there is much that we know of His character – His spirited zeal for the Lord – His love for the Scriptures of God and His humble dedication to His Father in heaven.
Carpenter’s Son
One thing that we do know is that the Lord Jesus spent His teenage and early adult life in submission to His parents and learning the trade of His adoptive Father – Joseph. Is not this the carpenter’s son?
And Jesus did not do many mighty works in His hometown, because of their unbelief.
And James and Jude, in their respective epistles, identified themselves as servants of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Willing Service
At the age of 12, Jesus had understood that He must be about His Father’s business – and His willingness to labour at the wooden bench of His earthly father demonstrates a determination to complete the eternal business of His heavenly Father’s calling.
We read that Jesus set His face as a flint to go to the cross as the time drew near.
But the young Jesus also set His face as a flint to carry out His Father’s work of salvation..
Jesus did this for you and He did this for me, so that He could be like His brothers and sisters - (US).
Picture of Jesus the Carpenter courtesy of Nathaniel Vargas
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him (Col. 2:6).
While they firmly grasp the truth, justified by faith,' they have hardly noticed the larger truth, the just shall live by faith.' They have not yet understood what a perfect Saviour the Lord Jesus is, and how He will each day do for the sinner just as much as He did the first day when they came to Him.
They know not that the life of grace is always and only a life of faith, and that in the relationship to the Lord Jesus the one daily and unceasing duty of the disciple is to believe, because believing is the one channel through which Divine grace and strength can flow into the heart of man.
For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake (2 Cor. 4:5).
As we keep our eyes upon the Cross for the old, and upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the new, all that will remain for others to see will be not I, but Christ.
This is the way in which believers live who do not know or who do not recognize the fact of their union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
To be occupied with self is to be defeated and to have failure and live in sin; but to be occupied with the Lord Jesus will mean victory.
Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly, beyond all that we ask or think, according to the Power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.
That power at work in us is the Spirit of God, Who is conforming us to be like Jesus.
When Jesus lived on earth, He could not do many mighty works in His hometown, His power was limited by unbelief, because the people didn’t believe Who He was. The people didn’t believe what He said. The people didn’t believe His word.
Far More Abundantly
Let us take God at His word. Let us believe in the rich resources of our reliable Father. Let us trust Him to supply us with the above-all abundance and riches of His grace, for in Ephesians 3:20-21 we read: Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever AMEN and AMEN.
God’s Decision
The Father could not have conceived of anything more to save the children of men. He foreknew all that would trust in Jesus and chose them before the world began.
He gave us a glorious inheritance and made us joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not the consecration of our old man' with its instincts and resources, his natural wisdom, strength and other gifts, to the Lord Jesus for Him to use.
The presenting' spoken of is the outcome of my knowing my old man to have been crucified (Rom. 6:6), and my reckoning myself alive unto God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11).
Nuns renounce the world, but they are not engrossed in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
While Ephesians 1:5-6 tells us that: Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
And Romans 5:1 tells us: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Preordained Acceptance
But God preordained that all who believe in Jesus are fully accepted in His beloved Son. The peace and love and acceptance of God is only through His beloved Son. Without assurance of this precious fact, many live a life of daily dissatisfaction. Without confidence in His Word, many spend their years in constant mistrust. If the failing beauty of a wife doesn’t influence the ardour of a devoted husband, how much more God’s never-failing acceptance is of the believer in Christ. God’s acceptance of you and His acceptance of me is based on one thing – the finished work of the Lord Jesus, on Calvary’s cross: being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
You are accepted in the Beloved. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, Who has loved us and given [us] everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17. For you are accepted in the Beloved.
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3)
Failure to live the Christian life is due to one's utter inability, but it is all governed by the Father.
It is a wonderful moment for the believer when we by faith occupy our standing in the favor of the Father - when we know that we are received by Him in all the acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We think of the Lord Jesus - His perfections, His suitability to divine favor, His infinite acceptance with the Father - and by faith, we have access into the favor of which He is so worthy. -C.A.C.
To find that we are objects of consideration to the Lord Jesus is an infinite solace, and it brings Him before our hearts in such a way that we are sustained above the consideration of ourselves.
There is an infinite difference between self-improvement and growing in the Lord Jesus, nourished and cherished by Him.
Instead of being elated by our own improvement, or depressed because we cannot effect it, we are to be occupied with the grace and beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, in which we are thus made to share.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1).
Now the way out is to be found in a clear-cut recognition of the fact that, as Paul says in Romans 8:1, There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' Let appearances, voices and feelings to the contrary be what they may, still this is a fact.
It is a wonderful thing to have the consciousness that we are in living union with the Lord Jesus in heavenly glory, knowing our position in that risen sphere, participating in all that constitutes His life in the blessed circle of love and rest where He lives unto the Father.
In this stage of spiritual development there are continual discoveries of the old man which makes that old self more and more repulsive, and there is also the presentation of the Lord Jesus again and again in which the soul finds increasing delight.
This fact prepares one to see that the death of the Lord Jesus severed us from our old man, and that the Lord Jesus is now our Christian life.
Fruit is not produced by making fruit an object, nor by thinking of fruit; it is the outcome of having the Lord Jesus as one's object, of thinking of Him.
They have thereby learned the grace and sympathy of the Lord Jesus, and they have been the subjects of so much tender interest and consideration flowing from the spiritual affections of His saints, that they have been conscious of infinite gain and enrichment.
It is a real loss for the attention of believers to be turned from the spiritual dealings of the Lord Jesus with His own, and from all that is the moral result of those dealings, to be concentrated upon the thought of bodily healing and self-centered experiences. -C.A.C.
There is a great difference between going to the Lord Jesus in our troubles, as to the best Physician and Friend, and knowing Him as the One who loves me best, the Bridegroom.
Time and again God divides Satan against his own evil self – to smite himself, for Jesus asks is if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?
Our Substitute
As our substitute, Jesus went to the cross alone.
As our substitute, Jesus paid the price for our sins alone.
As our substitute, Jesus suffered the penalty for our sins alone.
Our Representative
As our representative we went to the cross with Him – together. As our representative our old-man was crucified together with Jesus. As our representative our old, Adamic self and sin-nature died together with Him. As our representative He took us to the cross and we are in Him Who is the last Adam.
Death no longer has dominion over Christ, for the death that Christ died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God – likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The object of our meditation is: Jesus Christ in heaven as our Sufficiency.... Our Lord Jesusresources came from His Father when He was here on this earth.
That means: all the resources upon which the Lord Jesus lived are at our disposal.
If we live in heavenly union with Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, the same resources are at our disposal.
Let us remind ourselves of the Word which is at the basis of our meditation: i>The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.That means that all the resources which are in Christ are available for us.
All in All
It is all about Jesus. It is all about Him because He is all in all – all in earth and the heavens too. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show His handiwork. There is no one to view the splendours in the far reaches of the universe..
Spiritual Blessings
Should not I who am a child of God, chosen before the foundation of the world.. should not I, as one of His chosen ones, lift up the Lord Jesus? Should not I who will demonstrate His grace to heavenly powers in eternity.. should not I thus lift up the name of Jesus? Should not I similarly sing forth His praises through my voice and my pen?
Should not I who have been predestined to adoption by Jesus Christ to Himself – should not I rejoice in Him, according to the good pleasure of His will?
He has Raised us together in Christ Jesus.
He has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
I make no apologies for once again centring this devotional on -“Christ” Some years ago my son was challenged by students and staff at his Bible college:- “don’t you have anything else to talk other than Jesus?” he and his friends were asked. ”What else is there to talk about, but JESUS” was their very wise reply…
Gift of Grace
Prayer is a gift of God’s wonderful grace to His children, which is open access to Him. Access to the throne of God is a free gift of grace to all who trust in Jesus Christ.
Complete IN Christ
May we pray in unhindered fellowship with God, May we be properly clad in the Lord Jesus Christ. May we pray aright in spirit and in truth – in the power of the Holy Spirit, that we may be effective in the intercessory battle of the ages – a battle already won that is soon to be concluded – IN Christ.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.Romans 13:14
They have failed to put on the Lord Jesus and are working in the power of the flesh.
Heavenly Deposit
The indwelling Spirit was given as a deposit – that we can live godly in Christ Jesus..
Colossians 2:9 So all we need to do is to appropriate His life in us – to allow Him to live through us. that you may be filled with all the fullness of God for your life is hid with Christ in God so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Ephesians.3:19
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. (Philippians 3:8 NIV)
The believer, having received the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' comes under the influence of the law' of that Spirit (Rom. 8:2).
The operating principle of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' ever works in the direction of profound self-judgment, and of the consciousness that we have in the Lord Jesus not only righteousness, but a divine Source of satisfaction and strength.
And thus it makes the one in whom it operates free from the law of sin and death.' It gives the consciousness that divine goodness is an unfailing resource for our hearts, and that all the treasures of that goodness are stored up in Christ Jesus, that we may learn them there, and find the life of our spirits in the growing knowledge of Him. -C.A.C.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' made me free from the law of sin and death' - not the life,' but the Spirit of life,' - not our effort, but divine strength; not self-occupation, but occupation with Him in whom we are before the Father, and in whom the divine favor rests upon us full and constant, because on Him it rests. -F.W.G.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).
There is the substitution of the power of the Spirit for the power of a right will and human effort, the substitution therefore of occupation with the glorified Lord Jesus Christ for occupation with spiritual growth; for then and thus alone is growth obtained. -F.W.G.
and His grace continually draws you and me: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus – that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church, to the principalities and powers in heavenly places.
A Never-ending Gift
The death burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus demonstrates God’s amazing grace.
There was no worse a wretch than me when I gave my life to Jesus – no worse a past.
And I now see the hand of Father God in my life, from creation, through Jesus’ coming and resurrection to His saving grace.
My Testimony
When I gave my life to Jesus during the Billy Graham crusade event in Chesterfield in 1984, I remember being blown away by the fact that not only had my sins been forgiven and I had the assurance of eternal life but I had a direct line to Father God.
What a friend we have in Jesus ALL our sins and griefs’ to bear What a privilege to carry EVERYTHING to God in prayer
Crucified For Me
I believe that when our Lord Jesus Christ walked amongst us knowing full well what His fate would be that He also had to draw on his Father’s Grace, when for instance He was tempted by Satan in the dessert..
The clearest evidence I see of Father God’s Grace abounding in Jesus’ life is in the run-up to His death on the cross, in particular when He said ‘Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do’! Not only was He willing to die that horrible death on the cross for their sins and ours, but by His Father’s Grace, He was also able to forgive them, then and there – as He was crucified.
In dying on that cross our Lord Jesus Christ, as He had promised, reconciled us to Father God in the forgiveness of our sins and the assurance of eternal life with Him and His Father – and the promise that He was leaving His Holy Spirit with us to live in us and amongst us until we die or until He returns.
Easter Reflections - STUDY
3rd word from the cross
When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He saith unto His mother: “Woman, behold thy son!”John 19:26
A Fervent Love
Stripped of all and in poverty of spirit, one would think that He’d no more to give. He had already bequeathed to all who hung Him on the Tree, the Precious Pardon of God Almighty - to a dying world. He had graciously bestowed on His companion in punishment... The Promise of Paradise, Today… to a dying man. But there before Him, in dumb disbelief and paralysed in their agony, were two of those, beloved of Him. Standing in that little group of mourners were two who had been His beloved companions:- When Jesus, therefore, saw His mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, 'Woman, behold thy son!' Then saith He to the disciple, 'Behold thy mother' – and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
High Standard
The literal translation of this verse in Luke begins:-“watch ye, then – in every season..” And the verse continues :- “praying…” Jesus sets an incredibly high standard – watching in every season and praying. Paul also sets a seemingly unreachable goal – pray without ceasing.
Standing Firm
A watchful prayerfulness and a prayerful watch is linked is with patient endurance, and patient endurance is linked with standing firm in Christ. Patient endurance is to do with standing firm in the evil day, Paul warns us to:- “Stand therefore … and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13 And the Lord Jesus Himself in this same context earnestly exhorts us to:- Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is” And He tells us:- “Take heed – See, I have told you all things beforehand.”
God’s Example
Kneeling down before the twelve, the Lord Jesus washed the feet of all His disciples.
He modelled the only way that mankind can live a godly life – in Christ Jesus.
Jesus was a godly man; a man of faith; a man that trusted God in all things.
He walked in spirit and truth and humbly said, Thy will not mine be done. Jesus was indeed the example of godliness – a man who walked by faith.
Man of Faith
Christ Jesus our Lord also lived by faith and Christ Jesus our Lord pleased God.
Christ Jesus our Lord was God’s chosen and ultimate example of a man of faith.
Christ Jesus our Lord was our worthy example and the perfect example of godliness. And Christ Himself lived in unfailing dependence upon the Father in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Perfect Example
Though 100% God, the Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect example of a Man that lived by faith.
The little Lord Jesus was born with the “Divine Nature from Above” – the “DNA” of the Holy Trinity: for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form.
Complete in Him
And the impossible reality in the lives of all who believe in Jesus, is that we are complete in Him, and the divine nature from above, the “DNA” of Christ Jesus is ours by birth and adoption, for we are His precious people; a holy nation – God’s special possession.
Our Prepared Body
A body was prepared for the Lord Jesus, though the overshadowing work of the Holy Spirit.
Like Jesus
And the Helper that Christ sent was to be just like Himself – and to be with us forever.
Our Advocate
Jesus was the Paraclete / Paracletos while He was on earth – for His disciples.
Christ’s Replacement
Today we have our indwelling Paraclete / Paracletos – to come alongside to help. No wonder Jesus said, It is expedient for you that I go away: because if I do not go away, then the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I do depart, I will send Him unto you.
Inner Ministry
I doubt the disciples could have imagined that Christ, going away as He did, would have resulted in something even better for them– for the Lord Jesus could only walk beside His disciples – while the Holy Spirit indwells the very heart of a believer. This intimate, inner ministry of the indwelling Spirit, surpasses our wildest thoughts.
Holy Mystery
Let us wonder at the mystery of the divine Person that has chosen to take up residence in our heart and become our Teacher, Advisor, Advocate, and Instructor and Who is leading and guiding us into all truth and most importantly – is at this moment conforming us into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
Faithful to the End
Paul discovered that no privation or prison cell, no threat or torture, no impoverishment or lack was able to separate him from the love of Christ Jesus.
Indeed, he was able to say with confident assurance, I am persuaded that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus..
It was proclaiming Christ Jesus the Lord that was Paul’s ministry.
Christ Crucified
But down through the centuries so much Christian work excludes Christ. Proclaiming a mission statement is too often the abortive work of a ministry. Publishing a programme has become the norm in much evangelistic work. Preaching anything and everything except the only thing of importance.. that I might preach HIM – that I might preach Christ – that I might preach Christ Jesus and Him crucified.
It’s all about Jesus and keeping Him the centre of our heart and life.
Resist or Submit
The glory of the Son of God is demonstrated in the life of the Lord Jesus, and with our permission… He will change each of us to be like Him.
God has spoken to us in His Son – and it behoves us to listen carefully to His voice. Knowledge of the Holy is only truly translated to us through one medium – the glory of God is only fully expressed through the person of Jesus Christ.
The creative power of God gives light and life and hope to a believing soul, and God points to Jesus, when He declared: hear Him, from His fiery throne.
First, God leaves the choice of believing in Him to the unsaved individual: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved from your sins..
Israel’s Messiah
Jesus knew that His work on earth was almost finished and that in the near future He would leave His disciples to return to His Father’s throne in glory, in heavenly places. Jesus had been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to prepare them for the coming kingdom and much of His words, works, signs, and miracles were a witness to the Nation that He was indeed Israel’s Messiah, Who was promised by the Father.
Luke 19:14. And throughout the gospel, there are little glimpses where Jesus was seen preparing and training His disciples for the dispensation of Grace – the Church-Age.
Jesus knew that the cross loomed and that the resurrection would follow.
Jesus told them that He would go to the Father’s spacious, heavenly home where He’d promised to prepare a place for them – so that one day He would return and take them there to be with Himself.
Prophecy Proclaimed
Jesus put it very concisely.
The promise of the Lord Jesus was something that was to take place in the future. The promise to the disciples was to be something entirely new for the Church age.
For 2000 years the Spirit has taken up residence in the body of all who trust Jesus as Saviour – He takes up permanent residence the moment a man or woman puts their trust in Jesus.
The moment they place their trust in Jesus they are baptised into the body of Christ – and in John’s gospel, Jesus promises the Spirit will abide with us and will be in us.
Seeing the blackness of my heart provides the perfect backdrop for the bright and shining glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my life.
When I see this, those very conditions magnify before my soul the greatness of His salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is what is perfect and absolutely for God's satisfaction and delight in the Lord Jesus, and it remains unaffected by what I find in myself.
The secret of being like the Lord Jesus is, that we are to count ourselves dead to the old and alive in the new.
We are to give up our self-efforts after likeness to Him; we are to distrust our own strength as much as we distrust our own weakness and our own sin; and instead of striving to live like the Lord Jesus, let Him live through us, as He greatly desires to do.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
As believers we rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus died for us, but few are affected by the fact that He arose for us.
The Lord Jesus on the Cross removed the barriers which separated me from God - my guilt, my sin, the law; and He dealt with my enemies - the world, the flesh, the devil.
These six things were dealt with, so that we need no longer be in bondage through fear and that we may come boldly to the throne of grace. - Have we given a hearty assent to these things which the Lord Jesus did for us?
Lying Influences
Circumstances of life and wickedness in the world may seem to scream the reverse, but you must never base your faith in Christ Jesus on your feelings – nor must you allow the circumstances of life to influence your trust in God.
Feeling or Faith
Feelings will lie, and circumstances can fabricate the truth of God’s word. Your faith is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness – and because you are in Him, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you.
Looking away (from all that will distract) to Jesus (Heb. 12:2, Amp.).
Since we are morally coloured by the human company we keep, whether high or low, think of the importance of continually associating with the Lord Jesus on high, and having Him as the centre of our love and interest (2 Cor. 3:18).
He had learned from experience that goodness is not caught by pursuit but by association; not by struggling to obey laws and rules, but by living in the Lord Jesus' presence.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, is the Bible’s clear instruction, for there can be little or no stability in the Christian life when this truth is doubted – but until this is resolved in a believer’s heart there can be little spiritual growth.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved..
for whosoever believes on Him – the Lord Jesus Christ, will be saved.
If there is anything added to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it is extra biblical.
It is Jesus Himself Who promised that both He and the Father would keep us safe. And Paul tells us that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption..
Eternal Life
God, the Son, tells us that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will have eternal life.
It has not dawned upon them that at the heart of these very circumstances they are to find the Lord Jesus, find His grace sufficient, find the life more abundant. -L.E.M.
My Father was not looking for any good in me, and had the Lord Jesus Christ before Him, the perfect and infinitely acceptable Object of His heart.
The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the Lord Jesus, and fills us with Him.
Since this position in the Lord Jesus is unchangeable, and eternal, the baptizing work of the Spirit is not repeatable.
The Holy Spirit gives a living knowledge; His light is the light of life; He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' We see the Father and the Son as seeing us.
In other words, love, petition, listening to the Father's voice, receiving the love and peace of the Lord Jesus, fellowship, are invoked in this knowledge. -A.S.
This Life is not something apart from the Lord Jesus, and we can never think of His standing in need of some improvement, nor of the possibility of something being added to Him to make Him complete, or more complete.
Why Delay
Jesus loved Mary and Martha dearly – so why would He delay their cry for help? Daniel was beloved of the Lord – so why did he have to wait for an answer? God was the friend of Abraham – so why the unendurable delayed promise?
– Do You see any rebellion in me – as in my independence as I seek to go it alone? Do You see any areas in my life that you choose to sever with Your holy scalpel? Do You have areas in my life that You desire to perfect? Do You see an area in me that needs to be conformed into the image of Jesus?”
The product of Christian suffering is a likeness to Jesus:- that Christ be formed in you - that Christ be formed in me.
Fruitful Reward
Jesus told us in John 15, be fruitful and multiply. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away. Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.
Perfect Person
The Lord Jesus was the personal, physical presence of the perfect person on earth.
Physical Representatives
The Church, which is His Body, is the only physical representation of God on earth today, and God has chosen the Church, in Him, before the foundation of the world.” While the Lord Jesus was on earth, we read many stories of His life and His work.
Members of His Body on earth today are relationally joined to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus the law of an effective and life, service, and prayer is a oneness with Him – a oneness with Jesus - a oneness with Christ, that we only do, but surely do what He does.
This will demand a considerable shifting of all undertakings in the name of Jesus and will require that nothing is done until the mind of the Lord has been made known.
Man’s 2 Natures
As children of God we were given a new life in Christ – a baby life that needs to grow. Our life should be a fruitful, victorious life that matures into a spiritual believer – a life submitted to the Spirit, so it may be conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus. But we still have a sin nature that seeks to gain supremacy over our new Christ-life. We were freed from its power over us, at the cross, but it remains our deadly enemy.
2 Opposing Natures
The more we feed one of these two bitterly opposing natures, the more it grows and develops – and the stronger it becomes the greater its capacity for good or for evil. The new life in Christ, we received at salvation, is the very life of Jesus Christ, that was breathed into us by God’s Spirit, so we could grow in grace and spiritually mature.
In this way the new life in Christ will have a chance to grow and mature, and gradually be conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus. If we ignore the clear guidance in scripture on how to live a spiritual life, that’s pleasing to God, and submit to the old sin nature, we place ourselves back under the bondage of law.
Put on the New
Let us put to death the deeds of the body, so our new life in Christ can grow: for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Let us not copy the behaviours and customs of this world, but rather let us submit to the Spirit, so that God can transform us into a new person..
All sharing must be motivated and governed by life: the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2).
The Holy Spirit came to reproduce the Lord Jesus in the lives of men and women.
All our activities and efforts and energies and expenditures; all our sacrifices, our movements and our teaching: everything that has become a part of Christianity' has to be measured by the one rule - is it resulting in the reproduction of the Lord Jesus Christ in the lives of men and women, so that it is demonstrated from heaven that He is as truly here in this world now as ever He was in history? -T.
They may be present and they may be valuable, but the Spirit's object is something far greater - to form the Lord Jesus Christ in us through the work of the Cross.
In the long run it is what we are, and not simply what we say or do - and the difference lies in the formation of the Lord Jesus within.
Plan of God
Jesus gives beauty in exchange for our brokenness. He gives light in exchange for our thickest darkness. He gives hope in exchange for our deepest despair.
Who Was To Come
Jesus was made a little lower than the angels.
Equal With the Father
Consider Jesus – the eternal Son of God; the One Who is Equal to God; the One Who was in the beginning with God; the One Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come.
But consider Jesus, Who in humbleness of will and in graciousness of spirit, cried.
A Sublime Gospel
This was the first and most sublime gospel sermon ever preached: “Behold……” This magnificent proclamation, is the model for all teachers and ministries. “Behold……” This final forerunner of the Messiah pointed to the Lord Jesus and cried, “Behold……”
All in All
Each lonely, prophet’s voice in the wilderness pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God. Each inspired, prophetic utterance points to Jesus in history: and Jesus of the future.
But Jesus in not only the Alpha and the Omega..
Jesus inhabits all time and eternity, and as a blood-bought believer His Spirit indwells you and He indwells me.
Witnesses and Watchmen
We are to stand as a witness, to bear witness of the Light. We are to proclaim the Word Who was made flesh, and dwelt among us. We are to point to Jesus the Saviour, Who was full of grace and truth.
Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe.
Jesus put Himself to open shame so the world could 'Behold the Man'.
Look and Live
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that all could behold it and live, and now Jesus was lifted up on the cross – so that ALL could look and live. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up – for all that look will live.
Wise and Foolish
Those who love Jesus, behold Him as precious Saviour; glorious Lord; gracious God – commanding rapt admiration, profound thanks and eternal praise and worship.
[God] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
There aren't many truly happy Christians simply because there aren't many who really abide in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I must not only see my position in the Lord Jesus, but I must come near to the One who set me there.
For some time after I knew the Saviour I used to think of Him as One who had lived and died on earth long years ago, and I well remember the day when I knelt down with a dear brother who prayed that we might know the Lord Jesus as a living Person in heavenly glory, and it dawned upon me that there was a present Object for my heart in heaven.
Our hearts will never be satisfied until that glorified Lord Jesus becomes our Object bright and fair. -C.A.C.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Light of Christ
The light of Christ has been given to every single man who has entered the world. Not one member of the human race has ever been excluded from God’s gracious gift. Though now crowned with glory and great honour, Jesus tasted death for everyone. By God’s grace alone every man and woman has an opportunity to receive eternal life.
Many do not wish to know Him, for men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil – and many of His own people do not want Jesus as their King.
Bridge of Faith
In a world, (or in a man), that does not know the Lord Jesus Christ – He cannot reign as king, nor can He impart righteousness to those who do not believe in His name. Condemnation is removed from ALL those that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ – BUT ALL who reject God’s free gift of grace are already condemned – because of unbelief. There is a great divide between the two which can only be bridged by faith.
Eternal Life
This is eternal life that they might know Thee – the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. It is that simple, and yet how many reject God’s grace. The shocking reason that men turn their back on God’s free and gracious gift of salvation is wrapped up in the notion that man can produce his own righteousness.
Condemnation is the fruit of unbelief in Christ Jesus – resulting in eternal separation.
Such thinking enlarges the gaping void and widens the great divide between all who believe in Christ Jesus our Lord – and those that condemn themselves through unbelief.
God made His gospel simple and clear – believe on the Lord Jesus OR remain condemned. The redemption message is clear – salvation is of grace… through Christ Jesus..
John and Romans
The two books of the Bible considered as the clearest and best explanation on how to be saved, are to be found in the gospel of John – and in Paul’s epistle the Romans. Both men, in their own unique writing style and language, explain that God’s gift of saving grace for all men, is simply by believing on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. John says that grace came through Christ and whoever believes on Him will be saved. Paul reminds us that salvation comes through faith alone – that it might be of grace. But one issue confuses and confounds many people – the issue of repentance.
Gospel Teaching
Some consider that unless a sinner believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in addition, goes through the process of repenting of all their sins – they are not properly saved. Many believers are told by certain teachers and preachers that unless they repent of every sin they have ever committed – then they cannot be properly forgiven by God. But this goes against the teachings of both John – the beloved disciple of the Lord and the apostle Paul, who was called as God’s special witness to the gentile nations.
By Believing
John wrote his gospel so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God – and that by believing we might have life, but he NEVER uses the word ‘repentance’. Paul in his letter to the Romans gives step-by-step instructions on how we are justified, sanctified and glorified by grace, through faith – but only uses the word ‘repentance’ a couple of times..
Should we not repent of our sins? Indeed, we should ‘repent’ of our sins, but repentance has to be understood as being an integral part of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ – and not an addition to faith.
The modern teaching adds repentance as a work – as an extra requirement – as an addition that has to be added to the finished work of the cross – if man is to be saved, which would require a sinner to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ AND also repent.
Finished Work
When anything other than believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is added to the finished work of the cross, it means that Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary was insufficient – and the only way to resolve this issue is to apply the correct meaning to the word – repent. Remember – the correct meaning ‘repent’ – is to ‘change…’ We must not use the incorrect meaning of the word’ repent’, which is often taught as going through a process of listing all our sins – as an addition to believing on Christ.
True Repentance
In the process of turning to Christ – obviously we TURN FROM our sins. In the process of turning to Christ – unquestionably we REPENT of sins. An integral part of believing on the Lord Jesus must include scriptural repentance… a change of mind..
a change of attitude – a change of heart. An integral part of scriptural repentance must include believing on the Lord Jesus… salvation – a gift of God – by grace alone – through faith alone.
The Spirit's purpose is to bring the well-meaning believer down into defeat, wretched and ready to realize, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord (Rom. 7:25).
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10).
If we have the Lord Jesus Christ risen and in heaven as our Object, we shall prove the power of His resurrection, not only in lifting us up when we are conscious of our exceeding short-comings, but in strengthening us to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus' (Phil. 3:14).
Faith is man’s response to the promises of God and God expects us to trust Him. But biblical faith can only be biblical faith if Jesus is central to our belief.
It is vital to believe in God, but His saving plan is only possible through Christ – so only those that believe in God, and Jesus Christ Whom He sent, are saved.
Saving Faith
If we believe on Jesus as saviour then we are saved – period.
Trusting in Jesus Christ as saviour is sufficient, for God seals you as His child, and at that point, we enter an entirely new and exciting relationship with God.
If we don’t believe on Jesus as saviour we are not saved and condemn ourselves.
The Lord Jesus never fails us under any conditions.
When the Lord Jesus was on the Cross there were no mighty deeds to be seen, yet Calvary did more for the world than all the great deeds in Galilee.
An increasing number of the Lord's people are seeking to enjoy the power of the Lord Jesus' life by accepting the fact of their union in His death as expressed by Paul, That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death' (Phil. 3:10).
On the human side, man is conscious of doing only what he actually does: he chooses as an act of his own volition to receive the grace God offers in Christ Jesus.
Growing In Grace - STUDY
For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.Galatians 3:26
Positional Truth
We are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus and this verse can also be translated: it is through faith in Christ that all of you are sons in union with Christ. These believers knew about their heavenly heritage and their position in Christ, for in the next verse we read: for as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ.
This same gracious blessing is reinforced by Paul both to the Corinthians and Romans: for by one Spirit were we all baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit, 1Cor.12:13 or do you not know that as many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus, were baptised into His death?
We do not have to do anything for these truths are completed in us by the Spirit. In Romans 6 Paul tells us we were baptised into the death of Christ Jesus and this talks about our identification with Christ’s death.
Unfolding Plan
Prophets of old down through centuries continued to magnify revelation of God, while in these last days the Word Himself is disclosed to our understanding. The Word of God - the Lord, Christ Jesus.
Body Ministry
The body of Christ is to reach its full stature - even the fullness of Christ Jesus.
We are all being fitly framed together - conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus.
And the Lord Jesus prayed that His body would have the same oneness and fellowship, 'that they all may all be one; as thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me'.
both individually and corporately, until we come to a unity in our faith – and deeper knowledge of Christ Jesus.. until we are all mature in the faith – until the body of Christ reaches its full stature, even the fullness of Christ Jesus.
“Walking in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, He leads up our hearts to where we are in the Lord Jesus.
It is thus that we learn that the Spirit who has renewed our spirit must also sustain our new life; that we depend entirely on divine grace and strength, not merely to bring us to the Lord Jesus, but to keep us abiding in Him where He is.” -A.M.
The whole purpose of salvation is that men and women may grow in the deeper stable characteristics of the Christian life - that they might be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. -G.D.
It is the consuming desire of the Lord Jesus to reincarnate Himself in the believer. -R.P.
Jesus said, ” I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.John 6:51
Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life..John 10:10
Jesus said, “Abide in ME..John 15:4
Jesus said, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while..”Mark 16:31
Food for the Human Heart
No bread that is grown on earth will furnish food for the human heart. No nourishment for the body can suffice the deep need of the believer’s soul. Jesus alone can satisfy the longings and desires of the hungry man, for He is the Bread of LIFE.
“I Am that Bread of Life” said Jesus, “come to Me and you will never hunger.” How is Christ the Bread of Life?
but Jesus is the Life and the Way and the Truth and He alone can suffice.
Jesus has given those who believe Life – and Life more abundantly.
Time is short : Jesus is coming again soon. Take time with Him : Embrace the moment. Delight in your lonely solitude : That I may know Him : Take time with Him : Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while..
JESUS is all you need:I Am the bread of lifeI Am the living breadI Am the light of the worldI Am the door of the sheepfoldI Am the good shepherdI Am the resurrection, and the lifeI Am the way, the truth, and the lifeI Am the vine and ye are the branchesI Am Alpha and Omega,I Am the beginning and the endI Am the first and the last.I Am the root and the offspring of David,I Am the bright and morning starREST IN ME : ABIDE IN ME : FEED ON ME
Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it (Matt. 26:26).
The Lord Jesus is not going to break' anything in our lives that does not require breaking.
How often we have murmured under trial only to see later the preparation of the Lord Jesus of our hearts that we might be His ministers of comfort in an hour of need in the life of another (2 Cor. 1:4).
All that would be used of the Father in the hands of the Lord Jesus to meet the needs of the hungry-hearted must first be made a blessing by Him.
This process is necessary because of our tendency to think more of working for the Lord Jesus than becoming a channel for the outflowing of heavenly bread to broken hearts on every side. -H.R.
A barren life means barren service, and no amount of self-effort will ever make up for that!Not I, but Christ.' The Lord Jesus does not ask that we should work for Him, but He intends to work through us.
In the one I slave and work worthily for Him, and constantly feel the barrenness of a busy life; in the other I let His life flow through me in all His glorious effortlessness, and rest in the assurance that the Lord Jesus at work cannot fail.
The one is a life of endeavor, always being keyed up to do something greater; the other is a life of faith always looking to the Lord Jesus to reveal the next step and then give the enablement to carry it out. -H.G.
When the believer truly sees Calvary he says, There, through the work of the Cross, I died with the Lord Jesus unto sin.
When the believer truly sees Pentecost he says, There, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, I was baptized into the risen Lord Jesus.
He is freed from condemnation because of the Blood shed, and he is set free from the law of sin and death by the indwelling Spirit that he received when he came to the Lord Jesus.
The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2). ...hath made me free....' Let me walk in it; let me enjoy it, and I am free.
We are to find out in Romans 6, through the gracious teaching of the Spirit of truth, all that happened to the Lord Jesus there on the Cross.
The Lord Jesus presses on our hearts that He brings us into association with Himself.
He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 1:3).
Not only is my blessing in heaven, but I need the Lord Jesus' power to enable me to rise above the sense of my infirmity down here; for this world, instead of contributing to me, makes me feel my weakness and need, and that I must rise out of it to find and enjoy my blessing.
God forbid that I should glory, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14).
Difficulties and trials are inevitable as we travel through life, but how important for Christians to understand the cause of sin, the effects of sin, the consequences of sin and how to live godly in Christ Jesus.
Jesus reminded us that: in this world we will have tribulations but be of good cheer, He says, I have overcome the world.
We do not become sinless when we believe in Jesus, we become saved.
There is nothing more beautiful than a life that has Jesus as its focus.
There is nothing more needful than a life that simply rests in Christ Jesus.
When we abide in Christ, we have simply appropriated the riches of God’s grace – and the end result is a simple, beautiful, purposeful life that keeps Jesus central.
There is nothing more beautiful than a life that has Jesus as its focus.
There is nothing more needful than a life that simply rests in Christ Jesus – and a life with Him as central, is a life that’s simple, beautiful, purposeful, and fruitful.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.Luke 2:52
Young Jesus
From Bethlehem’s crude stable to His temporary sojourn in Egypt, little is known of Jesus, other than that the death of Christ was Satan’s evil plan from the start of His life.
And following the visit of the eastern sages and His early years in the little town of Nazareth, all we are told was that the child Jesus, grew both spiritually and physically.
Sinless Life
Oh, there are many false and spurious legends that have grown up surrounding the early life of the Lord, with untrue and foolish stories of childhood miracles He did – but all are erroneous and blasphemous and are the product of a vivid imagination. But what we do know is that the Boy Jesus lived a sinless life, which is equally true of the many silent years of His childhood as it is of His three intense years of ministry, for He was God and He was Man – not just for 3 years but throughout His whole life.
Learned Obedience
What we also know, however, is that the Lord Jesus learned obedience in His early years.
was the initial response of Nathaniel when he first heard of Jesus, for this little, insignificant, Galilean town was despised – but how different Nathaniel’s post-resurrection realisation..
that Jesus was Lord and God.
Two Natures
But from His very conception and birth, Jesus was both fully God and fully human: for unto us a Child is born (to Mary) – unto us a Son is given (the Son of the Father).
Unique Person
In one sense the birth and life of the Child Jesus was like any other child, for He was conceived and born into a world of sorrow like any other man and His life was one of toil and poverty.
Trustworthy Saying
This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
God’s Christ
It is by God’s doing we are in Christ Jesus and eternally united with Him, and to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ - the power of God and Christ -the wisdom of God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption 1Corinthians 1:24
One With Christ
God in His grace has united us together as one – with Christ Jesus.
God's thought for us is that One, no less than His Son Jesus Christ, in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form, should be our fullness.
For we worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3).
In time, his O wretched man complex is replaced by I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24, 25). Christ-confidence is the basis for the healthy Christian's walk.
If He did, you would not be free from your self-confidence; you would not learn to fight the good fight of faith and thus obtain the victory which the Master has won; you would not learn to say the Lord Jesus only,' but you would still continue to say Jesus and I.'
Worldly Thinking
The common thought among worldly, pagan thinking is that all roads lead to God. In actual fact, there is only one way that leads to the Father, and it is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself clearly stated, I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.
Christ is the answer to each hurting heart, for the spilt blood of Christ alone can address each need and comfort each heart – the shed blood of Jesus alone can calm each cry and heal each hurt.
Christ our Righteousness
Because we trust in Christ, He is our righteousness, our holiness and redemption. We have nothing at all to boast about, except in the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Far be it from any of us who are His children to boast except in the cross of Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me – and I to the world. Galatians 6:14.
Spirit of Comfort
Truly Jesus is a great Comforter - our wonderful 'Paraclete'. Wikipedia tell us it mean 'Advocate' or 'Helper' and it generally refers to the Holy Spirit.
And what a precious Comforter He is - sent to indwell all those that believe in Him - sent to do the work of consoling and strengthening all who trust in the Lord Jesus.
Christ Our Comforter
But the Lord Jesus Himself is also the great Comforter.
The Lord Jesus Himself was the first Comforter - for at His departure Jesus told those that He loved so dearly, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.
We then have a new position, and that position is the glorified Lord Jesus Christ.
The believer must never lose sight of this fundamental truth: that the basis of his fellowship with the Father is not his own personal holiness, or what the Lord Jesus is in him, but his judicial position before the Father, or what the Lord Jesus is for him.
Most look to get victory in order to get peace, but it is peace already made by the Lord Jesus' work and risen life that is ours.
Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. . .
This letter to the Hebrews sets forth the all-inclusive revolution or reconstitution which God made when He brought His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world that is, the religious revolution.
That is if it came into the heart by the Spirit's power with the effect of a revelation in the same way as the Apostle Paul came to see who Jesus of Nazareth is, then a Christian-Judaism, or Judaistic-Christianity (which Christendom so largely is) would be impossible; as it became in his own case.
That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers,Hebrews 2:11
and Boaz the close relative of Naomi and Ruth became their “kinsman redeemer.” And Boaz prefigured the Lord Jesus Himself, Who became our “kinsman redeemer”
The Church
That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing hymns to You in the congregation.
the Church. Is this not a stupendous truth? Is this not something that should rejoice our very beings? Jesus, the One who makes people holy and those who are made holy (that’s you and me) are of the same family with the same Father – so He is not ashamed to call us brothers.
Death Defeated
But there is MORE – Since we all have flesh and blood in common – Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—i.e.
High Priest
And there is even MORE- Jesus had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful High Priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of His people. What grace that God should send His only begotten Son to be our kinsman-redeemer. What grace that the eternal Son of God should set aside His deity to be born as man and clothe Himself in human flesh – so that we could be redeemed by His blood.
He (the Holy Spirit) shall glorify Me (the Lord Jesus) (John 16:14).
No; in order that the Lord Jesus may have His place.
Those souls are to be residences' of the Lord Jesus.
Not at all; but so that the Lord Jesus shall have a larger place.
No matter what the Spirit does, He has one all-inclusive object and end - the glorifying of the Lord Jesus Christ: that is, the giving of Him His place, and then filling all things with Him.
The Holy Spirit's filling is intended to be a filling of all things with the Lord Jesus Christ. -T.
Oh, that the Spirit might be held in honor as the One to fill us with the very life of our Lord Jesus Christ! -A.M.
One Foundation
If a ministry is dependent on the name of its leader it is doomed to fail. If Christ is replaced by a man, woman or denomination, a death knoll has sounded, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” 1Corinthians 3:11
He is revealed within His cross; death; resurrection; ascension; glorification: We need to realise that there is a Man in heaven sitting on the throne of God, and that man is Christ Jesus the Lord, the head of the Church.
Jesus was crucified outside the city wall, spurned and rejected by those He came to save.
Jesus remains spurned, rejected, ignored, knocking – outside the door of the ‘church’
Jesus said, I, if I am lifted up will draw all men unto Myself” John 12:32
Foundation and Capstone
We need to realise that there is a Man in heaven sitting on the throne of God, and that Man is Christ Jesus our Lord – the Head of the Church – and He alone is the foundation and capstone of all that is called Christianity.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5).
The enemy who would occupy us with ourselves, or the Comforter who would occupy us with the risen Lord Jesus?
The spirit of death, or the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus?
We may love as Jonathan, and follow as Ruth, but until we know that we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, we will not be free enough from our own interests, to take up His.
They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and the first and supreme factor in the virtue of that Blood in all these directions, is its untainted sinlessness, the nature of the Lord Jesus.
We receive by faith the virtue of that precious Blood; that is, the perfection of the Lord Jesus can be put to our account.
As to the internal Cross, while not so obvious, it is still a fact that we are to be always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11).
The saved man's relation to the Lord Jesus has been made contractual instead of personal.
The death of the Lord Jesus was not only an atonement for sins, but a triumph over sin.
We are not only to take by faith the fact that the Lord Jesus died for us to pay the price and penalty of our sins, but we are to appropriate by faith the fact that He also took us to the Cross with Him.
So the story of the pathway of faith begins with Calvary and our identification with the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. -G.M.
And it simply means that in the Cross of the Lord Jesus, the natural life and the reasoning of the natural life, or the self-life the willing of the self-life, the desiring of the self-life has been cut off by the Cross.
Saints seek to use Him rather in order to get through their circumstances, instead of seeing in the circumstances the mold in which they are to be taught the strength and power of the Lord Jesus.
“Let us walk in the light as He is in the light, so that we may have fellowship one with another, knowing that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1John 1:7 – and so that He may be glorified in our bodies.
The apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and told Him all things.
The beloved John who cried out: Behold the Lamb of God… the one who had pointed many of these same men to the One that stood among then – he had been slaughtered in an orgy of lust and crudity, and so they gathered themselves to Jesus. Should not we in like manner gather ourselves to the Source of all calm? Should not we similarly flee to the Lord and rest under the pinions of His love? Should not we cast all our burdens upon Him – for He cares for you too?
Anxiety of Many
Sadly, in this increasingly dark world, many lives are in a state of unbroken anxiety. Other fret and fume, while others search relentlessly for unachievable answers. To be perfectly at rest amid the hurly-burly of daily life is a secret worth knowing. It is only achieved in a life abandoned to the Lord – a life that trusts His Word. Looking away from the raging world and fixing your eyes upon Jesus. It is achieved by the one that will come to Him – and rest.
Focus of Rest
'But how you ask. 'How do you reach the rest that He has promised you?' Turn away from the visible, if you would possess the invisible. Take time with the Lord Jesus and gaze on His loveliness. Fix the eyes of your heart on Jesus and away from the world’s ugliness. Turn away from your own efforts and from faith in yourself, and allow Him to occupy your thoughts until He is resting within your heart. Come away from all else and set your heart, your thoughts, your mind on Jesus.
The apostles gathered to Jesus, and He said to them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.
And that means that God sees us as perfect – just as Christ Jesus is perfect, for He looks at us through Christ, Who has removed all sins, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.
Jesus Himself our perfect example was perfected in life – through obedience. Hebrews tells us that by His being made perfect: Jesus became the author of eternal salvation..
One old saint explained the fact of being 'complete in Him', this way:- First, the Lord Jesus is the source of our Christian life – we were born into Him.
and we can rebel or we can submit. We can remain a babe in Christ – OR we can mature in the faith. We can get stuck feeding on the milk of the word – OR we can start to eat strong meat. We can grieve and quench the Spirit’s work in our lives – OR we can grow in grace. All these are vital principles of the Christian life – and all these truths are foundational gospel facts and Jesus is coming back very soon – are you ready?
FIRST: the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of our Christian life.
The riches of the fullness of the revelation of the mystery of our Christian faith, is seen in the lovely face of the One perfect human personality of Jesus Christ.
John 14:9 The second part is His process of conforming you into the likeness of Jesus – moulding us to become like Christ: that Christ may be seen in me – that Christ may be seen in you.
The Cross for our cursed strength; the Lord Jesus for our blessed weakness.
It is absolutely essential in forming the character of the true servant of the Lord Jesus.
All had to be broken in order to be made whole - to be emptied in order to be filled - to learn that, of themselves, they could do nothing, in order to be ready, in the Lord Jesus' strength, for anything and everything. -C.H.M.
In the latter we have the surrender, but it is not to get, or to attain; it is because he has entered into what is his; he has accepted the wondrous fact of his death with the Lord Jesus, and of the Spirit's presence and ministry.
Oh, the depth of the riches of the grace of the Father – for it pleased Him that in Christ, all fullness should dwell. “Consider” the place of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the esteem of the Father.
Consider Jesus
See fullness of God dwelling in Him.
Consider Him
This is my Precious Jesus. This is my Glorious Saviour. This is my Cherished Brother. This is my Beloved Bridegroom. This is my Lord and this is My God – Consider HIM.
Forgiven by the Lord
The gentle handmaiden of the Lord is in equal need of His grace and forgiveness, but once forgiveness is bestowed, ALL condemnation is eternally removed, forever: for there is therefore now NO condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake (2 Cor. 4:11).
The indwelling Lord Jesus is the source of our life of liberation; the Cross is the means to it.
It is on this basis alone that the life of Jesus will be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11).
Crucifixion was a lingering death, and while we stand once for all upon the fact of God, which is eternal and unchangeable, when our Lord Jesus Christ went to the Cross He took more than our sins with Him; He took our old man and dealt with the source of all our sin, and dealt with it satisfactorily.
The Holy Spirit has to work into us the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in all its wonderful power and purpose. -G.W.
You may not need to be emancipated from anything like Judaism or legalism, but the principle is this, that for all increase, progress, enlargement, growth, and maturity, it is essential that there should be in the heart a continuous unveiling of Jesus Christ, and you and I will never get to the end of that unveiling.
It is possible for some of us to say with truth that this year we have seen more of the meaning of the Lord Jesus than in all the previous years of our lives.
It is the most blessed and most wonderful thing to be able to recognize that there is a growing revelation of Jesus Christ within; you see more and more of what He means from God standpoint, and as that is so, there comes this increase of the Lord Jesus... the fruit of the Spirit love.
An increase of the revelation of Jesus Christ in the heart is an increase of the love of the Lord Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit.
There is more joy in the Lord Jesus today than ever, because you are seeing more of what He is.
There is no place for learning the tender sympathy of the Lord Jesus, and the blessings of the Father's love and patience and care, as in the trials of the wilderness journey.
True, we must first have reached by faith the Canaan to which we have already come in the Lord Jesus.
Then we find that this world is not the sphere in which the Father can bless us fully; but that there is no place where our own heart is more thoroughly learned, and the heart of the Lord Jesus, as in the wilderness journey. -F.G.P.
When the Holy Spirit fills us, it is to place the Lord Jesus on the throne of our hearts.
Ours is the choice - not I, but Christ (Gal. 2:20); His is the work, for He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2).
We all know how our Lord Jesus, ere He could receive the new life from the Father in glory, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom He could impart His life to His people, had first to give up the life He lived upon earth.
When we have apprehended our death-position with the Lord Jesus (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20, etc.), we may have failed to see the on-going conformity to His death (2 Cor. 4:11; Phil 3:10, etc.).
We may rely upon the fact that we died' with the Lord Jesus, and assume that it is entirely wrought in us at once, not realizing that the fellowship of His sufferings' follows the apprehension of identification.
We are not to think that our exalted position in the Lord Jesus, seated with Him in heavenly places, frees us from the need of further application of the Cross.
We are invincible, more than conquerors through Him who loved us, only as we are brought into ever deeper conformity to the Lord Jesus' death unto sin.
All Circumstances
God uses all life’s circumstances, including years of carnality, to perfect His saints. Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
James 1:3, but God permits the tempter’s trials to beat us sorely as He did with His beloved Son – for Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Let us run the race set before us with patient endurance: looking to Jesus.
that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent. John 17:3
Normal Christian Life
To have Christ living in me and I in Him is what the Christian life is all about. It is a mirror of the life that flows between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father, Just as You are in Me and I am in You, were the words that fell from His lips.
We are to be in the same union with Christ as Jesus is with His heavenly Father.
We must face the fact and we must seek help from God always to bear in mind that we are going to have a path of suffering if we are in fellowship with the Lord Jesus.... There has to come a point when we sit down and do some calculating and come to a definite conclusion on this matter that, although very often we may not be able to see that our suffering is because of our relationship to Him (the sufferings are so manifold and diverse, and very often they look as though they have no relationship at all with our Christian life) at the same time, whether we can discern it or not; the fact remains that the pathway of the child of God, of the fellow of Jesus Christ, is the pathway of suffering.
Satan is not going to become our friend while we are friends of Jesus Christ.
which plunged the human race into death, so that the transgression of one man resulted in the condemnation of the human race. The gift of salvation that was freely bestowed on us through one Man:- Christ Jesus, so that by the obedience and righteousness of one Man, many were made righteous – for by His death and resurrection the consequences of sin were done away with.
So that the Holy Spirit's way with us is to bring us into living, actual conditions and situations, and needs, in which only some fresh knowledge of the Lord Jesus can be our deliverance, our salvation, our life, and then to give us, not a revelation of truth, but a revelation of the Person, new knowledge of the Person, that we come to see Christ in some way that just meets our need.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24).
Full assurance as to our eternal security in the Lord Jesus is the basis for the ever-deepening experience of our identification with Him.
The offender has been removed from His eye by a Man - the Lord Jesus Christ, and He can receive us on the ground of the Man who glorified Him in bearing our judgment.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:7
Bedrock of Glory
Christ in His humility, touched the bedrock of what is valued by God. Jesus in His poverty, exemplifies the foundational load-stone on which to build. But too often we are flattered by the foolish fluff and flitter of this fading world – wooed by its temptresses and enticed by its fatal attractions.
Jesus said: My kingdom is not of this world – not of this age.
Trump of God
The angels announced the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago with songs of great joy.
When I plant my feet on that fact and say, No, as for me, I stand in the Lord Jesus as my life,' its governing power is broken.
Our having been crucified with the Lord Jesus was to make the body of sin of none effect while we live by faith, but the old man can become active and dominant in the walk of the believer when faith becomes dormant and inactive.
It is not the Father's will that sin should have dominion over any child of His; all died with the Lord Jesus, all were united with Him in crucifixion, but few enter into the joy of the freedom of the sons of God, because they do not believe His Word.
It may take a day or a month, I do not know how long, but I do know that when any child of God will believe and begin to express that faith in thanksgiving, day by day thanking Him for the fact which one may not yet have experienced, the Holy Spirit will lead that one into a glorious personal realization of his identification with the Lord Jesus in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. -L.L.L.
They who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17).
Covenant Theology, at the utmost, is forgiveness of sins and divine favor enjoyed; and all that concerns their position in the Lord Jesus is ignored, or alas!
We are come to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant' (Heb. 12:24).
We are not come to the new covenant, but to Jesus the Mediator of it.
Once we see that the Lord Jesus saves individuals with the purpose of making them His disciples, we will aim to be more thorough in our witnessing and subsequent soul-winning.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.2 Timothy 3:12
Oft-times God, Who loves us with an everlasting and incomprehensible love, seems careless and aloof… causing the voice of the Spirit, not only to whisper in our ear: Hast thou considered my servant Job?” but Hast thou considered my servant Jesus?
The Church IS in a mess and God’s character disgraced for lack of knowledge. Never let us forget the truth of Scripture – Jesus has already gained the victory.
Truth of Scripture
Jesus has already gained the victory.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12).
In faith we apprehend the growth truths; in fact the Lord Jesus apprehends us for growth in those truths.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).
Every aspect and detail of God's will and God's way and God's end is a matter of knowing the Lord Jesus.
The Christian life here is meant to be one of continuous growth and development and progress, but that only takes place as we come to know more, and still more, of the meaning of the Lord Jesus.
And at this time we are just looking at the Lord Jesus from one of the many angles, or points of view, which is this particular aspect of His significance: that He, in His Person and in His work, stands related to an eternal, heavenly order.
When the Lord Jesus says: Abide in Me it sounds so simple and so ordinary, but it contains all this history, and this great principle and truth: If you get out of your environment you are exposed to all the poisons and all that creates spiritual disease.
Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine (1 Tim. 4:6).
There the believer shared the death of the Lord Jesus; for when he became a believer, the life he received was life in Christ, that is, life out of death, resurrection life, newness of life'; and the relation to sin and the law which Christ had, became those of the believer!
Hear His Voice
He will mark out our stops and cause us to rest beside still waters. He will call us aside into a quiet place, and cause us to rest awhile. Jesus said to His disciples: Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile for there were many comings and goings, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. Mark 6:31He will not leave us forever in the valley of darkness.
The Lord Jesus, you know, makes two offers to everyone.
All the powers of Deity which already wrought together in the accomplishment of the first part of the eternal purpose, the revealing of the Father's likeness in the man Christ Jesus, are equally engaged to accomplish the second part, and work that likeness in each of the Father's children. -A.M.
To do the same work as the Lord Jesus, I must have the same life.
As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him (Col. 2:6).
The church is a living body that is in a functional relationship with Jesus – her Head.
The Lord Jesus Christ shows us the nub of this principle within His own godly life.
Imparted Life
The risen life of Christ is to be the inner experience of all that are born from above. The resurrected life of Jesus is to be the vital expression of the Christian’s new life. Because Christ rose from the dead His risen life is imparted to all who trust in Him.
Spirit and Truth
The risen life of the Lord Jesus is to be the same risen life indwelling each of us... living life in submission to the Spirit – a life that says, Thy will not mine be done.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3).
For a believer who is not yet established in the risen Lord Jesus, it is a temptation to go to the promises of the Old Testament for comfort.
The Lord Jesus has poured out His blessed Spirit that we believers, while on earth, might walk in that spirit of life and liberty that prevails in heaven where Christ is.
Transformation
We need to keep our eyes fixed on the beautiful attributes of the Lord Jesus – for as we dwell on Him, so we begin to be transformed into His likeness.
God’s Anointed
The Lord Jesus is the Messiah of God – God’s anointed; His appointed; His chosen. He was ordained of God and all things in heaven and earth are placed under His feet.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation and focus of all that God has ordained.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the centre and circumference of all that God has purposed, and God has fixed Christ Jesus as the horizon of our view – the sphere of our being.
He reaches into throne-room of heaven, yet bends down to touch all things on earth. He delves into the deepest; most intimate and secret areas of our very beings. The Lord Jesus is indeed God’s chosen – His anointed; His appointed; His Son.
God’s Messiah
I wonder what impact this fact has on you – or if familiarity has diminished its truth. I wonder if any of us have honesty trawled the depth of exactly Who this Jesus is. I wonder if we’ve seriously considered how we should live in the light of this truth, but we would do well to develop an apprehension and understanding of Who He is.
The Lord Jesus is the Messiah of God – His anointed; His appointed; His chosen. He was ordained of God and all things in heaven and in earth are placed under His feet.
Union With Christ
As Christians, we are rightly related to the Lord Jesus – through believing in Him.
Representative Man
God has set-up the Lord Jesus as our representative man – He is God’s standard for mankind. Jesus Christ is appointed as our set norm – the perfect pattern for all of humanity. The likeness of Christ is to become the established and universal guideline for man.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation and focus of all that God has ordained – and we would do well to receive a fresh understanding of Who He truly is.
Centre and Circumference
The Lord Jesus Christ is the centre and circumference of all that God has purposed, and we would do well to learn more of Him and to go deeper into Him – for God has foreordained that we are to be conformed into His likeness. And He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact likeness of God’s Being, and He holds everything together by the might of His powerful word.
So how do we who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus heed Paul’s warnings?
Their life was to be lived in entire dependence upon God and not on self or others. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him. Colossians 2:6
more is added. For those who take to heart and apply these truths to their lives, there is more, for just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him.
False Doctrines
We have all read how the faithful servant is charged to feed God’s people. We have all noticed how often we are warned of false doctrines in these last days. We have witnessed God’s prophesied, unstoppable march towards false doctrine, yet in these days of increasing apostasy, few voices are pointing to Jesus.
Final Revelation
The full revealing of the Godhead finally came through Jesus.
Jesus; the brightness of the glory of the Father.
Jesus; the express image of the person of God.
Jesus; Who upholds all things by the word of His power.
Jesus; Who through His death and resurrection purged us of our sin.
Jesus; Who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Jesus; the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus is the One Who is the full revelation of the Father.
The Lord Jesus
He it was Who was with the Father from eternity past. Jesus was brought forth to be born of a pure virgin.
Jesus assumed our very nature.
Jesus expressed, in a human body, the character of God.
Jesus spoke the words of the Father through a human voice.
to His children. He may reveal Himself in a blinding flash, as He did to Paul on the road to Damascus. He may unveil His magnificence in the quiet dawning of understanding, but it is He and not man that uncloaks His truths and enlightens the heart. This knowledge and understanding that is revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus, enlightens the mind; sanctifies the soul; and rejoices the heart.
Intimacy with Christ
It is not a knowledge and understanding about the Lord Jesus.
It is to know Jesus - to know Him intimately.
Promises of Christ
The Lord Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to indwell those that believe in Him. He promised that the Holy Spirit would show us all things. He promised that His Spirit would guide us into all truth. He promised that His Spirit would open the Scriptures to us… as we live and move and pray and in the Spirit – as we allow the Spirit to instruct and to correct – as we offer ourselves a living sacrifice to Him – as we abide in Him and He in us.
Spiritual Maturity
We are exhorted on many occasions to be maturely established in the faith. We are encouraged to press on to the high calling of Christ. We are entreated to gain spiritual perception and godly discernment. We are enjoined to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
Wise Words
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13,14 “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” Philippians 3:12ff
Christian Growth
The Lord Jesus does not give the charge, Be a shepherd to My lambs … to My sheep, on hearing Peter’s self-confident affirmation of undying loyalty.
and personally know, love and need Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent.
Perfect Sacrifice
Christ Jesus is the eternal Son of the Father and the unique Son of Man.
Christ’s Obedience
But just as mankind was judged a race of sinners through the disobedience of Adam – so also those that are saved by the blood of the Lamb have been made judicially righteous through the obedience of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Just as the whole human race was imputed with the sin of the first man Adam – so also those that have trusted Jesus as Saviour have the new-life of Christ breathed into them by the Spirit of God – and they are imputed with His righteousness.
It was our kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who by His death and resurrection was qualified to become the Last Adam – the final federal head of God’s new and perfect creation in Christ.
And just as we have been born in the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the Lord Jesus Christ – Who is our heavenly Man.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13).
Until we know our position in the risen Lord Jesus, we can never really face up to the sinfulness of our old nature.
But hidden with Christ in God, we can both face up to and face away from the old, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter [marg.] of our faith (Heb. 12:2).
God sets me in nearness to Himself in the Lord Jesus; and as I learn my nearness to Him, I am prepared for the exposure of my natural distance from Him, and I am, through grace, morally apart and sheltered from it (Rom. 8:9), at the very moment when I see it.
As a consequence I rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh' (Phil. 3:3).
Two things mark spiritual growth; one is a deeper sense of the sinful old nature, the other is a greater longing after the Lord Jesus Christ.
The sinfulness is discovered and felt as the power of the Holy Spirit increases; for many a thought and act passes without pain to the conscience where the Lord Jesus is less before the soul, which will be refused and condemned as the knowledge of the Lord increases in spiritual power within. -J.B.S.
When the Lord Jesus Christ is enjoyed, things unlike Him drop off like fading leaves.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing … in Christ.Ephesians 1:3
Heavenly Blessings
In Ephesians, we read blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: for He has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.
From the moment we trusted Jesus as Saviour, all spiritual blessings became ours.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing - in Christ.
It is only as I know what the Lord Jesus is to the Father in glory that I can in any degree truly estimate my own acceptance in Him: Had He my sins laid on Him?
For as He is now accepted, so am l; and therefore it is the Gospel of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We think of the Lord Jesus - His perfections, His suitability to divine favor, His infinite acceptance with the Father - and by faith we have access into the favor of which He is so worthy. -C.A.C.
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.Galatians 6:14
Anything we deem necessary to bring us close to Jesus, can become a hindrance!
2 Aspects of Faith
It was Paul that recognised this failing in the Galatian Christians and cried out, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
In true sanctification, the only reality is the Lord Jesus Himself.
Internal Hypocrisy
Oswald Chambers puts it this way:-'There is only one thing – and that is our relationship to Jesus Christ.
The spiritual cure for triviality, is a new note of greatness born of the realisation of what it cost Jesus to produce His salvation in us – a sanctified life.
So let us grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We are to let the love of the Lord Jesus be seen in us. We are to let the Spirit of exhortation work through us for the benefit of others. And always it is to be carried out in the spirit of humility.
In Matthew 22, Jesus says: have you not read what was spoken unto you by God, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob.
Fruit & Root of Sin
In verse 20 Paul reminds these Roman believers that before they believed in Jesus, they were also slaves to sin.
But the good news is that this slave relationship to sin is broken the moment we trust in Jesus: so that we would no longer be enslaved to the sin-nature.
But he also tells us that that the gift of saving grace and eternal life also came from one Man: our Lord Jesus Christ.
For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.Galatians 1:11-12
Twelve Apostles
Matthias was the man that replaced Judas Iscariot to become Christ’s 12th apostle. All these disciples including Matthias, were eye-witnesses of Christ’s life and death. They all were with Him the entire time that Jesus travelled in Judea and the Galilee.
Personal Witnesses
These disciples knew Jesus as a Man and they were personal witnesses of all He did. These apostles knew Christ as God incarnate and worshiped Him as Saviour and Lord. They listened to the sermon on the Mount as Jesus taught of His coming kingdom. They were party to His discourses, warning of a coming time of tribulation and trouble.
Eye Witnesses
These men were eyewitnesses of all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day that He was taken up to heaven.
Church-Age Truth
The mysteries of the Church as the body and bride of Jesus Christ came from Paul. The necessity of grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone were all from Paul’s pen. The task of unveiling many church-age mysteries were also entrusted to this apostle.
For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:11-12
Scripture Truths
In Galatians 5:6 we read that: in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.. while in Romans 5:16 we read: therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace.
Faith is needed for a life that is being conformed into the image of Jesus, for though it is by the power of the Holy Spirit – it is accessed through faith.
Jesus tells us that: as the Father has loved Me, so I love you, abide in My love.
Faith is simply trusting God to do what God has said. Faith is acting, walking, or praying on the basis of what God has said about a matter. There may be many so-called “faiths” that unregenerate man follows, but there is only one God in Whom faith can placed, and this is non-negotiable: one Lord, one faith, one baptism into the Lord Jesus, by believing in Him.
One Christ
There is only one realm in which faith can be exercised – through trusting Jesus. Only the born-again believer can function in the sphere of faith.
Only a regenerate man has had the breath of life breathed into him by the Spirit of life. Only a believer in Jesus is able to function on the spiritual plane – by faith. Only a new man in Christ, who has passed from darkness to light can act by faith. Faith is simply believing God. Faith is simply trusting God to do what God has said, and faith comes by hearing which comes through the Word of God.
the salvation of the soul – spiritual maturity: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Thes.5:23
When you are in faith you will find that the Lord Jesus does not remove the pressure from off you until you are asleep in it, until you are able to take it quietly.
The fickle crowds so soon forgot the kindness and goodness of the Lord Jesus, allowing themselves to be carried away by base and false accusations, so that they cried out against the one whom they had formerly extolled and praised.
But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man.John 2:24-25
“What would Jesus do..?” – we ask ourselves… He would love them and He would forgive them… we tell ourselves.
And a half-truth is no truth if the whole truth is not supplied, Jesus would indeed love them, but Jesus would also correct them.
Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.Luke 23:34
yet had they known the fuller consequences, Jesus would never have been crucified, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.1 Corinthians 2:8 But the Lord Jesus had to die if we guilty sinners were to live. Had the Lord of glory not died our sins could not have been forgiven.
What Think Ye
Christ’s substitutionary death at Calvary paid the price for the sin of the world. His precious pardon was prayed over every guilty person, Jew and Gentile alike. Forgiveness is Father-heart of God’s great love towards every guilty sinner – believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is the only requirement – What think ye of Christ?
Devotional Study - FEAR NOT
Life and Living
Jesus tells each of us not to fear the things of this life..
Jesus said:- Come to me, Fear Not – I will strengthen you – YES I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
to live with Him in the eternal ages that are to follow: That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church (that is through you) to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
death and dying are terrifying, if we don’t know Jesus, but what hopeless pitch-blackness lies beyond the icicled fingers of death.
is a free gift, bestowed freely on all that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved… Acts.16:31.
and had to hear the stark words of Jesus saying: The kingdom of the heavens …. (the heavenly part of the inheritance) will be taken from you and given to a nation/ generation bearing the fruits of it.
as long as we are His own – For I am persuaded that neither death nor life….. nor things present nor things to come…. can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
STUDY in PRAYER
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.1 John 1:7
Plan of Redemption
Every member of the human race is a sinner – so all are under God’s condemnation, but God’s plan of redemption was so designed that sin could be eternally forgiven – the Lord Jesus willingly took the punishment to forgive the sin of the whole world.
Free Gift of Grace
God’s wrath and condemnation for the sin of the world was poured out on Christ. All that man has to do to receive this free gift of grace is to believe on Jesus Christ – simply believing puts us in union with Christ and places us into the family of God.
God’s Judgement
Jesus bore the sins of the world for sinner and saint alike.
Whoever believes in Jesus Christ is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Blood of Christ
So if our sin is already forgiven – what does it mean when John tells us that: the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin?
Permanent Union
The union we have with Christ when we first believed is eternal and can’t be broken. When we trusted Jesus as Saviour all our sins – past, present and future were forgiven – and we were placed in everlasting, permanent and unbreakable union with Christ.
Intercession is fruitless without a heart filled to overflowing with the love OF Jesus.
Intercession is fruitless without a heart filled to overflowing with love FOR Jesus.
if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge of Him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know... (Ephesians 1:17,18)
The Testimony of Jesus has as its essential law: spiritual illumination and revelation through the Word.
The Testimony of Jesus can never be something static, something that you take up and say: This is the Testimony of Jesus and then put it into a formula.
The Testimony of Jesus is something that has been revealed.
The Testimony of Jesus is: i>I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.Stephen died for that Testimony.
John’s gospel is a wonderful record of the wonderful life of his wonderful Jesus.. and much can be learned through his inspired penmanship.
Final Revelation
But John is given the astonishing and final Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ: 'which God gave Jesus, to show His servants things which must shortly take place.
In Christ
Jesus tells his disciples: 'all things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father..
Easter Reflections - STUDY
6th word from the cross
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, 'It is finished': (Telelestai)” and He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
The Greatest Man
Jesus - is the greatest Man that ever walked this earth.
Jesus paid it all in full.
When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished (Telelestai).
Our one responsibility, that of concentrating upon the Lord Jesus, has a three-fold result: (1) fellowship with Him; (2) growth in His image; (3) ministry of life to others.
All my ability to act for the Lord Jesus here depends on my conscious identification with Him where He is, not where He was for me; though as I receive power from Him I walk here even as He walked; His life is manifested in me. -J.B.S.
Foreknown by God
'The called' are those predestined to be conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus. 'The called' are also predestined for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. 'The called' are predestined according to the purpose of God’s will... but before we were predestined we were foreknown by God.
God foreknows the free-will choices that every man will ever make, and God will never coerce or override man’s volition regarding his choices. Salvation is a free gift of God’s grace to whosoever will trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Firstborn Among Many
In His omniscience, God foresaw those that would believe in the Lord Jesus.
Reginald Wallis:
“God says in effect, ‘My child, as you reckoned on the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, now go a step farther and reckon on His representative work for your victory day by day.’ You believe that the Lord Jesus died for your sins because God said so.
McConkey:
“Because He died ‘death hath no more dominion over Him,’ and because of our union with Him ‘sin shall not have dominion over you,’ even though it is present in you. Our ‘reckoning’ ourselves dead to sin in Jesus Christ does not make it a fact – it is already a fact through our union with Him.
But now in Christ Jesus ye, who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.Ephesians 2:13
Sinner or Saint
There is no more hopeless and helpless state than to be an unbeliever in this world, but there is no more eternally glorious hope than to be a believer in Christ Jesus.
Grace of God
When we see sin as it truly is we begin to understand what God’s grace is., for now, in union with the Christ Jesus, we who once were far away have been brought near, by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, God’s promises are ours – His Word is ours and Christ Jesus is our own Saviour. Spiritual blindness is replaced with spiritual knowledge, understanding, and light.
Brought Near
Every barrier to God is lifted and every blockade to redemption has been removed, for in Christ Jesus, we who were far off have been brought near, by the blood of Christ. Simply believing in Christ has lifted every shackle with which we were bound.
Jesus gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.Galatians 1:4
Jesus Christ reached God’s standard of perfection – for us.
The Lord Jesus Christ paid the penalty price in full – for us – so that we could be made the righteousness of God, in Him.
His death lifted the penalty-curse of the law for all who believe on Christ Jesus.
who shall deliver me from this body of death? Then he finally understood that victory over his sin nature was found in Christ: but thanks be to God Who has given me the victory IN Christ Jesus my Lord.
In Him we are delivered from the sin-nature and placed in eternal union with Jesus. This is the fact of life – the fact of abundant life – the fact of eternal life.
Jesus gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father – and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom: to Whom be glory forever and ever.
Too few realize that their death on the Cross separated them from the entire principle of law, and that their resurrection united them to the Lord Jesus, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:12)
The certainty and the assurance that was right at the root of his Christian life and service came because of this one thing: he'd seen everything in Jesus.
Everything... in Jesus.
We have often said here that there was no power in this world that could have turned that rabid, fanatical Jew, Saul of Tarsus, into a Christian and a lover of Jesus of Nazareth.
No power in this world that could have done that, but just seeing Jesus Himself in this way and that did it, that did it!
The way of an escape, the way of enlargement, the way of endurance is to see Jesus.
Just as the Lord Jesus came into this world where this old humanity was and came into it not to ally Himself with it but to take it into death by the Cross, even so He now by the Holy Spirit, in regeneration, comes into us where there is this old fallen life and not to ally Himself with it, but to hold it in the place of death by the same means - His Cross. -N.D.
But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world! (Gal. 6:14, Wms.).
If we are born into the Lord Jesus by sheer grace, surely He can manifest Himself in us on the same principle.
It is this quiet expectation and confidence, resting on the Word of the Lord Jesus that in Him there is an abiding place prepared, which is so sadly wanting among Christians.
Abiding in the Lord Jesus is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us and in us, and through us.
As it was the Lord Jesus who drew thee when He said Come,' so it is the Lord Jesus who keeps thee when He says Abide.' -A.M.
And complete every activity of your faith, so that the Name of our Lord Jesus might be glorified in you (2 Thess. 1:11b, Wms.).
When the Lord Jesus has once died and risen, He is through with sin forever.
We can cry triumphantly, when we know: I died unto sin with the Lord Jesus on the Cross, two thousand years ago!
Sin has no claim on me in the Lord Jesus, and cannot have dominion over me, as I yield myself to my Father in this wonderful new revelation of yielding myself to God, as one who is alive from the dead' (Rom. 6:13).
Thus will we begin to find how true and how tremendous is the deliverance that is in the Lord Jesus for us.
There is no way to a full abiding fellowship with our Father, but through the rent veil of the flesh; through a life with the old man crucified in the Lord Jesus.
When we finally understand that the Lord Jesus is our life, we, with Paul, no longer think in terms of things.
The Lord Jesus before our souls in the power of the Holy Spirit - the glorified Lord - is our Father's means for bringing us into conformity with His beloved Son.
But then it is through the chastenings of His hand, through the trials and sufferings of our path, that He weans the hearts of His own from other objects, that the Lord Jesus Christ alone may fill the vision of our souls. -E.D.
It is well to read and get knowledge, but unless you are in communion with the Lord Jesus, you will not grow in likeness to what you admire, as recorded in the Word.
And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord (Phil. 3:8).
Having at least reached the point of utter despair in ourselves so that we cease even to try, we put our trust in the Lord Jesus to manifest His resurrection life in and through us, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit' (Rom. 8:4).
I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord (Rom. 7:25).
It is a part of the calling of saints to show men how to suffer: how, even in the midst of the hard and bitter experiences of life, the Lord Jesus is sufficient to give joy and comfort. -H.F.
But this is just the beginning of that deep work of the Cross which is to deal with the carnality of our cherished affections, our spiritual comforts, our dearest friendships, our creeds, and our denominations, our devotion to which prevents the dying of the old man that makes impossible whole-hearted devotion to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. -J.M.
Without association with the Lord Jesus in His death, the believer must abide barren, sterile, and unfruitful. -F.J.H.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Begone, Satan (Matt. 4:10).
But take heart fellow believer, the trials of your faith will be found unto praise, honor and glory at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:7).
As to the Gospel and the work of the Lord Jesus, I do not find that it is adequately apprehended that the benefits conferred by the Father is far beyond the need of the sinner.
As Christians we are going to be controlled by one of two powers: the self-life, or the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Do not seek to shatter the mirror which reflects your soul's lack of beauty; rather welcome the truth, and believe that next to knowledge of the Lord Jesus nothing is so important as the knowledge of self. -N.G.
There is nothing in self worth holding on to; it ought to be handed to the Cross; we have submitted ourselves to such a life as that, and our Father is going to give us every opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to hold the old nature in the place of death, with the glorious end in view that our Lord Jesus will have the preeminence. -F.M.
I wonder, do you know Him? Do you know Jesus? More and more I see how important the words of Jesus are:- for we need to have faith as a little child..
faith that believes God’s Word without reservation – faith that trusts unreservedly and needs no other proof. My little granddaughter knows not to be afraid, because Jesus is alive.
She has learned from her cradle that Jesus is coming one day in the clouds for her.
Who is Jesus?
And the Life of Jesus – thus lived was the life laid down in sacrifice.
The life of Jesus became thus acceptable as the sin offering. The life of Jesus became the burnt offering – a sweet savor to the Lord - casting out upon the sea of humanity gifts: “Oh that men would praise the name of the Lord: for His name alone is exalted: His glory is above the earth and heaven”.
This same Lord Jesus Christ – has sought me out – because He loves me so dearly.
Image of God
This Lord Jesus Christ is the very image of the invisible, indivisible God. This Lord Jesus Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory and grace and love. This same Lord Jesus Christ searched me out to bestow on me the unimaginable. He lifted me up out of the miry clay and seated me with Himself in the heavenlies.
His glory is above the earth heaven - Just give me Jesus.
Price for Sin
So when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem us all, so that we might receive adoption as sons. To deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ renders Calvary as a sham and charade, for there is none good..
Man alone had to be the perfect sacrifice. It is equally heretical to deny that Jesus was fully God as to deny He was fully Man.
The Lord Jesus did not come in just as a rescuer of man and of man lot.
While the direction is toward ourselves redemption, sanctification, glorification, and so on or toward anything less than the Son Himself, we have not got God dynamic for accomplishing His work, and therefore it becomes necessary, as the sufficient, the adequate basis of the Holy Spirit operation, that there should be a revelation of Jesus Christ in the heart, for it is in relation to Him and what God has purposed concerning Him that all the energies of God are released and made active.
Let a man renounce himself, and see himself as crucified with Christ, and soon another Himself - the Lord Jesus Christ - will take the central place in the heart, and quietly bring all things under His sway.
It is a great thing to offer the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour to sinful man, but it is still greater to express Him in a world where He is rejected. -J.B.S.
Messianic Prophecies
It was Matthew who delighted to quote fulfilled Messianic prophecies in His gospel. This former tax-collector thrilled to link the Lord Jesus Christ with prophecies of old. This disciple of the Lord Jesus trawled the Old writings and linked them with the New. This apostle of Christ, uncovered prophetic Scripture and secured them in his writings.
Much in his gospel demonstrated the legitimate Messiahship of Jesus – to Israel. Matthew took the prophecies of Old and certified their fulfilment in the New. He was a writer who saw what was hidden in the Old – and revealed it in his Gospel. As the old maxim goes: The new is in the old concealed.
God Incarnate
Matthew's historical record showed the genuine, genealogical supremacy of Jesus Christ.
He also gave many indications that this man Jesus was God Incarnate – God with us.
God With Us
He wrote of Isaiah who cried out to Israel – the Lord Himself will give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel – Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us – God manifest in the flesh. John called Him the Word made flesh, while Mark writes of the beginnings of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God – and Matthew calls Him Emmanuel.
Revelation of Christ
Scripture is replete with passages in the Old Testament that are all fulfilled in the New. The Bible is full of the attributes of God that are attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ too. God Who never changes in Malachi is Jesus!
Attributes of God
Jesus is Omnipotent – for all power has been given unto Him. Jesus is Omniscient – for He knew all men and what they thought. Jesus is Omnipresent – for He promised to be with us to the end of the age. Jesus is Creator – He made all things; and nothing was made without Him. Jesus is Saviour – I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour.
Jesus is the first and last; the beginning and the end – the Alpha and Omega.
Attributes of Christ
The Lord..forgiveth all thine iniquities – and Jesus also forgives sins. The Lord our God is One – yet Jesus and the Father are One. God is glorified – but now all men should glorify and honour the Son.
God is the Holy One of Israel – and Jesus is the Holy One Who did not see corruption.
Honour the Son
And John says men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father, and just as God is the Judge of the earth so the Lord Jesus Christ is Judge of the whole earth – for Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.
On the one side, no one is going to get anything from God apart from Jesus Christ.
On the other side, in Jesus Christ we have all that God ever wants to say....
We have nothing apart from Jesus Christ, and we need nothing apart from Him.
May the Lord Jesus just impress our hearts again with these things!
Companions of this heavenly calling and of Christ will go into the hard school and have to learn many hard lessons, but in learning them they will come to understand how great is their inheritance in the Lord Jesus.
Now that may sound like a very terrible thing to say, especially to you young Christians who are not far inside the door, but be perfectly clear about it; the Lord Jesus never deceived anybody about this, never at all.
So the Lord Jesus has not left us in any doubt about this.
All the communications of God and Heaven to man are by way of Jesus, the new Israel.
All God's thoughts in the past ages are taken up in the Lord Jesus in the first place.
All that was ever intended by God concerning Israel and was lost by them, is carried on in the Lord Jesus, and then transferred by Him to His companions and the companions of the heavenly calling the new Israel, which is spiritual.
Hence this Letter contains this word of warning and of exhortation: Because this is the fullness and this is the end, be sure that you give heed.... To come into touch with the Lord Jesus is more than coming into touch with a teaching: it is coming into touch with a living, active Person.
But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!
Be not afraid, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:5
What a Friend we have in Jesus
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Is there trouble anywhere?We should never be discouraged, take it to the Lord in prayer.Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Study - GOD, All I Need
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession… for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14
Our great Helper in prayer is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Advocate with the Father, our Great High Priest, whose chief ministry for us these centuries has been intercession and prayer.
They manifested in sweeping beauties of the rainbow – and Jesus said, I am the Light of the world..
New Testament Light
The beloved disciple also affirmed that Jesus was indeed that wonderful light – the true light which lighteth every man that comes into the world John 1:9 – and he further commands us to: walk in the light, as He is in the light 1 John 1:7 while the Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: I am the LIGHT – of the world.
Glorify The Father
Let your reflected LIGHT (which is the Lord Jesus indwelling His sanctified chosen ones…..)
Let your reflected light so SHINE before saved and unsaved men of the world (and so reflect the beauties of the Lord – the lovely Jesus Christ) Let your reflected light so shine before men that the people of the world may SEE your good works (not the works of your own flesh or the Law which are produced through self-effort) Let your reflected LIGHT so Shine before men that the people of the world may see your good works (the works which came from Christ) Christ Who is the Light of the World and Christ, Who is the Hope of the ages…until CHRIST be formed in you……Let your reflected light so shine before men that the people of the world may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Jesus said, Martha, Martha, you are caring and troubled about many things but ONE thing is needful – and Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken from her.
Mary’s need of Jesus, was placed before everything – above all in her whole life.
Where are the other NINE? For the ONE whose grateful thanks dropped like fresh dew on the ears of Jesus – there are many more who take the free gift, that cost God so much and simply, walk away.
But once spiritually cleansed… once purified by the blood of the Lamb and born again Jesus, at the last supper, exemplified – in action, the ongoing need for purity.
But I cannot overcome on my own and by my own, feeble efforts, for Jesus said, without Me, ye can do nothing.
Secret of Rest
F.B.James puts it this way… Jesus is the Teacher of the secret of rest.
Come unto me, ye weary,And I will give you rest.O blessed voice of Jesus,Which comes to hearts oppressed.It tells of benediction-Of pardon, grace, and peace,Of joy that hath no ending,Of love that cannot cease.
And they said, BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.Acts 16:31-32
God did not love the world system that is currently under Satan’s rule for Jesus plainly tells us, My kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36 It was man, for whom God set about implementing His glorious plan of salvation.
believe on Jesus; believe that He died and was buried and rose the third day to pay the price for our sin.
Salvation of Man
There is only one place in Scripture where the question is actually asked, What must I do to be saved..? and the answer is given clearly and simply, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The spirit of man which was born dead in trespasses and sins is saved simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as our sacrifice for sin. But our initial salvation (our salvation of the spirit) is of course the first step on a life journey for the salvation of the soul of man, for once we have been eternally saved we are told by Paul, in Philippians 2:12, that we must work out our own salvation. This aspect of salvation is called sanctification and is ongoing throughout the whole of our whole Christian life.
Singular Salvation
But salvation is also a single thing for at the point of initial salvation – the salvation of the soul and the body is automatically secured. Although there are three aspects to salvation it is the initial salvation of the spirit, where we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that secures forever the salvation of the body, soul, and spirit – eternally.
The essential condition for salvation is simply to believe that Jesus died for my sins and that by His death and resurrection He paid the full price for my sins – and all I have to do is to believe on Him. I cannot win my salvation or buy salvation for myself.
Believe! BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
through time and into eternity, for as the apostle Paul reminds us, no foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11 How it must please the heart of God when believers can be described like Gauis – a man of truth.
you will lose your life (you will lose your soul) Luke.17:33 Should a believer choose the broad way, he would be eternally saved, for eternal salvation is the free gift of grace to all who trust in Jesus as Saviour… eternally saved but choosing to live your own self-life and not His Christ-life.
Way of the Cross
There are a few who seek to follow Christ in the way of the Cross, where Christ remains their first love and remains as the focus of their heart, for as Jesus said, if you lose your life (your soul) for My sake, you will find it… for many are called but few are chosen, and I have chosen you. If I sincerely and earnestly progress along the path of Christ… the way of the Cross, my experience in life will be patterned after His life and my earthy walk will reflect His earthly walk, and I shall discover that as I try to spend my life for others, I shall not be able to spare myself.
For the life that follows the path that Jesus walked – for the need is not the call, and the urgent is not the important – If I am to follow the path that Christ trod before me – then I must follow the way of the Cross.
Final Prophet
It seems that Christ may have been going in and out among those that would one day become His disciples, ever since the intrepid prophet of God stormed onto the scene. Whenever it was that John and Jesus met in the waters of the Jordan River, it would be so memorable an occasion that it would be forever engraved upon John’s memory.
Miraculous Birth
The two men as youngsters had no doubt heard of the miraculous birth of the other and whether or not they had become intimate in those intervening years, John was to be stunned by the revelation he had from Almighty God – when the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended on Jesus – and rested upon Him, and “This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased, rang in his ear.
“O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come”, were his caustic words of contempt. But one day, this greatest of all prophets, who had baptised many (who in poverty of spirit had repented of their sins), was suddenly overwhelmed by the grossness of his own wickedness when the Lord Jesus walked into the water – to be baptised by John. It was in abject humility of heart and wretched bitterness of spirit that John must have whispered, “It is I who need to be baptised by You – how can You come to me?”
The one, can incubate pride while the other can foster independence from God. And both result in a believer being removed from God’s best purpose in their life. But God can correct many decades of dormant growth in a stunted Christian life, and God can reverse the worldly ways of a saint’s fleshly independence from Him… if the believer changes his mind, and looks to Jesus and away from all else… if the repentant believer approaches His majesty in genuine humility of heart.. if the man or woman of God sincerely recognises his own lack and need of God.
Rom.8:28. There may be ramifications for seeking fast-track spiritual development, and there may be consequences for a paucity or lack in a spiritual life, but there will also be reward… if that one earnestly seeks God in his lack, indifference, disinterests or rebellion, for God has a purpose for all that are blood-bought saints in Christ Jesus – but He chooses to do it His way, and will often wait many years for our compliance.
While others may bewail that “the Lord delays His coming”, remember the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him: He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
And God in His perfect grace and consummate love made Himself known, in and through the person of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ – the Word made flesh.
Knowing Him
But how few want to know Him. How very few want to know the Lord Jesus.
Many seek to interpret His words and calculate the meaning behind His proclamations, but only a very small remnant worship at His feet and honestly want to know Him. There were very few that sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus – gazing upon His beauty at His first coming. And there are still very few whose deepest desire is to know this Perfect Man – this Divine Omnipotence. And yet to know Him should be the deepest desire of every blood-bought child.
Paul An Example
I look at Paul – the man who had a One-to-one teaching from the Lord Jesus Himself.
Jesus Christ did not become a man for 33 years only – but a man forever. When the eternal Son of God was born in Bethlehem, as the perfect Son of Man, He became a fully-fledged member of the human family in a human body – with a human nature, which He will retain throughout the eternal ages to come.
I remember you always for these three things: your work of FAITH, your labour of LOVE, your patience of HOPE in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father .1Thessalonians 1:3
Because He knew your heart would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And every jot and tittle of scripture has been written for a purpose: that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name.
Living By Faith
Faith – Trust – Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ has two important elements: 1) a past, and saving faith in Him, so that you might be saved and live. 2) a present and sanctifying faith, as you are being conformed into His image.
Jesus tells us: it is better for you that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
John 17:17 – and Jesus came crying: I am the Way and the Truth and the Life..
And that Hope has a name – it is “The Blessed Hope” – the Lord Christ Jesus: looking for that blessed hope – looking unto Jesus.
Looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Jesus told us that: in this world you will have tribulation, John 16:33.
James 5:7 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Phil.3:20 He will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body – according to the working by which He is able, even to subdue all things to Himself.
Adoption as Sons
Through His love He predestined us to adoption as sons, through Jesus Christ.. and He did this according to His kind intention and gracious will – and He did this to the ultimate praise of the glory of His grace. Oh!
Ransom Paid
It was paid in full by the blood of the lamb – the willing Sacrifice Who paid our debt. We were released from Satan’s clutches with a ransom, paid in Christ’s own blood. The ransom price for our freedom was the life of the Lord Jesus – His life for ours.
Jesus Christ alone is the God of our Salvation – and He it is, that causes all things to work together for good to them that love God – to them that are the called according to His purpose.
Jesus Christ is the centre of the eternal purposes of God, and in His grace, we have been called according to that incredible, infinite, eternal, glorious plan.
Law of Death
The truths that Nicodemus learnt on his night visit to Jesus Christ were staggering. During an evening conversation his long-held religious values had been fragmented. The requirements of the Mosaic Law were impossible – unattainable to mortal man! The notion of a new birth with a new life – was beyond the concept of human reason!
Call to Repent
Jesus was not sent to the righteous but to call sinners to repent – but what the pious Pharisees had not grasped was that there are no righteous men – except God’s Son. Jesus was not sent to save good people but to call sinners to change their hearts – and the whole life-philosophy of Nicodemus was being challenged to the core.
A New Creation
Jesus wasn’t sent to teach a race of fallen sinners how to live under the perfect Law. He was sent to reveal that only a new life, with a new nature can satisfy the Father.
Jesus didn’t come to show unrighteous people how to live under the Mosaic Law.
A New Life
No surprise that Nicodemus did not understand all these concepts that Jesus taught – for the new life in Christ was a mystery – a mystery, which from the beginning of the world was hidden in the heart of the Father, Who created all things by Jesus Christ. The mystery of the new life in Christ was hid from saints and prophets of old. This was a mystery that had been hidden from ages and from generations – and yet it was a mystery which would one day be made manifest to his saints – to you and to me.
Reality of Christ
Christians all have the peace of God since the Lord Jesus became our Saviour, but there is a peace in the heart that comes from harmonising all internal conflicts, where the heart and conscience and will combine to become truly unified with Him.
Such peace finds the bond-slave believer..looking intently upon Jesus – and kneeling in complete surrender and total submission at His feet.
Chambers Comment
Oswald Chambers puts it this way:- “There are times when our peace is based upon ignorance, but when we awaken to the facts of life, inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus.
His words are ever “spirit and life.” Have I ever received what Jesus speaks, when He said: “My peace I give unto you”? This is a peace which comes from looking into His face and realising His un-disturbedness.
Then look up and receive the un-disturbedness of the Lord Jesus.
If you allow anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you, you are either disturbed or you have a false security.
Chamber’s conclusion:- Are you looking unto Jesus now, in the immediate matter that is pressing and are you receiving from Him peace?
When one confers with Jesus Christ the perplexity goes, because He has no perplexity, and our only concern is to abide in Him.
Isaiah. 26:3 and Jesus said:- Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give unto you.
Perfect Man
Jesus is fully Man; the perfect Man; the representative Man – He is God’s Man.
Jesus is God’s standard for mankind.
Jesus Who walked this earth with nowhere to lay His head is God’s pattern for all.
God’s Image
Jesus is God’s Man.
Pre-ordained Plan
From the moment that man sinned God instigated His perfect, pre-ordained plan, that He had purposed before the foundation of the world – that His Son would be all in all. What we now see is Jesus, Who was given a position “a little lower than the angels“; and because He suffered death for us, He is now “crowned with glory and honour.”
Tasted Death for ALL
By God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for ALL – every member of the fallen race of man, And as part of God’s plan to bring many sons to glory – God made Jesus (Who was made perfect through what He suffered) the leader and pioneer of our salvation.
Christ’s Peace
Sinners who trust in the only begotten Son of God are given peace WITH God and believers who live in fellowship with the Father receive the prefect peace OF God – indeed, as the time drew ever closer for the Lord Jesus Himself to leave His little flock, He said, Peace I leave with you..
True Peace
Humanity craves peace in the world and we all desire perfect peace in our hearts and yet all that the world terms peace is superficial and shallow, for the restless heart of man can find no true tranquillity without the perfect peace that comes from above. Genuine peace is not simply the cessation of conflicts nor it is the absence of disputes but peace is a oneness with our Saviour, for true peace is being united as one with Christ Jesus.
Peace is found at the foot of the cross, for peace is in a Person – and that Person is Christ Jesus, our perfect Prince of Peace. The peace of God is also a gift of grace that is freely available to every believer who has learned to walk the pathway of peace – for the peace of God which passes understanding floods into the hearts of all God’s children, whose mind is stayed on Him.
Life-Giving Peace
Peace with God and the peace of God stretches through time and into eternity, for all who trust Christ as Saviour and learn to keep the eyes of their hearts looking to Jesus for it was our Saviour who calmed the ocean of God’s wrath against a sinful world, which He procured for us by His sufferings and death on Calvary’s cross. He broke down the middle wall of hostility that divided Jew from Gentile and the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom announcing that the gaping void between a holy God and sinful man had been spanned by the blood of the Lamb – for by Hs death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way, through the curtain which is His body.
For the sinner, it’s a choice to believe in Christ Jesus as Saviour.
In Christ
But Jesus said, I have told you about these things that will happen in this world, so that in Me, you may have peace.
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham… Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus Who is called the Messiah.Matthew 1:1
Jesus, when He began His ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as it was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli...Luke 3:23
Matthew’s Genealogy
Matthew started his gospel (whose targeted audience were the Jews) with a royal genealogy that started at Abraham and ended with Joseph, the husband of Mary. It was a regal lineage that traced Jesus’ ancestors through the great kings – David and Solomon and terminated with the Messiah’s adoptive father, Joseph the carpenter.
The antecedents in Luke’s gospel were still of David’s royal line but through Nathan, his son – and travelled down through a second kingly line to Mary the mother of Jesus.
Hundreds of prophecies were fulfilled to the letter in Jesus, Who is called – Messiah.
Biblical Prophecy
Like all descendants of Abraham and David, Jesus had a right to the throne of Israel, but unlike all of David’s other descendants, Jesus alone fulfilled biblical prophecy.
The numerous prophecies surrounding Him identified Jesus as the promised Messiah:- He was born of a virgin in the little town of Bethlehem and grew up in Galilee.
Two Genealogies
He was raised from the dead on the 3rd day and ascended to the Father in heaven. Hundreds of prophecies were fulfilled to the letter in Jesus, Who is called – Messiah. Like all descendants of Abraham and David, Jesus had a right to the throne of Israel, and two unbroken genealogies were recorded in Scripture to affirm His legitimacy. But why was there a need for two genealogies for the Lord Jesus Christ? Would not one illustrious genealogical table have fulfilled all the criteria?
God’s Wisdom
But God’s plans and purposes cannot be thwarted by the enemy, although at times, Satan in his foolish pride must have smugly thought that God had been outwitted! But David had a son called Nathan – through whom was born the mother of our Lord.. and Luke records the legitimate and un-cursed lineage of Christ Jesus – the Saviour.
The Cure
Jesus was indeed the adopted son of Joseph the carpenter and His adoption gave Him legal right to sit on the throne of David through both His earthly parents.. but no curse could fall on the Lord Jesus, for He was not Joseph’s biological son. God is not surprised by what we do or how history plans out.
Now Jesus Himself, when He began His ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli – the father of Mary.
The infinite fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ is the wonderful purpose of God.
Infinite Fullness
God is continuing to work out His eternal purpose in each of our lives. We may not know what our role is now – but we all have a part to play. His dealings may be beyond our understanding but let us trust Him and live by faith, for the infinite fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ is the wonderful purpose of God. Christ in you the hope of glory – until Christ is all in all.
He did all according to God’s eternal purpose, from the foundation of the earth – the plan, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: Eph.3:11
I watched some similar clips of 4 years olds, 7 years olds and other minor ‘preachers’ – infants and children given the pulpit, who were evidently considered ‘gifted’ – and yet the Lord Jesus Himself waited until he was 30 before starting His public ministry.
For 30 years the Lord Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
God marked you out before the ages began, to be made just like Jesus: to be conformed into the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Now here is the key to success… Take your eye off the circumstances of life and rest them on the Lord Jesus.
Your position in Him is pre-eminent: God raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
The Saviour
Jesus Christ has many wonderful names, many beautiful titles, many eternal qualities but perhaps the most excellent and precious of all is that of Saviour – Redeemer. The sin of one man separated the race of humanity from the holiness of God for we are told in the Word of God that sin had separated fallen man from a righteous God, and without a Saviour to save us from our sins – that separation is eternal.
The payment for our sins is eternal separation from God, but He gave His unique Son through Whom comes life. Eternal life is God’s gift – Salvation is God’s gift – Jesus Christ is God’s special gift. The gift of salvation was no afterthought on the part of God.
Eternal Salvation
Salvation that came through the Man Christ Jesus was not a finite redemption but an eternal salvation.
Beloved of God
Jesus is Son of God and Son of Man. He is Seed of the woman. He is Beloved of the Father. He is Begotten of the Father before all worlds.
Learning Christ
During the earthly walk of the Lord Jesus it was learn of Me – follow Me, but once seated on the right hand of the Father it is 'learn Christ' – to learn Him..
God set the standard and pattern for life in the Lord Jesus.
Jesus said, “I have made known to them Thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which Thou hast loved Me may be in them and I in them.” John 17:26.
Divine Purpose
God knows the end from the beginning and He knows all who will trust in Christ. God predestined all who would believe in Jesus to be conformed into His image. God was well-pleased with the Lord Jesus, Who is His only begotten and beloved Son, and it's God’s divine purpose is that His children are made in the likeness of Jesus Christ. We are to all to be conformed into the image and likeness of God’s dearly beloved Son, and it is the Holy Spirit Himself that is to do this amazing work in the life of a believer.
See and Learn
The first work of the Holy Spirit in the life of all believers is to reveal Christ Jesus in us.
The Spirit is to communicate with our human spirit and educate us about Jesus.
Such a man or woman lives a life that becomes occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ.
His Fullness
The effect of this move of the Spirit in a Christian is that we are filled with His fullness, for when a man or woman is occupied with Jesus they get more and more like Him – and yet a life overflowing with Christ only scratches the surface of all that He is.
To Know Him
At the start of his life, we are told that it was God’s pleasure to reveal Christ in Paul, but at the end of his life, Paul longed to know the Lord Jesus more and more and more, and throughout his ministry, it is Paul’s longing that we also come to know Him more.
Paul was a man whose life was governed by the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus his Lord. Paul was a man that longed that we also should know Christ – in an intimate way.. that you may to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19
Let us willingly submit to His work within so that we become more and more like Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is preeminently our example in that He could move in any circle, and He did so deliberately, publicans and sinners, all classes, He moved amongst them, but His power over them was in His basic difference from them.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.John 1:17
Face of Christ
The Law was indeed given to Israel through Moses, but the unfailing love of God and His everlasting faithfulness is seen reflected in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The beauty of grace and truth is contrasted with the stark reality of the Mosaic Law, for the Law was given by Moses – but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The beloved apostle in his gospel is unveiling the qualities and attributes of the Lord Jesus, one by one – as he reveals that: in the beginning was the eternal Word of God.
The Cross
But God in His love and mercy sent grace and truth through the incarnate Word.. so that all that believe in His name would not perish – but have everlasting life. The expression of God’s grace is seen in the gift of His Son and His work on the cross, so that by believing on the person of Jesus Christ we may have life in His name.
God’s Grace
Just as sin ruled over all people and brought them death – so the marvellous grace of God now rules instead, giving us right-standing with God and resulting in eternal life – through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Law requires works, which could never reach the perfection required of God.
but grace and truth has come to us all through the lovely Lord Jesus Christ, so that by simply trusting in the name of Christ Jesus we might be given life – through His name.
Christ’s Name
All that Christ is and all that Christ has done is reflected in the beauty of His name. All that’s of grace, that’s been given to man – is on account of the merit of Jesus – for the Law was given by Moses – but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Truth + Grace
The Law of Moses, though perfect was given to man through a fallen member of a sinful race. Grace and truth, was the gift of God to condemned sinners, thru Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace without truth – would have rendered the righteousness of God as void. Truth without grace – would have rendered the salvation of man as impossible.
Love of God
What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that He should shower on sinful man the grace and favour that we do not deserve and cannot earn- but in His perfect life the Incarnate Word of God, in His sinless body on the tree, met all the righteous requirements of the Law – to free us from condemnation so that we might have LIFE. The law indeed was given to Israel through Moses, but the unfailing love of God and His everlasting and faithfulness - is only seen in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect (mature), establish, strengthen, settle you (1 Pet. 5:10).
But when we begin to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we are able to face up to the awful facts concerning the old man and his condemnation at the Cross.
Showers of Grace
Grace, grace and more grace is what is showered on all that believe in Jesus Christ. Grace for salvation, grace for this life, grace to mature, grace in the ages to come.
Sufficient Grace
Grace and truth came through the Lord Jesus – as does love, joy, peace, and hope, and we have access to all the grace of Christ..
it was by the free, undeserved favour and sovereign riches of God’s grace alone. And so it is with us, for it is all of grace – the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But as we abide in the risen Lord Jesus, that new ground of our position, His life will be manifested in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23).
We are raised in Him (Eph. 2:6); we are complete in Him (Col. 2:10); we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Him (Eph. 1:3); the entire work regarding us is not done in us but in the Lord Jesus - the Father has done all in His Son.
If you stand on the ground of what the Lord Jesus is (abide), you will find in your growth that all that is true of Him is becoming true of you; but if you remain on the ground of what you are in yourself, you will find that all that is true of the old man is true of you in life and walk.
The purpose of Paul, in Romans Six, is to show how completely the believer is identified with the Lord Jesus when He died unto sin.' To enter fully into the meaning of that death is to see that He has emancipated us from any further dealings with our old master, sin.
The believer is privileged thus to take his position in the risen Lord Jesus, who is now alive unto God.' From that ground he is henceforth to regard sin. -E.H.
My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).
We have but to see in the Word what He has accomplished on our behalf in the Lord Jesus, and then quietly rely upon Him, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone (Eph. 2:19, 20).
Our Lord Jesus is indeed the perfect example of these two graces..
Ah, but in Acts.10:34 we read that God is no respecter of persons, while Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 that: His rain falls on the just and unjust alike, Matt.5:45. And so for us, we ought to be kind and good to all that we meet. Goodness only needs a little opportunity to act.
The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered awhile, make you mature, establish, strengthen, settle you (1 Pet. 5:10).
No matter what we may encounter in this life, we who belong to the Lord Jesus have this definite knowledge - our Father will use it all in love as an instrument in the carrying out of the glorious purpose to which He has destined us.
Oh, what lessons there are for all to learn, who also travel the believer’s path in this world, as we accept the deep and unanswerable questions in our lives, and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
God breaks the heads of Leviathan – that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan – which deceiveth the whole world.. I will break the pride of your power – and – Jesus said… It is Finished…Ps.74:14 Rev.12:9 Lev.26:19 John 19:30
Father’s Will
Jesus said, 'when you pray say, THY will be done.
Jesus said, I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which sent Me.
And Jesus Himself tells us, through, the pen of the apostle John, he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, I will grant to sit with Me on My throne.
Such examination will launch you deeper – into eternal intercession with the Lord, For Jesus ever liveth to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25 -and so should we….
Our Father purges us on the principle of we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake.' In service you are sure to find some kind of pressure on you.
Woman at the Well – Full Study
And Jesus must needs go through Samaria..
Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well:John 4:4
This picture is a poignant reminder that Jesus became wearied by life’s demands.
And as we trace His earthly path, here is one of His experiences that we can understand – Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, rested on the well.
Jesus said: My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness – your weakness…2Cor.4:9.
Woman at the Well – Full Study
And Jesus must needs go through Samaria.
Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well.
And there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, 'Give me to drink'.John 4:7
He is Close
How close are you to Jesus?
And Jesus was close to her. Jesus was just there, waiting for her – just as He is close to you, in all the chores and duties that fill each of our lives... He is waiting for you, as you set about the menial tasks of each daily round.
He Waits
This woman went on a little local errand to draw water from a public place, but before she returned, she had met Jesus and had been refreshed.
Before she went home, Jesus met her at the very point of her deepest soul need.
He Knocks
As we flap and worry and fret and concern ourselves with accumulating difficulties, Jesus sits and waits.
As we plan strategies to meet all the heavy burdens that cause so many heartaches... Jesus sits and waits.
As we desperately try to determine how to cope with life’s mounting troubles; as we look for any form or escape from the downward spiral of the world’s affairs, Jesus waits and He waits.
found Jesus waiting for her.
Path of Obedience
No-one finds the Lord Jesus in the path of disobedience... He waits for us to come to Him He waits for us to obey His voice. 'Give Me..
Point of Need
Jesus met this woman in the form of a weary, way-worn, and thirsting traveller.
Jesus took time and won His way into her confidence.
Jesus took time to get her trust and to find a way into her heart.
Jesus made Himself known to this woman through the garb of a tired, thirsty man..
and Jesus refreshed her soul, and Jesus revealed the glory of His personality to her.
Jesus offered her His love and His forgiveness..
Different Ways
Jesus approaches each of us in different disguises and many unrecognisable ways.
Acceptable Words
Of the lovely Lord Jesus, we heard:- Never a man spake like this man, and they wondered.. at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. John 7:46. Let us abound in purity of thought and graciousness of speech – by the power of the Holy Spirit in all we say and think and are.
Spiritual hunger and thirst are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, while at the same time they are enlarged for more of Him.
It is as we take the Lord Jesus by faith into the affections of our hearts that we make spiritual progress.
The head may be filled with general theological information without producing one spark of heart-affection for the Lord Jesus, and the soul remains in a state of spiritual emaciation.
But the spiritual mind, the subdued heart, the lowly spirit, will say, and that without a single particle of reserve, Let me only enjoy the sweet company of the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ in my trial, and I ask no more.
Heaven is With JesusJesus tells us: I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
Heaven is where the Lord Jesus is and He reminds us of this many times.
Jesus said: this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Him Whom Thou did send – even Jesus Christ, your Lord.
Jesus said: Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me, may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
This was the earnest will of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, whilst walking this sin-soaked world.
Come, Lord Jesus,
If we keep Christ as the centre of our focus we will overcome the stresses of life, for everything will fall into perspective.
Maranatha – even so, come Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20.
[God] hath raised us up together; and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
In the first stage of our Christian life we seek to bring the Lord Jesus down to our level, for our use; later on we learn to take our position in Him at His level, for His use.
The desire of many and the tendency of all is to connect the Lord Jesus with ourselves on this earth, instead of accepting that we are in living union with Him in heaven.
If you do not know your union with the Lord Jesus in heaven, you cannot come out in the power of the heavenly Man to act from Him on earth, to be descriptive of Him.
Very little abiding growth and fruit can be known by the believer until he accepts the fact of identification (Rom. 6:6), and to it responds by an attitude of faith (Rom. 6:11), thus yielding himself to the Holy Spirit for the life of the Lord Jesus to be manifested in and through him (Rom. 6:13). -G.W.
Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.John 1:3
Easy as A B C
Union with Christ or being placed in Christ, is as simple as A-B-C, for it is a result of simply trusting in Jesus as Saviour.
And John expounds the personal, intimate relationship we so long for, and he tells us how to maintain fellowship with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
John reminisces of his own intimate fellowship with the eternal Son, Jesus Christ.
John saw Him, heard Him and touched His Lord, and delights to tell us that we too can enjoy like-sweet communion.. precious communion and he continues: truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Today, the Lord Jesus is the Living Water that is poured into our hearts by faith – and today He is the Rock of our salvation, from Whose side poured blood and water.
By not resting on anything, even the Spirit's work within, but on what the Lord Jesus has done entirely outside you.
In the Lord Jesus alone, the Father finds that in which He rests; and so it is with His saints.
The more you see the extent and nature of the evil that is within, as well as that without and around, the more you will find that what the Lord Jesus is and did, is the only ground at all on which you can rest.
When the eye is turned away from the Lord Jesus, darkness must set in.
He finds all his springs in the Lord Jesus.
It is having the Lord Jesus as our Object which alone gives us the power of truth.
When we have anything of our own as an object, so far we slip aside, for the Lord Jesus alone is the full truth.
The present application of God’s Word, enables us to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.
Christian Believers
Christian believers are citizens of heaven and residents of the heavenly Jerusalem, and we eagerly await our Saviour from heaven – the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians have been saved with a view to realising this heavenly inheritance – a heritage and position that is currently being occupied by satanic usurpers.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us in heavenly places … in Christ.Ephesians 1:3
Hope in Christ
It was God’s purpose to redeem us through the blood of Jesus and to forgive our sins, and He purposed this heavenly blessing in accordance with the riches of His grace.
He brought us out of darkness into the glorious light of the great gospel of Christ, for we are God’s handiwork and are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God in His grace has prepared for us to do in advance.
Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us in the heavenlies … in Christ. Ephesians 1:3
He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion... and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:20,21; 2:6)
When the Lord Jesus gets the complete mastery as Head in our lives, then all independence of action, and life, and all self-will, self-direction, self-seeking, self-glory and self-vindication will go.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.Philippians 3:21
Heavenly Places
We come to Jesus as saviour.
And what more glorious reminder of our future inheritance than the words of Paul, who writes: for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20,
Jesus Himself told us that: in the world, ye shall have tribulation, but He continues: but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Christian Challenge
And Paul reminds us how we are to live each day of this life: brethren, he writes, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil.3:13, and THEN comes the challenge: therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. Philippians 3:13ff
But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made near by the Blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13).
To know the Lord Jesus is to love Him; and to love Him is to insist on being with Him; to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).
Our growth is wrought out in our lives down here; but it is formed up there in fellowship with the Lord Jesus, where our affections and minds get into the condition to be manifested down here. -J.N.D.
Every blessing is now connected with the Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father.
They do not know the Lord Jesus in glory.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19)
As we walk in the Spirit, worship in the Spirit, and pray in the Spirit, we shall come to know, not the Spirit, but the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus explicitly said, He (the Comforter) shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.
It is to walk in communion with the Father, in dependence upon the Spirit, having the Lord Jesus as my one object.
Walking according to the Spirit is occupation with the Lord Jesus.
When the believer looks to the Lord Jesus, depends upon Him, draws all he needs from Him - if the Lord Jesus is his all, then the believer walks in the Spirit. -A.C.G.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2)
Christ Jesus
The man or woman that has been placed in Christ is indeed blessed beyond compare..
for hidden within Christ is a great treasure trove of all-wisdom and all-knowledge. Christ – the third person of the trinity was made man and became God incarnate. Christ was Son of Man Who was born – yet He was the Son of God Who was given. The fullness of deity dwells in Christ – and in Him is all wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:9 All that God is and all that God knows is present in the person of Christ Jesus.
Essence of God
The essence of all that is God is discovered in the fullness of the Lord Jesus. The essential attributes that are unique to the Father are exclusive to the Son.
With our finite minds, we are incapable of understanding the essence of the infinite God – nevertheless, all the wisdom and knowledge of God is hidden in Christ in its entirety. Man, a fallen creature was incapable of meeting and communing with a holy God, but God in His mercy and love revealed Himself, in Christ Jesus – in His fullness.
First
Since we received Christ Jesus the Lord we are to continue to depend on Him.
Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.
Christ’s Heritage
Jesus came to His own heritage but His own people received Him not….' John 1:11 Jesus came to redeem His rightful inheritance, bequeathed to Him by the Father.
Christ in You
How – how could Jesus make such astonishing claims, and then go away into heaven?
John 17:17 And Jesus said:- 'Lo I am with you always, even to the consummation of the age.' And Jesus said:- 'I in them, and Thou in Me – that they may be made perfect in one.' John 17:23
From the very start, all Jesus did was in the power of the Holy Spirit.
From the very beginning, all Jesus did was in the light of the cross.
There is more in the Lord Jesus, in the Father, in the Spirit, in heaven to give us rest and peace and joy, than in the whole universe to disquiet, trouble, or grieve us. -G.V.W.
The darkness of this place will in time turn us to the light of His face - the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
I pity no one now who has a room where he can find himself isolated from everyone, to be with the Lord Jesus where He is; where he can have his feathers oiled, to come out and face all the roughness here. -J.B.S.
If I am risen with the Lord Jesus, I must occupy myself with Him where He is, or I shall fall back to the things out of which He has risen; and the very fact that I am in the scene where He is not makes it the more necessary that I should be fellowshipping with Him where He is.
He must see himself according to God's own Holy Word, as crucified with the Lord Jesus, dead, buried, raised and made to sit in heavenly places with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It is to know the Lord Jesus – Who will reveal the Father to us unsparingly…
This is Christ’s prayer for all that are His:- that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Precious Promise
Peter wrote: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness – through the knowledge of HIM that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these, ye might be partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:2-4.
We go all the way to Calvary in faith and there find ourselves identified with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection.
Where would souls be put if they were simply and definitely instructed in Christ Jesus and Him crucified and risen; connected by faith with the living One, who was crucified, and whose death terminated man in the flesh? -J.B.S.
Easter Reflections - STUDY
5th word from the cross
Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, saith, I thirst.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.John 19:28ff
A Simple Ministry
Here our Lord Jesus Christ cried out, I thirst.
come and drink from the living water? Was this offer of comfort a call to the heart to be comforted by the eternal Comforter? For whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones…. shall in no wise lose his reward. Who can forget that great cry on that last day – that great last day of the feast of Tabernacles – Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. John 7:37.
If we are not living near the Lord Jesus and are not where we should be, we neither have an appetite for spiritual things, nor can we feed upon Him who is the living Bread.
Will of God
Throughout His life, Jesus has one purpose for living – to do the will of the Father.
We have brief glimpses to show that Jesus came into the world to do God’s will.
Luke writes to tell us that the young Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Luke 2:52 Christ never deviated from His sole life’s mission – to carry out His Father’s will.
We read in the book of Hebrews, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book – Hebrews 10:7 Oh yes, from Genesis to Revelation we discover that it all points to Christ Jesus – the God-man Who emptied Himself to become like one of us - to show us how to live.
Jesus replied, Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am?
His sinless life and perfect example demonstrated that in Him we too can live godly.. not in our own strength, for in ourselves dwells no good thing. But in His strength and power and sufficiency we CAN live godly in Christ Jesus.
but so that He could become our LIFE in US – so that in HIM we too can live godly in Christ Jesus.
One Purpose
Throughout His life, Jesus had ONE purpose for living - to do the will of His Father.
The various trials and grievous pain are but for a little while, so that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to the praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:7
ow seeks to smite them with Christ’s forgiveness and the love of Jesus..
Wrath of God
John knew these children were sinners, both in practice and by nature. He knew the blessings of forgiveness and grace of God were freely open to all, but he also knew the only sacrifice for sin rested on the spilt blood of the Lord Jesus. John knew He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities – for the wrath of God was poured out on Christ to pay that price for all sin.
John drank deeply of the love and forgiveness of His Jesus, and so we read: I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are forgiven you – for HIS name’s sake.
Jesus Himself told us that: in this world, ye shall have tribulation… but that was not the end of the sentence, for He continues, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
So let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. How do we access this perfect gift of perfect peace? God will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on JESUS: because he trusteth in Thee.
Difficult Choice
As we draw ever closer to the fast-approaching return of the Lord Jesus, our heart fluctuates between His glorious appearing in the clouds.. and concerned thoughts in our heart about our readiness to meet Him.
foreigners and ambassadors in a strange land, for our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We search here and there for relief, instead of searching out the Person of Jesus, for He alone knows the answers to all our investigations and questionings.
Binding Truth
The Lord’s return for His little flock is Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus, and the greatest joy will be to see Him as He is and to be made like unto Him – and these truths are as binding on the heart of God as the blood-drenched cross.
God in His mercy and wisdom gave His only begotten Son to be Son of God and Son of Man, with a threefold ‘name’:- Lord – Jesus – Christ.
Person and Purpose
Lord Jesus Christ: given to identify His person and to define His purpose.
Lord Jesus Christ, given to designate a believer’s relationship to Him.
Jesus: His given name: you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins (Saviour) and Christ the anointed Messiah of God: His occupational name and title that announces His vocation (Messiah).
The Lord Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh for a threefold purpose.
“Jesus”
When we refer to Him as ‘Jesus’ we recognise His humble earthly position.
We thrill that He shall be called ‘Jesus’, the name given by heavenly instruction: He shall be called ‘Jesus‘, a name so wonderfully expressive of His humanity.
I believe that reflecting upon the Lord Jesus Christ is the most beneficial medicine known to man – just reflecting on our Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is the knowledge of the Lord Jesus that matures the soul.
Our Father chooses His opportunities to teach us these things, and when He has accomplished this work the special communications of His wisdom and love no longer continue, for He desires we should walk by faith, according to what we know we possess in the Lord Jesus.
Source of Supply
We should fly to the Word of God to seek out and discover the goodness of God. We should look only to Jesus for He is the One, and only source of all supply – but all too often we try to dig our own cisterns of water – to satisfy our own thirst.
Important Focus
We are told to lay aside every weight and every distraction and fix our eyes on Jesus. We are reminded to set aside the sin of disbelief that so easily torments and frustrates us. We’re encouraged to run with patience the race set before us and keep Him in focus. We are clearly told to look away from the urgencies of life to the important One.
We are to look unto Jesus - but Why?
Bread from Heaven
We are told to run the race and we are told to aim for the goal – the finishing post. Jesus Himself gave us the directions we are to follow within the written Word..
Jesus said to them: “I am the Bread of life: he that comes to Me shall never hunger; and he that believes on Me shall never thirst” John 6:35 But He also warned us against adopting the ways and traditions and doctrine of men..
Watch and Endure
Jesus is coming to take us to be with Himself soon, but we know not the day or hour.
Being confident of this very thing, that He who has began a good work in you will complete it, until the day of Jesus Christ.Philippians 1:6
Gracious Father
Just as the vessels of the Temple were set apart and sprinkled with blood, so we are set apart and sprinkled with the blood of Christ Jesus.
until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.
The former enables the patient tenacity of trusting faith in Christ Jesus.
The latter excites the diligent works of a growing love for Jesus Christ, and they intertwine as His banner of love, over those that trust in His name.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
God’s Building-Blocks
God’s building-blocks of grace and glory are erected in the amazing book of Ephesians. We move from one marvellous level of grace and glory to the next glorious peak. We are permitted to fine-tune the incredible truth of who we are in Christ. And it is all by God’s grace, through faith in Christ Jesus.
Now you know you have a living bond with the Lord Jesus, you are linked with Him in spirit, and a new interest altogether is awakened in your heart; it is with Him you are occupied. -J.B.S.
The Lord Jesus by His death has undertaken to remove all my unsuitability.
Hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
Remember: the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin 1 John 1:7 – past, present, and future, but confessing our sin restores us into fellowship with the Father.
Cleansing Blood
But how does the blood of Jesus cleanse all sin?
You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ.1 Peter 2:5
Stunning Truth
When we first trusted Christ as Saviour we became a part of the household of God. When we initially believed in Jesus, the Spirit took up abiding residence inside us, and we became part of the family of God – and we became His permanent habitation.
Day by day, God is constructing His temple of living stones, into a holy habitation: you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5
Love was the reason that the Lord Jesus followed the path of obedience.
Training Programme
From start to finish the Lord Jesus lived in submission to the will of the Father.
Like Christ, we too can learn obedience when love becomes our motivating factor - as we learn to diligently do His will out of love for our Saviour – as in love for the Lord Jesus we submit to His leading in willing obedience.
So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were travelling with the Lord Jesus, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us.Acts 1:21-22
Christ’s Silent Years
Many long years had passed from the day that the young Jesus was lost in the temple. Many silent years rolled by from that memorable day when Jesus returned home to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph, his parents, and lived in humble obedience to them.
But as Jesus grew into manhood, in that little town of Nazareth, there was another youth that was maturing into the office to which he had been born – John the Baptist.
Elizabeth and Mary
We know that John the Baptist and Jesus were relatives for we read that their mothers were cousins – one was from the house of Judah and one of the lineage of Levi. John was of the priestly line while Jesus of Nazareth was of the house of king David. Both were called of God and filled with the Spirit.
Both John and Jesus had godly mothers that taught their sons the things of God.
Isaiah 40:3 John was preparing the highway for God’s King – Jesus.
Where was Jesus?
But what of the Lord Jesus..
as John the Baptist was calling the nation to repentance? Where was Jesus when the Baptiser stormed onto Israel’s tranquil wilderness scene? What was Christ doing when John began proclaiming his challenging message? Where was Jesus when John crashed onto the scene dressed in coarse camel hair – and with a leather belt tied round his waist – eating locusts and wild honey?
John’s Baptism
Well, it seems that Acts chapter 1 gives us a clue as to the whereabouts of the Messiah. It seems that a hint is offered when a replacement for Judas is being considered. We read in Acts chapter 1: We must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were travelling with the Lord Jesus – beginning from John’s baptism.
Humble Submission
It seems that for a little time at least; the Lord was among the followers of John! He had humbled Himself for many silent years under the authority of His parents, and He seems to have spent some time learning from the ministry of the Baptist. What a wonderful example we have in the silent years of our developing Saviour. Though little is written of His life and learning there are many little clues that demonstrate that the Lord Jesus lived His entire childhood and early adult life in humble submission to those that were in authority – as He waited for God’s timing when He would continue His long, painful..
Each a precious portrait of the Lord – an old testament type or character, of the Lord Jesus.
Full Testament
All tiny glimpses of the completed type of the lovely Lord Jesus, Himself.
He must truly become our Master as well as our Saviour. We are thus called to commit ourselves, spirit, soul, and body to God. We are to commit ourselves to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely.. and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Full Identification
Because we are in Christ, we are committed to God as was the Lord Jesus.
Be Ready
My “right hand” may be the thing that makes me delightful to other people.. and yet Jesus said, “If your right hand causes you to stumble in your walk with me then cut it off!” The maimed stage is only for a season – but remember- we are in the season of the Lord’s return.
And remember that Jesus is coming at a time you think not, 'Therefore be ye also ready..
Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know Me?” Jesus asked him.
God Incarnate
In thought and word, action and attitude, Jesus Christ was the manifestation of God.
Jesus Christ was God incarnate.
The Incarnation
The mystery of the incarnation will never be fully understood by the mind of men. The incarnation is a fleeting glimpse at a shadow of the mystery of Almighty God. Yet the miracle of the incarnation is believed by all who trust Jesus as Saviour. The incarnation is the greatest revelation of the way to reach the Person of God.
Wrong Perception
For over three years the disciples had walked by the way, and talked to the Lord Jesus.
Christ’s Sojourn
They missed the miracle of the mystery of Who Jesus of Nazareth truly was.
Once we learn the truth of our union with the Lord Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit's indwelling, any attempt to imitate Christ will be seen for what it is: unscriptural, and futile.
Our Father is going to teach us, mainly through personal failure, that the life we live is the life of our Lord Jesus alone.
The Church's real ministry is not multitudinous public services, so-called, but the forming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the lives of His people; the reproduction of Christ; epistles made alive by the Holy Spirit, to be seen and read of all men. -C.A.F.
There is no answer to infidelity like the life of the Lord Jesus displayed through the Christian.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies … IN CHRIST.Ephesians 1:3
Permanent Relationship
When we first believed in Jesus we were placed in a permanent relationship with Him. The old former life in Adam was forever replaced with our new, eternal life in Christ. We who were dead in trespasses and sins were made fully alive and given His life.
Body of Christ
The Holy Spirit baptises us into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Destiny of Christ
We share in the DESTINY of Christ He raised us up together, and seated us together in the heavenlies – in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:6
Heirship with Christ
We share in a joint-HEIRSHIP with Christ, reserved in the heavenlies that’ll never fade God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading - kept in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1:4-5 And the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ - provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. Romans 8:17
Hebrews 5:8-10 We are all living stones, being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 We have been made a kingdom of priests to the glory and power of God His Father, forever and ever!
It is the little group of words: ‘in Christ’ : ‘in Him’ : ‘in Christ Jesus’. And it is also found in the phrases: ‘in Whom’, ‘by Whom’ and ‘of Whom’.
This little, almost insignificant term cradles in its arms a most powerful meaning. 'In Christ' indicates a close, intimate, living union with our resurrected Saviour – Jesus. 'In Christ' is a positional truth that is found in Scripture, and applies to all Christians.
It was Jesus Who told his disciples of the forthcoming union with Himself.
In Christ
As believers, we are going to spend eternity with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Thus it will be a sharing of life, through which others will be born and will grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18).
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.2 Corinthians 13:14
down and initiating reconciliation of man to Himself. (Jn. 1:14; 2 Cor. 8:9)A..It is God’s Abundantly giving us more than we could ever expect or deserve. (Jn. 1:16; Rom. 5:17; 2 Cor.9:8; Eph. 2:7; 1 Tim. 1:14)C..It is about God Caring enough to send Jesus to die in our place. (Eph. 1:7; 2 Thess.2:16)E..It is about being Eternally unendingly, unconditionally accepted in Christ. (Eph.1:6; 2 Tim.1:9; Titus 3:7)
Strombeck’s Definition
Grace was once defined by Strombeck as: “the unmerited abounding provision of the unrestrained operation of God’s infinite love through Christ Jesus on behalf of man – especially he who depends on Him.”
This outpouring of God’s infinite love is possible only because Jesus Christ, by His death, fully satisfied the demands of God’s justice.
As grace came by Jesus Christ – only those who receive Him as Saviour are ‘under grace’.
Earthly Responsibility
We have a heavenly future but currently, we have an earthly responsibility to be one – to live in unity one with one another – to reflect the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not expected to copy what Jesus did or try to be like Him in our own strength.
We have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation:- in the knowledge of Him That the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him. Ephesians 1:17
Gifts of God’s
Our salvation comes to us as a gift of God’s grace, and it is all due to the Lord Jesus.
But godly living and righteous acts are similarly gifts of God – through Christ Jesus – for it is God Who works in us both to WILL and to DO – to His good purpose.
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory forever and ever.
He set about a lifelong process of conforming us into the image of the Lord Jesus.
Name of Jesus
This is a lesson that so many Christians simply fail to understand or to apply, and the result is a life that is lived in defeat instead of a victorious life in Christ.
Just remember, whatever you do, whether by speech or action, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
But our heritage and destiny in the Lord Jesus Christ is to be conformed to His image - not at the loss of our individual personality, but by the gain of His nature and character.
Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).
Second Advent
Jesus told us that on that day, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come – for Israel will repent.
Then Israel will look on Jesus, Whom they have pierced – and mourn bitterly.
But Jesus their Messiah-King will set up His kingdom..
That one thought centers in His Son, Jesus Christ, and therefore the very essence of revelation, and the very heart of spiritual enlightenment is that you see Christ in all those thoughts and ways of God as they are expressed in His Word and in His activities.
It is no longer a day of the week it is a divine Person. (If the Seventh Day Adventists saw that, the whole of their system would go in five minutes!) No, Jesus is God's Sabbath.
Oh yes, Jesus is the Sabbath, and if we live in Him we shall not spoil the Sabbath.
Oh, this is a mighty thing that the Lord Jesus has done!
O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken Luke 24:25 Jesus said 'you have no power at all against Jesus, except it were given you from above' John 19:11
There is only one Man that can claim I AM God – and that is Christ Jesus His Son.
Beloved of God
Every child of God is in Christ and every believer has been accepted because of Him. We are in Christ and we are accepted by God and we are loved because of Jesus.
Perceptions of Jesus
Many can talk about Christ in eloquent sermons and beautiful, expressive speeches.
Many see His life as a model to emulate, and His works as an ideal to imitate. Many regard the belief system that has built up around Jesus as one worth following. Many see His epistemology as truth worth seeking out – knowledge worth acquiring.
Person of Jesus
But Jesus is not a religion or a belief system.
Jesus is not a problem solver.
Jesus is not an ideology or someone to try to emulate in the flesh.
Jesus is not epistemology, nor any other philosophy - nor is he a morality to apply.
Jesus is God - God, MY Saviour.
And Jesus is Man - My Lord and My God.
And Jesus is personal.
Description of Jesus
All our knowledge ABOUT Jesus is of minor effect if we do not know Him personally.
All our study about the Lord is of little significance if we cannot describe Him as... my Jesus, my Saviour, my God, my King.
Knowledge of Jesus
Can you describe Him in these glorious and intimate terms?
Worship of Jesus
All He wants from you is permission from a humbled, seeking heart..
Philippians 2:3 He who says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:6 Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith..
Example of Christ
YES, Jesus….
Jesus healed… all who were oppressed by the devil. Why?… for God was with Him.
– for He did only those things He saw the Father doing. He spoke to the world only ‘those things which I have heard of Him’. Jesus is our worthy example. Leaving an example that we should follow in His steps.
Humility of Christ
He asked not that they served Him, but that He served them. So He washed His disciples' feet, demonstrating that the Servant of all is the Chief of all. Jesus went about doing good – that’s all – just doing good.
HOW? Well, Jesus said – without Me, you can do nothing. But Praise the Lord..
Pre-Eminent
The Lord Jesus is pre-eminent in all things.
The glory of the Lord Jesus surpasses men’s imagination, and holy is His Name.
Fully Man
As fully Man – He was born as Jesus of Nazareth - the carpenter’s ‘Son. He started life as a Seed in the virgin’s womb – begotten of the Father and born. As the God-Man, He is the unique Person of the Trinity – the Christ of God.He is appointed Heir of all things – Judge of all men – Pre-eminent among people.
The glory of the Lord Jesus surpasses men’s imagination, and holy is His Name.
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
An Example
Paul who throughout his life spread the gospel in every part of the known world, reached toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He wrote…. I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind I reach forward to those things which are ahead.
He said, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Our Intercessor
The writer to the Hebrews reminds us, therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and HIGH PRIEST of our confession, Christ Jesus… Who ever liveth to make intercession for us.
How to Pray
And Jesus Himself has already told us that: I pray for them.
Divine Wisdom
Did you get that??? In Jesus are all the treasures of divine wisdom..
K.R.R.Y
K – Know your old man is crucified with Him –R – Reckon yourself dead unto sin –R – Reckon yourself alive unto God – through Jesus Christ our LordY – Yield yourself to God.Romans 6:3-14
the reality of the redeeming death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Biblical Instructions
And in Romans 6:3-14 we read KNOW ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death?
For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. So RECKON ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and also RECKON yourselves alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Moment by moment I’m kept in His loveMoment by moment I’ve life from aboveLooking to Jesus, ’til glory doth shineMoment by moment O Lord I am Thine
Are we truly looking to Jesus moment by moment and kept in His love?
Where is Jesus
Let us reflect on yesterday’s busyness.
Where is Jesus in all our engagements – and in the midst our mundane activities?
Is it Jesus we desire – or do we just enjoy the emotional thrill that sweeps over us?
Is it Jesus Who influences our thoughts, every waking moment?
Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;Moment by moment I’ve life from above;Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;Living with Jesus, a new life divine;Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Never a weakness that He doth not feel,Never a sickness that He cannot heal;Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,Jesus my Saviour, abides with me still.
Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;Moment by moment I’ve life from above;Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.Gal.4:4
Born of God
The Lord Jesus came from glory and He returned to glory. He left His throne of glory to come to be with us – (to be with man). He laid aside His glory so that He would be like us – (to be like man). He was born of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
to all who believe on Jesus.
God Made Man
Why – why do we have to believe on Jesus? Why believe on Him? Why not just believe on God the Father? Surely that’s enough? Is not the Father’s love great enough and sufficient to save us from our sins? No!
Strangers and Pilgrims
Dearly beloved, writes Peter: I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, for you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods, while Jesus Himself implores us: abide in Me.
It is not so much the existence of God – but what think ye of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Inflexible Religiosity
In John Chapter 8 we read that as Jesus was talking many Jews believed in Him.
And addressing those Jews who believed on Him, Jesus said to them:- if ye abide in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
All of Nothing
With Christ it must be all or nothing – there can be no middle ground. Either Christ is absolute truth or you buy into the pagan, relative mindset. Either Christ will set you free – or you are entrapped and in bondage. When you analyse all the arguments, you must conclude that there is one issue – what think ye of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Absolute Truth
Jesus says to all: if ye abide in my Word, then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.
And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent (John 17:3).
The heartbreaking knowledge of self brings a life-giving compensation, which is knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The needs generated by the realization of the sin of self produce the necessary motivation and hunger which cause us to focus upon the Lord Jesus and become conformed to His image.
Many a new believer has obtained relief in his conscience from his sins, because of faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ; that is, he does not see further than Romans 3.
It is one thing to believe on the Lord Jesus, to be born again, to be saved.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2).
Satan, sin, self, the world, and the law-all have been fully dealt with by the Lord Jesus on the Cross.
“It is not by renunciation, or effort, that we are morally apart from sin and self and the world, but by our death on the Cross with the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Believers today seek the blessing and power of Pentecost apart from a personal crucifixion with Christ, and the result is a counterfeit experience.
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).
Christ’s Deity
There have been many sects and cults that deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a new issue but one that goes back to the early church fathers and apostles.
Cults and Sects
“Spiritists” consider that Jesus, being more ‘divine’ than other men is absurd, while “Jehovah-Witnesses” declare Him as a lesser god – a son of God, but not equal with God.
“Unitarians” do not embrace the biblical Trinity, while “Christian Science” exponents state that Jesus was not Deity and equal with God, but a lesser created being – a son of God.
Many Christian sects and antichrist cults, declare that there is no scriptural evidence of Christ’s claim to Deity, but unless the Lord Jesus was God, there is no Christian faith.
Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!” Isaiah 40:3 And John the greatest prophet born of woman, pointed to Jesus as he quoted Isaiah: “Prepare the way for the coming of the LORD!
Psalm 68:18 And quoting this passage in holy writ, Paul, the apostle to gentiles declared of Jesus: When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.
Source of Truth
There have been many sects and cults that deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us in our hearts revere, Christ Jesus, as Lord and God, and always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
Woman in Labour
Isaiah, Jeremiah and others described their own life-testimony as a woman in labour, and Jesus likened the end-time tribulation to a period of intense and painful labour: – a woman, in labour, has sorrow because her hour has come.
the pain of that time will birth the millennial reign of Jesus – the Jewish Messiah. And their time of mourning will turn in to great joy and so all Israel shall be saved: for as soon as she has given birth, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Time of Tribulation
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus, and Paul never experienced physical childbirth.. but painted a beautiful picture in the spiritual realm from its physical counterpart.
the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
There is an entirely baseless sentiment abroad which assumes that every teaching of the Lord Jesus must be binding upon the believer during this age simply because He said it.
The blessed position of a Christian is, that he has died even to the best things of the world, religious and otherwise, and he is alive to the highest things in the presence of the Father; for the Lord Jesus Christ is his life, in whom he is hidden (Col. 3:3). -W.K.
We realize our privileges and possessions in the Lord Jesus by faith; we enjoy them by the Spirit.
Bread of Life
Jesus claimed to be the Bread of Life, and all who eat of Him will live... but this truth was a difficult statement for many of His followers to accept and from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked with Him no more. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
In our fuller illumination by the Spirit of Truth, we understand the words of Christ, but to His disciples, this teaching of Jesus was shocking, disgusting, horrifying..
Word of God
Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, but what exactly does this mean?
Well, it means that Jesus Himself is the Way and the Truth and the Life!
This is never done by chasing after a man or a ministry – for there is bias in all. But just like the Bereans, we should search the Scriptures to discover what they really say, Jesus said I am the TRUTH.
Two Instructions
Jesus said during His earthly walk, take My yoke upon you and learn of Me.” Paul later challenged us when he was sharing about the risen Lord to “learn Christ”.The indwelling Spirit of Christ is to be our life in everything that we do. There is an enormous change and challenge between these two instructions.
Earthly Life
During His earthly walk, the disciples were encouraged to learn about Jesus. They were to watch His walk; to witness His character; to observe His attitude. They were to obey in His commands, abide by His teachings and they were to hear Him. During Christ’s earthly walk, His followers were challenged to learn about Jesus.
Before they could 'learn' Christ they first needed to learn about the Lord Jesus.
Identify with Christ
During His earthly walk, Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew, take my yoke upon you and learn of Me.” Mattew 11:29.
To learn Christ is a life that delights to say to the Father, Thy will be done. To learn Christ, is a life that is continually, and evermore occupied with Jesus.
Theological teaching since the Reformation has not set forth clearly our utter end in death with the Lord Jesus on the Cross.
The fatal result of this error is to leave the law claimant over those in the Lord Jesus, for the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth' (Rom. 7:1).
All these require, not self-occupation, but occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:11).
It goes without saying that Christianity is a vertical relationship with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If the need of man were the sole measure of His grace, then man only would be thought of, the work of the Lord Jesus would be simply for man, and the power of God expended merely in rescuing man and securing his relief.
When I have rest in the Lord Jesus, then I begin to find all my joy and strength in Him, and I occupy myself with Him.
Unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end.
Not faith in the power of faith – but faith in Jesus, the Son of Man.
Not faith in the power of prophecy – but faith in Jesus, the Son of Man.
Not faith in the power of positive thinking – but faith in Jesus, the Son of Man – not faith in the power of your Christian walk – but faith in Jesus, the Son of Man.
Trinity of Demands
“Therefore,” ….we are exhorted: therefore let us lay aside every weight, and let us lay aside the sin (of unbelief as demonstrated in earlier chapters) let us lay aside this sin which so easily ensnares us – lack of trust in God and let us run with patient endurance the race that is set before us…” But this trinity of demands has its focus on a person – the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man Let us look to JESUS….
We are to look to the Lord Jesus – and to look away from the world.
The act of looking towards Jesus incorporates turning our back against all else.
Lay Aside Unbelief
When we look to Jesus, we have no option but to lay aside all that hinders our walk. When our faith is the Lord we have to remove our trust in ourselves and in the world. When we trust the Lord, we look away from the circumstances of life and rely on Him, alone.
Sanctifying faith is living our life by faith in Jesus.
Only weeks before Calvary the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive out the demon in the boy ?” and Jesus replied:- …because you have so little faith…”
Maturing Faith
The leper had faith, that pleased the Lord. The woman had faith, that pleased Jesus. The centurion had faith, that pleased the Lord Jesus, but only later did the disciples saving faith mature into sanctifying faith.
By Faith
Let us have faith like Joshua and Caleb, who by faith received their reward. Let us have faith like the leper, the centurion, and the woman – saving faith in Jesus – and sanctifying faith through Jesus, as we look to Him.
Hebrews 4:16 And Jesus reminded us that men ought always to keep on praying and not to lose heart in the process – for God is willing and able to answer all our cries for help and our impossible pleas.
Man of Prayer
Paul was a great example of a man that prayed to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He prayed that they would be kept safe from savage wolves who would seek to scatter the flock of God, and he prayed that: He who began a good work in them would continue – until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
Spiritual Example
There is no better example of a spiritual Man of prayer than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Time and again we discover Jesus rising early in the morning and finding Him in a solitary place as He drew close to His heavenly Father.
Spiritual Choice
We are the children of God and we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, and one of the most precious gifts that we have received is the privilege of prayer.
Paul is telling the Galatians that they should be growing in the grace of Jesus Christ, but despite their position in Christ and union with Him – they reverted to infancy!
On the death side, we are to receive deliverance from sin's power through the Spirit from the Cross; on the life side, we are to receive growth through the Spirit from the Lord Jesus.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2). -G.G.
That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11, ASV.).
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).
By the body of Christ on the Cross believers were made dead to the law (Rom. 7:4), in order righteously to be joined to Another, even the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Hence there is only this left for us - to die to the law, and be joined to the risen Lord Jesus in a resurrection life absolutely beyond the sphere of the law. -W.R.N.
The law is for the man who departed from God - that man has been removed from God's sight in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I rejoice that now by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' I am free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).
This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.John 17:3
hast thou not known me, Philip? Yes, Jesus had to tell him that he did not really know Him at all.
Gentle Reproof
Jesus loved Philip with a godly love that is impossible to understand. Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as I have loved you..
Know or KNOW
Philip 'knew' the man, Jesus of Nazareth.
Oh yes, Philip knew a lot about the Lord Jesus – but as yet he did not 'know' Him.
He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).
It is akin to a seed: the life of the Lord Jesus within must grow; and it would be against the laws of nature and grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ the strength that can only be found in the young man, or the rich experience and stability of the fathers.
The process of conformity to the Lord Jesus' image is going on day by day in the growing believer's life.
As the maturing one gets a larger vision of his perfect Pattern through the daily study of God's Word, he takes higher ground along the line of that blessed revelation, so that his life is a progressive growing up into the Lord Jesus in all things. -R.P.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).
First, the believer understands that he has a right to be free in the Lord Jesus because of the finished work of the Cross; then he sees that same work of the Cross as his means to be free.
When we truly hate ourselves, we are prepared to rejoice in the blessed fact that we have been crucified with the Lord Jesus - that sin in the flesh was condemned (not forgiven) when He died unto sin, that our whole history as in the flesh closed before the Father in His Son's death - and that this is our title to be free.
I have now a righteous title to have done with myself because I have died unto sin in the Lord Jesus' death.
To prepare me for this I learn the necessity for death in my own experience, but the death of the Lord Jesus is my title to be free.
The Lord Jesus will make it His business to keep us alive and fruitful, if we will make it our business to rely upon Him.
On the Cross, by the Spirit, in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If ministers and teachers of God's Word would set saints free and establish them in the Gospel, let their preaching and teaching be based upon the sixth and seventh of Romans, the central theme of which is our union with the Lord Jesus in death and burial; and our resurrection and ascension with Him into newness of life; where not the law, but grace, reigneth; where not the letter but the Spirit, moveth the heart and life of the believer.
deadness that shuts out so much that is fair and sweet and good and gentle – but Jesus came to give God’s light and He came to guide us into God’s peace.
Then may we set our affection on the things above where the Lord Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father; and though the secret power is unseen, faith in Him will lift our spirit into the clear light where He is. -H.F.W.
We stand there in all the sweet savor and perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not a question of correcting this or that, but of heavenly things in the Lord Jesus separating our hearts from things on earth.
When we look from heaven, and work from heaven downwards, earthly things soon dwindle, and the praise of their disappearance returns not to ourselves in any way, but to the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is at the Father's right hand, and He is there as our Life.
The believer is placed before the Father according to the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is, according to the Father's eye and heart, as His Beloved - nothing less. -J.B.S.
Life’s Paradox
The Christian walk is one huge paradox: Success comes through failure. Life springs out of death. Hope arises out of despair. Joy is born out of pain: For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” 2Cor.4:11
Profound Words
Paul sums it up in these profound words: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.
But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
a sweet smelling savor. (a burnt offering) The Lord Jesus Christ offered up His life – as a 'sacrifice of praise' to the Father. He lived His life as a Burnt Offering. A burnt offering is just another word for a voluntary, non-compulsory sacrifice.
It is essential that we grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for three reasons: (1) that our Father may be glorified; (2) that the Lord Jesus might be manifested in us; (3) that the Holy Spirit might have a suitable instrument through which to win and establish others.
Paul had one great consuming purpose to be brought to birth by his sufferings for the Galatians, and that was the living expression of the Lord Jesus Christ in them.
Numbers were still good in Galatia, activities well maintained and zeal unabated, but the Lord Jesus was being crowded out - and that is the greatest tragedy possible. -H.F.
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (2 Tim. 1:9).
Die Daily
As we learn to die daily to all that is of self we begin to bear in our body His death in us. As we sacrificially yield all we are to the cross, Christ’s life starts to be formed in us, and in the measure that the Lord Jesus starts to increase, so the old 'me' must decrease.
I cannot conceive anything more satisfying or cheering to the heart than the consciousness that I may not only draw near, but that I draw near in answer to the thought and interest that the Lord Jesus has about me, and that I draw nigh to enjoy myself in His presence where there is so much thought and interest about me.
By means of the Word, look to the Lord Jesus in faith.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
Those who open their hearts to the Lord Jesus let in heaven’s love and divine joy.
The Only One
The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the only Way to God.
Hidden Peace
One of the saddest verses that I find in the Bible is in Luke chapter 19, where Jesus says, if only you had known on this day what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes. Luke 19:42.
that made me want to “recognise” the season when I would meet my Jesus.
Looking to Jesus
Today, the same sad truth is evident throughout Christendom.
Many are yearning for the rapture instead of looking to Jesus.
As A Little Child
More and more I see how important the words of Jesus are..
Jesus is Alive
My little granddaughter knows not to be afraid because Jesus is alive. She has learned from the cradle that Jesus is coming one day in the clouds for her. At two and a half, she had learned to trust in a way that I would wish to trust.
Come, Lord Jesus
There are many saints at the other end of the age spectrum with faith as a child.
And give you His peace this night... and every day and night, and every night and day until Jesus comes.
Looking to JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our faith…”
Hebrews 12: 2
Safe Journey
Any mariner knows that a fraction of a degree off-course and he misses his port. He may be 99% correct but that 1° is crucial to his safe arrival at his destination. If he sets his course towards a movable marker his journey will end in disaster. If he anchors his vessel to drifting wood, he will meander across a sea of confusion. If this is physical reality – how much more must this be true in the spiritual realm?
It is a book that councils the Christian to maintain their trust in God and look to Jesus – and it gives four interrelated and progressive steps towards spiritual maturity.
FOURTH:- We are to travel towards the goal of our calling, steadily looking to Jesus.
We are single-mindedly to keep the eyes of our heart firmly fixed on the Lord Jesus – and we can only do this as we trust His Word, in every aspect of our lives.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
Image and Likeness
The triune God created man in His own image with body, soul, and a spirit, and in His grace God gave fallen man a threefold life-experience with his Creator:- salvation, sanctification, and service, and it is all through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fallen man comes to Jesus for salvation: for He shall save His people from their sins, Matt.1:21. As we abide in Him and He in us we are sanctified by His Spirit, for we are being conformed into His likeness.
And so the seed of the woman passed from Adam to David, through Nathan to Mary the mother of Jesus.
The kingly line of Christ passed from Abraham to David, to Solomon to Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was commanded to call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.
Name Above All
What a glorious Name is this Name that is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.
Never can we fathom the depth of the privilege bestowed on believers: but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 2Cor.4:7 The glory of Jesus Christ, Who walked the earth, is now hidden in the Church, which is His Body, and the epistles tell us again and again that we have a choice.
True contentment in all of life’s trials only comes from Jesus and not from self.
God in the person of Jesus came to be like us so that we could one day be like Him.
JESUS → your salvation, Who came to save you from your sins.
God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.1 Corinthians 1:9
Consider Jesus
When we are tempted to base our love and faith on temporal things:- on passing events or fluctuating feelings – on human schemes or hopeful speculations… just consider looking away from the temporal to the eternal. Consider looking away from the earthly to the heavenly. Consider looking away from the terrestrial to the celestial. Consider the immutability of God’s promises and prophecy.
Word of Truth
In John chapter 15 the Lord Jesus tells us to: abide in Me, and I in you. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Divine Sustainer
Just gaze on, Jesus the true Vine and divine Sustainer, Who pleads:-abide in Me, Rejoice in the Father, the heavenly Husbandman – the surety of our growth and fruiting, Who removes those unfruitful areas in each precious life… to bring forth fruit, more fruit, much fruit.
Just gaze on Jesus and rejoice in the Father, Who challenges every jot and tittle of the life of the believer – until He produces.
Abiding in Christ
A life of entire consecration, to the glory of His name. A lesson of perfect conformity, to the nature and character of the lovely Lord Jesus.
Love One Another
This is My commandment… that you love one another – as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for a friend. These things I command you, that you love one another. Jesus said, THIS is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you… by this shall all men know that you are My disciples.
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus (I Pet. 5:10).
But if you do not feel the divine drawing and hunger for God, cry to Him that He will give it you; and ever remember that the desire for hunger is the beginning of hunger, and that you cannot feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ until you are spiritually hungry. -H.
Error, false teaching, and heresy have always been a major means by which the Devil has sought to destroy the testimony of Jesus, but when he brought in the weapon of what is known as Modernism, or Higher Criticism, he used a double-barreled gun.
Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.
No ministry of the servant of Jesus Christ can be a triumphant ministry unless there is a deep, strong, abiding love.... Love is going to solve our problems and to bring us into victory; but apart from a sufficient love, the problems of human make-up, the many differences of disposition and character and all that goes to make up a company, and the continuous drain and strain, with all the pressure that comes from the enemy, will present a problem, a perplexity and a paralyzing task....
If our affections are true to the glorified Lord Jesus, they will make this world a wilderness to us but if our affections do not make it a wilderness His government will.
One of the great secrets of growth is the looking upon the Lord Jesus as gracious.
But, dear friend, this is not the question: the real question is, whether God is what we shall like Him to be, whether the Lord Jesus is all we could wish.
make you perfect [complete, mature] in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:20, 21).
Thanks and Praise
Yet mixed with diligence and obedience, thanks and praise is a highly potent weapon.. as exemplified in the lives of many saints of God – and even proved in my own!! – as evidenced in a number of passages in the pages of Scripture and beautifully demonstrated in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
Thankful Intercession
Jesus Himself is the best example of simple trust, deep love, and unfailing obedience.
Trusting Obedience
Today, as for the Lord Jesus, we live the life of sorrow and suffering.
Attributes of Deity
All aspects and attributes of deity reside within Jesus, and has always been a fact.
All the fullness of the absolute, infinite, and essential Godhead dwells in Jesus. Nothing present in the essence of God is absent from the essence of the Lord Jesus. All that God is – is in Jesus Christ and everything in God dwells within His body.
Identified With Christ
Everyone who hears the gospel and believes in Jesus is placed in Him immediately. Anyone who trusts God, to take care of all our sin, is immediately placed in Christ – dead to self and alive to Christ – identified with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Union with Christ
He is taken out of the kingdom of darkness and placed into Christ’s kingdom of light. He is removed from His place of death and baptised into the body of the Lord Jesus. He is removed from being in Satan and is placed in permanent union with Christ.
By Grace Thru Faith
By grace, God has given us a share in all the essential essence of Jesus Christ.
Point of Need
The Lord Jesus had a wonderful way of meeting with people at their point of need. He offered living water to the Samaritan woman at the well and promised that He would become in her a fountain of living water springing up unto everlasting life. To the hungry crowd He was the Bread of Life.
Series of Questions
But to Nicodemus He was an honoured Rabbi, a teacher from God, for he recognised that no one could perform the miracles that Jesus did unless God were with Him.
But under cover of darkness this respected teacher of Israel came to learn from Jesus. Yet the truths that he was to hear, dumfounded him – provoking a series of questions.
Startling Picture
But as with the woman; the hungry; the hurting and lost – Jesus met his specific need. He used the book of Moses and the wilderness wanderings as a startling picture. As Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up – so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish – but will have eternal life.
Guilty Sinner
He could not have understood there and then, that the full weight of all humanity’s sin was to be poured out over Jesus.
Death Penalty
Christ patiently started to open the eyes of this blind leader of the blind, who himself must come to terms with the truth that the penalty of the Law for ALL – is death. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness – Jesus too must be nailed to the tree so that all who look to Him in faith, will be saved.
But those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of Jesus.
Life Eternal
We will never know when Nicodemus finally came to an understanding of what Christ was teaching him, when he came to Jesus by night.
Delayed Expectation
How lost, forgotten and misunderstood is the truth of His soon and mysterious return. How insignificant, misrepresented, twisted and ignored is the return of our sweet Lord Jesus. How sad that His return for His precious chase virgin has become so meaningless. How blinded are the eyes of believers who focus on the unreality of today..
Promised Seed
Oh, Jesus came at His appointed time through the womb of a virgin – the first time.
And Jesus will come at His appointed time in the clouds for His bride – the second time.
Heb.10:39 'Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ', Titus 3:13 Jesus questioned: 'when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?' Luke 18:8.
Jesus also said: 'But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail and when you have returned to Me..
Growing In Grace - STUDY
Spiritual Communion
The Apostle John delights to remind us that as children of God, who have entered into eternal union with Christ Jesus, we also have the right to enjoy intimate fellowship with the Father on a daily basis.
Verse 7
But John continues that we as believers can walk in the light, and in verse 7 we are given three steps:- First, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light. Second, we have fellowship one with another, and Third, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Let us seek to walk in the light and He is in the light so that we too may enjoy fellowship one with another enjoy sweet fellowship with our heavenly Father, for indeed... our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Beloved, the Cross was intended only to make the Lord Jesus all, and in all, for us; and is it not true that, because of the way that the Lord has dealt with us, the way in which He has applied the Cross, planting us into that death and burial, we know Him in a way in which we never knew Him before?
The increase of the Lord Jesus in and to us is by the way of the Cross.
It is a painful process, but it is a blessed issue; and those amongst us who may have had the greatest agony along this line would, I believe, testify that what it has brought to us of the knowledge and riches of the Lord Jesus has made all the suffering worthwhile.
So the work of the Lord for us and the work of the Lord in us, by the Cross, is only intended in the Divine thought to make room for the Lord Jesus.
This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom thou hast sent.John 17:3
This Disciple
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? This disciple had been with the Lord Jesus for three years. He had seen His beautiful life..
Knowing Jesus
Surely after such a length of time this disciple should have known His Lord?
How this must have saddened the heart of the Saviour to say to him: “hast thou not known Me?” Yet Jesus had to tell him that he did not really know Him at all.
What a caution of us to take note of our spiritual journey with Jesus.
Impossible Command
Jesus loved Philip with a godly love that is impossible to understand.
Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as I have loved you, and yet His gentle reproof to this precious disciple was: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?”
Jesus of Nazareth
Philip KNEW the man, Jesus of Nazareth. He knew He was the son of Mary, brother of James and Jude. He watched this performer of miracles with incredulity and he listened to the lovely words that poured like healing oil from His lips and agreed that: never a man spake like this man, and they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.
He observed his glorious character His compassion and His grace. Oh yes, Philip knew a lot about the Lord Jesus – but as yet he did not KNOW Him.
We need to be close to the Lord to really get to know Him, We need to bathe ourselves in intimate fellowship and communion with Jesus.
To be willing to accept crucifixion with Christ, to leave all yourself, your plans and your longings, your abilities and your possessions, all of them at the Cross, so that you only trust and love and live for the Lord Jesus, hurts a great deal.
While both are essential, it is far more difficult to get to know the old man than it is to know the Lord Jesus.
And there is nothing that can deliver us from it but that entire willingness to die to the old man, which comes when by faith we understand that we have died in Christ Jesus. -A.M.
If you come to feel, through ever-recurring misery and defeat, that unless Another shall lead you into the land of fruitful obedience your whole Christian career will be a spiritual and moral chaos, then perhaps you are ready to venture your all upon your union with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection.
I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord (Rom. 7:25).
We are more disposed to be occupied in telling the Father what we are in ourselves, than to allow Him to tell us what we are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Father has to come in and detach us from that which is our natural center, that He may link our affections with another Person - even with the glorified Lord Jesus Christ - and make Him everything to our hearts, so that our association with Him may be known, and may become the deep, abiding joy of our souls. -C.A.C.
The freedom is so entirely in Christ Jesus, and the maintenance of our living union with Him is so distinctly and entirely the work of divine power, that it is only as we see that the Spirit dwells within us for this very purpose, and know how to accept and yield to His working it, that we can really stand in the liberty with which Christ has made us free. -A.M.
The Father has left us as much dependent upon the Lord Jesus' work for our deliverance from the power of sin as for our forgiveness!
It is wholly because we died with Him on the Cross, both to sin and to the whole legal principle, that sin's power for those in the Lord Jesus, is broken. -W.R.N.
Have not some given up hope that words like I have been crucified with Christ,' the world is crucified to me,' baptized into His death,' dead unto sin and alive unto God in Christ Jesus' should have become truly intelligible and helpful?
Another wrote: 'all the powers of Deity which have already wrought together in the accomplishment of the first part of the eternal purpose, (that is, the revealing of the Father’s perfect likeness in the Man Christ Jesus) are equally engaged to accomplish the second part – and work that likeness into each of God’s children.'
Paul in his enthusiasm for the Lord Jesus cites four-length breadth, height, and depth.
A Holy Temple
He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near, for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So now, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a Holy Temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
In love.. so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
The depth of God’s grace excludes none that call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for God’s love stoops to the pit of death to encompass all who trust in His only Son.
Height of God Grace
The height of God’s grace reaches into heavenly places where we are seated with Christ. The height of God’s grace is found in Christ Jesus our heavenly Lord and King.
has raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus – far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come – so that in the ages to come He might show forth the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
I am His body and soul and spirit, and we read: now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Thess.5:23
My Beloved
Let us, like them, lay aside every weight, and the sin of unbelief which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us: looking unto Jesus..
When it comes to seeing self for what it is, there can be no pampering; when it comes to seeing the Lord Jesus Christ for who He is, there can be no disappointment.
Easter Reflections - STUDY
4th word from the cross
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying:- 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani – that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?'Matthew 27:46
Eternal Light
Jesus’ sinless body was wrapped in a gloom of death, so that WE might be eternally clothed in garments of life.
The loss of the Father’s presence, for the first moment, since time and eternity kissed each other, was for our Lord Jesus, a loss so overwhelming, that human and angelic minds can only wonder.
for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are no longer the criminals deserving death.
For HIS sake there is now no condemnation for we who are in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And Jesus said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, and then he suffered Him.Matthew 3:15
Person of JesusJesus is the substance of the Father. Jesus was begotten before the world was made.
Jesus, the substance of the mother.
Jesus, born into the world.
Jesus, perfect God and perfect man.
Jesus, Son of God and son of Mary.
Jesus, the name above all other names.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus... sweetest name I know; fills my every longing – comforts my every heartache.
Life of Jesus
His life was in sharp contrast with those around Him.
Walk of Jesus
Day by day He walked His Father’s will, as He laboured at the work-bench in the little carpenter’s shop; as He tramped the dusty way through city and villages, in Galilee and Judea.
Offering of Jesus
This life thus lived was a life laid down in sacrifice.
Walk With Jesus
And now we take up the mantle that fell from His shoulder, and walk the walk that Jesus walked, and talk the talk that Jesus talked, and love the love that Jesus loved – and suffer the sufferings that Jesus suffered.
For we have been crucified with Him and we are risen with Him– and we are made to sit with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus our Lord.
True Image
Denominations and individuals alike envisage the God in whom they trust, and all too often the image that emerges is a distortion of the truth. All too often His resemblance has its poisoned roots in our early life. Role models we should trust and ached to believe in, let us down. Teachings of the church we attended or avoided..distorted God’s character, and over time, plus the input of life, God emerges – masked by our own imaginings. There are probably as many perceptions of God as there is sand on the seashore. But there is only one true character and likeness of God – the man Christ Jesus.
Truth of God
Recently as I ‘happened’ across this short video. In it there are 0ne hundred names of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. One Hundred examples of the truth of Who God undeniably is. If we were to take just ONE name each day and prayerfully focus on that truth… if we were to reflect on ONE attribute daily – in gratitude, honour praise and thanksgiving… if we were to meditate on ONE characteristic each day – in deepest humility of heart, I believe any and all of our distortions would be replaced with a deeper knowledge and understanding of Him.
This is My God
This Is My JESUS. This is My God. This is My King. This is My Jesus -the Faithful and Genuine Lover of MY Soul. This is My Jesus – My Beloved,
Since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.2 Peter 3:17-18
Grow in Grace
But – praise God this dear apostle, Peter, continues with the next verse. He explains in simple terms how this is achieved… 'but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Peter 3:18 We grow in grace and mature in the faith when we fix our eyes on the Lord, and the mature believer is the one that will not be overwhelmed by life’s circumstances.
Jesus the Man, came into maturity through child-training – through suffering.
And this I know – Jesus reached maturity through suffering, deep suffering – and too many Christians fail, for they want a cushy life on a feather-down pillow, but those that reach true maturity will be ones willing to participate in His lot.
Jesus said, love as I have loved you, and His love was expressed in intercession.
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also l am apprehended of Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12).
At first, we consider the shocking revelation of self the greatest of calamities; later, we realize that it is the pathway to the blessed revelation of our life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before we can take on the likeness of the Lord Jesus, we must see ourselves and know how we look; we must be brought into the place where we are not dismayed nor cast down when we discover how little we are conformed to His image.
I certainly do count everything as loss compared with the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (Phil. 3:8, Wms.).
There are many in the Church that do not love the Lord with all their heart and mind. Some have failed to listen to His voice and have left their first love – the Lord Jesus, and like Nehemiah, we too need to pray for the Church – to intercede on their behalf.
(God) hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6)
We are to settle down to live and grow precisely where we have been re-born: in Christ Jesus above.
Do we not often thus become occupied with the circumstantials of worship rather than with the Lord Jesus - the substance?
Are we not often false to Him in questioning our title to draw near, because we find distance in our own hearts, as if it was the warmth of our affections, instead of the Blood of the Lord Jesus, which brought us nigh? -W.K.
Our being perfectly cleansed by the Blood of the Lord Jesus, the Holiest of All is our place before the Father, and it is so simply upon the ground of what His sacrifice has effected.
Our dwelling place is in the light, not by reason of our subjective condition, but because the Lord Jesus has made the position ours by the putting away of our sins, and by bringing us to the Father. -H.F.W.
The heart must enter into something more than the look behind into those waters of judgment, out of which the Lord Jesus rose, having left our sins, and death, and judgment forever!
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil (Heb. 10:19, 20).
New Creation
Jesus did not die to repair or remodel the old 'me', pure and desirable though the exterior may be.. but full of dead men’s bones on the inside.
Jesus did not die to restore or overhaul the old 'you'. He will only create and build and train and sanctify the new life.
Oh wretched man that I am Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thanks be to God, Who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 7:25
Natural Man
However hard man tries, it is impossible for him to keep the requirements of the Law. One only has to be born as a son of Adam to be condemned to death – eternal death. Natural man / unsaved man is dead in his sins and born under condemnation. No wonder the disciples asked Jesus in astonishment – Who then can be saved? No wonder Paul warned the Galatians of the Law’s restrictive nature, when he said: before faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Galatians 3:23
Way of the Cross
Paul had discovered the answer was Christ – the way of the Cross – the only Way. His elated cry was: thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. And this is how it works!!! Christ lived a perfect life and by fulfilling all the requirements of the Law, He was able to go to the cross and become the one and only Sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. This broke the power of death in His life and hence Christ rose from the dead.
Gift of Grace
God’s condition for salvation was to believe – believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation was His free gift of grace to everyone, who would believe in His beloved Son. And one thing that happens to a believer is that he becomes a new creation in Christ.
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord !!
the promised life of grace upon grace is a free gift to all who receive Christ Jesus, but He must be received.
Jesus must be received as the Redeemer of the world – the perfect Sacrifice: to THEM and them ALONE He gave the power to become Sons of God – even to them that BELIEVE on His Name.
Two Minds
God has a will for each of our lives and it is to make us exactly like His Son, and as we submit to the Spirit’s work within us, so we become more like Jesus – but in this flesh, we have two minds that are seeking supremacy in our lives.
And we are to become kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one other – just as God in Christ Jesus also has forgiven each of us. Ephesians 4:32.
Put On The New Self
We are to lay aside the old self, with which we were clothed in our old life, and put on the new set of clothes we received when we first trusted the Lord Jesus.
The Holy Spirit Himself takes responsibility for our experience, leading us in paths where we encounter, in body, heart, or spirit, that measure of the dying of Jesus' that will mean enrichment of our ministry.
So many rest content with the thought that their sins are pardoned, and that they are in the path of life, but know nothing of a personal attachment to the risen Lord Jesus Christ as their life, or of faith that lives in the invisible and walks with the Father.
We are all-new creations in the all-new Man, Christ Jesus.
The Gospel is that you were under the judgment of death, and that the Lord Jesus has borne that judgment.
If there were true apprehension of the work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross - that He so bore the judgment on man that all the man who had offended against God has been judicially removed to His infinite satisfaction, and that He who saved us from death is now our Life - there would be a wonderful testimony to the grace of God.
The Reformers failed because they did not see that as faith alone could save, and place man outside himself in the Lord Jesus, he must not return to that which through grace has been crucified.
The Lord Jesus is the answer, but the Cross is needed to clear the way for Him.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).
Nevertheless, the test of having the Spirit of Truth, and of not being a prey to fanaticism, is that the soul is attracted and subject to the Lord Jesus Christ - and this cannot be without faith produced and nourished by the Word of Truth. -W.K.
In the same way you also must regard yourselves as dead in relation to sin, but as alive in relation to God, because you are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11, Wey.).
It is true that there is the hunger to be devoted, and to be like the Lord Jesus, long before one's acts and manner corroborate the hunger, and make it a fact; but the more the hungers which grace has generated in your heart are given a place, the sooner will they become experiential facts; and the more the Lord Jesus has His throne within you, the more you will rejoice in Him, and have no confidence in the flesh' (Phil. 3:3).
I know so little of the Lord Jesus,' one may say, and this may be true; but every grace that is in Him is in every saint, though not developed.
If walking in true lowliness and manifesting that measure of the Lord Jesus in which we have grown, there will be certain progress. -W.K.
Once the Holy Spirit instills within our hearts the hunger for God's very best, all must and will become secondary to this supreme goal: . . .the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).
Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:7, 8).
That word, blameless,' may be translated unimpeachable' or unaccusable.' In other words, when we stand at last at the judgment seat of Christ, God Himself is going to see to it that no charge can stand against any believer, because the Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for all our sins with His own precious Blood.
We have to look at ourselves and see how far we are devotedly following the Lord Jesus, with full purpose of heart - how we can say, This one thing I do'; but we must take care at the same time not to get into legal bondage by this standard.
At first the heart hunger for maturity in the Lord Jesus is personal, subjective - and necessarily so.
Our joy in the Father's presence, as He Himself and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, are made manifest to our hearts, gives us the character of the joy of true fellowship one with another. -H.F.W.
If our eyes are upon the Lord Jesus, and we follow with steadfast hearts as He leads us, we shall find that He leads us by the right way and brings us through all the exercises we need in order to form our souls in the appreciation of Himself, and of all those blessed things which are brought to pass in Him.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Christian's very life, and the Holy Spirit dwells within our spirit to manifest Him, to work out all that is in Him and to reproduce Him in us.
It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to the Lord Jesus.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10).
This will demand a considerable sifting of all undertakings in the name of Jesus, and will require that nothing is done until the mind of the Lord has been made known.
The Holy Spirit uses this revelation, along with what He exposes in his own heart, to teach him to abide in the Lord Jesus; safe from the sin of others, as well as his own.
The experience can be a very painful one, but it is most necessary for us to find out that everyone else but the Lord Jesus is a failure.
You will only be conformed by continually looking upon the glory of the Lord Jesus; for they who live looking and beholding, though they know it not, are being changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.' -E.I.
To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
No, it will only be as Jesus of Nazareth comes into touch with us and we with Him.
If there are any reading these lines, who have never in the first place had their eyes opened to see, so that the result is Life eternal for knowing is only another word for seeing, and Jesus said, This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ (John 17:3); that they should know another word for seeing if you have not yet entered into Life, received eternal Life, remember that it will not just happen to you; it will not simply happen.
On the other hand,it shows us that His being there, and our being in spiritualunion with Him, means that for all spiritual purposes andresources, we also are in the heavenlies in Christ.... Let us ask the Lord to give us a real, spiritual, quick, living apprehension of this great truth concerning our Lord Jesus, the great realm of the new creation into which we are brought, and let us apply it, practice it, put it into operation from day today.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us in the heavenly realms..
with every spiritual blessing – in Christ Jesus Ephesians 1:3
Door of Praise
The door of praise is flung open with a glimpse of the One Who has blessed us. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is the One deserving of our praise.
We are about to meet our gracious benefactor – the God and Father of Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father – for He has blessed US.
Propitiation Price
It was in the heart of the Father from before the world began to redeem mankind. The propitiation price for sin was agreed – in the eternal council chambers of God. This was according to the eternal purpose that God has realised in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God’s Glory
His Glory was in the mind of the Father when sin’s eternal sacrifice was selected. His Son was the one and only means to secure God’s satisfaction for sin’s payment. Blessed be the God and Father ..Who predestined us for adoption to sonship, through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.
God’s Blessings
God the Father is to be blessed for the blessings He has bestowed upon us all, and we are blessed to be the recipients of His so great salvation – in Christ Jesus.
And the Lord Jesus was the willing Son, Who only did all that the Father said.
Gift of Grace
Nothing that is in ourselves could ever qualify to be the beneficiary of God’s grace. Reconciliation with the Father is the free gift of God’s grace to those who believe. Salvation and all the blessings that accompany it is only given to those who believe: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – and thou shalt be saved.
Our Saviour
And that free gift of grace to believers opens the floodgates of God’s rich blessings. All who trust God’s Word are blessed to call God’s Son – OUR Lord Jesus Christ.
All who put their faith in His finished work can call Him – MY Jesus; MY Saviour.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… Who has blessed US.
Our Father
Blessed be the God and Father of OUR Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed US in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing – in Christ Jesus OUR Lord, our Lord.
The hypostatic union, combining the undiminished attributes of the Godhead with the perfect human nature of the Son of Man – became Jesus… Son of God and Son of Man, so that as our kinsman-Redeemer He would save His people from their sins.
Before His cross His incomparable, innocent life prepared the Lord Jesus to be our perfect Sacrifice – our kinsman-Redeemer – so that we could be saved from our sins.
Obedient in Life
The Lord Jesus had lived His whole life in the world of men.
His miraculous conception, His humble birth in Bethlehem – His simple life in the little town of Nazareth where He laboured as the Carpenter, all prepared our Lord Jesus for His work on the Cross and equipped Him to become God’s sacrifice for our sin.
The Lord Jesus lived His life and died His death in humble obedience – learning to say, Thy will, not Mine be done.
Jesus truly is our perfect example.
Great High Priest
His life of obedience qualified the Lord Jesus to become our great High Priest, and as such, He sits at the right hand of the Father carrying out His high priestly ministry on behalf of all who are part of His body – all who believe on His name. As our great High Priest, He comforts and succours all those who are weary and heavy-laden and who come to Him for rest.
The Lord Jesus Christ lived a sanctified life – a life set apart to God – a life separated from the world, so that all who trust in His name, could also be truly sanctified.
Christ’s Replacement
While Jesus lived in the world He was all these things to his little band of followers, But when He ascended on high, He sent the Spirit to replace His physical presence.
When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, to baptise the Church into Christ and to fill them with His fullness, He took up permanent residence in each believer’s heart – and Jesus promised He is to guide us into truth and train us in all godly living.
Sent From God
Jesus told His disciples that: the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have told you.
Word of Authority
God’s Word silences the fool who in His heart announces, there is no God.. for, in the beginning God……” And for those that trust Him, there is one God, in whom are all things... and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. 1Cor.8:6
Today men seek signs or clamour for visions, or fret to hear the audible voice of God. But Jesus said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ Luke 16:31
Oh, to be such a people, chastened and emptied of self, for the Holy Spirit by His energies to display the moral glories of the Lord Jesus in us and so through us.
The Second Man
Dominion over God’s beautiful earth was lost by the first man, to a rebel angel, Satan – but God in His grace and mercy pre-ordained that a second Man – the Man Christ Jesus would become the last Adam, Who would regain the crown and reestablish the riches and glories of the kingdom that was forfeited to the enemy of God, by the first Adam.
The first man – Adam, in his disobedience to God had placed himself under Satan’s authority... while the second Man – the Lord Jesus, in His obedience to God, must also be made a little lower than the angels that He Himself created – if humanity was to be redeemed by His life-giving blood, and regain Man’s God-given rulership of the earth.
Penalty of Sin
But praise be to God that the penalty of sin was paid for in full – through the sacrificial death of Christ Jesus..
Through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the second Man, we’ve been set free from slavery to Satan and to sin – and have become servants of our God.
Presence of Sin
And the wonderful hope that is set before us is that the presence of sin in our lives will be forever removed in the ages to come, when the Lord Jesus Christ – the last Adam, comes to take us to be with Himself into our eternal home – and we shall see Him as He is and we shall be clothed in glorified bodies – like unto His glorious body.
It is Christ Jesus our Lord.
And God raised us up and seated us together with Him in heavenly places – in Christ Jesus.
Through the Man Christ Jesus, humanity has regained the position of authority as God’s representative on earth – to rule and reign and have dominion over the birds and the fishes – the animals and all that God has created.
The Man Christ Jesus
And for a second time, the glory and honour that was tasted so briefly by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden has been regained by God’s true representative Man – Christ Jesus our Lord.
The God-given rulership of His creation has been restored to the human race, and returned to the only perfect representative Man – the second Man – the last Adam – the Man Christ Jesus, by means of His sacrificial death on the cross. So that we also may enjoy sweet fellowship with our Creator God..
for our spirit communes with the Spirit of God – in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies … IN CHRIST.Ephesians 1:3
Fully Alive
When we first believed in Jesus we were placed in a permanent relationship with Him. The old former life in Adam was forever replaced with our new, eternal life in Christ. We who were dead in trespasses and sins were made fully alive and given His life.
One With Christ
The Holy Spirit baptises us into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 Who made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
God raised us up together, and seated us together in the heavenly realm, in Christ Jesus.
Heirship
We share in a joint-HEIRSHIP with Christ reserved in the heavenlies that’ll never fade. God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1:4-5 And the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
Hebrews 5:8-10 For we are all living stones, being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 We have been made a kingdom of priests to the glory and power of God His Father forever and ever!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies … IN CHRIST.
Price for Sin
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross His death paid the price for all sin, so that all who believe on Him would receive forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
When the Lord Jesus rose from the dead He broke the power of death forever, so that the sting of death and hell is eternally removed, for all who trust in Him.
All- Sufficient
The wonders of Christ sufficiency should stagger the mind and humble the heart. There is nothing we can do to get right with God except believe on the Lord Jesus – but those that accept His free gift of salvation discover Him to be sufficient.
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places – in ChristEphesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places – in Christ.
You get to the heart of everything in the case of the Lord Jesus when you recognize that the one question which constituted the testing ground of His life was: Will this Man act alone, speak alone, choose alone, decide alone, move alone?
In the case of the Lord Jesus there was all thetime an underworking to get Him to adopt the contrary course, toact without inquiry of His Father, without direct leading fromHis Father; to act in His individual capacity as though He wereHis own Master, as though He had not to make appeal elsewhere.
May I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).
For my own part, my coveting, my praying is more than for anything else, a fresh and mighty captivation of the Lord Jesus, a captivation of Christ.
Such a seeing, a grasping, an apprehending and being mastered by the Greatness of the One to Whom, by the grace of God, we have been united, called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ.
May our hearts, more than even our minds, be mastered by this Man Jesus Christ and we be His abject slaves in worship and adoration.
The Lord Jesus was in our place of death and judgment; we are in His place of life and glory.
Romans Eight describes the experience of the believer who knows what it is to be in Christ, and who is being made free experientially from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Not changed or forgiven but utterly condemned in the death of the Lord Jesus.
Where sin brought us, love brought the Lord Jesus - even to death; and His death is the end before God of all that we were as children of Adam - men in the flesh.
Looking to Jesus
Abraham, Job, Hannah ‘et al’ each had to be brought to the end of themselves. Each had to wait until they were ready to hear the Lord’s gentle knock and quiet voice, Each learned to patiently endure so that patience could have its perfect work in them.
If we want to be like that great cloud of faithful witnesses who trusted God, let us lay aside every weight – let us lay aside that sin of unbelief which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is set before us… Looking to Jesus.
Pattern for Life
The Lord Jesus Christ is our pattern for life and living – God’s representative man. He lived a life in submission to the will of the Father – Thy will, not mine be done.
He lived a life being guided by the Spirit of God, walking in spirit and truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience through the things that He suffered.
Learned Obedience
The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated the way God designed us to live our lives.
He maintained close fellowship with God; His food was to do His Father’s will; He listened to the guidance of the Spirit and laid aside His glory for a season. The Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience through the things that He suffered.
Standard for Life
The Lord Jesus Christ illustrated the way that God ordained that man should live.
Willing obedience to the will of God was a vital lesson that He came to teach us all - and the Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience through the things that He suffered.
Obedience is a necessary step towards being conformed into the image of Christ. Obedience frees us from the bondage of sin to the liberty of life in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:16 – and Lord Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered.
Representative Man
The Lord Jesus Christ came as our pattern.
I do not cease to pray for you, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of HIM…..
Spiritual Insight
How he prayed for an increase in their knowledge and understanding of Jesus – an understanding of the incredible greatness of God’s power to us who believe.
Spiritual Inheritance
Paul also prayed that we would know who are in Christ – know our position in Him.. permanent position that is as secure as the eternal Lord Jesus Who placed us there.. union with Him that guarantees our adoption as sons and our an eternal heritage – a union so intimate that we are part of His body – and He indwells our mortal frame.
a fellowship so blessed that we can commune with our Lord – and be one with Him – a communion so special that the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from all sin.
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of HIM – that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those he called—His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
Spiritual Strength
Sometimes we misunderstand the reason that Paul prays for our spiritual strength. Often we pray for strength so that we may be successful in our work or ministry. Sometimes we pray for special strength in one particular aspect of our physical lives, but Paul prays for strength for us so that we may be rightly related to the Lord Jesus – for when we are rightly related to Him, everything falls into place.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, AMEN
The moment came when the Lord Jesus could say, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you' (John 14:27).
But the death of the Lord Jesus is - judicially, and for faith - the end of that man, and the Christian walking in the Spirit owns him no more.
Thus walking, the peace of the Lord Jesus becomes an experiential reality in the heart of the believer.
The more clearly we enter, by faith, into objective truth, or what is true of us in the Lord Jesus, the deeper, more experiential and practical will be the Spirit's subjective work in us, and the more complete will be the manifestation of the moral effect in our life and character. -C.H.M.
Seeing one's identification in the Lord Jesus' death, burial, resurrection and ascension is the necessary foundation for spiritual growth to maturity.
So many do not as yet see the application of the death of the Lord Jesus to their old man.
All believers see that the Blood of the Lord Jesus screens them from the judgment of God; but most do not as yet see that they are dead unto sin' in the Lord Jesus; that their old man was crucified with Christ'; that not only have their sins been put upon Him at the Cross, but they themselves, as sinful children of Adam, have been personally identified with Him in His death unto sin; that God pronounces them dead and risen with Him.
We are to hold by faith the position which the Father has given us in the risen Lord Jesus, and abide therein, occupied with the interests of our Father and not our own.
Jesus said, I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it..Matthew 16:18
Body of Christ
All believers are baptised into the body of Christ the moment they believe in Jesus. The day of Pentecost was when Spirit baptism happened to the Jewish believers.
One hundred and twenty lovers of Jesus were suddenly placed into Christ and filled with the Spirit of God.
Feast of Pentecost
Jesus Himself declared that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against her – nothing could overpower His Church and nothing conquer it. And from that day on the Church of Christ started to grow in the power of the Spirit. 3000 Jewish believers were put into Christ on that momentous feast of Pentecost – all were baptised into His Body and all were empowered by the Holy Spirit.
To be perfect means to be whole; to be healthy; to be mature; to be complete... just as the Lord Jesus was perfect – the perfect God-Man, Who lived a perfect life.
In Christ
But God sees you and God sees me through the lens of the beloved Lord Jesus.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.Philippians 4:6,7
Grace to you and peace from Jesus Christ….Revelation 1:4
Christ’s Peace
He not only bestows on us peace WITH God as we nestle in His forgiveness, that glorious 'new-birth' peace with God the Father….and endows us with the peace OF God, which protects and guards our hearts and minds… but also by His grace, He lavishly supplies us with His OWN peace… the peace of God that surpasses understanding – the peace of Jesus.
It is a great comfort, during our growing up in the Lord Jesus, to know that He is our perfect provision, and that He provides the perfect processing.
As with the seed that is buried once for all, but then disintegrates through a gradual process that sets free the new life, even so does the Father deal with our old man by delivering it to death with the Lord Jesus once for all, and then bringing about its mortification in detail through the circumstances of life, until the power of the flesh has lost its hold. -L.T.
Alive unto God in Jesus Christ, our Lord (Rom. 6:11)
Until the believer's faith is firmly established in the fact of his position in the risen Lord Jesus, he will not be able to rest in Him during the process of his position becoming his condition.
This is his perfect and unalterable position; his sins are gone before God; his person is accepted by God - all complete in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It can very seriously affect his fellowship, his worship, his testimony, his usefulness, his spiritual enjoyment, the glory of the Lord Jesus as involved in his practical career.
As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him (Col. 2:7).
Let us be very watchful that the inner life, communion with the Lord Jesus, be the true source of our activities.
The Lord Jesus longs for fellowship with us.
Nearness to the Lord Jesus is the instinct of divine life, as we see in the first question of the two disciples who followed Him, Where dwellest Thou?' Why is not this the first question now?
Because there is not simple devotedness of heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3a).
You are unable to live out of resources in yourself - you must not act as though your life is separate; the Lord Jesus must be the fountain.
Monks renounce much, but they are not engrossed with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at the Lord Jesus firmly and fixedly, never letting your gaze wander elsewhere; and whatever temporal objects come between you and your Lord, look right through them, as through a mist, and fix your eyes and heart upon Him and Him alone.
If we are learning thus from the Lord Jesus, we honor and please Him incomparably more than by anything we think to confer upon Him.
In a word, it is that which flows from being associated and occupied with the Lord Jesus.
There may be clear views, correct notions, sound principles, without any fellowship with the Lord Jesus in glory; but an orthodox creed without communion with Him will prove to be a cold and barren thing. -C.H.M.
I proclaim not myself, but Christ Jesus as Lord and Master, and myself your bondsman for the sake of Jesus (2 Cor. 4:5, Cony.).
One of the true tests of one's spiritual growth is in one's influence: affecting others that they not only begin the Christian life but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
In the heat of controversy or under unjust criticism, haste of temper, slowness to forgive and forget, quick words and sharp judgments, often reveal an easily wounded sensitiveness, which proves how little the Spirit of the Lord Jesus has full possession or real mastery of the life. -A.M.
The Lord Jesus does not give the charge, Be a shepherd to My lambs. . .
When thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren.' There is nothing in all this world nearer and dearer to the heart of the Lord Jesus than His sheep, His lambs: and hence He could not have given Peter a more affecting proof of His confidence than by committing to his care the dearest objects of His deep and tender love. -C.H.M.
And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men (Lk. 5:8, 10).
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord” (Phil. 3:8).
“It is feared that when we speak of being here for Christ it is often the thought of our service or conduct that is prominent, and therefore it is well to be reminded that there is something over which the Lord Jesus is more concerned than He is over our conduct or our service.
It is in this school that we acquire the ability to comfort others; so that our personal affliction or personal comfort work unto the same end, even the profit of others for we are their servants for Jesus’ sake.” -J.L.H. 221
It is by occupation with, and contemplating the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are brought, by the enablement of the Holy Spirit, into fellowship with our Father; enabled to enter into His own thoughts concerning, and even to share His own affections for that blessed One who now is seated at His own right hand. -E.D.
The whole testimony of the Father now is to what the Lord Jesus is in heaven. -G.V.W.
We only touch the positive blessings of Christianity as we reach the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.
When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, except Jesus only (Matt. 17:8).
How few can say, The Father has shown me wonderful things lately about the Lord Jesus Christ. -J.B.S.
If we are not happy it is because we have lost sight of the favor given us in the Lord Jesus.
In our foolishness we turn to the world or look into our own hearts, instead of keeping our eyes upon the Lord Jesus, the risen and exalted Man in whom the Father has given us His favor. -C.A.C.
The Lord Jesus Christ, as Man, has glorified the Father on the earth.
The Father rests in that; as Man having accomplished redemption, He has passed into the heavens, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' It is the glorified Lord Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be.
Faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as its ground of rest; it receives, loves, and apprehends what the Father has revealed in His Word, and what are His thoughts about the Lord Jesus, in whom is His rest. -J.N.D.
There should be a progression in one's faith from objective facts about the Lord Jesus to personal fellowship with Him.
It is sad to see the Lord's people, even many who pass for spiritual, who have very little concern about the Lord Jesus Himself.
They can talk much about His work, but show very clearly that the Person of the Lord Jesus has never really won their hearts.
But to find in the Lord Jesus Christ what the Father saw in Him when He said, This is My Beloved Son in whom is all my delight,' this place in the purposes of the Father all too few seem to have found.
It is a proof of immense favor from the Father if in our heart's estimation the Lord Jesus is fairer than the children of men.' It is easy to sing hymns, and to use the most precious expressions in Scripture in a sentimental way, but it is another thing for our hearts really to find rest and satisfaction in the moral perfections of the Lord Jesus. -C.A.C.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only object for faith, the only One that satisfies us, as indeed He is the Father's object; and if we have got but one mind with the Father about Him, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. -W.K.
If you are walking in the Spirit, the Lord Jesus is the Object before you; when you are walking in the flesh, yourself is your object. -W.K.
Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19).
Hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him' (1 Thess. 5:10).
What I press now is the right that we have to be in the place, and that it is not only that I delight to be there, but the ineffable thought is that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ delights to have me in His place, sharing His joys. -J.B.S.
It is only in the combination of both that there can be a true study of the Lord Jesus, and conformity to Him.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13).
To share what we have may minister temporarily to the physical; but to minister to the spiritual in an eternal way we must share what we are, and that calls for growth in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Ephesians 1:3
To be a leader one must be a dependent one, a led one; one who is looking away (from all that would distract) to Jesus, who is the Leader and the Source of our faith (Heb. 12:2).
Position in Christ
Our POSITION is the glorious, and unchangeable union we have with the Lord Jesus.
Justification and Sanctification
In Hebrews 10:10 we read:- we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all, while in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 we read:- May the God of peace himself make you holy in every way.
Since then you are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God and let us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ... for in Christ we all are “quickened,” “raised up,” and “made to sit” together with Christ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12).
To know our position in the Lord Jesus is necessary so that we may understand His ways and rest in His means.
The first step is, we believe that the Lord Jesus was sent of the Father; second, that in the fulness of His work we are justified; third, we make His acquaintance, fourth, we come to see Him in heaven - we know our association with Him there, and His rest here, fifth, we learn the mystery, the great things we are entitled to because of being in His Body, His Bride; sixth, that we are seated in heavenly places in Him; seventh, we rejoice in wonder and in praise in the knowledge of Himself. -J.B.S.
working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:20, 21).
Or, we can abide (rest) in the risen Lord Jesus, the Source of our new nature, and thereby become the glad recipients of His life and liberty, as depicted in Romans Eight.
The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).
Of God are ye in Christ Jesus' (1 Cor. 1:30).
Never look at yourself as though you were not in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
We should be spared years of struggle and failure if we learned at once - as the converts did in the days of Paul - that we ourselves were taken through the death of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is all that we need for all that we are.
They who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17).
His walk is determined by the fact that he has been placed with the Lord Jesus in a position of immeasurable ascendancy.
He has been made to sit together with Christ in heavenly places in order that, having received an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, he might reign in life by one, even the Lord Jesus.
Two Distinct Factions
The human race is divided into two camps – two parties – two distinct factions. Every member of the human race is either connected with Adam or with Christ. Initially, every person is connected with Adam from the moment we are born.. but those believing in Jesus are removed from Adam and put into Christ – forever. Those that move from Adam to Christ are born again into a new life.
Born Again
The choice depends on whether or not they choose to trust Christ as their Saviour. Those choosing to trust in Jesus are immediately transferred from Adam into Christ – they are born again into a new and abundant life and are given eternal life.
But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other Man - Jesus Christ.
But even greater is God’s wonderful gift of grace and His gift of righteousness - for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death – now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:12-21
Intercessory Prayer
How we long for loved ones to be drawn by the Holy Spirit to a saving faith in Jesus, and our intercessory prayers can often have a part to play: for no man comes to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him John 6:44.
Pray of Thanks
We need to be thankful in prayer – thanking Him for the answer that is to come: we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, Col.1:3.
Pray for Labourers
We need to pray that God will raise up those to minister to the lost, the hurting and the bereft: pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” Matt.9:38 We need to follow the lovely example of Jesus – Who Himself needed time to pray: for Jesus would withdraw to a desolate place and pray. He went out to the mountains to pray, and all night He continued in prayer to God.” Luke 5:16
hath quickened us together with Christ and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 2:6).
It has come these days with new light and power that the first thing we have to see to as we draw near to God day by day is that our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Men of Prayer
Jesus demonstrated man’s need to be in prayerful communion with the Father. Paul exhorted us to pray without ceasing and prayed himself with many tears.
Unnamed Saints
120 waiting disciples joined in constant prayer as they awaited Pentecost; and Stephen reflected His Lord word, praying – “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” What more need I say of Aquila, Priscilla, Muller, or ‘praying Hyde’ or myriads of unnamed saints – who similarly are part of God’s royal priesthood.
High Priestly Intercession
Just contemplate the enormity of what is being outlined in these few short verses. Christians are afforded a portion in Christ’s ever-continuing High Priestly intercession. Believers are chosen to join in interceding with their High Priest – our Lord Jesus: and the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. Rev.8:5
Paul makes us aware that all aspects of our weaponry are encompassed in one Person. Every piece of spiritual armour is fixed and founded on Christ Jesus our Lord.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him (Col. 2:6).
For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us, (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time) that we should walk in them - living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live (Eph. 2:10, Amp.).
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3, ASV).
God predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His willEphesians 1:5
Plan of Salvation
Salvation was determined upon one thing – believe on the Lord Jesus Christ: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Predestination stems from God’s foreknowledge of all who would trust in Jesus.
The Church
All that believe on the Lord Jesus are foreknown of God and predestined by Him – predestined to adoption as sons – predestined to be conformed into the likeness of Christ.
The Church is predestined to be adopted as God’s sons, through Jesus Christ.
The Church is also predestined to be conformed into the image of God’s Son – simply because God knew in advance that each one would believe in Jesus.
Grace Thru Faith - STUDY
Grace Thru Faith- study [24]
Period of Preparation
There must be a long and deep period of preparation, in the man and woman of God, if that life is to shed abroad the attributes of the Lord Jesus in thought word and deed..
This negative processing of His, finally brings us into His positive promise of Philippians 1:6 – being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.
Our stand and attitude from the beginning of each day is to be a settled matter as we rest in our risen Lord Jesus: the death of the Cross separates me from the enslavement of sin and self, and I continually abide in my new life, Christ Jesus.
We do not deserve to be forgiven, but the Lord Jesus deserves to be trusted.
Yes: the Lord Jesus has been to God about them.
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
We must travel through these processings, for the simple reason that if the Lord Jesus is to be everything, the old man must be nothing, and it is often times a long journey to reach this point in the history of the soul.
There remains, then, no remedy but that which the Father has provided - condemnation, crucifixion, death with the Lord Jesus. -G.M.
Easter Reflections - STUDY 2nd word from the cross
Jesus answered him and said, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.”Luke 23:43
Words of Forgiveness
I wonder what touched the heart of this criminal – this malefactor and thief, who sharply rebuked his fellow-convict to call out: Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. Did this dying man hear the gracious words of forgiveness..
a promise that is 'Yes' and 'Amen' in Christ:- Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved… For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved – except Jesus, for Jesus saves… Jesus, remember me..
Despite the agony of death and the load of sin He bore, Jesus gave life to this dead soul.
That day that criminal on the cross heard the Word of Jesus.
For those who have never placed their trust in the Lord Jesus, today is the day to do it.
For those who believe Jesus as Saviour and Lord, is still 'today'. Today is still the day to listen to His voice.
Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:10 NLT)
Just as a sinner is taught to rest in the Lord Jesus' shed Blood for his forgiveness, so must the saint rest in the Lord Jesus for his deliverance from the power of sin and the grip of the law - yes, and from himself, also.
Therefore we should not be in bondage to sin, for he that hath died (and that is everyone who is in the Lord Jesus) is justified (or released) from (the power of) sin' (Rom. 6:7); and we are now under grace, which does not demand righteousness of us, for the Lord Jesus was made unto us righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).
He evermore learns to abhor himself as he sees the sinfulness of the old man within, only to delight himself the more in the Lord Jesus who is his life. -W.R.N.
When the devil takes you into the heights, he always shows you the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them; when the Lord Jesus takes you up, He is always transformed before you.
He cannot touch our life in its channel, for the risen Lord Jesus is its channel, and he cannot touch Him.
Only then does he, in his failure, cry out, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Rom. 7:24, 25) comes back the reply.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).
Great will be the day when you come to realize that the sole reason for the existence of your Bible, your soul and your spirit is to glorify - and share - the Lord Jesus Christ.
By not resting on anything, even the Spirit's work within, but on what the Lord Jesus has done entirely outside you.
In the Lord Jesus alone, God finds that in which He can rest concerning us, and so it is with His saints.
The more you see the extent and nature of the evil that is within, as well as without, the more you will find that what the Lord Jesus is and did, is the only ground at all on which you can rest.
It is what the Lord Jesus did there that counts, and what He did becomes a growing force in the life of the believer when it is seen, and rested in by faith.
We shall never know the fact of the Lord Jesus' victory in our lives until we are prepared to count upon His work on the Cross as the source of our personal freedom from the dominion of sin and the old man within.
On the contrary, we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake.' I say this that you may not think it strange when the collar which you have rightly accepted becomes trying or difficult to you; for surely if it be service it must be so; the servant must be more or less a sufferer.
Word of Hope
Let us lift up our voice and sing with the sweet Psalmist of Israel who reminds us to hope in God, and to hope in His Salvation, and to hope in His Word. Let us delight in the reassuring words of the apostle to the Gentiles, who excites us that our hope, our joy, and our crown of rejoicing, is rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming to set up His kingdom. Our rejoicing is in Christ – in Christ alone.
God of Hope
We read: Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews.6:17-20
Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace (2 Thess. 2:16).
We have no longer conscience of sins before God, because He Himself has taken them away before His eyes; we know that being united to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has fully glorified God in that which concerns our sins, we have been made the righteousness of God in Him.
But the Lord Jesus, who is our life, never was, nor ever is, passive.
The Lord Jesus has passed into the heavens, now to appear in the presence of the Father for us.' It is the Lord Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be.
Faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as its ground of rest; it receives, loves, and apprehends what the Father has revealed, and what are His thoughts about the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is His rest. -J.N.D.
It is as knowing the Lord Jesus to be precious to our souls, with our eyes and hearts being occupied with Him, that we will be effectually kept from being taken up with the vanity and sin around.
It is not in thinking upon my own sins that will humble me, but thinking of the Lord Jesus and dwelling upon the excellencies in Him.
It is well to be done with ourselves and to be taken up with the Lord Jesus.
We are entitled to forget ourselves - we are entitled to confess and forget our sins - we are entitled to forget all but the Lord Jesus.
Only One is worthy of all our thoughts and words and ways, even the Lord Jesus Christ. -W.K.
We need to have our eyes opened to the fact of our union with the Lord Jesus.
Believers may be in bondage because of deception or ignorance of the full scope of their inheritance in the Lord Jesus, or because they have not, according to Romans 6:11, reckoned themselves dead to sin and alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. -F.J.H.
The secret is to learn the truth of our identification with the Lord Jesus so thoroughly that reckoning and its resultant growth will come as a matter of course, just as in our justification.
He grasps the rescue rope flung to him by the right hand of Omnipotence, and with humble thankfulness sets out to learn how he can reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
When he looks at the Cross he sees there the fact that not only did the Lord Jesus die for him, but that he himself was taken down into His death, in order that the practical reality of His resurrection life might transform him into the divine likeness. -J.C.M.
And let ever again a quiet, hopeful, gladsome faith hold itself assured that all you need for a holy life will most assuredly be given you out of the holiness of the Lord Jesus.
Hard as it is for the believer to finally come to rest concerning his spiritual birth, it seems to be even more difficult for him to simply rest in the Lord Jesus for his life and service.
Not only does the Lord Jesus live in us, but He becomes the motivating Object of our life as Christians.
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice – (Telelestai – Finished), He said: Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit, and having thus said, He gave up the ghost.
Work of Redemption
Here Christ’s is the last utterance fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus.
Wicked Satan did what he could against Jesus..
But remember... when Jesus died on the cross, the work of the cross was finished, yet when He died on the cross, the plan of redemption was not yet fully complete.
And for three days and nights as time caught up with eternity Jesus rested His Spirit in the arms of the Father.
The Greater Glory
The Lord, Christ Jesus, the Author, and Finisher of our faith, despised the shame for the greater joy before Him.
The Holiest of All
nd the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Put off your shoes from your feet: for the place where you stand is holy ground.
Resurrection, we repeat, is the answer to death in all its forms and aspects: God's answer in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Having said that, let us proceed to note that the next thing revealed in the New Testament is that this supreme truth in Jesus Christ is the birthright of every one born into God's spiritual family; the heritage of every truly born-again child of God.
It is not something in the future for believers, but for the moment when they believe on the Lord Jesus and receive Him.
After His resurrection the Lord Jesus never again appeared to the world.
Resurrection union with the Lord Jesus means that we are not involved in the death that is all around us.
This is a very important lesson to learn, how to be in Life in the midst of death.... In the resurrection of the Lord Jesus we are delivered from the curse that is, from the death which works vanity and we have been brought into the place where we can go right through to the Divine end, the full realization that vanity no longer rests upon us.
And all that’s required of us is to know Him – believe Him and act on His Word, And in the Lord Jesus Christ we have the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Know Believe Live
And that One Way is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ – God’s own living Word. The general principle is simply... know the Word, believe the Word, and live by the Word. 1) Know God’s Word – Gain knowledge, and develop a deep desire to know Him. 2) Believe God’s Word – Trust Him implicitly and believe the truth of His Word. 3) Live God’s Word – apply His Word daily to all you are and say and think and do.
And yet He chose to reveal Himself to those who believe in Christ Jesus.
We have got to see everything in the light of the Person, Jesus Christ!
You may not grasp the point but it is of infinite importance because all progress in the Christian life and all power in Christian service comes from not the grasping, the apprehending, and the enjoyment of salvation as such, but seeing Jesus!
Because, you see, Jesus is the sum total of ALL Divine fullness.
I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. (Ephesians 3:14,15)
That is what is happening in this dispensation.... The revelation above all revelations of God in the history of the world is the revelation in which we are now living; the revelation of the Father, brought to us by the Son, Jesus Christ.
ot the Law of Moses, for though perfect, the Law given to Moses kills. Perfection can never be reached by the efforts of sinful man, that Law points to Christ, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Her mind was diverted for Him. Mary’s mind was focused on the Lord Jesus.
No doubt I shall find lovely confidence in the Lord in respect of His government of this world, the comfort of forgiveness, the happy confidence of integrity of heart, and remarkable prophecies of Christ; but where shall I find heavenly hopes, or my union with the glorified Lord Jesus, or even the out-flowings of divine grace, as manifested in His person on earth, or the blessed affection which flows from hearts acquainted with these?
John 16:33 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in this world. 2 Timothy 3:12 Satan has blinded the hearts of those that are perishing and lost in their sins, but the venom of Satan’s spiritual realm is specifically targeting two creations – Israel – the old creation in Jacob; and the Church – the New Creation in Christ.
So we, as believers, have been already brought by Jesus Christ our Head, in His death and resurrection, into the heavenly places,' and to us have been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness' (2 Pet. 1:3).
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 7:25
I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.Philippians 4:13
Roman Road
We should know, understand and apply the law of life in Christ Jesus, and Romans 6 is a vital passage, which describes this victorious Christian life, but is founded on an understanding of the previous chapters.
The reason most Christians have to go through the Romans chapter 7 experience, is by living under the wrong law – living under the destructive law of sin and death rather than the liberating law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
I, Jesus, have sent My angel to attest these things to you for the churches.
God Incarnate
Were Jesus not fully God He could never have become our Saviour nor could He have imputed us with His own righteousness or given us the free gift of eternal life – for only God is good and perfect and sinless and eternal.
But united in this one Person was undiminished deity and true humanity – the Word made flesh – the Lord Jesus Christ.
Indeed, there are numerous passages where we discover that the Lord Jesus Christ is linked with the house of David.
Throne of David
In Romans we read that Christ was made of the seed of David – according to the flesh, while the Luke reminds us that Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem, the city of David.
Christ’s genealogy listed in Luke links the Lord Jesus through Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer of Ruth, who was to become the grandmother of king David – while in Acts we read that Christ, Who was raised from the dead was anointed to receive the faithful covenant blessing made to David. Luke tells us that Christ is to one day sit on the throne of David, while in Acts we read that He was promised the sure mercies of David.
Root and Stem
Truly the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the lineage of His famous and beloved father, King David is chronicled in many passages of Scripture and yet we know that David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: The LORD, (the God of Israel) said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. Jesus Christ was both the Son of David through His genealogy as recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke and David’s Lord – for He was also the only begotten Son of God.
Fully God
Oh yes, the eternal Son of God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ had every right to proclaim in the book of Revelation, I Am the Root and the Offspring of David …and I hold the keys of David – for Christ was both David’s Son and David’s Lord. Were Christ not undiminished deity combined with true humanity….
were Jesus not fully God, He could not have been our Saviour nor could He have imputed us with His own righteousness or given us the free gift of eternal life – for only God is good and perfect and sinless and eternal.
Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us looking to Jesus…Hebrews 12:1
– the Lord Jesus.
Standard of Patience
The Lord Jesus is our pattern and example of patience – our model and our standard. His life is a true example of perseverance, tolerance, long-suffering – and patience.
Christ’s Patience
There was an enduring patience, and a patient endurance, seen in the life of Jesus!
We can run with patience the race that is set before us, if we look to Jesus.
God-Man
God made the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was the second person of the eternal Trinity, to come in the likeness of human flesh, through the pure Seed of the fallen woman.
It is essential for the believer to see that his old nature has been completely rejected by God at Calvary, and that as a new creation he is fully and eternally accepted in the Lord Jesus.
Through the victory won on Calvary we enter into newness of life; and as the old nature seeks to assert its supremacy, each uprising of it must be handed over to the Lord Jesus Christ, that He may deal with it.
For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11).
The Lord Jesus was not passive; the Apostle Paul was not passive; nor is the believer passive who seeks to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
Under the Mosaic law-system, love for others was to be in the degree in which one loved himself; under grace it is to be in the degree in which the Lord Jesus has loved the believer and given His life for him (1 John 3:16). -L.S.C.
If you only know the work of the Lord Jesus you are prepared to make sacrifices, but if you know Him as your life then you are ready to suffer for Him.
To a large extent, we will be pawns of the devil until we stand on the specific facts of the Bible and assert, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and am a new creation in Him on the basis of the finished work of Calvary.
It is not your death that entitles you to it, but the Lord Jesus' death.
There is not a single shade that was between us and the Father, but the Lord Jesus has removed in His death. -J.B.S.
The great work of the Lord Jesus was wrought on the Cross to bring us to the Father; His death and His Blood, His ascension and sitting on the Throne; all mean one thing - our being brought nigh to dwell in the Father's presence.
The Lord Jesus stood where I was, and now I stand where He is, and that is the only place I have before my Father.
Justification
Many teachers consider discipleship as integral to the initial stage of salvation… making discipleship a requirement of salvation – an add on to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ..” But salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Discipleship, like sanctification, is a term that must be seen in its proper context so that we can understand what the Lord Jesus meant when He challenged His followers:- “Whoever does not come after Me and carry his own cross – cannot be My disciple.” “Whoever does not forsake all he has and come after me – cannot be My disciple”
God may use an unbeliever to forward His sovereign plans and purposes, as He did with Pharaoh – but they can never be conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus. They can never gain spiritual understanding and maturity for that is the unique right and privilege of the body of Christ.
It is a beautiful, free gift of grace, which is extended to all who trust on Christ Jesus. It is only the believer in Christ that can be sanctified and set apart unto the Lord – BUT not all Christians are prepared to progress along the path to spiritual maturity – not all Christians grow in grace, and many simply remain in spiritual infancy all their lives. Only believers can be set apart to God – but not all will identify with the cross of Christ. Only believers can grow in grace – but not all will take up their cross and follow Him. Only believers can become TRUE disciples of Jesus – but not all believers will become disciples.
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life – through His name.John 20:31
John even wrote his gospel to show that Jesus, the Word made flesh and Son of God, is the Messiah, Who died for our sins so that we might live, by simply believing on Him.
Believe in Christ… believe on Jesus..
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
He shows us that salvation is all by God’s grace, which came through Jesus.
When anything is added to, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” it is not of grace.
Adding to Grace
When man is required to add something to the cross of Christ, it nullifies His work, but many, many ministries today are adding to the simple gospel message of GRACE. If we are told we are to believe AND do something – it is adding to Christ’s cross. John tells us that as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God – even to them that believe on His name… believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith of Abraham
But what does it actually mean to ‘believe’ – to ‘believe on the name of Jesus’? Well, Paul cites Abraham as a man of faith – an example of one who believed God.
By Grace – Thru Faith
To have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe what God has said about Him.
To trust in Jesus Christ is to depend on what God says about His Son in His Word.
Being born again is not believe and be baptised – but believe on the Lord Jesus. Paul tells us that if it is not by faith – then it is not of grace.
Lordship Salvation
Some ministries say that in order to be saved you must make Jesus Lord of your life.
They say that if you do not make Jesus Lord of your life, you are not properly saved – Or that if you stray from this path into carnality you have lost your eternal salvation.
Making Jesus Lord of your life is good.. but not a requirement of scriptural salvation.
To make Jesus your Lord is part of spiritual growth but must never be added to the simple gospel of salvation, which is a free gift of God – to all who believe on Jesus.
Some people add works of the flesh, works of the Law – self-imposed rules or Church regulations and a variety of ‘add-ons’ to the basic gospel of salvation by grace – through faith in Christ Jesus, while others insist on actions relating to eating or drinking – places of worship or times and seasons – spiritual fruit or gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But the gospel of John was specifically written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life – through His name.
There is no work involved in our receiving the Lord Jesus for life, and there should certainly be no self-effort involved in the manifestation of His life in and through us.
˜Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Cor. 15:57).
The Father has left us as much dependent on the Lord Jesus' work for our deliverance as for our forgiveness.
It is to prevent the Lord Christ Jesus, the anointed of God, to return as King of kings.
Multitudes followed Jesus for what He would give them or do for them.
A woman with an issue of blood – a blind-deaf mute– a dead girl’s mum and dad – and because of their faith in Jesus mountains were moved in their lives.
True Trust
Today there are multitudes that believe in Him for saving grace – and praise God, and hallelujah – many are born-again through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He knew and trusted Jesus – and that was sufficient for all he needed.
Can the devil and His principalities say: “Jesus I know..” and “Paul I know..
Satan’s Goal
His final downfall is prerecorded but his present activity is viciously cruel. The god of this world system has one main objective, one goal, one aim – it is to prevent the Lord Christ Jesus, the anointed of God return as King of kings. His main focus is to rob the spiritual believer of his or her true fighting power.
Resisting Satan
Are we man enough or woman enough to stand to the end and have faith in Jesus?
Lack of Love
The Lord Jesus told us of a scarcity of one vital element as the day approaches.
Jesus told us that there would be a lack of love in the body of Christ.
Protective Garments
Every piece of armour signifies the Lord Jesus.
Let us be like the Thessalonian believers, who Paul remembers with affection for... your work of Faith, your labour of Love, and your patience of Hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,” 1 1Thessalonians 1:3
And yet this deceptive seed can grow and blossom.. in the heart of many a careless saint. As soon as my eyes are taken from the face of Jesus, I also fall prey to this cantankerous disease. How can I search out and rid myself of this bane.. in the life of all who would live Godly? How can I root out this evil that seeks to separate me from the One Who is my Sustainer?
Pride versus Humility
As Pride elevates Self, so humility looks away from self and gazes on Jesus.
Bold Statement
The eternal Son of God became the incarnate Word and was made flesh by being conceived of the Holy Spirit in a virgin’s womb and was born into the human race in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ – the only begotten Son of the Father – so that He could claim of His renowned ancestor, before Abraham was I AM. The religious leaders of the Jews knew without a doubt that Jesus of Nazareth was making the bold pronouncement that He was God – for He had dared to use the sacred name of God in reference to Himself, I AM – before Abraham was..
But Jesus was hidden and left the temple.
And so it was that the time was accomplished that Christ was born as a son of Abraham: the father of Isaac who was the father of Jacob, from whose loins came forth the Jewish nation – and through whom was born the Messiah of Israel – the Lord Jesus Christ.
Through Isaac
For sixty-odd years Israel has laid claim to the Land by virtue of their descendency from Abraham and Isaac, while Islam has similarly declared ownership of the same land – falsely claiming it was promised to them through Abraham and Ishmael – but Christ is the promised SEED of Abraham through Isaac, and only through Jesus Christ will Israel be finally settled in their promised land and find true rest, while all the nations who trust in the true Seed, Jesus Christ will be blessed.
Role of Israel
It was Joshua who led Israel into the promised land of rest, so many centuries ago and it will be the Lord Jesus Christ Who provides the true millennial rest in His coming glorious kingdom – a future time when Israel will be the head of the nations and not the tail.
Humanity of Christ
The eternal Son of God became the incarnate Word and was made flesh by being conceived of the Holy Spirit in a virgin’s womb and was born into the human race in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ – the only begotten Son of the Father.
As the son of God and Son of Man, the Lord Jesus could rightly claim of His renowned ancestor, before Abraham was I AM….
The Cross alone provides death to self and life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God forbid that I should glory, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Gal. 6:14).
What becomes us now is to have the Lord Jesus before us, and not the correction of the old man.
It is plain that if you are clear of the domination of the old man you can have no man before you but the Lord Jesus, and the more sensible you are of how ready the flesh is to intrude.
alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord (Rom. 6:11b).
Idolatry is anything we trust in for deliverance, in the place of Jesus and His grace.
Nothing can ever remove us from the love of God which is In Christ Jesus – nothing, but we can either choose to remain in constant fellowship with the Lord..
You seek Him to search out any rebellious attitude where self reigns supreme – and you admit to yourself that you left your first love, the Lord Jesus.
Jesus said in John 15:5 “Without Me ye can do nothing …..” “Yet” you argue, “I can do many adventurous, bold, brash, and fearless things!
There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, for we are accepted. 2.
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1).
Our past will plague us until we acknowledge that we are now clear of Adam and safely hidden in the risen Lord Jesus - newly-born creations in Him.
Regret for a sinful past will remain until we truly believe that for us in the Lord Jesus that sinful past no longer exists.
In the Lord Jesus he died, and in Him he rose, and he is now seated in Him within the circle of the Father's favored ones.
The knowledge of our union with the Lord Jesus is what will deliver the believer from all that is low and feeble, and will lift him to a life of joy and peace.
The believer shares the Lord Jesus' Cross knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him' Rom. 6:6); His death:- ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God' Col. 3:3); His burial:- we were buried with him by baptism into death' Rom. 6:4); His resurrection:- as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we' Rom. 6:4); His ascension:- made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' Eph. 2:6). -F.J.H.
There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).
Aid to Growth
Scripture from prophecy to poetry, from history to science point to Him, and on that road to Emmaus in Luke 24 we read that: beginning at Moses and all the prophets, Jesus expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:27.
and I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness – which is from the law, but that righteousness which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.
Jesus said that He had glorified the Father by finishing the Fathers work… I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.
He shall not cry nor strive, nor let His voice be heard in the street.' There are very few servants of the Lord Jesus who, Samson-like, could kill a lion without letting everybody know of it.
But the Lord Jesus made no parade; He would not have His good deeds blazed abroad.
It was better that Jesus went away, so that His Spirit could become an internal presence.
Work of God
Jesus said: this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29 Believe in Him for the forgiveness of your sins – believe Him that through life’s trials you are being changed into his likeness..
Your Service to God must reflect His only Standard of Good – the Lord Jesus..
Only our new life, has been made alive by the imputed life of the sinless Lord Jesus. His sinless, righteous life has been given, by grace, to ALL who believe on His name.
Abide in Him
May our new, born-again life in Christ be progressively sanctified. May our new, born-again life in Christ be practically sanctified. May our new, born-again life in Christ be set apart unto God, for only as we abide in Him will we grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son –Jesus, the Word of God.
And let us keep looking to Jesus, Who is the founder and perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, and despised the shame.
May the Lord Jesus in His Word be more simply the Object of our hearts in this evil day. -J.B.S.
I find that the Lord Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me when I was in a most unattractive state; but He makes me suitable to Himself, and I am so assured of the permanency of His love and of my association with Him that my heart is free to study Him.
To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6b).
In Christ you also, when you HEARD the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and BELIEVED in Jesus, were SEALED with the promised Holy Spirit.Ephesians 1:13
Scripture alone provides the truth of the when, where, why, and how of our 'sealing'. 'In Christ you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Jesus, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.' Ephesians 1:13
Down Payment
We are placed into the body of Christ the moment we first trust Jesus as Saviour. First, we had to hear the gospel of truth, for faith comes by hearing the word of God. Then we had to believe the gospel of truth and all who believe in Christ are saved – and through believing in His name we were given the right to become His children.
placed into the body of Jesus Christ. You were permanently in-dwelt by the Spirit and you were sealed by Him too.
Purchase Price
The purchase price of the life of every believer was the perfect life of the Lord Jesus. He bought us with His blood for He was the only purchase price for you and for me.
Purchase Possession
You and I and all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are His purchased possession.
Seal of Certainty
God’s seal is an expression of the certainty of our protection from evil. God’s seal is an expression of the certainty of our promised inheritance. God’s seal is an expression of the certainty of His ownership of our lives, for we are His purchased possession – bought with the blood of Jesus Christ – Who bought us with His own blood... Who bore our sins in His own body and Who redeemed us from the curse of the law and became our purchase price.
Grace Thru Faith - STUDY
Jesus – All in All
Jesus is the Source and Sound - the Wellspring and Completion of our faith.
Jesus is the Alpha and Omega - the Beginning and End of our hope.
Jesus is the Starting and Ending - the Genesis and Revelation of our love. Jesus is the First and Last - the Origin and Objective of our life.
Jesus is the Root and the Stem - the Plan and Purpose and Goal of all – for we are complete in Jesus.
God, Himself, has made each and every blood-bought child complete in Him. For of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30
Amazing Grace
Jesus is indeed our Source and Sound..
for we are complete in Jesus. We are complete in Him.
Sins are ungodly attitudes that mar our witness. When believers sin we should immediately confess that particular sin to the Father – and God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness. In 1 John 1:7 we read that the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Every sin we carry out is a violation against God – and it needs to be confessed.
for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Since He is both my God and my Father, and since all of the hardships He takes me through are specifically designed to conform me to the image of the Lord Jesus, how can I help but trust Him and rejoice in His faithfulness?
That I may know Him (Phil. 3:10).
It takes us years of trial and error to finally realize that nothing outside the Lord Jesus Christ can fully satisfy and rejoice our hearts.
We which live are always delivered unto death.' The more you enjoy the Lord Jesus who has been refused here, the more you are practically severed from all here. -J.B.S.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews 12:2
Look to Jesus
Admit your pain and fear to the Father. He desires to carry you through your anguish of soul.
There is nopoint in Jesus saying: When He, the Spirit of truth, iscome, He shall guide you into all the truth, if we couldget there by our own intelligence.
The Holy Spirit must always present to me the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may grow and have peace. -J.N.D.
Spiritual power is not the miraculous or the spectacular, but rather the consistent manifestation of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in the believer's life.
All this is the work of the Spirit, of whom the Lord Jesus said, He shall glorify Me' (John 16:14).
Thirdly, the Lord Jesus as the constant object of the affections of the heart, for the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart is to fill it with contemplation of and fellowship with the Lord Jesus in glory.
Even if we are totally unable to obey and cannot even exercise faith, a day comes when the resistance has vanished and we are trusting the Lord Jesus in simplicity of heart.
Our union with the Lord Jesus is a union of life.
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
To have life is not enough: the life of the Lord Jesus demands the death of the flesh, if that life is to be fully developed and become fruitful in us.
In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk! (Acts 3:6 NLT)
The members of the new heavenly Israel are people who have been delivered from self-interest into God's interest, who have been put on their spiritual feet by Jesus Christ and are walking in strength in the way of the Lord.
This poor man was delivered because he knew his own helplessness and he believed what Jesus said.
He believed on to Jesus Christ, which means that he believed out of himself.
Obey God’s Word
It was the Lord Jesus Himself Who set this president for desiring spiritual food. He tells us: My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.
Peter tells us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and we grow by living in Him and He in us, by assimilating His life into ours.
Living For Christ
A Christian life that takes on board the words of Jesus and the instructions of Paul lives in the spirit of Christ; works in the spirit of Christ; prays in the spirit of Christ and has his being in the Spirit of Christ. But it means an uncomfortable daily examination of the carnal self.
Not knowing one another after the flesh does not mean that all that realm will cease to exist for us, but it does mean that we shall look beyond that realm and we shall steadily seek grace and the help of the Holy Spirit to cultivate and develop a determination to look through what we are by nature to what there is of the Lord Jesus and of the Holy Spirit in one another, and keep our eyes upon that.
This is a love that chose you before the foundation of the world: Father, I will that they also, whom You hast given Me, be with Me where I am – and Jesus means you.
Old Testament Types
Joseph who is a wonderful ‘type‘ of the Lord Jesus said to his brothers: you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
He so loved you so much that He sent Jesus.
But many fall at the last hurdle and lose their faith: So I urge you like Joseph, Job and Jesus to say, Thy will be done in my life – to Your praise and Your glory forever and ever – Amen.
Return of Christ
Jesus said:- behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Ephesians 1:3 NLT)
With many Christians, it may be almost thought that the Lord Jesus was but the introduction to Moses.
That His death procured the payment of sin's debt, so that the debt being paid, the believer might be in a position to keep the law, and that, accordingly, the law, and not the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' might be the believer's rule of life. -H.F.W.
Eternal Union
I believed in Jesus as a child, but don’t remember the day I trusted Him as saviour.
Ephesians 4:5 God wants us to become spiritually mature: so grow in grace, and grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18.
Walk in the Light
For if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Oh, truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
God’s Grace
Paul’s epistles give descriptive details of the riches of God’s grace towards believers. He details over and again our position in Christ – our privileges and our possession. He desires that our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is firmly fixed on truth and not on the philosophies of man.
Positional Identity
We must be aware of the importance of our positional identity in Christ Jesus. We must recognise that we have been sanctified through Christ – once and forever.
We must have confidence in the heavenly position to which we have been elevated. We must understand the eternal plan and purpose that God has for each of His own. We must rejoice in our spiritual blessings and glorious identity in Christ Jesus. We must renounce all the lies that the enemy uses to undermine our faith in God.
Be rooted and grounded and built up in Him - strengthened and established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness and bubbling over with gratitude to our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
I can only remind you again of what a large place that has in the Word of God: be strong, be strong in the Lord in the strength of His might, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Subject of Scripture
Jesus said to those that rejected Him, You search the Scriptures: because you believe they give you eternal life, but the Scriptures point to Me!– John 5:39 All scripture points to the Lord Jesus Christ – science, prophecy, life, and death must all have Christ as the one, unique focal point.
We are all like Martha – bothered, worried, and troubled about by many things, and like her, all our botherings become hindrances in our relationship with Jesus.
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent.
We are to pair away everything that diverts us away from knowing Jesus.
But remember..what Jesus said, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and bothered about many things.
We need to ask Jesus to show us the encumbrances in our own lives – and tell Him that with His guidance we are willing to lay them all at His feet.
For Their Sakes
In the case of John 15:13 our thoughts immediately fly to the Lord Jesus. He died on the cross, uttering the words: “it is finished“, so that we might live.
What a challenge to each of us – to see the willing submission of the Lord Jesus.
Often when a believer finally sees his identification with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection, as set forth in Romans Six, he will then seek to experience it by self-effort.
As our Substitute He went to the Cross alone, without us, to pay the penalty of our sins; as our Representative He took us with Him to the Cross, and there, in the sight of God, we all died together with the Lord Jesus.
It is the Holy Spirit who will make these great facts real and true in our experience as we depend upon Him; and so the plague of our hearts will be stayed, and we shall go on to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. -J.C.M.
However, for the Lord Jesus to be fully manifested, it is going to involve a lifetime of the Holy Spirit's deep dealing with the more subtle and deadly characteristics of the self-life always delivered unto death (2 Cor. 4:11).
By the daily supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ' (Phil. 1:19), the believer united to his Risen Lord grows continually to a more perfect knowledge and likeness of his Creator,' and grows up after the image of Him that created him, in the sphere where Christ is all, and in all.' The child naturally grows up in the likeness of his father, and the new life communicated to the redeemed grows up in the likeness of Him who is the Creator of the new creation if so be that the death with Christ is unflinchingly recognized, and old things' are truly allowed to pass away to make room for the growth of the new man, which is after God . . .
Christian Call
Being a believer in the Lord Jesus is not a popular calling. The true Christian soon discovers his lot is no easy option, for Christ was crucified by the world, and the world loves the Lord of Life no more today than it did 2000 years ago. His pure standards are different and shunned by the masses. His Godly objectives are counter to the self-seeking nature, and despised – despised and rejected of men, and so He became acquainted with grief. While men of the world serve themselves and please their selfish selves.
This is the task of all who would follow in the footsteps of the Messiah… For all who live godly will suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:12 and Jesus prayed: the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. John 17:14
If I am independent of the winter, it is evident that I have mastered it, and not it me; and if I have done so, through the strength of the Lord Jesus, I am relieved though in no human way.
It is a wonderful thing to be so satisfied with the Lord Jesus' company, that we can be tranquil about everything.
Stamford Wrote…
Stamford wrote of the apostle Paul: 'There was a ‘supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ’ for Paul, and that made it possible for Christ to be magnified in Paul.
New Tests
'This is the explanation of so much that we cannot otherwise understand—this plunging of us into new tests where only a fresh supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ will meet our needs.
The answer is in Jesus Christ my Lord. Romans 7:24
STUDY in PRAYER
By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way.Hebrews 10:20
Remain in Christ
Teach me Lord to REMAIN IN CHRIST– teach us to remain in His love and guard and keep ourselves in the love of God; to expect and patiently wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ – Who will bring us unto life eternal.
Pray for Fellowship
Teach me, Lord, to be in FELLOWSHIP with You - the one only true God Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, splendour, majesty, might and dominion, power and authority, before all time and now and forevermore – Amen.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort… Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Every one was carried out to the letter – in and through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal Son of God took upon Himself human flesh and became the perfect Son of Man – but had the Man Christ Jesus been anything but fully human, He could never have fulfilled this plethora of prophecies that authenticate – to the letter, His descendancy from His father Abraham and His legitimate right to the throne of David:– His anointed position as Israel’s coming Messiah and their rightful King.
Prophesied Redeemer
Had the Lord Jesus been anything but fully human, many of the prophecies of Scripture would have remained unfulfilled for only as man’s Kinsman-Redeemer, Who was like unto His brothers in every way – (and yet was without sin), could the Lord Jesus Christ have become our Saviour, and obediently carry out the demands of a holy God, in submission to His Father – and in so doing give His life as a ransom for many.
It is considered by some of the finest mathematical minds that the odds of Jesus fulfilling all 300 Old Testament prophecies is immeasurable – indeed it has been calculated that the probability of only 8 prophecies being fulfilled by one man is a ratio of 1:28 which is 1 : 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Christ’s First Advent
The inerrant Word of God authenticates to the letter the fulfilment of every single prophecy of Christ’s first advent, but had the Lord Jesus not been fully Man as well being undiminished Deity, many of those prophecies could never have found their true fulfilment in Christ – for the Messiah of Israel must be born of the seed of a woman – He must be the offspring of Abraham.
Micah’s Prophecy
It was Micah who announced, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth the One to be Ruler in Israel, while Matthew in his gospel (written predominantly to the house of Israel), gives the beautiful detail of the birth of the Lord Jesus, Who was to be called Immanuel – God with us..
and that His adoptive father was to call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
It was Matthew, who when quoting Isaiah chapter 11, writes of Christ Jesus as the Shoot, Who springs from His ancestor Jesse, the father of king David – describing the humble home in Nazareth and the early childhood of our Lord Jesus in great detail – for the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon Him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord... and He delighted in the fear of the Lord.
Every one was carried out to the letter – in and through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The answer is in the resurrection.... Resurrection is not to be only something that happened with Jesus, but it is something that has happened in us and taken place inside of us.
It is not just history and tradition, it is experience.... We have not only to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, but we have got to be alive ourselves with Him in that resurrection and on that ground.
And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself.Luke 24:27
Mum, he said excitedly down the phone: it all points to Jesus!
Damascus and Emmaus
The carnality of self is thus revealed so we may grow into maturity of Christ, but in the believers’ infant years we know little or nothing about self, and little enough about the Lord Jesus Himself.
Here we have the central and basic reality of true New Testament Christianity, of the Church and the churches Jesus on the right hand of God.
There was an implicit call to the Church of Jesus to leave the Temple and all that went with it and to move into the greater, the fuller, and the abiding reality.
God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, – in Christ Jesus.Philippines 4:19
All-Sufficient God
For God is able to make all grace abound to YOU, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9 God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, in Christ Jesus..
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14).
It cannot be too frequently emphasized that for the believer, the ground or basis of prayer is the death of Jesus Christ - the victory won by the Son of God on Calvary, just as the ground and basis of His intercession at this moment is His propitiation on the Cross.
He only keeps within the compass of His living Son in manifestation.... Let us ask the Lord to create in us a passionate ambition to express the Lord Jesus more than anything else.
Not to preach great truths, to be preachers, teachers, or anything like that as such, but to express the Lord Jesus, that out of Himself, His own presence, His own measure, His own nature, our opportunities for preaching, if we are going to preach at all, will come, not because we can talk, but because it is known that we have something of the Lord.
And may it not be that that was the thing about the Lord Jesus that carried such weight, for He spoke as One having authority, and not as the Scribes (Matt. 7:29).
But grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.2 Peter 2:18
All believers are to become like Jesus.
But growth only takes place as we submit to the indwelling Spirit and He appeals to our God-given volition, to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18.
to put all sin away, which is achieved by living, walking and growing in grace – by becoming more like Jesus.
May we who have ears to hear what the Spirit says in His Word, listen carefully to all that He says – and to apply it in our lives, as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
I had gone ‘forward’ at a Billy Graham crusade, despite believing in Jesus before.
I sang of Jesus to old ladies that were housebound.
Believing the Truth affects the eternal soul of man, through time and eternity, for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid – which is Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 3:11 How it pleased the heart of the apostle John who was able to say of Gaius, for I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.” 3John 1:3
Spirit of Truth
When we start to really recognise Truth, for Who He is - the Lord Jesus Christ, we begin to recognise the deceitfulness in our own hearts.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.Philippians 4:6-7
one fixed on Jesus the Author and Finisher of faith.
Unsaved Sinner
The unsaved sinner is the one that is justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus. We are justified and made righteous by the remission of our sins through Christ’s blood.
a time when the Lord Jesus comes for His bride – at the rapture… a time when the 2000-year long Christian dispensation is completed.
For without the blood of Jesus, there is no forgiveness of sin, and without the blood of Christ, there is no communion with God.
Overcoming the Enemy
Without the blood of Jesus, no one can defeat Satan, sin, and death.
The blood of Jesus is often only seen in the context of forgiveness of sins, but there is more that this cleansing flood has achieved in a believer’s life.
Progressional Steps
Well, one salty saint sees this as our progress, he writes:- The First step is that we believe that the Lord Jesus was sent of God.
Rooted in Love
And after all of this… what then? The interesting this is, that over these years I have observed it all comes back to one thing… LOVE. Firstly, our relationship with the Lord Jesus is by faith. Secondly..
that faith without love is really very ineffective. Thirdly, every promise in Revelation 2 and 3 brings you back to loving Jesus. Fourth, every crown we can gain has its roots in love. Fifth – there is nothing we can do of ourselves. All these are vital principles of the Christian life. All these truths are foundational Gospel facts.
The bottom line is that Jesus is coming back soon – are you ready?
Jer.31:3. God loves you with an everlasting love and Jesus loves with an everlasting love. Our Lord did not pray for the world that the world might be saved… He prayed: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me John 17:21 AND… that He loved them. John 13:1
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. (Hebrews 12:2)
The church has no existence in the thought of God apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ, and it is judged according to the measure in which Christ the Son of God love is in evidence by its existence.
Controversies with God will divide, but those artificial things, those things resultant from man activity and his projecting of himself, insinuating of himself into the interests of God, those things cannot abide where there is an adequate inward revelation of the Lord Jesus; they cannot be.
These two things are before us: one, because of the revelation of Jesus Christ in our hearts we have a passion for Him; on the other hand, because of the absence of asufficient revelation of Christ in our hearts we are out for other things which we would say are in His interests, and for Him, but which can never, never satisfy God heart.
Hell is dead set against the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Everything begins with this, the revelation of Jesus Christ within.
Law of Faith
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved…” Acts 16:31 Then once saved we are to live by the law of faith, we are to stand by faith; walk by faith; live by faith; pray by faith.
Not the theological Christ; not the doctrinal Christ; not the Christ of the letter, much less the Jesus of history; but the Christ of eternity in all the meaning of His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into the Throne of God revealed in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
The point is, have I recognized that the Cross of the Lord Jesus was the smashing and ending of me, good and bad, so that I am not holding up before the Lord anything?
Kingdom of God
Jesus had been with the disciples for three wonderful years, but He was leaving. He was to return to heaven after He had paid the full price for the sin of the world. The disciples knew He was their Messiah.
Crucifixion Revealed
But now they discovered that Jesus is about to leave them and had talked of His death. He had told them He would be betrayed and crucified and that He would rise again, This was not the expectation that this little band of followers had of their Master.
Jesus said that they would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Gospel of the Kingdom
For three years the coming kingdom had been the wonderful gospel Jesus had taught.
The gospel of the kingdom was here – how could Jesus say He was going away? And they continued to believe this to be the case for much of the book of Acts.
Paul was to be God’s revealer of the great doctrinal truths of predestination, election, justification, sanctification, glorification, and our heavenly position in Christ Jesus – but the wider plan of God for the Church age was waiting to be opened up by Paul.
Peter’s Boast
Yet Peter wanted to know where the Jesus was going, and when Jesus simply told him that he could not follow Him, Peter demanded to know why… “Lord, why can I not follow You right now?” and then boasted, “I will lay down my life for You…” And the confused Thomas joined in, for we read that Thomas said.. “Lord, we do not know where you are going.
Christ’s Omniscience
Jesus in His omniscience knew that He was to be despised, rejected, and crucified.
Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him; Peter deny Him – and the Jews crucify Him.
Why did Jesus know that He would be raised from the dead?
Trust in Christ
The disciples all loved their Lord, but there was much they did not understand.. and so the Lord Jesus had to comfort them saying, Let not your hearts be troubled – you believe in God – then believe in Me – believe in ME
But God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Gal. 6:14).
The Lord Jesus carried out the work of the Cross as to our eternal position.
But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world! (Gal. 6:14, Wms.).
As this great principle opens up to us, it will help us to understand how in our life, and in our fellowship with the Lord Jesus, it is impossible for us to share the fulness of His life until we have first in very deed surrendered ourselves every day as having died to sin and the world.
The fellowship of the Cross is to be the life of a daily walk - His taking the form of a servant, His humbling Himself and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross; this mind that was in the Lord Jesus is to be the disposition that marks our daily life.
Have this mind [attitude] in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5, ASV).
We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus.... (2 Timothy 1:9 ESV)
Bright Morning Star
Jesus is not only the Light that lights every man that comes into the world, He is the Day-Spring Himself - the Bright Morning Star.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure.His power no boundary known unto man;For out of His infinite riches in Jesus.He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
Your statement of faith may include the fact that you believe Jesus died and rose again, ascended to heaven, and is at the right hand of the Majesty on High, but how are you going to prove your statement?
Reducing the whole matter to these two points that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, and is Lord of all you have still to prove your statement after you have made it.
Thus the resurrection and the lordship of Jesus are bound up with this expression which is called the testimony.
How, then, will you prove that Jesus has conquered death?
If the full deity of Jesus Christ were to be false..
Accept the deity of Christ, and the Bible becomes an intelligible and ordered revelation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Son of God
Those who believe in Christ’s equal deity with the Father declare as truth, that the virgin-born babe of Bethlehem, Who lived as the biblical Jesus of Nazareth and died on a cross – was pre-existent in uncreated eternity and became fully human as the infinite God of the universe and Creator of all things – the Son of God and 2nd person of the Holy Trinity.
Whole Hope
One godly saint of old wrote these words for posterity: With all possible conviction and faith I confess my Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, on Whom my whole hope of eternal life and present rest and strength depends – in the proper and ultimate sense, we say – He is God… eternal; all-holy; almighty; One from eternity and to eternity, with the Father and the Spirit… forever and ever Amen.
The consciousness of Jesus Christ every day was of His union with His Father, the oneness that existed between them: As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee (John 17:21).
The consciousness of the Lord Jesus was of the very closest union with God as His Father, and that was because the very life of God was in Him.
Jesus came to bring it in His own person: not to talk about union with God, but to live out a life of union with God and to bring His disciples into the same union.
The one new man is a corporate, spiritual entity, who are entrusted with Christ’s work. Jesus said of those that make up this one new man, “and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” John 14:12
Jesus came as the Head of a new creation of man – and was the ‘firstborn’ of many sons.
Jesus said I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.
John 10:10 And the life that Jesus offers is a perfect life, an abundant life, an eternal life.
The one new man is a corporate, spiritual entity who are entrusted with Christ’s work. Jesus said of those that make up this one new man, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” John 14:12
As the laws which mould the stars and move the gigantic orbs of Saturn and Uranus in their tremendous circuits, shape the dewdrop that glistens at the end of a blade of grass, so should everything in the Christian's life be regulated by the principles which lie in the Person and Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is as our hearts are under the sway of that grace which is ministered to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we are knit to Him in affection, that we touch and taste a new life, and are severed in heart from all that constituted the life of our old man.
But it is very important that we should recognize that foreverGod has bound up everything with His Son, and that nothingwill ever be had or enjoyed apart from Christ, while for thispresent life that is only by faith in the Lord Jesus.
You can never make men and women Christians by inviting them to make certain decisions, to assent mentally to certain propositions of Christian doctrine, though perfectly true as to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3 NIV)
When Jesus told them, “I AM,” they backed away and fell to the ground.John 18:6
Attacking the Gospel
It is becoming increasingly popular and ‘politically correct‘ to water down the gospel! It is getting progressively unfashionable to teach that Jesus Christ is fully God. It is considered far too exclusive to declare Jesus as the one and only way to the Father. It’s also a ‘crime against humanity‘ to teach much that’s contained in the Word of God. Attacks on biblical truth are undertaken in many sects, cults, and government bodies.
Christ’s Deity
Scripture witnesses to the deity of the eternal Son - a coequal member of the Godhead. Scripture endorses the unique nature of Christ - and His Oneness with God the Father. Scripture is its own interpreter, and the authority of Scripture cannot be broken. Oh, there are many passages in Scripture that witness to Jesus Christ as God Incarnate.
And Paul qualified this by stating that:- Jesus Christ was God, manifest in the flesh.
Eternal Life
There are many Old Testament passages that testify to Jesus Christ as the Eternal Son of God. It was Micah who stated that His origin is from long ago – from the days of eternity. The Psalmist tells us that His throne was established from all eternity, while Isaiah proclaims, You LORD, are our Father – You are our Redeemer from of old.
And Jesus Himself had power to give eternal life – the almighty power of God.
Oh, there were many times He professed to be the eternal, omnipotent God of Israel. And during His time on the earth Jesus told the Pharisees, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.” …the exact words that the Lord God applied to Himself when He spoke to Moses at the burning bush, revealing Himself as, “I AM that I AM.”
No man takes it from Me, He cried, I lay it down Myself – I have power to lay it down I have, and I power to take it again – and His coming kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Jesus Christ Is Eternal – and in John 10:28, Jesus said, “And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
Claim to be Eternal
If Jesus Christ isn’t eternal, he has no authority or power to give “eternal life”.
Micah states that Jesus Christ is “from everlasting“, which is exactly what Psalm 93 and Isaiah 63 say about God!
In John 8:58 He told the Pharisees, “Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I AM.” The term “I AM” are the exact words that God used in Exodus, in reference to Himself! Jesus certainly professed to be the eternal God of the Bible – many times over.
Consequences of Unbelief
Jesus is clothed with many unique names and attributes of deity throughout Scripture.
If the deity of Jesus Christ were to be false, man’s hope of salvation would be over.
The more simply devoted you are to the Lord Jesus, who is worthy of all devotion, the more fragrance there will be in all your ways; for it will be manifested that you are not seeking yourself, not wincing because your rights are invaded, or that you are not as much cared for as you are entitled to be.
Nothing can be so divinely beautiful on earth as a believer so transformed by the Spirit of God, that he is in heavenly manners here on earth; so that he does not in any of his ways deny the Lord Jesus Christ; but in the most trying hour of his history upon earth the Lord can say of him, thou hast a little power, and hast kept My Word, and hast not denied My Name.' -J.B.S.
It seems that when the Lord Jesus chose His twelve disciples there was, at the back of the choice and back of the purpose of having a company of men always with Him the intention of showing and expressing what the character of the Firstborn is so far as relationship to other members of the Family is concerned.
To put that in another way: if we study the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in relation to His own when He was here on the earth, we have a good example of what family characteristics are in the thought of the Father.
For instance, take the imperfections, the shortcomings, the weaknesses of the twelve and see what the attitude of the Lord Jesus was toward them.
The Lord Jesus was not dealing with an easy company, but a company which might often have provoked despair.
Jesus said, the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?John 18:11
Baptism of Suffering
We cannot do good to another, save at a cost to ourselves. The afflictions we bear are the price we pay to bear each other's burdens. He who would be the helper must first be the sufferer. He who would seek to help and save, must first bear the pain and the cross. We must drink of the cup that Jesus drank from.. and be baptised into the baptism that He was baptised in.
Jesus said, the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
Full Forgiveness
Jesus is the only one Who could proclaim God’s full forgiveness.
He proclaimed full and free pardon instead of pronouncing the required penalty, and in the brief prayer He taught His disciples, Jesus included forgiveness.
Jesus loves us so much that He is at the Father’s side... interceding for us.
All that we pass through is that we may get a fresh view of the Lord Jesus, or a deepening of a former one; but often we are so occupied with ourselves and the circumstances, that we fail to behold the glory of the Lord.' -C.T.
Precious Privilege
But to be careful about nothing is to cast aside all the worry that destroys our lives. To be anxious about NOTHING means to cast all your care upon the Lord Jesus.
To be careful for nothing – means to trust Jesus in everything and all-things.
The Gentile never was under the law; and being set in the Lord Jesus Christ, now that he believes, he stands on other ground, to which the law does not apply.
alive in Christ.' I am identified with the Lord Jesus dead and risen.
What an indignity religion puts on every Person of the Godhead alike, on the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ, when it drags souls back to the dread distance of Judaism. -W.K.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
That which has been chosen before the foundation of the world and which has been foreordained unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, has been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.
Commander in Chief
Christ Jesus is Commander-in-chief of both the visible and invisible universe. Christ has been awarded authority over all heavenly and earthly power and rule. All things have been placed under His feet and He has been anointed as Head.
A Man in Heaven
There is a man in heaven that is seated on the throne of God – the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a man of flesh and bone in the celestial sphere – Christ Jesus our Lord, and He is the Head of His Body, which is the Church – and we are His Body.
So the Church is one with her Lord and Saviour – Jesus Christ the second Adam.
Perfect Law
The perfect Law was engraved on stone but is unable to beat with a heart of pure love. The faultless Law cannot empathise with our weakness or understand our difficulties. The letter of the Law may be perfect, but is insufficient to reveal the Father’s love. The ministration of law came through Moses, but fullness of grace came via Jesus.
Glory of God’s Grace
The ministration of grace can never fail, for Jesus Christ is infinite, and He is perfect. He is perfect in His Being and Work; His Word and His Ways.
Face of Jesus
The glory of God’s grace is a lantern that illumines the whole of Christ’s character. His Grace becomes a platform, upon which every perfection of Deity stands, and the fullness of the glory God’s grace, is reflected in the face of Jesus Christ.
The Law was designed to point people to Christ. God did not have to send the Lord Jesus Christ as the Word made flesh, to modify the original plan He had purposed for man… Grace was God’s plan from the beginning.
Grace and Truth
The fullness of God’s grace was in the heart of our gracious God when He purposed, before the foundation of the earth, that the WORD would become flesh and dwell among His people, so we could see the glory of God’s grace, reflected in the face of the lovely Lord Jesus – glory as of the only Son from the Father – full of grace and truth.
But how the Lord Jesus demonstrated this grace of humility through His earthly ministry - Even from His lowly stable birth; His status as a refugee in Egypt; His gracious attitude towards His earthly parents; His long years of hard toil in a common, little carpentry shop.
Learned Humility
How the poor, ridiculed, betrayed, and rejected Lord Jesus was meek and lowly.
How the Lord Jesus learned humility through every facet of His wonderful life – a life that demonstrates the glorious truths of humility.
Lonely Road
Should not we, who seek to know Him more and more, follow in His path - HIS path of humility; HIS walk of suffering; HIS trail of rejections and pain? Should we not submit to the penetrating eye of the Holy Spirit in our life - asking Him to identify pride and self-interest, that so readily tracks our earthy walk? Should we not seek Him, where He is found – on the lonely Road of Humility? Should not we seek to cover ourselves with humility as Jesus did – covered with the cloak of humility; clothed with the garment of grace.
Jesus said that in the last days that the love of most would grow cold and many would turn away from the faith, betraying and hating each other.
Spiritual Eyes
When God conquers us and takes all the flint out of our nature... when we get deep visions into the Spirit of Jesus, then we see, as never before. We see the great rarity of gentleness of spirit in this dark and un-heavenly world. The graces of the Spirit do not settle themselves down upon us by chance.
was the gospel reality to the Philippian jailer, and John the Baptist and Jesus both proclaimed the gospel of the coming Kingdom. I am the Resurrection and the Life..
And in the coming of the Lord Jesus, Who is the anointed One – the Christ of God, we have a species represented, (in Christ) – we have that type manifested, (in Christ) – we have God’s nature displayed in human flesh, (in Christ).
All this the consequence of Jesus Christ – Who is Son of God and Son of Man.
Let us fall on our face and tremble – when we recognise who we are In Christ Jesus.
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen John 21:2
The eternal Son became the incarnate Word and the very body of our Lord Jesus Christ became the residence of God – the Temple of the Lord – and the apostle John tells us that they saw His glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Only those who do not trust Jesus as Saviour – by faith, remain spiritually dead. All who do not believe in God’s Son by faith – condemn themselves through unbelief. All who do not believe in Jesus Christ by faith – separate themselves from God.
The Bad News
The bad news of the biblical gospel is that all have sinned and are deserving of death. All have missed the mark – all are separated from God – all are sinners to the core. All are spiritually dead – all are without hope and without God in a world of sin. But only when the bad news of the gospel is seen in its proper context – where sin separates man from God forever – does the good news of the gospel come into view. So what is the good news of the gospel of salvation that is open to every man? What is the good news for those that believe in Jesus Christ – the Son of God?
His Word
Well, there’s a specific person – the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was fully God and fully Man.
Our Response
There is also a specific work – that Jesus Christ undertook for our Salvation.
Goodwill of God
The proclamation of peace on earth did not speak of goodwill among men towards each other – but spoke of the Goodwill of God towards all those who would trust in His only begotten Son as Saviour… to men of goodwill – for the peace of God can only come to man, through the blood of Christ Jesus – our Lord.
Kingdom Gospel
But this is the kicker….. Irrespective of their being faithful or not they would one day witness to the world. Jesus Himself told us in Matthew 24 that the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all nations – and then the end will come.
Jesus Himself said: for I say unto you, among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.
Paul also reminds us that John’s ministry to Israel was a baptism of repentance, for John called the people to repent of their sins, turn to God and to believe in the One Who was to come after him – that is, Jesus, for the Kingdom of Heaven was near.
Peter's emphasis, is on our own walk with the Lord Jesus.
Not through self-effort of self-striving but in submission to the Spirit, looking to Him each moment of the day, moment by moment walking in spirit and truth, as we wait for Jesus.
And the Lord Jesus is the sum of that Divine Light.
If only our eyes were opened to see the significance of the Lord Jesus, what a tremendous difference it would make, how we should be emancipated.
The glory of Jesus Christ which He had with the Father before the world was, the glory of the Son is that; that He has this sole Divine prerogative, right, power and ability to bring Light.
We first come to know something of the Lord Jesus' love by what He did for us; but that is only the basis for coming to know His love in what He is to us.
And the preparation for this is to come personally under the influence of the blessed attractiveness of the Lord Jesus.
As with the seed that is buried once for all, but then disintegrated through a gradual process that sets free the new life, even so does our Father deal with our old nature by delivering it to death with the Lord Jesus once for all, and then bringing about its mortifying in detail through the circumstances of daily life, until the power of the old man has lost its hold on us. -L.T.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5).
The maintenance of that sort of thing is because of a failure to perceive what the Lord Jesus has brought in.... Why, then, perpetuate a thing which God has dismissed in the Cross and, by keeping to the lower, fail to reach the higher?
It is their traditional system which is simply barring the way to spiritual revelation, whereas the Cross of the Lord Jesus represents the liberty in the spirit for God to lead into the fullness of His Life and Light.
Here were a people that had received light concerning the true nature of fellowship with God in Christ that the Lord Jesus had taken the place of the Temple and the priesthood and the sacrifices and the ordinances... and even the Sabbath.
The Letter to the Hebrews was written just to save them from that peril and to tell them more fully about the great change that had come about in the Cross the work of the Lord Jesus... to tell them that one system, the earthly representation, had passed and the other, the heavenly reality, had come in.... To know the Lord in Life, we must be free from the grave clothes of outward systems.
The Lord Jesus put all that away in His Cross; it is all gone.
But since the cross, the old creations in Adam and Jacob must both believe in Jesus if they are to become the new creation in Christ
Spiritual & Carnal
The spiritual man is a believer in the Lord Jesus..(a new creation in Christ) but he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
But we have the mind of Christ. 1Cor.2:13. But so also the carnal man is a believer in the Lord Jesus: and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 1Cor.3:1
Both spiritual and carnal are coheirs with Christ Jesus.
There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus – but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The church which is revealed to us in the New Testament is always on high ground.... In Ephesians, it is n the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.It is a great power to be on high ground, it is a great defensive, protective factor; the enemy can do little with you if you keep up there and refuse to come down.
Jesus returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.Luke 2:51-52
Childhood to Youth
And as He returned home with His bewildered parents this Holy One of God, slips from our sight for many a long year, as He learned His trade at the carpenter’s lathe. And Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.
And His mother treasured up all these things in her heart – and pondered them. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and with man.
Faithful and True
His titles are as numerous as the stars and His designations are eternally glorious. His attributes are without measure and His unchanging character is faithful and true. His name is wonderful; He is altogether lovely; He is my beloved, and He is our saviour – and to know Jesus as saviour is the only thing worth knowing in time and into eternity.
Person of Christ
The person of Christ is in history pre-eminent and His work on the cross is finished. From the genesis of the world to His final revelation the supremacy of Christ is central. From eternity past to the ages to come the centrality of the Lord Jesus is predominant.
that Christ Jesus the only begotten Son of His love was to be born of woman… born under the Law to redeem those under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Centrality of Jesus
To know Christ as Saviour is to know Him as Son of God and Son of Man.
To know Jesus as saviour is the only thing worth knowing in time and into eternity.
From eternity past to the ages to come the centrality of Jesus is predominant.
And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.1 John 4:3
He could never have become our Substitute Saviour. Jesus Christ, though fully God throughout His sojourn on earth was indeed fully man. His ancestry through both His adoptive father and human mother is listed in the Bible.
His body became weary – His soul sorrowful, His spirit was committed to the Father and He was filled with compassion. From a biblical standpoint the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ is unquestionable. Denial of the true human nature of Jesus Christ (together with denial of His deity) – are probably the two most vital components in the whole of the Christian faith.
Unique Person & Work
The two natures of Christ is a simple concept and yet it contains a profound reality. Without the two natures of Jesus Christ humanity has no Saviour and no Salvation, but by faith in the unique person and work of Jesus Christ – as Son of God and Son of Man we are given the free gift of life – eternal life – abundant life – by God’s grace.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever – Amen.
May the fluctuating fancies of the flesh help us to rest in the immutable God – the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Same yesterday, today, and for the eternal ages to come.
Son of God
There have been many religious leaders, but none have been like Christ Jesus. There have been many teachers and preachers, but none compare with the Lord. There have been many men that have had many disciples, but none are like Jesus, There have been many great orators, but no man has spoken the way Jesus spoke.
Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and Son of Man.
Godly Wisdom
The words from His mouth were words of wisdom – for no one spoke like Jesus spoke. Other great orators often modify what they say – or they speak out of turn.
Humble Servant
And though fully God and fully human in His singular body – He laid aside His glory, and took upon Himself the form of a servant and humbled Himself – to die on a cross. No one but Jesus could have taken the sin of the world upon His manly shoulders.
There have been many men who have influenced many people, but the Lord Jesus is unique in the kingdom on men for He alone lived a sinless life – a life pleasing to God.
but Jesus Christ stands alone – for He is the incomparable Christ.
Submitted Life
Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and unique Son of Man.
Jesus Christ is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. He walked a path of righteousness – He lived the only sinless life in a world of sinners. He lived each day of His life in submission to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. His life exemplified the only way a man can live a life that’s pleasing to God.
Now, to come into a livingrelationship with the Lord Jesus is to come, sooner or later, tothe impasse of the incomprehensible, and we just have to say:Lord, You are beyond me!
However magnificent a gift we receive from family or friends, it pales to insignificance in comparison with the inexpressible gift of Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God – for God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes on His name, would not be condemned (as he justly deserves) but be given eternal life.
Our spiritual blindness has gone and God’s wrath is removed for there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus – for we are accepted in the Beloved. We were once spiritually alienated from God and without hope in the world, but all enmity with God is washed away and we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Thanks be to God for His indefinable gift!
We are forgiven forever – cleansed; made whole and ministers of a new covenant. The death and resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord has paid the price for our sin..
Jesus, Who was made lower than the angels for a while, is now crowned with glory and honour for He suffered death, so that by God’s grace He tasted death for everyone. Thanks be to God for His inconceivable gift!
God’s Inexpressible Gift
Through Christ Jesus we possess life – eternal life – abundant life. We are part of the body of Christ and made saints of the Most High. We are become ambassadorship of Christ on earth and have a heavenly citizenship. We are joint-heirship with Christ and have an inheritance held in trust for us by God.
We are called with a very great purpose, not just even to get out of Egypt and the clutches of the devil, but with an object, a tremendous object, nothing less than the infinite fullness of God Son, Jesus Christ, and an eternal vocation.
Peter orders us to know and grow in our knowledge of Him….and in grace, in 2 Peter 3, and Jesus instructs us that to know that God is life eternal, in John 17.
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
Jesus – Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.Hebrews 12:3-4
Jesus tells us, I have overcome the world.
‘Tis Jesus, the first and the lastWhose Spirit shall guide us safe homeWe’ll praise Him for all that is pastAnd trust Him for all that’s to come.
Sacrificial Lamb
And so God sent His Son into the world to reconcile man back to Himself. God Himself took on human flesh to become humanities perfect kinsman-redeemer: and The LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all. God placed the accumulated sin of the whole world on His beloved Son – Jesus became that sacrificial lamb.
You and I, dear friends, individually, and if we belong to a company of the Lord's people, that company, will only make progress toward that full, ultimate end of God in Christ if we have a spiritual vision of Jesus Christ.
Although as to His circumstances the Lord Jesus was the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, yet He had a joy always before His eyes.
He demands nothing from this world, but in the life of the Lord Jesus he contributes to it, of the grace that nourishes and comforts him outside it. -J.B.S.
He comes to us out of an open heaven which the Son of God has opened for us.... The Lord Jesus said: i>When He, the Spirit... is come, He shall guide you into all the truth.And John confirms this in saying: i>The anointing which ye received... teaches you concerning all things.That is represented by the angels ascending and descending.
It cannot understand that our Lord Jesus was willing to accept exactly the same basis of life with its limitation in which we live, although without sin.
Just as the sin of one man, (Adam) resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act of the one Man, (Christ Jesus) resulted in justification and life for all people.Romans 5:18
God’s grace dictated that He would give His only Son to pay the price for all sin.. and the ONLY requirement of man was to believe that Christ died for their sin – and the ONLY way to be free from condemnation was to believe on Jesus Christ.
The ONLY way to be free from condemnation is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
What grace God showed to man, that Christ Jesus has paid the penalty for humanities sin.
Instead of the LAW being the criteria for perfection that man must attain, the life of Christ Jesus was to be God’s standard – and He was to do it all for us, – and the ONLY requirement of us is to believe that Christ died for our sins, and rose again the third day.
New Life of Christ
Punishment from ministration of condemnation was completed at Calvary – and the ONLY requirement is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is no condemnation for those that believe in Christ Jesus – for those that are ‘IN Christ’.
And there is now NO CONDEMNATION to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Free Gift of Grace
But what of those that of their freewill have chosen not to believe in Christ Jesus?
What of those that have refused to accept that Jesus paid the penalty for their sins?
Unbelief Condemns
Man is not now condemned because he broke God’s Law but because of unbelief - unbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ – the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.
Man is not condemned because he sinned, but because he did not believe… because he did not believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jesus Christ warned the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees that they would all die in their sins, for though outwardly righteous, their hearts were riddled with unbelief. The Lord Jesus wept over Jerusalem for in rejecting Him they rejected His grace, and in rejecting His grace they placed themselves under condemnation.
But the sin of this age is not the breaking of the Law of Moses... but the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ.
Today the work of the Spirit is to conform the saved Christian into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ – for we are not under the Law but under grace.
Rules for the Church
Some Christians mistakenly adhere to Israel’s Law, but Paul argues that: we are not under law but under grace, Romans 6:14. and yet we are not exempt from a godly code of living, which Paul calls: the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Romans 8:2. and which is seen in Romans 8.
and this is love for God: to obey His commands, and His commands are not burdensome. 1John 5:3. Never forget that: the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
The Lord Jesus knew that at a certain time He could notact, could not speak; He had no movement of the Spirit inquickening, no Life to do so at that time; in His spirit therewas no movement of Life; the law was not active in the positiveway.
Die to Self
Turn away from your foolish boasting and dismount your elevated self-image, and put on Christ and Christ alone – nailing Self to the blood-stained tree. For no man has known God at any time, save the Lord Jesus.
Day by day we are being conformed into the glorious likeness of the Lord Jesus.
The first part was the revealing of the Father’s perfect likeness in the Son:- He that has seen Me has seen the Father.” John 14:9 The second part is His process of conforming you into the likeness of Jesus. Moulding us and conforming us to become like Christ – often through suffering.
Christ Himself, when He was here, never failed to let people know that when they entered that door, or that straight and narrow way, they were in for trouble.... Now that may sound like a very terrible thing to say, especially to you young Christians who are not far inside the door, but be perfectly clear about it; the Lord Jesus never deceived anybody about this, never at all.
So the Lord Jesus has not left us in any doubt about this.
The Spirit has come to bring all that to an end by applying the Cross, in which it was all brought to an end in the Person of the Lord Jesus; to work out the meaning of the Cross in our lives, so that everything that belongs to that kingdom of darkness is removed: so that in the end, with us too, there is no darkness at all.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).
We will not learn truth aright excepting in the deepening knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
We have that which is lovely and full of blessing in the Lord Jesus; but if we are to know it as such, to prove its truth, to enjoy it practically, it must be in taking these things as connected with Him. -W.K.
The Lord Jesus Himself, and not even truth about Him, must be filling our hearts if we are to grow.
It is a happy and necessary thing to understand the Word of God, but, with that Word treasured, the aim of the believer's affections should be, That I may know Him.' Desires after the Lord Jesus, desires to live with Him in heaven now, and to manifest Him on earth, make the growing believer separate from the world, and separate him unto the glorified Lord. -H.F.W.
These four simple words “The Lord Jesus Christ.” They combine to represent perfection.
JESUS – the Name that is above every name and sweet music to the sinner’s ear. CHRIST – the anointed of God entrusted with the world’s greatest Mission. Christ is not a title of His essential divinity – though He is very God of very God.
His Love
This same Lord Jesus Christ sought me out, because He loves me so dearly. He sees my ugliness and yet He calls me Beloved! He understands my faults and failings and yet He has chosen me to be His bride! He knows my heritage..
He is The Lord Jesus Christ.
This Lord Jesus Christ is the very image of the invisible, indivisible God.
This Lord Jesus Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory and grace and love.
Greatest Mystery
This same Lord Jesus Christ searched me out to bestow on me the unimaginable. He lifted me up, out of the miry clay and seated me with Himself in the heavenlies.
Intimate Fellowship
I was not just selected to be His friend, not just to be a fellow worker. He did not just choose me to be a work partner in some divine business – staggering and privileged though such a position would be. He desired intimate fellowship with me, a cherished bosom closeness with Himself. “Joined to the Lord… one spirit.” 1 Cor.6:17. To achieve this the Lord Jesus Christ was sent, Who was the effulgence of God’s glory.
This Man that is the very image and likeness of the invisible, indivisible God – this Lord Jesus Christ, Who chose to share His glory with the likes of me… was mocked and jeered at, spat upon and despised – all to meet my terrible sin – all for Love of me and all for Love of you too.
Condescending Love
Herein lies the infinitude of God’s condescending love towards me. Herein lies the inexplicability of God’s gracious love towards you too – in that while we were yet sinners… while we were dead in trespasses and sins, Christ died for you… (and me to) so that we could be one with Him.Romans 5:8. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Let this mind of Christ be in me as well.
Moral Perfection
There is talk of one brilliant Brahmin scholar who was determined to bring the person of the Lord Jesus into disrepute and who spent the best part of eleven years searching Scripture to highlight the weakness of the person of Christ and the failings of His beautiful character and moral perfection – only to be brought to his knees, in faith.
Good and Gracious
Even those who pride themselves on being intellectually superior to those who trust Christ as Saviour are happy to applaud the Lord Jesus as a good and a gracious man.
Qualities of Christ
The qualities of the Lord Jesus can be seen reflecting from the faces of many people.
Altogether Lovely
But every good and perfect attribute is combined in the person of Jesus Christ.
Right Relationship
All these people were in right relationship with the Lord and each of these characters displayed a characteristic that pleased the Lord – a godly disposition that was precious in His eyes – a quality that is dear to the heart of our God. God laid His hand on each of His people in a unique way and God took time in each life to develop in each one a peculiar and distinctive quality that was a dim reflection of His own perfect grace – one that would be seen in the face of Jesus Himself.
Perfect Standard
The Lord Jesus is our ‘standard.’ He is the One true and only ‘benchmark’ for life.
Godly Reminders
The life we live depends on the thoughts we think, as a man thinks so is he. Proverbs 23:7. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus Philippians 2:5.
A Challenge
I challenge us all to begin today to consciously take every thought captive, and we will discover that we have taken the first step away from bondage into the mind of Christ Jesus, and the life of His freedom.
Willing Preparation
It is rarely welcomed, as it means preparedness to come to the very end of yourself. It is frequently aborted, as it means a willingness to be crushed and broken before Him. Jesus said: they hated me without a cause – they hated both me and my Father. John 15:25. Jesus also said: the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, John 17:14. Jesus said again: take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek, Matt.11:29
by suffering His humiliation in this world. Jesus said: be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
It trains us to renounce ungodly living and worldly passions so that we might live sensible, honest, and godly lives in the present age, as we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus the Messiah.Titus 2:11
Expanse of Grace
It is God’s grace that warns of the dangers of unrighteous living and worldly lusts. It is the grace of God that trains us into righteous living and worthy, godly conduct. It is His grace that bestowed upon us our Blessed Hope and the riches of His glory, as we wait for the glorious appearance of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
It trains us to renounce ungodly living and worldly passions so that we might live sensible, honest, and godly lives in the present age, as we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus the Messiah.
Final Revelation
God may gracious illuminate the mind of man from His own Spirit-revealed revelation, but God’s revelation to man is an open secret in the scriptures of God: for God, spoke in many ways and means, in time past to the fathers, by the prophets, Hebrews 1:1 But God’s last and final revelation came through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Critical Question
The mystery of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ resides within His own nature, “What think ye of Me?” was the critical question Jesus asked His disciples.
He knew what men considered Him to be – the reincarnation of some past prophet: ”But who do you say that I am?” was His question, “what think ye of Me?” Each one of us needs to consider Jesus. Each of us needs to be equipped with a right thinking of Him.
And yet these holy and godly abstractions are condensed into concrete reality.. in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He asks His simple yet searching question, “what think ye of Me?”
Generating Centre
We are expected, by faith, to listen to His Word and to accept His explanation, for Jesus is the only medium, the only link – the only channel to the Father.
But this is to distort the simple fact that God was manifest in the flesh in Jesus, so that He might become the generating centre of all Who believe in His name.
Heart Submission
Jesus proclaimed ‘I and My Father are One” – for “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 The believer is one with Christ when His Spirit resides within.
Many make great effort to emulate and copy the life of the Lord Jesus.
Central Citadel
Any aspect or attitude of our lives which are not of Christ have their roots in Self, but the central citadel and supreme stronghold of Christianity is Jesus Christ alone, The very person of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be the central focus of our hearts.
This mystery of righteousness encompasses the redemptive work of Christ Jesus.
Jesus became the Captain of our salvation to demonstrate how to live godly in Him. He was made in the image of man, that He might destroy the works of the evil one.
Great is the mystery of godliness Praise the Lord – for He wills that all are saved and come to faith in Jesus.
Rom.3:10 - save the man, Christ Jesus. Paul told us to set our hearts on things above Col.3:1 For minds can become overburdened with the cares of this world.
Jesus. Jesus is the only one that we should seek to concentrate our hearts upon. Jesus: the substance of the Father. Jesus: begotten before the worlds. Jesus: the substance of the mother. Jesus: born into the world.
Perfect Name
Jesus: perfect God and perfect man.
Jesus: Son of God and son of Mary.
Jesus: the name above all other names.
What does JESUS mean to you?
What does that name - the name of JESUS, really mean to you? What does JESUS..
Perfect Redeemer
Jesus: that wonderful name, that name above all names. Jesus: that awesome name, the name at which every knee shall one day bow.
Jesus: that precious name, the name in which the saints call upon and pray.
Jesus: that redeeming name that being interpreted is God our Salvation.
Jesus - His name will be called Wonderful. Jesus - His name will be called Counselor. Jesus - His name will be called Mighty God. Jesus - His name will be called Everlasting Father. Jesus - His name will be called Prince of Peace. Jesus - And they shall call His name Immanuel - He shall be God with us.
Jesus, the anointed One - God incarnate.
Jesus - love made flesh and tabernacling with man. Oh that men would praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and heaven.
To know Him and to love Him..to know Him more, to love Him more. To go deeper and deeper into a knowing of the One, that is called JESUS.
Momentarily draws back the shrouded curtain of darkness - and glimpse JESUS...
The Sweetest Name
How sweet the Name of JESUS soundsIn a believer’s ear!It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,And drives away his fear.
Jesus!
Final Reflection
Take time, believer, to reflect on every aspect of the name of Jesus - Prophet Priest, and King... Who for love of you set aside His glory to become one of us, that you might one day be seated with Him in heavenly places.
Signs, sensations, impacts, can be psychically produced by the use of the most orthodox New Testament language and doctrine, even the Name and the Blood of Jesus may be employed in terms and language.
Kinsman Redeemer
Jesus is equal in every respect with the Father and the Spirit – with one exception.
The Lord Jesus Christ became man.
God-Man
All power in heaven and on earth has been given to this unique God-Man, Christ Jesus, Who ascended to heaven, and at this moment is sitting on the Father’s throne in glory.
Two Natures
Jesus has two separate natures in one body - His nature as God and His human nature. This personal union of two natures is where undiminished deity is uniquely united with true humanity, remaining together in one person forever and without confusion. This “hypostatic union” took place so that you and I might be saved from our sin.
In Hebrews, we read that Jesus is also the radiance of the glory of God and His exact imprint.
Jesus alone, as the second member of the Trinity.
Jesus came to earth to bring us back into fellowship with God – Father, Son, and Spirit.
The Lord Jesus Christ
Only a perfect Man Who was made in the image and likeness of human flesh could atone for the collective sin of mankind – and God alone is perfect.
Only Jesus Christ was good enough to pay the price of sin and to die for you and me – and God has given all power and authority into the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit’s Ministry
In the book of Acts, we discover the Lord Jesus ascending into heaven but the promised Holy Spirit was sent to be an ever-present help and comfort in this church age.
The work of the Spirit in our lives is to conform us into the likeness of Christ Jesus.
Christ’s undiminished deity is uniquely united with Christ’s true humanity, and remains together in one person – Jesus Christ, forever and without confusion.
Eternally Divine Nature
The reason that the eternally divine nature of the second person of the Trinity joined with the fully human nature of the person of Jesus Christ, is so that by His identification with us – we could come into harmony and communion, with the Father.
Centrality of Christ
This truth is awe-inspiring for though Jesus is one complete person, His two natures are without change, without confusion, without division, and without separation.
The bottom line is that the Lord Jesus is to be the focal point of our love and worship.
Truth in Philippians
Philippians 1: 5-10 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage.
For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth — and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. AMEN.
While an end is written large in the Cross, and while that end is to be accepted as our end indeed, so that there can be no more of anything so far as we are concerned, Jesus lives!
Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin BUT reckon yourselves to be alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.Romans 6:11
Yes, in Romans 6:11 we read: Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin BUT reckon yourselves to be alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What glorious words – ALIVE in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Word of Life
Jesus said: he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life..
Galatians 2:19 Jesus said: because I live, you will live also. John 14:19
Not at all!You can have all the interest in Christianity without beingin the kingdom.This is what the Lord Jesus said, in effect, and in otherand more concise words, to Nicodemus.
To Nathanael the Lord Jesus said, Henceforth (our old English word is hereafter, but I think many people have mistakenly thought that means the after life) ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
That open heaven for the Lord Jesus was the anointing.
The Lord Jesus is becoming more and ever more wonderful in your own heart, because God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
Heavenly Mission
And we, who were purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ have now become the people of God, and have been entrusted with a heavenly mission – yet with the privilege of sonship comes the responsibility to show forth the perfections of God to a dying world – to tell forth the greatness, excellence and perfections – of His name.
Reformer
Jesus is often proclaimed to be the greatest of all teachers – and indeed He is. His philosophies are applauded by many and His profound words are often quoted. His moral instructions have positively influenced much of today's legal regulations. His ethical code and compassionate nature is copied and applauded by many bodies. His message and morals can be traced to all areas of society and religious reform.
God Incarnate
No one spoke such gracious words as Jesus spoke – or acted as kindly as He did.
No one taught like Jesus, or gave instruction like He did – for He was God incarnate.
While Christ walked the earth, the Old Testament pointed to the person of Jesus.
Pre-Cross Pointers
Down through the centuries it was the prophets that pointed to the man Christ Jesus.
Most of the four gospels were presenting Jesus... the Messiah King as being present.
Post-Cross Pointers
The epistles point us back to the Lord Jesus – His death, burial, and resurrection.
They show Jesus as the Seed promised to Abraham – Who will reign in great power. They identify Christ as the fulfilment of so many Messianic prophecies and promises.
Christ’s Mission to Israel
Jesus came to present Himself to Israel as their anointed Messiah and promised King.
In Matthew, Jesus said, I will build My Church..
Though Jesus is Scripture’s central character.
Bible doctrine was given through others. It is Christ about Whom Scripture teach – but He was not the expositor of His Word. Jesus Christ is the subject of Scripture – yet others penned church teachings.
Church Doctrine
The Church in embryo was hinted at by the Lord Jesus – I will build My Church, but it was Paul who was given the responsibility of unfolding God’s plan for us.
Moses and Paul
Just as Moses was God’s mouthpiece in the old – so Paul was His agent in the new. Just as Moses gave Israel their Law – so Paul unveiled doctrine for the Church. Just as Moses pointed Israel to Christ – so Paul points the Church to the Lord Jesus.
You never do touch the Lord Jesus in His death in any new measure without knowing a new measure of resurrection Life.
When the Lord Jesus by His Spirit brings us in a further measure into the meaning of His death, let it be settled with us, once and for all, that that is in itself a new measure of resurrection Life.
He has known power, popularity, reputation, position, possession, and he says the knowledge of Christ Jesus is excelling all that.
What a precious ministry for them to thus roll away the stone away and proclaim, 'Don’t be afraid, Jesus is ALIVE!!' What a thrill to proclaim to Mary, Who Stood Weeping He‘s Alive.
Message of Hope
But also – that all who sleep in Jesus shall rise.
Jesus saith unto her.. 'Mary'.
Amazing Privilege
What an amazing privilege, we have to share in His sufferings. What an awesome dispensation to have His resurrection power inside of us. What an astonishing truth to discover that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us, But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
But unless Christ is also Man – unless Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer, there would be no salvation – for the price of sin must be made by a perfect MAN. The teachings of His incarnation and atonement for sin is impregnated in Scripture.
Unique Son
Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and Son of Man – the chief among 10 thousand.
Easter Reflections - STUDY1st word from the cross
JESUS SAID…
Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Forgiveness – God First Act
These were the first words spoken by the Lord Jesus on the Cross. Forgiveness was the first thought on the mind of the crucified Saviour. Forgiveness was the first response of God to sins committed in the Eden. Forgiveness is an unfathomable grace that is deep in the heart of God.
Everlasting Forgiveness
There is now no condemnation to we who are in Christ Jesus the Lord .. None – None – NONE. What a lesson in gracious forgiveness are these precious words – precious words from our precious, forgiving Saviour. Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Horrors of Death
God is love but He is also just and righteous and He can never wink at sin. The cost of sin is very high and the only acceptable payment is the blood of Christ. Only the blood of Jesus can atone for sin while maintaining God’s truth and honour.
I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you.... (Ephesians 3:1)
But as Paul could say My tribulations for you, which are your glory (Eph. 3:13), or The prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles (Eph. 3:1), so the measure of limitation in the Lord is the measure of enrichment in His people.
I wonder if Paul had any idea that his prison meant his continuous expansion of value to the Lord Jesus through nineteen hundred years?
The Spirit of Life that raised Jesus from the dead, was Paul’s total dynamism.
Abandoned to Him
Paul established the only principle, upon which the prisoner of Christ can stand – complete and utter imprisonment and abandonment to the Lord Jesus and His will.. so that every word that is spoken – is as from Him.. so that every step taken is guided from above – so that every undertaking shall be out from Him and not of ourselves.
Grace Thru Faith - STUDY
Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus.Philippians 1:6
The temptation to shortcut is especially strong, unless we see the value and submit to the necessity of the time element; in simple trust resting in His hands - “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus.
In the words of the Lord Jesus: When tribulation or persecution ariseth... he is offended (Matthew 13:21).Clearly, then, if you and I are going to persevere to the end we must have a greater power than that of our natural emotional life.
This word translated 'constraineth' is the same one used over the arrest of Jesus when it says: the men that held Jesus (Luke 22:63).
Meat of the Word
Indeed, there is today a famine for the ‘hearing’ of the meat of the Word of God.. as hungry sheep rush to and fro feasting on much that is harmful to their souls – desiring to know God’s purpose for their lives, while imbibing the doctrines of man. What is God’s will and purpose for the lives of all His disciples? God’s will is clearly stated in Scripture: This is the will (the purpose) of God, even your sanctification 1Thes.4.3 This is the will, of God concerning you that in everything give thanks 1Thes.5:18. This is the purpose of God …that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom He sent.
And despite the mess, we make of our lives, as did the first Adam, God’s original purpose will be completed in Christ Jesus, Who is the second Adam. It is finished
for you are accepted. His plan, purpose and will for your life is that Christ is formed in you – that we are conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus, Rom.8:29
How this mind-set is so contrary to the one that God desires His own to seek after: Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5 ..a mind that trusts Him explicitly despite the unbearable and the unimaginable – a heart that trusts Him implicitly and rests all questions in His understanding.
But this I do know – there is One Who is the Answer to all life’s ills and wrongs, All questions and every answer is bound up in one Person – the Lord Jesus Christ.
One Answer
There is only one answer when faced with the troubles of life and His name is Jesus – and this He promised: I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men and women to Me to save and forgive and to heal the hurt.
John 12:32 There is only One God, Who was sent to heal all brokenness and pain in life, and His name is Jesus.
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (2 Tim 2:2,3 NIV)
Now may the Lord give us the grace to take our share in the sufferings as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, to be strengthened with the grace that is in Christ Jesus, to bear the testimony of the Lord.
Personal Love
Christ’s love is a precious love – betwixt Him and His Church. It’s a penetrating love – between Christ and His Body. It’s an intimate love, that flows from the Son to His own darling dove. It was for the Church that the Lord Jesus gave up His life. It was for this pearl of great price – the Lord gave all to purchase her for Himself.
Joint-Heirs
All glory and authority in heaven and on earth have been given to the Lord Jesus, and yet He tells the Father that, glory has come to Me through them! Christ loves the Church corporately and every living stone is precious in His sight. They are so precious that He rejoices over them with singing. But Christ also loves each member individually..
Christ’s love for the Church is a profound mystery indeed, but it is YES and AMEN in Christ Jesus.
bringing Salvation to all people. The keynote of Isaiah’s forty years ministry was – Salvation is of the Lord, and his message called for Israel to repent of their sins… to return to the Lord and be saved., and this truth is confirmed multiple times in Scripture – that Jesus Christ is God.
Eternal Attributes
Every eternal, almighty attribute of the Godhead was glimpsed in the Lord Jesus.
Wonderful Counsellor
Jesus is indeed Wonderful for He is the chief among ten thousand.
Mighty God
Jesus is indeed the Mighty God for He rescued us from the cesspit of sin – reuniting us with our Creator God, by the shedding of His blood – for we were dead in our trespasses and sins – but Jesus came from heaven to seek and save that which was lost.
Eternal Father
Jesus is indeed the Eternal Father, and unlike human parents whose life fades and passes away like the grass of the field – eternal means forever and ever – Amen. He has promised never to leave us or abandon us as orphans.
Prince of Peace
Jesus is indeed the Prince of Peace, for by His death He made peace with God on our account and clothed us in His robe of righteousness.
Service of God
There are many that claim to be in the service of God. Many that claim to be doing mighty works in the Name of Jesus, but thank God that true ministry is not to be judged and assessed by man – but please God that we will all judge and assess our own hearts and motives.
Spiritual Accountability
The Lord Jesus Himself is the guide-stone of effective spiritual ministry. The Lord Jesus Himself shows the way to examine spiritual accountability: “The Son can do nothing of Himself…” John 5:19 “The Father doeth the works…” John 14:10 “The Father speaketh the words…” John 12:49 “My Father worketh until now…” John 5:17 And when Jesus sent his disciples out to preach the gospel, He told them:-.
that it is only and exclusively the indwelling Holy Spirit -that must lead and guide: “Without Me”, Jesus warns and pleads… “Without me ye can no do nothing”.
Effective Work
Yes –the Lord Jesus is the one way that your ministry can be spiritually effective, and it is the only way that mine can be spiritually effective too. But it requires a daily dying to self – and a moment by moment living to Christ.. Is it worth the pain now for the glory that will follow…?
Fellowship Formula
Although union with the Lord can never be broken, lost or removed for all who are in Christ Jesus, fellowship with God and sweet communion with Him can be broken, when sin rears its ugly head in our lives.
God’s Standard
But there is only one standard for sin and that is God’s standard, which is His Word – and Jesus is the perfect example of His standard.
The sin barrier that separated us from God is removed forever, to those who are in Christ Jesus.
We are one spirit with the Lord Jesus by the one and only Holy Spirit.
I can always know when the Holy Spirit is leading me, because He ever occupies me with the Lord Jesus.
True, He may have to call attention to my own condition, but if He does, He turns me to the Lord Jesus, not merely to convict me, but to relieve me. -J.B.S.
Spiritual growth is the Holy Spirit engraving the Lord Jesus on a man's heart, putting Him into his thoughts, his words, and his ways, just as the Law was engraved upon stones.
Just so, the Lord Jesus Christ is the object of the believer's life. -J.N.D.
but we have the mind of Christ. 1Cor.2:15-16, so: let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
Spiritual Man
The spiritual man is identified as one that has the mind of Christ Paul exhorted us: let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, and by implication this is not a past state but one to which we should strive.
Jesus said: I am the bread of life.
Jesus told us that men always ought to pray and not lose heart and Paul told us to pray without ceasing so that His mind may be formed in You.
Remember: one thing is needed, which is to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and all these things will be added to you.
Come to Me...
Martha missed out on sitting at the feet of Jesus and communing with her Lord.
Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.Philippians 2:5
The Mind of Christ
The spiritual man is the one who has the mind of Christ, and Phil 2:5 exhorts us to: let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
permit this mind to be in you, that was in Christ Jesus.
EITHER→ believe on the Lord Jesus Christ→ and you will be saved→ saint.
OR→ don’t believe on the Lord Jesus Christ→ and you will not be saved→ sinner.
Salvation is an unbeliever’s choice: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, Who made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
How bothered they were by the huge stone barrier, that blocked their way to Jesus.
gazing on the bloodied, beaten body of the Lord Jesus, after He gave up the ghost… WHO would have thought that His, was the greatest victory in the history of time and eternity? Your victory, is as sure as His – as you stand and wait and watch in loving, trusting obedience, even as He requires each of us, so to do.
Was not the life of the Lord Jesus Christ the inspiration for Paul’s “Supreme Good”
He reminds us that Jesus said: “I did not come to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the prophets”.
“Jesus said: I am meek and lowly in heart”.
and in John 13:5 we read: “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel and girded himself.
And great multitudes came unto Him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down His feet, and Jesus healed them all.
Consider His guilelessness: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who told us in John 14:10 “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
Consider His Person
Consider Christ Jesus: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Consider Jesus – for love will cover a multitude of sins.
My determined purpose is that I may know Him. (Philippians 3:10 AMP) There are few words in his writings which reveal how committed to the Lord Jesus this man was.
Here is a man who has had a revelation and knowledge of Jesus Christ greater than any other man up to that time.
Christ’s Humility
Only once did Jesus refer to His own deep humility of heart and poverty of spirit, when He said: “I am meek and lowly in heart” Matt.11:29 But throughout His earthly journey, in action and attitude, humility streamed forth.
Practical Sanctification
God wants all his children to be sanctified and set apart unto Him, just as the Lord Jesus Christ sanctified Himself unto God – but He will never force His will on any of us. God desires all His children to say willingly, Thy will, not mine be done, just like the Lord Jesus Christ – but He will never violate our volition, should we choose to refuse.
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself (through practical sanctification, during the present age) – just as the Lord Jesus Christ is pure.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
Right Relationship
Christianity as a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and is liberating.
All By Grace
We come to the Lord Jesus – for salvation (which is all by grace. We live in the Lord Jesus – for sanctification (which is all by grace). We work for the Lord Jesus – in service (which is all by grace)
It is not those that believe about Him – but those that believe in the Lord Jesus.
Sons of God
Jesus said: I am come that those who believe in Me may have life, and have it more abundantly.
Time is Short
Every day that passes is a day closer to the return of the Lord Jesus for His church.
His return is closer than it was last year, last month, last week or even yesterday, The return of Jesus is nearer than the day on which we first trusted Him as Saviour.
Increasing Urgency
This should also be a time when we examine our own relationship with Jesus. We can scarcely exhort others to be spiritual ready if we are ill-prepared ourselves. We can hardly encourage others towards preparedness if we have become careless. We cannot draw alongside others aright, unless we are in fellowship with the Lord – and the urgency increases as we see the day of His return approaching.
Are you, through a living, clear, inward, experimental relationship with the Lord Jesus, building a structure which comes out of that inward spiritual knowledge?
I think it is quite clear that the Lord Jesus carried in His heart a great longing and a prayer for the glory that He once had.
In the seventeenth chapter of his gospel, he records that great prayer of the Lord Jesus: Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (vs. 5).
That opens a window and lets us see that the Lord Jesus had a consciousness of His eternal glory past.
It was like that with the Lord Jesus the answer to His own cry.
The “grace-promise-faith” way is described in Scripture as a ministry of life: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Law is called a ministry of death and its source is the old sin nature, (the flesh), while grace is described as a ministry of life, and its source is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Jesus, as the Truth, is contrasted with Satan, the liar.
We must also remember that Jesus foretold the passing away of that entire temporal system, with Jerusalem as its center and representation.
With His foreknowledge of the passing of the earthly, temporal and material things; places, systems, fixed locations, and outward forms, the Lord Jesus put the whole matter of survival upon Himself as the constituent of a spiritual structure against which the very powers of hell would not prevail.
Jesus said: – I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.Matthew 16:18
For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.Galatians 1:11
Lord Jesus
The book of Acts was written by Dr. Luke and is a sequel to the gospel of Luke. Both books were written to a man called 'the most excellent Theophilus'.
Luke’s gospel informed Theophilus about the life and the work of the Lord Jesus.
Luke is a book about all that Jesus BEGAN to do and to teach. Acts is a book about all that Christ CONTINUED to do and to teach.
Continuing Acts
The Acts of the Apostles would be better entitled 'The Continuing Acts Of Jesus'.
It explains the unfolding work of Christ Jesus in the embryonic Christian Church – for Jesus said I will build My Church.
Final Instructions
In chapter 1 it summarises the gospel of Luke and Christ’s ascension into heaven. It also confirms the certainty of the resurrection and its many infallible proofs. It reviews the final instructions that the Lord Jesus gave before His ascension. It details the topic about which Christ spoke to His followers – the kingdom of God.
It touches on the instructions Jesus gave to the apostles He chose – through the Spirit.
They were standing on the threshold of a new era – the times of the Church, for Jesus said I will build My Church.
The book of Acts shows us how the Lord Jesus Christ started to build His Church.
For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ – for Jesus said I will build My Church.
Unique Nature
The unique nature of the Lord Jesus Christ is a topic requiring deep exploration. Without His pre-existence as God He could never have become incarnate Man. He’s singular among the children of men for His birth was not the start of His origin. He’s unique within the Triune Godhead for He was the ONE Person Who became Human. Jesus Christ was the convergence of time with eternity. Jesus Christ was the harmonising of deity with humanity. Jesus Christ was the convergence of heaven with earth.
Unique Priest
He had neither beginning of days nor end of life, but has become High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek – He is now the eternal High Priest of the Most High God. He came forth from the Father and He returned back to the Father to resume His eternal Sonship, but He returned in the body of a glorified Man : the Man Christ Jesus.
Word Made Flesh
Today God continues to speak to us, and He speaks to through His Son, the Word of God. Today God continues to speak to us, through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God. You diligently search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life, but the Scriptures point to Me; John 5:39
Believe: believe in the Name of the Lord Jesus and have faith in His Word. Trust: just trust in His love.
Consider Jesus.
That the church will be totally leavened, as Jesus warned us. That there will be a famine for the hearing of God’s Word. That believers will run to and fro looking for a teaching that tickles their ears, and that Christ Himself asks that haunting question: will I find faith on the earth?
The mode of acquiring a new, redeemed nature from the 2nd man is a spiritual birth. As Jesus told Nicodemus: marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
Perfect Sacrifice
Jesus demonstrated a sinless life.
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Purchase Price
You have been purchased with a price: the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is working out His perfect plan in you..
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” and then in jubilant cry, I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And then we can rejoice with Hosea: Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and He will heal us; he hath smitten, and He will bind us up.
Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life.
When Jesus Christ announced: I AM is the truth, He was telling us that all things proceed from Him, and in Him, everything is rooted and grounded.
And all who profess Christ crucified and own Him as the truth upon which their lives are founded, should maintain their steady gaze upon the singular Person of Christ Jesus.
A Shattering Statement
When Jesus made His earth-shattering statement: I am the way and the truth and the life, He was informing us that only through His perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection, can we ever become reconciled to God and united with Him, for only through Jesus can we live a God-breathed life in spirit and truth.
Inexhaustible Supplies
Jesus told His disciples: all things that the Father has are Mine.
The man Christ Jesus has access ‘all things’ – to the inexhaustible supplies of the Father, and through Him we have become God’s children, and have the like-same access: for God Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?
All Things in Christ
All grace and all truth came through Jesus Christ alone, for He is the truth, the one truth, and the only truth..
He has given us His light in our hearts – the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, Whom the Lord Jesus sent into the world to be WITH us and IN us – and Who, has been given the responsibility of guiding us into all truth.. as we submit to His leading – as we surrender every area of our lives to Him.
Cleansing Word
When we walk in in the light as He is in the light, we commune with Him. When we walk in in the light as He is in the light, we fellowship with Him and with one another. When we walk in in the light as He is in the light and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7.
For Peter reminds us:- for you are a chosen race; a royal priesthood; a holy nation; a people for his own possession; that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him – who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. 1 Peter 2:9 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians4:6.
Picture of waterfall courtesy of Flick Aspheric.lens
Woman at the Well – Full Study
And Jesus needs must go through Samaria.. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well.
Jesus saith unto her, ‘Give me to drink’ – and Jesus answered and said unto her:-“Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again:..”John 4:13-14
Empty Promises
How true a statement Jesus said to the thirsting woman: Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
There are vast numbers who profess to believe in the atoning virtue of the death of the Lord Jesus, but who do not see aught therein beyond the forgiveness of their sins.
The one in which we only know the Lord Jesus as Saviour from Egypt, in His work on the Cross for atonement and pardon.
Trust in the Lord
And Paul’s cry of joy proclaims, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ, for Paul knew, just as Job knew that my Redeemer Lives. .es- there are 5 things that Satan is using to demolish and utterly shatter Your own faith, and they are: infirmities..
Truths to Remember
Jesus said: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:28. While Paul told Timothy to: Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 1 Tim6:12 Job confessed: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” And in 2Tim.1:12 he wrote: But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until the Day of Christ. While in Phil.1:6 he said And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ
Remember, Child of God, there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus – none.
Look to Jesus
I once spent three solid weeks from dawn to dusk..
He draws us closer to Himself – until with Paul we can say… This one thing I do: this ONE thing... Focus on Jesus – loving Him with every fibre of your being.
Look to Jesus – determined to obey His will from the heart.
Seek to know Jesus – that your entire life, in thought word and deed, glorifies Him.
but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians. 3:13, 14.
Picture of Man courtesy of imagebase.davidniblack.com
World System
How important it is that we take to heart the words of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord’s future world empire is to reflect the will of God and the rule of heaven, and Jesus taught them saying, Thy kingdom come.
Heavenly Citizen
The Lord Jesus Christ is to rule and reign with those that overcome..
This current world system is not where we should be placing our hope – for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Saviour – the Lord Jesus Christ Philippians 3:20. Scripture informs us that the love of many believers will grow cold. The Bible tells us that many Christians will forsake Him for alternative truths. The Word of God warns that the Church will be leavened at the time of His return.
but none of us know the date and time that the end of our life will be, but from the moment of believing faith, we were accepted by God, through Jesus.
Jesus consecrates Himself to the will of the Father, crying: not as I will but as Thou wilt.
Fleeting Time
As blood-bought believers and servants of the Lord Jesus, we have the rest of our lives ahead of us, and yet we too are at the very door of our departure from earth... as for man, his days are like grass.
Grace Thru Faith - STUDY
Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.Philippians 1:6
before they began to know the Lord Jesus as their life and ceased trying to work for Him and began allowing Him to be their all in all, and to do His work through them.
apprehending that for which also we are apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” Philippians 1:12
Israel’s Messiah
Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel who were waiting for their Messiah.
Jewish Messiah
What did it mean? Jesus had been sent to Israel – and those early days of Christianity were Jewish. The disciples were Jewish, and all Jewish men were to visit Jerusalem thrice yearly. They were to visit during Passover, Tabernacles and Pentecost – the feast of weeks. On that special day of Pentecost – Jews from all over the world were in Jerusalem.
Peter wanted to show that Jesus was the Messiah, promised in so many oracles to Jews.
He appealed to the Jews to take note that Jesus of Nazareth was a Man, accredited by God, Who demonstrated His Messianic credentials by His miracles, wonders and signs.
He wanted the nation of Israel to know that God sent Jesus, Whom they crucified, both Lord and Messiah.
Wonderful Prophecy
That wonderful prophecy from Joel appeared to begin on that day of Pentecost – when Peter called the nation of Israel to repent of their sins and turn back to God as did John the Baptist, Jesus and the apostles during Christ earthly life. That wonderful prophecy from Joel will have its full and final fulfilment on that amazing future day, when the Jews shall look on Him Whom they have pierced – when Israel as a nation cries, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
They preserved the teachings of John the Baptist, Jesus and His disciples – to Jews:- the gospel of the kingdom – the gospel of the coming Jewish Messiah.
For He Who has begun a good work in you will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.Philippians 1:6
He promised to perform a good work in you until the day that Jesus comes to take us home.
And so rejoice in whatever circumstances of life you find yourself, for He Who has begun a good work in you will complete it at the day of Jesus Christ Jesus.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
The Lord Jesus does not look upon us as being in this country, in that country and in another country.
The Jews were exclusive and said: 'We are the only people and our country is the only country.' Jesus went outside those frontiers and touched the world outside....
In the Lord Jesus every earthly division is removed.
That is a miracle.... This Life is eternal Life; it is timeless; it knows no space; everything is present when Jesus is present.
The first step of 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ', is so precious and so simple.
It is simply - believe on JESUS – and you will be saved:- Jew or Gentile, male or female – young or old – bond or free – great or small.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will b saved… period.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ..
It is a lack of knowledge of how to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Rebellious Heart
Israel is a prime example of a people that heard but did not listen – until they reached a point of prideful rebellion, where Jesus had to say: hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive Matthew 13:14 and Isaiah 6:9.
The first step is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ..
Living Faith
Living your Christian life in the wonderful freedom of Romans Chapter 8 – where we read: There is therefore now no condemnation..to them which are in Christ Jesus (that is to them which are living their lives in Christ Jesus, and not living in the failure of the old man of Romans 7) There is therefore now no condemnation..
Liberating Gospel
It seems that most believers stop their pursuit of salvation when they are saved. Truly salvation is the liberation from sin and the loosing from bondage. Salvation is the free gift for all that believe in Jesus Christm Who died and rose again..
Trials, Tests, Temptations
We know that Jesus Himself walked this same way that we are treading, and was in every respect was tried, tested and tempted as we are – yet without sin.
Jesus said: these things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full – (today) For the joy of the Lord is your strength – for today.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.Luke 24:27
Primary Consideration
Whatever prime issues we have in life, the Lord Jesus should be our top priority, For when He is our primary consideration, other issues inevitably fall into place.
Centrality of Christ
We find the Lord Jesus to be the focal point of the prophets and psalms.
We locate the Lord Jesus as the centre of all prophecies..
There prevails a notion that the Lord Jesus was keeping the law for us and establishing our righteousness when He was here below.
Now His life was necessary to vindicate the Father and His holy law, as well as to manifest Himself and His love; but the righteousness that we are made in Christ is another thought altogether - not the law fulfilled by Him, but the justifying righteousness of the Father founded on the Lord Jesus' death, displayed in His resurrection, and crowned by His glory in heaven. -W.K.
The Ten Commandments require no life of prayer, no Christian service, no evangelism, no missionary outreach, no Gospel preaching, no life and walk in the Spirit, no union with the Lord Jesus Christ, no fellowship of saints, no hope of salvation, and no hope of heaven. -L.S.C.
Attitude of Humility
So what is godliness and what does it mean to live godly in Christ Jesus?
Humanity was endowed with a free-will to submit to God’s rule OR to reject Him – man can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation OR remain in condemnation.
Godly Living
By GRACE we were saved – when we first trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
For both time and eternity, all is summed up in John 17:3: And this is life eternal. . . [to] know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ.
The marvel of divine grace is that not only has everything according to the heart of God been secured for me through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but that I, a child of Adam, should be, not only in peace with God where I was under His judgment, but that I am transferred from Adam to Christ, and I am to have Christ formed in me now.
For He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Heavenly Home
And yet our feet are dusty – polluted with the sin and filth of this world, for we are ever yet journeying towards our heavenly home. The Father is there and seated on His throne of grace. At His right hand is seated the Son of His love – the Man; the perfect Man; the Man Christ Jesus - seated on the throne with the Father.
If we walk after the flesh, instead of after the Spirit, this may call for His loving rebuke and chastening (child training); but that in no way interferes with the precious truth of our continual acceptance and position in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, by whose one offering we have been perfected forever.
If we have the Lord Jesus, we have all - without Him, we have nothing.
The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect [mature], establish, strengthen, settle you (1 Pet. 5:10).
And so we read that Jesus said: I and the Father are One.
It was Philip who said to Jesus: Lord, show us the Father, but Jesus had to remind him yet again, he who has seen Me has seen the Father.
This is one of the great mysteries of life – a mystery that man needs to explore – a mystery that is revealed in the face of the Lord Jesus.
Be amazed at the supernatural grace of the Lord Jesus Christ towards you: for Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her….
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written, one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect example of a life, consecrated to God.
Jesus spent His entire earthly walk living His life through the power of the Father. Every work he undertook – every word He spoke, was His sign of consecration to God.
Maybe in the physical, but predominantly and principally in the spiritual… “Ye are My witnesses .” the Lord Jesus tells us. Being His witnesses does not necessarily mean going out and talking. Being a consecrated man or woman – being a sign, may not mean what you think. It may not mean becoming a missionary or starting a ministry… though such may certainly be a part of the sanctified life.
Christ’s Mind
It means in everything we do – living the Life of our Lord. It means in all that we say – that we say everything as from Him. It means the Lord working out His will and purpose in our lives with no opposition. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus… Have Thine Own way Lord – Thou are the Potter, I am the clay. Thy will not mine be done – to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus said, ”My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” Do not pray for tasks equal to your power.
Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. . .
If we keep in mind that the Lord Jesus is our Sanctification, the seemingly difficult subject will clearly unfold for us day by day.
The Christian life is nothing short of the life of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:4).
That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh' (2 Cor. 4:11).
The common conception of sanctification is that every area of the life should be holy; but that is not holiness, it is the fruit of holiness: holiness is the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we are conscious of pride we fancy that humility will meet our need, but the answer to pride is not humility, it is the Lord Jesus, and He is the answer to every need.
The Father will not give you humility or patience or love as separate gifts of grace; He has given you the Lord Jesus, and if you simply trust Him to live out His life in you, He will be humble, patient, loving and everything else you need.
We are to believe what God has revealed through His Word... His living Word and His written Word - The Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures.
Hear Him
In times past God spoke through His prophets, but in these last days, God has spoken – through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear Him. By faith Able… By faith Enoch….
God has spoken… through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look away from all other empty sources of assistance in this world.
Look to Jesus
Look to Jesus the Author and the Finisher of faith, for faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word of God. HEAR HIM.
There is a distinctness between the operation of the Spirit of God in bringing me unto the Lord Jesus, bearing witness to me of God's love, and of the efficacy of what Christ has done - and His operation in my soul to produce the image of His Son.
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine (1 Tim. 4:6).
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18).
The actual need of most believers today is not an experience, but a true apprehension of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross for us and of our present day union with Him.
Nowhere in Scripture is it taught that there is a sudden leap to be taken from carnality to spirituality, or from a life of comparative unconcern as to godliness to one of intense devotion to the Lord Jesus.
Within the inner ‘being’ of man are two continuously conflicting camps:- the old sin nature (the flesh or self-ego) is gained from the old birth in Adam, while the new life in Christ (the spirit of life in Christ Jesus) comes from our new birth.
All believers are born-again the ‘grace-promise-faith’ way, for salvation is simply: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved – by grace thru faith, which is a done deed.
We read in Ephesians 1:5-6 ‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved'.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created being, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our Father would be free to favor us with far more of His riches in Christ Jesus if we would keep more in mind that grace is unmerited favor - so that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy (Rom. 9:23).
The saint is not only a new creature to grow into the likeness of the Lord Jesus, but he has to watch and beware lest the things he has to do with should in any way minister to another will in him, which would divert him from God to himself.
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3).
It is to have my blessed home in the Lord Jesus, where I can go in and shut the door and be with my Father in secret, and be at peace when all outside is trouble. -A.M.
Growing In Grace - STUDY
Christian Desire
Many Christians desire union and communion (or fellowship) with our Lord Jesus, but feel they do not enjoy it as they desire.
Those who believe on Jesus for salvation are saved, and brought into union with Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Blocking Communion
So sin grieves and quenches the work of the Spirit within the believer, and sin blocks communion and fellowship with God, and with the Lord Jesus Christ.
One made its appeal to the limited resources of the natural man and conditioned his life on the earth; the other sets aside the natural man, secures a whole new creation in Christ Jesus, and counsels that new being in his pilgrim journey to his heavenly home.
for ye are all one (new creation) in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28).
Hence it is essential that we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is our life; He is not a legal example to emulate, but the source of life from which we grow.
We shall in our praises weave with them what the Lord Jesus has done, suffered, and won for us; but the primary thought in our hearts is, not what we have gained, however true, but what He has been for us and what He is for us, yes, what He is in Himself. -J.B.S.
There is usually only occupation with the Lord Jesus for the relief of the conscience, and if so, where does it stop?
I know of no arguments, and I am acquainted with no power, that will move the heart to devotedness except the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Himself and His love.
It is possible to read books by the score, and to listen to the most faithful and blessed ministry for years on end, and yet never know the Lord Jesus as a present loving Object in heavenly glory.
We have a new Person before us as the Object of our faith and affections; and as we drop ourselves and have the Lord Jesus as our Object, He is formed in us.
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
The truth is, we have a position in heaven and the Lord Jesus is now our life there; and if this be not simply enjoyed, there will be an effort to modify the desolation here, and an inability to interpret the various inroads which death makes on us.
Where He is, is my home - there I feed and rest; but here, on earth, I am learning to set aside in death everything in me which hinders the manifestation of the life of the Lord Jesus. -J.B.S.
The reason there is so little growth is that there is so little occupation and fellowship with the Lord Jesus where He is.
Jesus the Jew
Jesus was born a Jew and lived His life in full accordance with the Jewish law, for the law, promises, prophecies and salvation must all come through the Jews. And so on the eighth day, after the custom of the law, Jesus was brought to the temple, and there He was seen by Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Jesus the Messiah
Simeon was just in his dealings with men and devout in his living towards God.
Jesus the Saviour
The just shall live by faith..
Jesus the Lamb of God
And for his remarkable, child-like faith, Simeon was one to hold and bless the infant Jesus.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts; Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. by His Comfort. flowing through us.
As we explore these scripture passages, may we exhibit a teachable spirit, so that we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11,12 NIV)
You cannot systematize the Cross of the Lord Jesus, you can only go on your knees and worship, conscious that you see something really far beyond your power to compass.
When the Lord Jesus came, and in Himself gave some interpretation to the law, some light upon the law, which did not fall within the compass of their system, there was no room for Him, there was no room for God in His own law.
Watchful Readiness
Such thoughts may raise the eyebrows or bring a wry smile to the face, and yet we are told: while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” This caused Jesus to ask: Could ye not watch with Me one hour….? Scripture most certainly does imply a tarrying of heavenly Bridegroom, yet it’s the wicked servant who says in his heart, my Lord delays His coming.
We wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, Who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Being Ready
The warning to be ready should rejoice our hearts and be an encouragement, for God has outlined in His Word all we need to ensure we are ready and prepared – and loving Jesus and trusting His word is the most important step in being ready.
A Heavenly Ministry
Jesus, our great high priest is even now ever living to make intercession for us. Christ Himself is praying for the fulfilment of God’s plans in each of our lives, indeed our Lord Jesus Christ is even now praying for us – interceding for US!!! – and we have been called as priests, to participate with Christ in His high office: for we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people for His possession. 1 Peter 2:9
Old Testament Example
Christians are a chosen priesthood, to work in union with Jesus.
Peter’s Protest
Peter started to argue with Jesus, and protested, “You will never wash my feet,” But Jesus answered him…”If I WASH thee not, thou hast no part with me.” – note that the word used for wash is the Greek language is nipto If I NIPTO thee not, thou hast no part with me.
‘Nipto’ and ‘Louo’
Jesus continued… “He that is WASHED needs not save to WASH his feet but is completely clean.” – note that there are two different Greek words for the word wash – nipto and louo. He that is washed (LOUO) needs only to wash (NIPTO) his feet, to be fully clean. Then Christ concludes, “if I wash thee not thou has no part with Me – no fellowship with Me.”
Jesus was here explaining that Peter was saved… he had been washed – (LOUO) – but Peter needed to have his feet washed! Peter needed daily cleansing… ongoing washing – (NIPTO)
Peter’s Washing
Peter, like us was saved, because He believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He was washed and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb – He was LOUO.
God’s Foreknowledge
In His omniscience, God knows in advance every person that will choose to believe. God’s grace is extended to everyone and all we have to do is to believe in Jesus. And God has plans for everyone, who freely chooses to trust in Christ as Saviour. God foreknew all who would drink of the waters of life and become His child, and before the world was made He had plans for all those – who would believe on Jesus.
Man’s Freewill
And God decided ahead of time that the ones that would choose, of their own free-will, to trust Jesus as Saviour would be conformed into the exact image of Jesus Christ.
God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for all mankind, so that anyone who trusts in the name of Jesus, would not perish but have eternal life.
And the ones He knew ahead of time would believe (in Jesus)…………. He also predestined to be conformed into the image of His Son.
And the ones He predestined to become like Jesus He also called. And the ones that He called He also justified – and the ones He justified He also glorified. It seems that in the eternal council chambers of God, before the world was created, God determined that all who freely chose to trust in Jesus would one day be glorified.
Grace through Faith
Well, every part of salvation is a gift of God’s grace that is accessed by faith. God does it all and we contribute nothing – all we had to do was to freely believe. Once we believed that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God Who died to pay the price for our sins…..
In His omniscience, God knew in advance each of us that would choose to believe. God foreknew we would drink of the waters of life and become His children – and before the world was made He had plans for us, and for all who believe on Jesus.
A New-Life in Christ
As His children we were given a new LIFE in Christ – a baby life that needs to grow into a mature spiritual believer -– a life that will be fruitful – a victorious life – a life that will be conformed into the image of Jesus during the time we live on earth. But we also have a sin nature that seeks to gain supremacy over the new Christ-life. Oh!
we have been freed from sin’s power over us – but while on earth it still lurks. And this is the thing… just as we chose to believe in the Lord Jesus to be justified – So too we have a choice when it comes to sanctification during our time on earth.
Lifelong Process
God wants all his children to be sanctified and set apart unto Him, just as the Lord Jesus, who learnt obedience during His life as He grew in favour with God and man.
Jesus Christ set Himself unto God, but He will never force His will on you or me.
Practical Sanctification
God desires all His children to willingly say, Thy will, not mine be done, as did the Lord Jesus.
But God will never violate our volition should we choose to refuse. Everyone whom God in His omniscience knew would choose to believe in Jesus Christ for their justification are predestined to be glorified at His glorious return..
But while we have the choice – let us walk in spirit and truth and allow the Holy Spirit to do the good, sanctifying work of conforming us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.Matthew 28:19
And as Christ’s forerunner, John pointed Israel to their Messiah – Jesus Christ, He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Spirit and Baptism
The two other baptisms John spoke of were connected with the Lord Jesus – Spirit and fire.
Church Age Baptism
As church-age believers, we are baptised by the Spirit into Christ the moment we believe that Jesus is our Saviour and that He died for our sin and rose the third day. We are to grow in grace and become true followers – true disciples of the Lord and water baptism is a beautiful outward demonstration of a beautiful internal change.
Scripture Truth
Disciples of Jesus are called to make an outward profession of water baptism.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.Acts 16:31
God in His mercy, sought to manifest Himself fully in the last days, through Christ, God in His grace towards us, opened our understanding of Himself, through Jesus.
In Christ Jesus
All God‘s works were performed through the Word – the Word Who became flesh. All God’s blessings and healings – flow through faith in the Man, Christ Jesus, for in Him all things were made and by Him, all things hold together.
Knowing Jesus
What an astonishing few years the twelve disciples had as they walked with Jesus. They thought they knew their Lord as they walked with Him and listened to Him..
Faith in Jesus
For 3½ years the very revelation of God walked this earth, but He was not accepted. He came unto His own creation and His own people did not receive Him, but as many as did receive Him to them He gave the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
must be translated into faith in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Offended in Christ
It was not their unbelief in God. It was not their unbelief in the coming expected Messiah. They believed in God and they believed in the expected Messiah, but they were offended in Him – in Jesus – in God’s revelation of Himself.
God Incarnate
What an astonishing few years the twelve disciples had as they walked with Jesus.
In The Faith
Do you trust in the Lord, Christ Jesus, and in Him alone?
“According to your faith (in the One Revelation of God Himself) be it unto you.” “According to your faith (in the Lord Jesus Christ) let it be to you.” “Be of good cheer, your faith (in the Son of Man) has made you well.” “Go your way; your faith (in the Son of God) has made you whole.” “Great is thy faith (in Me).
Tough Lessons
But Saul of Tarsus met Jesus and had to be taught some of life’s toughest lessons. He learned that his own wisdom; knowledge; charisma and ability counted as nothing. He learned about faith: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1Cor.2:5.
He slowly grasped that his dear, sweet, precious Jesus was beyond conception, and Paul launched into eternity with the deepest desire of his heart expressed - That I may know Him.
Paul… a man fully submitted in total brokenness to his Christ – Paul a bond-slave of Jesus.
God has an eternal purpose in all of life’s trials and troubles – an unbroken, uninterrupted, unparalleled purpose from eternity to eternity - that in the ages to come God might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
God and Man
Eternal God became incarnate Man, and the Man Christ Jesus has two comings.
No condemnation now I dread;Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;Alive in Him, my living Head,And clothed in righteousness divine,Bold I approach th’eternal throne,And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
that each arrives at his own deeper understanding of Paul’s exhortation:- that through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus – so that the Life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” 2Cor.4:10
Author and Finisher
Let us in this life accept His child-training – His chastening – our sufferings: looking unto Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the suffering of the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb.12:2. Yes, Jesus..
He knows that conformity into the image of the Lord Jesus is all we need, for in Him is all peace and patience; in Him is gentleness, humility, and grace.
And He will in His kindness and favour place the future into blessed perspective – as you press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God – in Christ Jesus.
His Light
But if our eyes are on Him, our vision is unimpaired and we walk in His Light: and if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1John 1:7
They are unmistakably linked to the any-day return of our Lord Jesus for His own.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.Acts 16:31
But the criteria for entrance into the gates of glory will never rest on my own merit. There is one reason and one alone that God flings wide the gates to His kingdom.. and that is trusting in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. This is eternal life – that they know God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. Heaven’s admissions policy is to know God and His only begotten Son – our Saviour.
Only Way
It all centres around believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, for apart from Calvary there is no forgiveness of sin – no salvation – no heaven. Man’s assumption is inevitably that I must win my way to heaven by my good deeds. God’s criteria is believe on the finished work of Christ crucified – and nothing else. The one point men seem to forget is that we are all sinners and estranged from God. Sin is the one thing that separates man from God.
God’s Way
But God has set out the one and only and exclusive way to be united with Him:- believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you will be saved.
BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and your sins are forgiven. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are not condemned. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are given eternal life. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are put in union with the Lord Jesus. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are forever in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are no longer separated from the Father.
God’s Word
There is nothing that I can do to save myself – all I can do is believe on the Lord Jesus. There is no other way to reach God except through the death of Jesus Christ our Lord. It was D.
Jesus took our place and the punishment we deserved was poured out upon Him.
This understanding grows into wonderment... that Jesus became my substitute.
He explains how Jesus us the Federal Head of an entirely new creation – in Christ – for the old fallen creation in Adam have the sentence of death upon their heads, but the new creation in Christ has the free gift of eternal life in their hearts.
Faith is needed for a life that is being conformed into the image of Jesus, for maturing and sanctification is by the power of the Holy Spirit..
New Testament Faith
Paul, that great apostle to the church, reminds us to live by faith and not by sight, demonstrating that in this church age our badge must be faith – faith working through love: for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Jesus said: as the Father has loved Me, so I love you.
Should we not believe what the Lord Jesus clearly tells us in and through His Word?
while Paul reminds us Christ is the power of God, and the WISDOM of God – Christ Jesus, Who of God became to us WISDOM and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 1Corinthians 1:24,30
Genesis of Wisdom
For as Paul tells us:- the wisdom of God is Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus displayed God’s righteous ways and God’s moral actions.
Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea.. behold, there came WISE MEN from the east to Jerusalem.Matthew 2:1
Miracle of Life
The birth of a child is a wonderful, mysterious event, a miracle of human life. The birth of Jesus was the most wonderful birth that occurred in this world. His birth was accompanied by so many remarkable and astonishing events.
How Jesus, creator of the universe loves us – is mind-blowing. How we are accepted in the Beloved shatters the imagination – but it is true, for His Word says it – and His Word is truth.
Discovering Jesus
He indwells us when we come to Him and we are born again.
The Magi travelled hundreds of difficult and perilous miles to discover Jesus. We ought to reckon no toil or sacrifice too great for the excellency of knowing Him.
You can keep Him hidden; you can bury him in the safety of your current understanding – or you can gaze at Him through the spiritual eyes of heart, counting all things loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Words of Christ
We read of the Lord Jesus that His speech and language was so very gracious. His words were filled with truth but they were also caring, kind and full of grace.
The Lord Jesus spoke the truth in love when He challenged the woman at the well. He spoke the truth in love to the man born blind – to Nicodemus – to Simon Peter.
Mature Body
Jesus only said those things that He heard the Father say and we should be the same.
n the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk and he leapt.
All this can be if we will go the way of this man, and say, es, this has gone on long enough and it has to end, and to end, so far as my giving diligence is concerned, at once, and I do most truly by the grace of God take a deliberate and definite faith attitude toward the Lord Jesus for my complete deliverance and the setting of me upon my feet for His glory, for His praise!I think there will be an issue, and I think it will be e, leaping up, stood upon his feet, praising and glorifying God.May it be so with every one of us.
witness to the Light – witness to Grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus, the light of the world, and John testified of Him. John was sent to witness of Christ – the light to men, Who was full of grace and truth.
Christ’s Witness
John, whose name means: God is gracious, bore witness of Jesus: God is salvation. John was to point to the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world. John was a witness to the grace of God – that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. John was sent as a moon to reflect the Son – the only true Light of the world.
Sacrifice for Sin
Though acknowledged by the Lord Jesus as the greatest of all men born of women. John was the one who testified that he must decrease – but Christ must increase. John was not the Light, but he witnessed about the true and only Light of God. John did not bring Grace, but he was to testify of the One Who was full of Grace. John could not forgive sins, but pointed to the Messiah, the only Sacrifice for sin.
The beloved disciple wrote his gospel of John so that we may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing – may have life in His name.
This message to the ‘circumcision’ was to testify to the fulfilment of God’s promises – the King had arrived: the kingdom was near… repent and believe on Christ Jesus.
to bear witness about Jesus – the Word of God made flesh; the Messiah and King of Israel; the Saviour of ALL the world – the Light that illuminates every man that comes into the world… so that all might believe – through Him.
to bear witness about Jesus:- the Son of – God; the Messiah of Israel; the Light of the world, Who was full of grace and truth, that ALL might believe – through Him.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with the Messiah Jesus.Romans 8:1
He that believes on Him (Jesus) is NOT condemned.
Again in Romans Chapter 8 we read about condemnation, and this time Paul is addressing believers: therefore there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus… and some translations add: who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
Access or Estrangement
The immovable barrier between God and man was demolished by the Man, Christ Jesus.
The veil of the temple, separating man from God, was torn asunder by the Lord Jesus.
Every offering made to God was pointing to the ultimate sacrifice – the Lord Jesus.
Historical Point
But Jesus told the woman at the well: an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
But ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11).
Paul testified, I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12).
So, while the believer's realized sanctification appears painfully meagre, at most a thin line of light, like the crescent of the new moon, yet he sees it ever complemented by the clear outlines of that rounded wholeness which is his in the Lord Jesus, and into which he is to be daily waxing till he grows to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ' (Eph. 4:13) -A.J.G.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 5:23).
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.Matthew 4:1
However, God permits the tempter’s trial to beat us sorely as He did with the Lord Jesus: Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted – of the devil.
Our High Priest
The trials Jesus faced were needful to demonstrate the qualities of the last Adam.
Being made perfect, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.
Our Intercessor
Sometimes the temptations Jesus faced came through His earthly relatives.
Sometimes His temptation came through direct taunts and attacks from the tempter. Sometimes His trials came via a subtle suggestion from His family or a dearly loved friend. Throughout His life, Jesus was enticed to leave His path of total dependence on the Father..
Satan’s Trials
We too often receive the same set of trials and tests that Jesus Himself faced. We also face trying and testing days as we watch our familiar world crashing.
But the Lord who prayed for Peter continues to pray for all His disciples – for Christ Jesus, Who died–and Who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Romans 8:38,39
All To Do With Him
God’s faithfulness to you has nothing whatsoever to do with you, but it has everything – absolutely everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is nothing so good or worthy that can gain an unbeliever His acceptance – except believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It never has and it never will depend on man – it all depends on Him.
Jesus reminds us, ‘without Me you can do nothing’. And Paul questions, ‘who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ?’
Whenever we see the lovely Lord Jesus, He’s imparting blessings to the needy.
“This Blessed Hope” is in a Person – the One upon Whom all hope rests… “…the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour – Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13 “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when He comes.” Luke 24:43 “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” Rev.19:9 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” Rev 22:14
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.
Sanctification Scriptures
In 1 Peter 1:16 we read Be holy, for I am holy, and in John.17:17,19 Jesus prays: Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
And in 1Thessalonians 5:23, Paul prays: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We were justified in Jesus the moment we believed and trusted Him as Saviour and Lord.
Little by little as we are being conformed into the image of Jesus.
Sanctification Prayer
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But it is the love of the Lord Jesus that would lead us on, through the judgment of ourselves and ways, into deeper communion with Himself to be better representatives of Him here in whose likeness we shall soon appear.
The latter is not easily learned; the former is the fruit of light; the latter is never acquired but as there is practical grace and love - the activity of the Lord Jesus' nature in me by the Spirit. -J.B.S.
Paul was an example of a mature man of God who was prepared to consider the privileges of this world as insignificant and inconsequential, by comparison with the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord.
But his urgent message to the Christians in Philippi, was to press on to the end for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us, therefore, keep living by that same standard to which we have attained, and press on to the finishing line, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus - for His name's sake and for His greater glory.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the exact image of the invisible God Who existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.
And in His humanity, Jesus knew what was in men's hearts: And did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all men.
Although Jesus chose to live, and work, and say, and do only those things that He heard from the Father, He was still omniscient and knew the content of men's hearts.
Jesus knew what men were thinking and He would not commit Himself to any of them.
They saw the many signs and miracles that Jesus did, and most followed Him for the wrong reason.
Jesus knew whether their professed faith was from a genuine heart of real repentance towards God and a desire to live godly, or if it was simply a counterfeit faith that was following after Him for selfish motives.
Nor should we ever never forget that it is only by grace through faith in Christ that we are given a new opportunity; a new life; a new nature that reflects the perfect character of the Lord Jesus in His humanity, as we grow in grace and mature in the faith.
Once a man or woman has trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour, he embarks on a race through life to the finishing post.
Once a person has been born again, they are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once we are justified and placed in the family of God, we are called by our Father to sanctification, which is a lifelong process in which we press on towards the goal of our heavenly calling so that we may gain the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
But the call of God for all His children is a life that is being conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus; a life that is seeking to live godly in Christ Jesus, until it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me: And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Let us run the race that is set before us and press on towards the goal of the upward call of God, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Though we were dead in our sins, at enmity with God and eternally separated from Him, in His grace and love He stooped down in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and rescued us from slavery to sin and the eternal death sentence under which we were all placed.
When we sit quietly and consider these words and the awesome and weighty meaning behind them, all we can do is fall at the feet of our Saviour and worship Him: To the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.
They are cravings of our heart and passions of the flesh, which cause an internal battle within and prevent the Spirit from continuing His work in our lives of conforming us into the image and likeness of Jesus.Like Peter, we have seen the glory of Christ and are part of God's chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.
We are reminded by the Lord Jesus that in this world we will suffer trials and pain, but we also know that those who fellowship in His suffering will receive a wonderful, heavenly reward.
Paul encourages us to be patient in affliction and to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, while James instructs us to consider the trials and suffering we go through as a great joy, knowing the testing of our faith produces endurance, which brings our hope and trust in the Lord to its completion.
He met the biblical requirement for apostleship (being an eyewitness of Christ), as he met with the resurrected Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus.
Paul's authority came directly from God, not through men, which is why he so often referred to himself as Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, called and chosen by the will of God, as he did in his introductory remark in Ephesians: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus.
His words were not designed to exalt his person, position, or status, for his collective writings emphasise that our great salvation is only because of the amazing grace of God and His unfathomable mercy that saved us through faith in the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In some of his writings, Paul had to stress his divinely appointed calling and apostleship because there were those that challenged his authority, but the Ephesian Christians were spiritual men and women whom Paul identified as: Faithful in Christ Jesus.
How privileged we are to have such ready access to the writings and instructions of Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.
His earnest desire was that they continue to obey the Lord Jesus, in thought, word, and deed, and be sprinkled with His cleansing blood.
Peter would never forget the love that Jesus showed to him, when he denied his Saviour three times, and no doubt the heart-desire of this aging apostle was to obey His command to feed the sheep of Christ's pasture that were in his care, and to nourish the little lambs in His flock.
He urged them to fix their hope completely on the grace they received when they first heard, believe the glorious gospel of grace, and understand their salvation was through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
We are blessed beyond compare because, in obedience to God's Word, we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was full of faith and power, and Stephen performed great wonders and miracles among the people, causing many to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The assembled company had plotted to kill Jesus, just as they slaughtered prophets of God before Him because He did not line up with their ill-conceived notion of the coming Saviour.
Just as they rejected Moses, they rejected Jesus and handed Him over to the Gentiles to be crucified.
But Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.
There are many passages in both the Old and New Testaments that describe Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father, but here we see Him STANDING at the right hand of the Father.
In the Psalms, the Gospels, and the book of Hebrews, Jesus is always pictured SITTING at the right hand of God until He returns to earth to complete His mission: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
And yet as Stephen was being martyred, Jesus stood up - and Stephen said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
There are those that wonder if Jesus was standing in support of Stephen or standing in opposition to those who were stoning him.
Some suggest that this gesture was to welcome the first Christian Martyr into God's presence, while others think Jesus, our heavenly Mediator, was pleading Stephen's case before the Father or fulfilling His promise to confess Stephen before His Father in fulfilment of Matthew 10: Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father Who is in heaven.
Is it possible that Jesus stood up at this point because He was prepared to return to earth to make His enemies His footstool; to bring in everlasting righteousness; to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.
Is it possible that Jesus might have been ready to return and consummate all things... but that Stephen prayed - and his prayer caused the Lord to withhold His wrath for a season - to postpone Christ's return for a further two thousand years as the grace of God began to flood the Gentile world?
We are to stop being bottle-fed with the simple justification truths of Scripture and are to start to wrestle with the tougher aspects of our Christian faith, where we learn obedience by the things that we suffer, through a process of ongoing sanctification - where we are being conformed into the likeness of Jesus, Himself.
Even though God's plan for the redemption of humanity started in eternity past, and was gradually unfolded to us through Old Testament Scriptures, the rulers of this age did not know the full implications of the Cross and the devastating effect it would have on the realm of darkness. It was His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection by which Jesus defeated sin, Satan, death, and hell forever, and put to flight the rulers of this age.
Instead, we discover him encouraging these believers (and us) to seek after the wisdom of God and the ways of the Lord, for in so doing we will grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The sudden shock of hearing that Jesus was leaving to go back to the Father, must have been desperately disturbing for the disciples, but Jesus quickly started to explain that although they could not go with Him at that time, their physical separation from Him would only be temporary.
Jesus was going to prepare a heavenly abode for each one of them, and unless He went away, the many benefits that were planned for believers and the glorious mysteries surrounding the Church which would be later revealed through the apostle Paul, would not be able to be realised.
And in this chapter, Jesus begins to explain to His disciples some of the things which would happen between the time of the Cross and the coming kingdom; between Calvary and the Millennial rule of Christ; between the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His triumphant return as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Although the disciples must have been bewildered by the suddenness of this disclosure, Jesus assured them He would be with them in spirit and in truth, and He also promised to send another Helper to guard and guide his children, a Teacher to guide them into all truth, a Counsellor to be with them in times of difficulty and danger, a Comforter to comfort them in their sorrows, a Helper to help in times of trouble.
Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirt of truth Who was already with them but would one day dwell in all who believe.
Though they did not understand all that He told them until later, Jesus gave them further reassurance by telling them that because He lived, they also would live.
At the time, they did not understand that within hours, Jesus would be nailed to the Cross to die the death that we all deserve.
When Jesus rose from the dead, He broke the power of sin and death in the life of all who would one day place their trust in Him.
But Paul knew that no matter what life threw in his direction: All things work together for good for those that love the Lord Jesus and are called according to His good purpose.
God never changes, and He has promised: When you pass through the waters, I will be with You. Fear may blind our eyes to the precious promises of God and cause faith to falter, but we are called to look to Jesus in every difficult, dangerous, or distressing circumstance of life, for fear and faith are incompatible bed-fellows.
The revelation of the mystery hidden from long ages past, which was made known through the prophetic writings and which has now been revealed, is Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, the Redeemer of mankind, the hope of glory.
And Paul was the chosen vessel to unfold the mystery of God's will to all who would believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour.
But for now, having had the mystery revealed to us in the beautiful face of Christ, let us say with Paul: To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever.
No one but Jesus used the words verily, verily I say unto you, for these were words that carried authority, a greater authority than any earthly jurisdiction – a sovereign command that was directly from God.
Jesus wanted to get across the eternal truth that He was the door of the sheepfold; the only Good Shepherd; the one Way to God; the revealed Truth of God and everlasting Life that only comes from God – for He is God in the flesh.
Jesus had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and explained in detail that He was the Good Shepherd Who alone could save His people.
But despite the clarity of His teaching and the beautiful word-pictures He painted for them, His disciples did not understand what Jesus had been saying to them and so He repeated the truth to His disciples: Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
The literal truth of fallen man and what he is and what he needs is similarly written in the holy Scriptures, all of which point to man's need of a Saviour, and all of which point to Jesus as that Saviour.
We are the sheep and Jesus is the door of the sheep-pen, which leads to life eternal.
And Jesus is the Good Shepherd of the sheep Who leads and guides, protects and feeds the sheep that belong to Him.
He longed to go and be with Jesus, Whom he loved so dearly.
The longer he lived in this mortal coil, the greater would be his opportunities to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified, buried, risen, ascended, and seated on the right hand of the Majesty of High.
Although he used different words, Paul said in this verse - THY will, Lord Jesus, not my will be done - for Your sake and for the sake of those for whom You died.
John testified, concerning Jesus, and declared to those who questioned him, He is the One Who is coming after me.
They were to repent of Israel's idolatry and believe in their heart on the One Who would come after him - the Lord Jesus Christ - the Holy One of Israel.
Those who refused his baptism of REPENTANCE, and would not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, would one day have to undergo God's terrible baptism of FIRE.
Jesus taught His disciples about this same, spiritual baptism, the night He was betrayed. He told them, The Holy Spirit resides WITH you and He will be IN you.
In Acts chapter 1, only 10 days before the Day of Pentecost, Jesus reminded them of this truth.
The Mighty One about Whom John spoke, began to baptise those who turned from their sin and believed on the Lord Jesus, on that unique, Day of Pentecost.
The Baptism of Fire is yet to take place in the lives of those who do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus was the Son of the Highest Who was sent from heaven, by God.
Jesus came to save the souls of lost men and women, but the people were more interested in seeing Him perform mighty signs, wonders, and healing miracles.
They were more interested in Jesus feeding their bodies with bread and fish than having their souls nourished with the spiritual food from above.
The peoples' fascination with Jesus caused the Jewish leaders great consternation.
Jesus did not fit into their paradigm or their plans and so they needed to smear His image, ruin His reputation, and expose Him as a Messianic imposter.
The proud Pharisees and the sanctimonious scribes asked why Christ's disciples violated their tradition by eating bread with ritually unclean hands, but Jesus knew their nefarious plan.
You disregard the command of God, but keep the tradition of men.' Yes, Jesus accused these religious leaders of totally invalidating God’s command in order to maintain their unscriptural, man-made traditions.
There were many such traditions that these pious people valued above God's Law, but their teachings were leading the people astray and Jesus summoned the crowd to Himself to explain that nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him, just as religious ritual and Jewish traditions can never cleanse the sin-stained heart of fallen man.
The heart of man is evil continuously and can only be cleansed from above - by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus went on to explain that a man's heart is defiled by what comes out through his thoughts, motives, words, and imaginations, Sin is conceived in the human heart, it takes root in the human mind, and is finally put into practice through human action: For from within the human heart come evil thoughts, which are translated into sexual immoralities; thefts; murders; adulteries; greed; evil actions; deceit; promiscuity; stinginess; blasphemy; pride, and foolishness.
Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus honoured His Father by doing only those things He heard from Him.
And Jesus refused to participate in the unscriptural traditions of the elders which laid heavy burdens on the people and violated God's holy Law.
We too are to walk the walk that Jesus walked - in spirit and in truth.
And we discover they were cousins.John was the charismatic forerunner of the Lord Jesus, and he powerfully proclaimed the arrival of Israel's Messiah-King.
He identified Jesus as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, and he warned that the kingdom of heaven is near and that Israel must repent of their sin and return to the God of their fathers.
The combined hatred of the religious court, which was overseen by Caiaphas the high priest of Israel, pronounced Christ guilty of blasphemy, and yet the One that stood before them was Jesus of Nazareth, the promised king of the Jews, the prophesied Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of the world, and Lamb of God.
By taking the punishment for the sin of the world upon His own head, the perfect, innocent, and unique Man Christ Jesus the Lord, stood before this Roman governor, clothed in a mocking robe of purple with a cruel crown of thorns lacerating His holy head.
Jesus died, was buried, rose from the dead, and is today seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
The day of Pentecost was the beautiful birthday of the Church when the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus had promised to send only a short time earlier,, was poured out on all the believers who had faithfully gathered: All-together in one place, as instructed by the Lord Jesus.
He not only witnessed to the fulfilment of many Old Testament prophecies that pointed to the Lord Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, but explained that Jesus of Nazareth Whom they had crucified, was both Lord and Christ, and indeed: King of the Jews.
Both Psalm 16 and 132, were used in Peter's Spirit-filled monologue to authenticate Jesus' claim to be Israel's King and the Messiah of God, and David (both king and prophet of Israel), prophesied that one of his descendants would be raised up to sit on his own throne which Peter pointed out spoke of Christ's glorious Resurrection from the dead, for David was assured that God would not leave the body of this promised descendent in the grave to decay into dust, nor would He allow His flesh to see corruption.
The truth of the gospel that Peter taught on that day, caused over 3000 men of Israel to repent of their sins and to be born again into the newly formed Body of Christ. But Peter was to astonish these fledgling believers, and those that were listening to his teaching even more, by announcing that this same Jesus was not only resurrected from the dead as David foretold, but He had ascended into heaven in power and great glory and been exalted by God to sit at His right hand where He is now seated on God's heavenly throne.
And Peter further explained that having been raised up to this exalted heavenly position by the most high God, the Lord Jesus also received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit which had just been poured out on all the believers who were: All-together in one place, as promised by the Lord Jesus, only a short time earlier.
And one day, Jesus will return to fulfil the promise given to David; that a descendent will be raised up to sit on his throne forever.
But until that time, the Lord Jesus remains seated in heavenly glory at the right hand of the Father, until God makes His enemies His footstool.
BUT praise be to God that there is one Mediator for all men and all women; the Man, Christ Jesus, indivisible and eternal, the incarnate God Who became the sacrifice to pay the price for all men and all women who would believe on His name.
But the plain Word of God still shines as a light in a dark world, proclaiming the eternal truth that there is one God and one Mediator between God and man - the Man, Christ Jesus.
God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, became fully human, for God alone was good enough to pay the awful price for sin.
It was on Calvary's Cross, that the full force God's wrath was poured out on the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God and sinless Son of Man Whose lifeblood was shed to pay for the price of my sin, your sin, and the sin of the world.
He wanted to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of life.
He longed that those who were dead in their trespasses and sins would be attracted to Jesus, and find their great salvation in His Person and work.
He prayed that he would be emboldened to preach the gospel of God, according to the might of His great power, and Paul longed that the Lord Jesus would be glorified in his body - in thought, word, and deed, whether by the life he lived or the death that he died.
Paul was a man who knew that nothing in heaven or earth could separate him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
Remaining in Christ or abiding in Him, was a theme that the Lord Jesus introduced to His disciples just before His death and Resurrection, and it is a subject that is picked up by Paul and is evident within each of his letters.
Christ is fully God and fully Man, uniting holy deity with perfect humanity; and fruitfulness in the life of a believer results from the very life of the Son being reproduced within the life of the Christian.Throughout His earthly life, Jesus did not rely on His attributes of deity nor His human abilities to live His life, but He set an example of how every born-again child of God must live if his life is to be fruitful and glorify the Father.
Just as Jesus rested in His Father so we are to rest in Him - to abide in Him - and He in us.
The abiding about which Jesus speaks is not a one-sided relationship.
The Lord Jesus shared the glorious picture of mutual abiding as the time for His crucifixion drew ever closer.
His disciples had heard that Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that He was going away to prepare a place for them in His Father's house.
He gave them a glimpse into the future where the Holy Spirit of Christ would be with them and dwell in them and that the fruit they produced would be from HIM and glorify HIM - just as the fruit that Jesus produced was from His Father and glorified His Father in heaven.
When we are able to submit to Christ, as He commanded, then we will produce the fruit of righteousness that gives glory to our Father in heaven through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Timothy was sent to find out how the believers there were getting along, to establish them in the faith, and give them spiritual support and godly encouragement.Paul rejoiced when Timothy returned with the joyful tidings that they were being established in the faith and well-grounded in the Word, despite the many difficulties and distresses they were facing: May the Lord cause you to increase in your faith and abound in your love for one another and for all people, was Paul's heartfelt prayer for them all, just as we also do for you.Paul continued in prayers and loving intercessions for the saints at Thessalonica, beseeching God the Father Himself and Jesus our Lord to direct and govern their ways.May we be like Paul, and remember to lift up our fellow Christian brothers and sisters in continuous and loving prayer and heartfelt intercessions.
Let us pray that their hearts would be also established in the Lord and blameless before Him and that they would walk in holiness before our God and Father, encouraging one another as they look for the any-day appearance of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
As the day for Christ's betrayal and crucifixion drew ever closer, the various schools of Judaism conspired to indict the Lord Jesus under a civil or religious statute.
They plotted together to make a prolonged attack on the Lord Jesus Christ, in an attempt to condemn Him to death, under Jewish or Roman law.
And so, one day, they tried to trick Jesus with an ill-considered argument about a hypothetical woman who married seven brothers, successively - each marriage following the death of the former brother.
Their aim was to make a mockery of the doctrine of the resurrection and to cause Jesus to appear foolish and uneducated.
And he asked Jesus the long-debated question: Of all the commandments, which command is the most important?
Whether he was collaborating with Christ's critics, or desiring to receive an honest answer to this all-important question is unclear, but it gave the Lord Jesus a beautiful opportunity to reiterate the most important commandment that God had given to Israel, through Moses - a command which had been ignored and violated by these pious, legalistic, religious leaders - who had not only ignored God's message of repentance, but had also rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom He had sent.
The question that this earnest, young scribe asked the Lord Jesus, is a question that should be on the heart of all who have a reverential fear of God and a desire to do His will: For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.
May we read, mark, learn, and understand from all sections of Scripture, how to live godly lives in Christ Jesus.
May we learn from the failures of past mistakes so that we may progress from one stage of glory to the next, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.
The book of Ezra along with all Scripture, demonstrates that God's plans and purposes for the redemption of the world, through our Lord Jesus Christ, can never be thwarted and that He will use whosoever He chooses to fulfil all He wills.
And in a brief word to His captors, Jesus encapsulated all the majesty, dominion, glory, and power of almighty God, when He proclaimed, I AM in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus knew all that was about to take place and asked who they were looking for.
They answered Him, Jesus the Nazarene.
And Jesus boldly declared, I am He or, I AM.
The Roman soldiers and Temple guards had come to arrest Jesus, with swords and staves and horses, and our Lord identified Himself as the Person for whom they were seeking, but He did so by using the very name of God.
Jesus identified Himself to this company of soldiers and Temple guards with the words spoken to Moses at the burning bush - I AM.
Jesus spoke the name the Lord God Almighty used, with authority.
No surprise that as soon as Jesus said to them, I AM, that they all went backward, and fell to the ground.
Jesus of Nazareth is the everlasting God Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He is all that we will ever need - for He is our Kinsman-Redeemer, Who gave His life as a ransom for many, so that all who trust in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
Let us never forget Who the Lord Jesus Christ truly is.
God chose to use the sacrificial system He gave to Israel as a daily reminder that we are all fallen creatures who need to acknowledge our sin and confess Jesus as our Saviour.
The Lord Jesus Christ came as the fulfilment of every precious animal sacrifice that was slain on the altar of the Lord.
Every animal sacrifice was another reminder that we are sinful creatures and every drop of blood that was shed, was a picture of the Lord Jesus Himself, Who would come to earth, at God's appointed time, to be the full and final sacrifice for the sin of the world - so that ALL who believe on Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
The sacrificial offering of Christ was so different by comparison with those earlier animal sacrifices, but they acted as a shadow - a shadow that was cast on the pages of history that became a heavenly reality when Jesus Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice for sin.
No surprise that the writer to the Hebrews emphasises the value of Christ's sacrifice and the glory of the Lord Jesus: WHO... having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.
The Lord Jesus is not only a prophet like Moses and the King from David's royal line, He is also the heavenly High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
But as soon as Christ Jesus had offered Himself as the full and final sacrifice for sins, He sat down on God's right hand.
As we recognise the truth that Christ's sacrifice was made once for all and forever... and that by faith in Him our sins are not simply covered but fully forgiven, we can rejoice with exceeding great joy that the Mosaic Law, the Feasts of the Lord, the various priestly ceremonies and bloody sacrificial offerings of the Old Covenant, were true shadows of the glorious reality that was manifest in Christ Jesus Who has saved us from our sin and seated us together with Him in heavenly places.
And here, as Jesus nears the end of His time on earth, this theme of illumination is reiterated: I have come as Light into the world so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all, and Jesus was sent by the Father to give light the Gentiles and to enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Jesus did not simply point us toward the light, but identified Himself as the true, heavenly Light.
Jesus used the illustration of light in much of His earthly teaching, and the apostle John and other New Testament authors frequently referred to Christ as 'the Light Who came into the world' and we rejoice to know that darkness can never overcome Him.A thick darkness has enveloped this fallen world system due to man's sin, and the eyes of every soul born into this sinful race, is shrouded in a deep blackness that can only be removed by the true Light of God Who came into the world in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.
Without Christ, the deep darkness of man's inner soul remains blinded to the truth of the glorious gospel of grace, which points to Jesus as the true Light Who alone lights the hearts and minds of all who believe on Him.Two thousand years ago, heavenly Light shone out of the darkness and by God's grace, the beauty of His Light and Life has shone into our hearts and given us the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.
While He was in the world the Lord Jesus remained the Light of the world, but those who have been born from above have been instructed to walk in the light as He is in the light, and have been given the responsibility to be salt and light in a fallen world by pointing the way to Christ.God's Word of truth continues to unfold Christ's Light into our hearts and into the lives of those who have trusted His sacrificial work on the Cross and glorious Resurrection.
I think this must be one of the most grievous things that the Lord Jesus had to go through in His ministry, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And for three years, the Lord Jesus proclaimed that He was their promised Messiah and that the promised time of restoration had arrived.
Jesus was the Word made flesh Who came to pay the price for the sin of the whole world, and He authenticated His mission and ministry through His many prophesied signs and wonders so that all would know that He was the Christ of God and Saviour of the whole world.
Paul then goes on to explain that in Christ we are dead to sin and released from the bondage of the Law, alive in Christ, and set free by the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus so that we may live our lives to His praise and glory.
Paul traces the great plan of redemption from the first man-Adam to the last Adam-Jesus; from the old creation in the flesh to the new creation in the spirit; from the old sin nature to the new life in Christ; from the curse of the Law to the freedom of grace, and points out that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone and not by personal merit or through works of the flesh.
The Lord Jesus knows: The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and that an attitude of materialistic, money-orientated consumerism will degenerate into greed, covetousness, double-mindedness, and a divided heart, for we cannot serve mammon and God at the same time.
It is the misguided love of money that is rooted in all sorts of evil attitudes and ungodly actions, and so we are instructed by the Lord Jesus Himself not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
All who have trusted in the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus as Saviour, and His glorious Resurrection from the dead, have this special relationship with our Lord, for the Church has been chosen to be His Bride.
For the time being, we are separated from our heavenly Bridegroom, but a day has been appointed when: The Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and we shall hear the voice of our Beloved saying: Arise my love, my beautiful one, and come away - come up here.
What a beautiful love story we discover in the Song of Solomon, and what reassurance it gives us to know that despite His long delay, the time is coming when we shall be with Christ Jesus forever.
And yet, for the love of you and the love of me, Jesus stepped out of eternity in order to be born as a baby and to die on the Cross as the Saviour of mankind.
The Lord Jesus Christ achieved this on Calvary's cross when He became our sin-substitute.
Jesus, the sinless Son of Man was the one and only offering, acceptable to God, in payment for the sin of the world - the Innocent for the guilty.
It was out of intense love for His Father and a deep love for the Church, the Lord Jesus gave Himself freely; willingly; voluntarily and joyfully, to be our Kinsman-Redeemer.
Jesus gave His life cheerfully - for the JOY that was set before Him.
Should we not willingly submit to all that God is using to carry out His sanctifying process in our lives, so that like the Lord Jesus we too will become a sweet fragrance to our heavenly Father.
Moses is lifted up in the book of Hebrews as a prime example of faithfulness, for we read: Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, and the Lord used Moses as a testimony of those things which were to be spoken of later.Just as the Law is a schoolmaster which steadfastly points us to Christ and His New and better Covenant, so Moses was a faithful servant whom God used as a trusted sign-post to point us to the coming Messiah, for he testified of those things which were to be spoken about later - the revelation that was to come through Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man.Moses bore witness of the good news of man's redemption which would come through a greater Prophet than he, a greater Priest than Aaron, and a greater king than David.
The inferior Aaronic priesthood and the glory that Moses received, stands in stark contrast with Christ's superior Priesthood after the royal order of Melchizedek, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is acknowledged to be vastly superior to that of Moses, the great prophet and leader of Israel.Moses was commended as a faithful servant in all God's house, and he faithfully built the Tabernacle of the Lord after the heavenly pattern, but the One that was to come was the Son of the most High God, Who was Himself the Builder of the eternal House of which Moses was caretaker.The earthly tabernacle was simply a shadow of the heavenly Temple and universal kingdom to come, which Christ Himself would build.
Moses was a faithful servant who was obedient to his earthly calling to Israel, while the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son: He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.The work that was carried out by Moses, the servant of God, was simply a dim representation of Christ, the eternal Creator Who is seated in heavenly places and Who is functioning as Son over God's whole House.In every respect, the status and position of Christ is far superior to Moses, who simply testified of the Saviour Who was to come.
While Moses took care of God's physical 'house' in the wilderness, the Lord Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of all.
May the lives we live be a testimony of the riches of God’s grace towards us, and may we reflect the beauty of Jesus in the words that we say and the things that we do.
Replacement theology is one of many Satanic deceptions that seeks to rid the world of the people of Israel, for God has decreed that ONLY when Israel cries in unison: Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord, at the end of the coming seven-year Tribulation, that the Lord Jesus will return to set up His promised kingdom, and every eye will see His return.
And the privileges that the Church has received, is to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy so that they too will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Who is salvation to Jew and Gentile alike.
God's plan to set up Christ on the throne of His Father David still stands, for salvation comes through Jesus, the promised SEED of the woman, the promised SEED of Abraham, the promised SEED of David.
And despite Israel's rejection of their Messiah and the crucifixion of Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth and King of the Jews, God is faithful to His promises and will not set aside the people He chose to be the nation through Whom the Saviour of the world would be born; the nation to Whom the Scriptures were given.
Whether the brothers and sisters to whom he was writing were new into the faith or well-weathered, seasoned saints, they were often referred to as 'little children', for all had been sinners saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, all had their sins forgiven through His shed blood, and all had been given eternal life as God's free gift of grace.
And this is equally true of the Church today, for when Christians set their thoughts of their hearts of Christ Jesus, they are flooded with an inner peace, an inexplicable peace, a perfect peace that only comes from above.
Yes, indeed, God gives the one who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour peace with God and He will keep the believer in Christ Jesus covered in His own perfect peace, by giving us the peace of God which transcends human understanding.
Let us ensure that the thoughts of our hearts are fixed on the Lord Jesus moment by moment as we take every thought captive to Him, for God has promised to keep in perfect peace all who trust in Him and fasten the eyes of their hearts upon Him.
God has justified all that believe on the Lord Jesus, and is in the process of conforming each and every one into the image of His perfect Son.
The enemy will accuse you of sin and try to dislodge your trust in God's holy Word, but GOD is the one that has forgiven your sins forever – past, present, and future, and flung them all into the sea of His forgetfulness, simply because you trusted in the Lord Jesus.
The enemy will try to flood your mind with doubt and try to discredit the character of God, but God is faithful and true, His Word is forever sure, and all who are believers have been accepted in the Lord Jesus.
No wonder Paul encourages us to rejoice in the Lord always, for there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
God has promised to be with us in every situation of life, and all He wants from us is to trust His Word, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and hold fast to His many precious promises.
After Jesus and His disciples had partaken of the Last Supper, Judas, who had been indwelled by Satan, left the Upper Room and returned to the Jewish leaders to betray Jesus into their hands.
Jesus was not the Saviour he had expected and earlier in the day he had agreed to betray his Master into the hands of the Jews for 30 pieces of silver - the price of a slave in Old Testament times.
Knowing that his hour had come, Jesus took His followers into the Garden of Gethsemane where He agonised in prayer as the time for His sacrificial offering on the Cross drew ever nearer.
The other disciples were also confused, and although Jesus warned them to watch and to pray with Him, lest they fall into temptation, they were overcome with weariness and sorrow.
For hours Jesus agonised in prayer, knowing that the hour of His death drew ever closer: Father, He prayed, If it is Your will, take this cup away from Me.
The cup Jesus was about to drink was His crucifixion, where the full force of God's wrath would be poured upon the Son of His love.
But there was no other way to redeem fallen mankind and so Jesus also prayed, Not my will but Thine be done.
The Lord Jesus submitted Himself to His Father and willingly walked to the Cross for us - for without the shedding of His blood there would be no remission of sins for this fallen world.
In the dead of night, as Jesus finished praying, a great many people approached Him led by Judas - the betrayer.
He came to Jesus and identified Him with a kiss.
Temple officials and Roman soldiers came with swords and staves and horses to arrest Him and drag Him off to face many false trials and be accused by false witnesses, but Jesus said to them, While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me.
For over three years Jesus had been teaching and preaching openly in the Temple and across the entire nation, but they did not arrest him on those occasions because they feared the peoples' reaction.
Jesus was popular with the people because He healed the sick, taught them many things, told some good stories, and had fed them with bread and fishes - but His betrayal by one of the men that had accompanied Him throughout His ministry, emboldened the Jewish leaders to arrest Him.
Jesus did not resist arrest because He knew why He had come into the world.
But Jesus continued to speak of His accusers, with some strong and sad prophetic words: But this hour and the power of darkness are yours.
Jesus came into the world to redeem mankind.
Not only did these cowardly people come to arrest Jesus under cover of darkness, but they were acting under the evil influence of Satan and the wicked powers of darkness.
The purity and truth of the Lord Jesus is contrasted with the polluted lies of those that came to arrest Him under the cover of darkness.
He had come to understand that the gospel of God and the message of the Cross is foolishness to those that are lost, but to us who are being transformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus, it is the power of God.One of Paul's fellow-workers was a dear saint called Tychicus.
He reminded them that Jesus appeared to James and the other apostles and that He ate and drank with them.
Like Jesus, we are to be raised spirit, soul, and BODY.
If Christ had not been raised from the dead, then everything about the glorious gospel of grace, and our faith in the Lord Jesus would be false and worthless!!
Let us give thanks that He is the first-fruits of those who are asleep in Christ - for since by a man (the first Adam) came death, by a Man (Christ Jesus our Lord - the last Adam) came also the resurrection of the dead.
The marriage union is an important one, for we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, and Christian marriage should be a mirror-image of our intimate union with Christ.
And goes on to explain, It was added because of transgressions, and it was added until the Seed, (Whom Paul identified as the Lord Jesus Christ) to Whom this promise had been made, had come.
The Law is not contrary to the promise that God gave to Abraham, for the Abrahamic covenant still stands and Paul further explained how long the Law was to be implemented, from the time it was given to Moses until the Seed, Jesus Christ the righteous was sent: The Law was given to Moses until the Seed would come, to Whom the promise had been made.
Jesus died in our place to pay the incalculable price that the Law demands from each of us.
Jesus took the punishment that the Law passes on all who fail to live by it and He became a curse in place of us.
Jesus was made sin in our place and Jesus died in our stead, for the wages of sin is death.
God speaks to us through His living Word (the Lord Jesus Christ), and His written Word (the Holy Scriptures), and God has called us to hear Him because faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word of God.
The scribes and Pharisees had already failed to hear the Word of God, and accused the Lord Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan.
And the huge crowds that followed Jesus were also in danger of missing the glorious Person and Presence of God incarnate, by failing to hear the truth of Christ's Word.
And may the living Word, Jesus Christ, be the focus of our lives as we seek to live our lives to glorify Him.
The Lord Jesus not only died to pay the price FOR our sins, but He also died AS us and in the place of us.
Everyone who trusts in Jesus as Saviour is considered by God to be His spiritual seed.
While the Lord Jesus walked this earth, we were reckoned to be IN Christ so that when He died, we died IN Him: So that we might die to those sins and live righteously.
The Lord Jesus not only died FOR the sin of the whole world, but also on behalf of all believers, by His death on the Cross and separation from the Father on our behalf.
The Lord Jesus condescended to not only die for our sins but take the cruel punishment in His body.
May we never become so familiar with the story of the Cross, that we minimise in our minds just what the Lord Jesus did for us: Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
The Bible, from beginning to end, points to Jesus, and this power-packed little book which details the terrible apostasy that is going to overtake the Church in the last days, similarly points to the Lord Jesus as the one and only person who can keep any of us from stumbling so that we may be presented to Him as a pure, chase virgin at His return.There are so many dangers today of which we need to be aware – not only of yielding to temptation and falling into sin, but being able to identify and avoid the influences of false teachers and apostates that are infiltrating the Church today, where an increasing number of false doctrines and teachers are flooding Christendom with another gospel.
The book concludes with a lovely section that encourages us all to remain in the love of God, to build ourselves up in the most holy faith by means of the indwelling Spirit, and to keep our hearts and minds focussed on the Lord Jesus, watching for His any day return.We cannot keep ourselves from stumbling, but Christ can, and so we need to dig deeply into His Word.
Jesus knew the Jews were seeking to kill Him, and so He deliberately delayed His journey to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. He remained in Galilee until the last possible moment.
However, the Jew's bitter hatred for Jesus had reached boiling point, and they sought to kill Him, which was the reason He delayed His journey.
In this verse we read: Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near, and although Jesus delayed His journey to Jerusalem following the taunts of his brothers, we read that Jesus did eventually go up to the Feast of Booths, but He went quietly because His time had not yet come.
The ministry of Jesus began to widen as news of His amazing miracles and healings began to be spread abroad.
However, as time passed, hostility towards the Lord Jesus started to develop, and increasingly His message and ministry was rejected, causing Him to begin teaching His faithful followers through parables.
Faith in God and believing in Jesus Christ Whom He sent, was the important issue.
During His early ministry, there are many examples where Jesus stated that a miracle occurred because of someone's faith.
It was because of her faith in Jesus that the woman with an issue of blood was healed.
It was by faith that blind Bartimaeus received his sight, and when Jesus saw the faith of the four men bringing their sick friend to Him, He healed the paralytic man.
Perhaps the most heart-breaking rejection the Lord Jesus experienced was in Nazareth, the place where He grew up as a child.
They did not have faith in Jesus.
The second time He was rejected by the people of Nazareth, was in this passage, when Jesus interrupted His preaching itinerary to, once again, visit His hometown during His Galilean ministry.
The local people had known Jesus since childhood and had not forgotten that He was 'the son of Joseph, the carpenter'.
They recognised Who Jesus was, but instead of honouring Him as a famous Rabbi who was graciously visiting His hometown with His disciples, they reverted back to branding Him as 'the carpenter'.
This was a deliberate slur on the characters of both Jesus and His mother as it implied that He was as an illegitimate son and a charlatan.
No doubt with sadness in His soul, Jesus said to them: A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown, and among his own relatives, and in his own household.
Jesus was the Prophet Who was greater than Moses.
Jesus was the King Who was greater than David, but He was despised and rejected by those He came to save.
And so, we read that Jesus was not able to do any miracles there because of their lack of faith, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.
The trigger point for the Times of the Gentiles that coincides with Nebuchadnezzar's dream, continues to tick towards the second coming of God's Anointed - when Jesus Christ the Righteous is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords.
God told us the end from the beginning so that we would know that JESUS is that Stone that is cut without hands.
JESUS is the Rock of our salvation, and whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken before the Lord (i.e.
For three days and nights, the Lord Jesus was buried in the securely guarded tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, but on that astonishing resurrection morning, long nights of weeping turned to joy and laughter as, first the women and then various individuals and groups of disciples, were visited by the risen Lord Jesus Christ - Who revealed Himself to those He loved and to those that loved Him.
Even the apostles Peter and John had witnessed the empty tomb... but the possibility that Christ had risen from the dead was preposterous to these people - despite Jesus Himself telling them that He would be handed over to the Gentiles, be crucified, and rise again on the third day.
They must have been a picture of dejection but were equally astonished that a newcomer had not heard about Jesus of Nazareth - the powerful prophet, handed over to the Romans by the chief priests... to crucify.
No surprise that Jesus responded, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
But how gracious Jesus was to these two troubled souls, for He then opened up the Scriptures to them and gave them an exclusive Bible study on His mission and ministry, His Person and Work, His death and His Resurrection, and God's entire plan of salvation for the redemption of mankind.
And Jesus asked them pointedly, Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and then enter into His glory?
No wonder their hearts burned within them and their hope was reignited as Jesus taught them: And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scripture.
Jesus lovingly chided these two distressed disciples, but He then graciously explained ALL that the Old Testament was teaching about Himself.
Starting with Genesis and the first five books of Moses and no doubt touching on many of the prophesies and promises that we hold dear, Jesus taught them all that the Old Testament prophets had written, concerning Himself.
No doubt, Jesus graciously gave a full review of the fall of man and God's plan of redemption through His promised Seed.
These men walked with Jesus on the way and heard the Scriptures opened up to them by the Lord Jesus Himself.
But we also read in Scripture - blessed are those that have not seen the risen Lord Jesus, walked with Him by the way, or pushed their fingers into the wounds in His hands, and yet have believed.
If salvation is gained any way other than by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, then Christ died in vain!
These dear believers had come to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus, but had turned from the truth of the gospel of grace to the beggarly elements of the Law by starting to add various rites and rituals into this fellowship of believers.
Jesus had just finished telling His confused disciples that He was going away to prepare a place for them in His Father's house, but that He would not leave them comfortless but send the Holy Spirit to be with them and to live inside them.
Jesus is the Messiah.
Jesus had told them that the Holy Spirit would be sent to them from Father after His departure (and we know that He came at Pentecost).
In that day when the Church is born and the Spirit is sent, Jesus told them, you will know that you are in Me (i.e.
There is only one Saviour that can rescue us from the terrible, eternal consequences of our fallen state, the 'God-Man' Christ Jesus.
But by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, God delivered us from the domain of darkness: And transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
Jesus was transfigured in front of the three disciples who were part of His 'inner circle', not long after Peter had made the earth-shattering confession: You are the Christ the Son of the living God.
For the first time in His life and ministry, the Lord Jesus gave this little group of men a taste of the heavenly glory that He had with the Father before the world began, a peep in the eternal glory that He had set aside, in order to live and die as our Saviour and Lord.
The wonderful spectacle of Moses and Elijah speaking to Jesus on the heavenly mount must have rejoiced their heart, but I am sure that nothing could transcend the awe and wonderment they must have experienced when a cloud appeared from above and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son: hear Him.
It was while Jesus was praying at His baptism that the voice of God was heard authenticating Him as: My beloved Son, in Who I am well pleased, while the Spirit of God descended upon Him in bodily form, like a Dove.
It was following His unique baptism that we read: When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, (the husband of Mary) the son of Eli... and thus, Luke recorded Christ's entire earthly lineage back to Adam, who was identified in Genesis as: The son of God.
While Matthew brings his genealogy through the official royal line of king David and king Solomon to Mary's husband, Joseph, who became the legitimate step-father of Jesus, Luke makes it clear that Joseph was presumed to be the father of Jesus, even though he traced Christ's lineage back through his mother, Mary, to king David's other son, Nathan.
In this distinctive manner, the Gospel of Luke prepares the reader for the hypostatic union of a holy God with perfect Man in the Person of Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God and true Son of Man: And Jesus was about 30 years of age when He began His ministry.
In this verse, we read that the Lord Jesus Himself: Was about thirty years of age when He began His ministry, which shows the critical importance God places on sound preparation and serious training before a man is equipped for an important ministry.
But whichever is correct, we discover that like the Levitical priests, David the king, and others that God has used mightily, Jesus had to go through many years of preparation and training before He was ready to fulfil the ministry for which He had been appointed.
May we grow in the grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as He prepares and equips us for the work that He has for us to do.
In this section, Zechariah gives many insights into God's judgement on apostate Israel, His punishment of the Gentile nations, and the return of the Lord Jesus to set up His kingdom.
Their blinded eyes would be opened to the truth and they would recognise that Jesus, the One Whom they crucified, was indeed their promised Messiah sent from God.
We see him reestablishing his teaching about the return of the Lord Jesus for His Church-age saints, together with the circumstances surrounding the Rapture of the Church.
His immediate answer was, Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?
Gold, silver, precious stones and crowns are identified as the rewards which are given to celebrate the work of faith, the labour of love or the steadfastness of a believer's hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, and each crown is received in the presence of God the Father.
In Corinthians, we read of the Imperishable Crown, which is given to those who have run the race of life and obtained this award because of their obedience to God's Word, as they looked to JESUS the Author and Finisher of their faith.
The Crown of Righteousness, is given to all those who long for the soon return of the Lord Jesus, and cry out 'Maranatha' - COME Lord Jesus.
It is given to those who do not rely on their own righteous covering but on the righteousness of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus came to give us life and to give it more abundantly, and The Crown of Life, is awarded to those who have patiently endured persecution, and undergone unjustified sufferings and trials, during their life, while the Crown of Glory, is given to pastors and teachers who have been faithful in shepherding the flock of God.
It seems that the Crown of Rejoicing, is the reward for the soul-winner - the one who wins souls for Jesus.
May we be diligent to tell others of the good news of the gospel of grace and rejoice with them in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we cast our crowns before HIS feet.
They did not understand that the Law of God, the Prophets of Israel, the Psalms, and the Feasts-days were all pointing to Christ, and that 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' had set them free from 'the law of sin and death'.Today, as in those early days of Christianity, there is still much confusion about the 'gospel of God' and there are many attempts to add law to grace, and works to faith.
Indeed, Scripture labels Jews as 'the Circumcision' to identify their physical link to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to differentiate them from 'Uncircumcised Gentiles'.HOWEVER, as Abraham was also the father of FAITH, Paul identifies ALL believers, both Jew or Gentiles, as 'the True Circumcision' who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.
May it never be that I would boast in anything, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Praise God that we have been called to worship the Lord in spirit and truth; to worship in the Spirit of God; to glory in Christ Jesus our Lord and put no confidence in the flesh.
Jesus claimed deity, eternality, omniscience, and equality with the Father on many occasions, and the Jews of His day knew exactly what Christ meant when He called God His Father and referred to Himself as the Son of Man, when He forgave sins, or identified Himself with the holy name of God (I AM).
Stoning was the irreversible sentence passed on all who would dare to blaspheme the true and living God - and this was their primary accusation against the Lord Jesus.
And in declaring Himself as the Son of God and Son of Man, the Lord Jesus was professing a truth that had its roots in eternity past; a fact that was sanctified by the Lord God of Hosts; a truth that was practiced in the earthly life of our Saviour - that Christ was and is and is to come, God Almighty.
Jesus did not deny that He was God, but he certainly challenged their outrageous accusation of blasphemy against Him for He alone has the God-ordained right to claim the honour of Deity, Messiahship, and equality with the Father, for He is the incarnate Word of God.
He is the righteous Judge, Emmanuel (God With Us), before Whose throne every knee will one day bow and to Whom every tongue will one day confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
But a life of faith cannot be founded on the shifting sands of doubt and disappointment, but needs to be secured to the changeless foundation of Jesus Christ Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, for His steadfast love never ceases.
and Jesus answered by quoting 'the Shema': Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one, Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, substituting the word 'mind' for the word 'strength'.
John was the forerunner, and Jesus was the Lord about whom Malachi prophesied.
John pointed to Jesus Who was the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
John was the messenger who proclaimed God's Message, and it pointed to Jesus.
Jesus was the Anointed of Israel Who suddenly came to His Temple and overturned the money tables and Who fiercely accused them of desecrating the Temple: My Father's House is a House of prayer for all people and you have made it a den of thieves.
JESUS was the pure Message from God, as well as the Messenger of the New Covenant.
But, to the faithful remnant of those who believed, the Lord Jesus was sent by God at the appointed time: As many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become sons of God.
Jesus did suddenly come to His Temple, just as Malachi claimed, and one day in the future, He will return once more - suddenly.
He is JESUS, the Good Shepherd of the sheep, Who knows those who are His, and Whose voice is recognised by the sheep of His pasture.
It is not in a shepherd's job-description to die for the flock in his care, but Jesus came to die for His sheep.
Jesus stressed His identity as Israel's Good and Gracious Shepherd.
Jesus came to His own people, but Israel announced, we will not have this Man rule over us, thus causing their promised kingdom to be postponed - for a season.
Let us make time to get to KNOW the Lord Jesus intimately and to be made more and more like Him.
Jesus may have been the Son of God through Whom heaven and earth were created, but He also came into this world as the Son of Man, the suffering Servant of Jehovah Who would give His life as the ransom price for the sin of the whole world.He had come to set up God's kingdom on earth, but His own people rejected Him and He finally set His face as a flint towards Jerusalem and the Cross.
It was at that time that the Lord Jesus began in earnest to prepare His little band of faithful followers for His shocking betrayal, false accusations, unjust trial, cruel death, and glorious Resurrection.Over and again, His disciples failed to comprehend the serious nature of Christ's repeated prediction of His fast-approaching betrayal and death, and it became necessary for Jesus to speak plainly about the severe self-discipline His followers would require if they were to stand fast in the evil day and not be sifted as wheat by the enemy, nor emotionally tossed about by the terrible things they were soon to face.A simple, immovable, childlike faith in Christ Who had come as God's anointed King, His promised Messiah, and Kinsman-Redeemer, was essential as the days grew darker: Whoever receives Me, Jesus said, receives Him Who sent Me.Petty differences of colour or creed were to be laid aside, and a unity in the faith was to be established by those who acknowledged Jesus as Lord.
When Jesus came the first time, the people were to believe on Him Whom the Father had sent.Knowing the dangers of disunity among believing brethren, the serious consequences of unbelief and the necessity to be steadfast in the day of trouble, Jesus set out the relentless self-discipline His disciples needed if they were to be kept from falling.
Jesus was not advocating for His followers to start amputating their arms and legs or gouging out their eyes or tongues, but emphasising the terrible effect of sin on an individual life.Temptation to sin is not suppressed by self-mutilation, nor is it arrested by physical dismemberment, for the seat of sin is the heart and mind, not in the hand, foot, or body-member that perform a sinful act.
However, the opposite is true of those that reject the Lord Jesus and spurn His goodness.
Praise God that there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus - their sins are remembered no more and they are accepted in the Beloved and covered in His perfect righteousness - by faith.
The underlying reason for Paul mentioning these brothers seemed to be that as the Body of Christ, we are to pull together; to honour one another; to fellowship with one another; to make sure that we are one in heart and mind with our brethren as we look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
How important therefore that we are alert and watchful against the enemy of our soul, not only for ourselves but on behalf of all our brothers and sisters in Christ so that together we keep looking to Jesus, our blessed Hope.
But how few even turn to Scripture to discover the principles and practices of what it really means to live godly in Christ Jesus?
Jesus told us that in this world we will have tribulation, for we are in the world but not of it, and He also assured us that His victory on the Cross is our victory too, but that victory may look very different from the soft, easy life and trouble-free existence they perceive this to mean.
Indeed, he even exhorts us to consider our various trials as a joy and blessing from our Father, while Paul warns that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, but that God Himself will comfort us in our suffering and pain so that we can comfort others in their suffering and pain.
It was our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, Who was to be born of Mary the betrothed wife of Joseph the carpenter, through whom this heavenly blessing was to be accomplished.
Jesus was not begotten of Joseph, although he became His legal, earthly father.
Jesus was the only begotten Son of His Father in heaven.
The Lord Jesus was conceived not of flesh, nor of the will of man, nor from the physical seed of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
It is the strength of the Lord Jesus Who sustains those who do not rely upon their own abilities.
It is then that the spiritual battery is regenerated and renewed by Christ's limitless power, enabling us to run the straight race, and in His strength, to run in such as way as to win the prize for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Jesus Himself fulfilled this legal requirement for He was God's Passover Lamb, and for four days before He was crucified on Calvary's Cross, He was examined.
Jesus was questioned, tested, and scrutinised unrelentingly, by Jewish leaders, scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, but He was found to be unblemished.
Nevertheless, they hatched a plan to kill the Lord Jesus and paid Judas Iscariot to betray the Master he had followed from the beginning.
Jesus was seized by a mob in the Garden of Gethsemane and brought into the house of the high priest at the dead of night where he was unlawfully questioned.
There He was mocked and beaten, and at daybreak, the elders incited the people to riot, both the chief priests and scribes conspired to label Him guilty, and together they hauled Jesus before the Sanhedrin.
The entire assembly were stirred up in heated anger and brought Him to Pilate, the Roman governor, to determine whether Jesus was guilty and deserving of death.
This was the first time that Jesus was brought before Pilate who quickly realised the Man before Him was innocent of the crimes of which He was accused.
And Jesus answered him and said: It is as you say.
Jesus was indeed the king of the Jews, but He was not like others who had used violence to stir up the people.
Pilate knew that Jesus posed no political threat to Caesar or his empire.
Four days of relentless questions that were designed to trick Jesus into committing an unlawful act or making some treasonous statement against Rome, had failed.
The Jew's attempt to have Jesus legitimately condemned to death for blasphemy, treason, rioting, and insurrection, failed utterly, for He was the spotless Lamb of God, the perfect Passover Lamb, the sinless Son of Man.
God in His grace, made provision for man's redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ Jesus the Righteous, is that Blessed Hope.
Jesus Christ demonstrated the supreme superiority of His person, work, ministry, status, office and sacrifice, over everyone and everything, through His death on the cross.
He was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ - God's promised KING from the house of David and the Lord's anointed HIGH PRIEST, after the order of Melchizedek.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the three original patriarchs of the Jewish nation, and their history began when Abram was called by God to leave the Ur of the Chaldees, and to go into a land which God would show him.The genealogy of Abraham and the ongoing history of his descendants, continues into Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and can be tracked throughout the writings of holy men of God whom the Lord used to pen the Old Testament Scriptures.Israel's lineage can be tracked to Jesus, His disciples, and the early Church.
They are the dry, lifeless bones of Ezekiel 37, which will only live again by the power of the Holy Spirit of God when they acknowledge their sin and receive Jesus as their Messiah-King.In this verse early in Exodus, we discover: All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt The twelve tribes that make up the whole nation of Israel, are all descended from those twelve sons of Jacob.Reuben and Simeon were the two eldest children who shamed their father by their ungodly actions.
May we never forget that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse them will themselves be cursed, for salvation comes through the Jews – for salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, our God and our Saviour.
Jeremiah reminds the faithful remnant of believing Israel (and also those of us that are saved by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord), of the wonderful fact that the Lord examines the heart and gives to each what they deserve, based on what they have done, by faith: I, the Lord search the heart.
Before time began, God determined to gather all things together in Christ, unite everything together in Him, to sum-up and bring into one final whole, all things in Jesus Christ the Messiah of God.
Jesus was fully aware of His own personal timeline when He stepped out of eternity onto the earth.
How important therefore to keep our focus on Jesus and to train the eyes of our hearts on heavenly things that are true and honest, just and pure, lovely and wholesome, godly and of good report.
How true it is that you become like the person with whom you spend time, and whatever has captivated your heart inevitably reflects attitudes and behaviours in life, (whether good or evil), and too often it is not a pretty sight. We are warned not to habitually be immersed in the world but to set our minds on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make Him the central focus of our thoughts.
If we would just turn our spirit and soul towards the Lord Jesus, we would automatically have to turn away from the things of this world.
May we turn from the things of this world in willing submission to God's child-training programme, so that like the Lord Jesus Christ, we may live in spirit and truth, walk in the light as He is in the light and love others as He loves us - until in all things we can say, Father, Thy Will Be Done in me.
Whether Jew or Gentile, all men are guilty sinners and under God's eternal judgement UNLESS they are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Although the Lord chose the Jewish race to be His people through whom the Messiah would be born, their birthright did not provide any exemption from God's directive that salvation, which is a gift of grace, received by faith alone in Christ Jesus alone as detailed in Scripture.
Although Israel was identified as God's chosen nation through their covenant agreement with the Lord and the sign of circumcision given through Abraham - salvation for Jew and Gentile alike is given by God's grace - through faith in Christ Jesus.
The most amazing revelation of Jesus Christ was given to the apostle John, when he was banished to the inhospitable Isle of Patmos.The final chapter in God's plan of redemption is played out in graphic detail, until the Lord Jesus, the supreme Ruler of heaven and earth, bursts through the clouds accompanied by the armies of heaven, with King of kings and Lord of lords, written on His robe and on His thigh.Once the evil Beast and blasphemous False Prophet have been cast alive into the fire burning with brimstone, and Satan is bound and thrown into the bottomless pit, John turns his attention to the people he sees, enthroned in heaven.
They refused to take the 'Mark of the Beast' and they were martyred for their faith: And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their foreheads or on their hands.Following the Rapture of the Church, the wrath of God will be poured out in full measure on a God-hating, Christ-rejecting, Jew-loathing, sinful world.
It is the start of the 'Day of the Lord' which covers the seven year Tribulation period and the subsequent thousand year Millennial Kingdom, when God Himself, rather than fallen man, will rule and reign on earth through Jesus Christ, the righteous God-Man.
However, all those who rejected God’s offer of salvation before the Cross and throughout the Church-age, as well as during the 7-year Tribulation, will be confined in hell for a further 1000 years and must partake in the SECOND resurrection – the terrible resurrection of all unbelievers at the Great White Throne of the living God, which will result in eternal separation from God.Let us increase our efforts to tell the good news of the gospel of Christ to as many as we can, before the great and terrible Day of the Lord, for the Word of God through the revelation of Jesus Christ will not fail.
Jesus taught that false Christs, false prophets, and ravenous wolves in sheep's clothing would arise and mislead many - even the elect of God.
And here, in his last known epistle, Paul writes to encourage Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and to serve Him faithfully... relying on God's sufficient grace alone, which only comes through union with the Lord as we abide in Him and He in us.
The crowds thronged the Lord Jesus, for they were astonished by the many mighty miracles and great healings that He was performing.
Even the unclean spirits recognised Who Jesus was and declared: You are the Son of God.
But the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians hated the Lord Jesus, for He was undermining their authoritarian monopolies and hypocritical practices.
Jesus spoke as one having sovereign authority, but it was a different sort of authority than that which was seen in their religious leaders.
Despite John's testimony that Jesus was the One Who was sent from above, and in spite of Christ's prolonged announcement of His Messianic credentials and heavenly authority, the Lord Jesus was accused by the Jewish leaders of His day, of casting out demons by the satanic power of Beelzebub.
It is the Spirit of God Who witnesses to our spirit and Who teaches and trains us to do the good and eschew the evil, and it is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we are born from above into the family of God and made one with Jesus Christ; our heavenly Lord and earthly brother.
To blaspheme the Holy Spirit in this way is to reject the one and only means of salvation, for He is the One Whose witness points to Christ Jesus as Saviour.
This was the point in His life that Jesus began to speak in parables, for He knew what was in men's hearts, and He knew that He had been rejected by the religious authorities and would soon become the sacrificial Lamb Who would take away the sin of the world.
It was at this critical point in His ministry that His mother and young brothers came to see Jesus.
How shocking that even His own family did not understand Who Jesus was and Why He was here.
But Christ Jesus had been sent by His Father in heaven to carry out God's holy will and to fulfil the Father's precious plan of redemption.
Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost, for He is a gracious God Who searches us out before we would ever consider searching for Him; and yet in Christ are the words of eternal life.
And the gift of God that the Lord Jesus spoke of to this woman-at-the-well is His free gift of salvation, which is openly available to all who will accept God's gracious offer of redemption and be cleansed of their sin, by faith in Christ.
Let us seek to share the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ with those that are dead in their sins and without hope in the world, knowing that every day that passes is a day of grace when lost souls may come to a saving faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
We do not have to grovel for meager scraps at the bench of an unbelieving judge, for we have free and open access into the throne of grace and the riches of His love in Christ Jesus so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Every high priest from Aaron onward, was a representative of the final and ultimate High Priest, our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because of His earthly walk, the Lord Jesus is able to sympathise with all our weakness, all our disappointments, all our rejections, and all our temptations.
Every piece of armour that the Christian is given in the spiritual battle of the ages in which we are engaged, points to the Lord Jesus Christ.
As the writer of Hebrews states: For the Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and every portion of Scripture points to the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the living Word.
It was the Sword of the Spirit that the Lord Jesus grasped when He was tempted of Satan in the wilderness.
With such a weapon as the Sword of the Spirit, the many examples of Jesus Himself wielding that weapon so effectively, and the promises pertaining to the Word, let us all buckle on the armour that God has provided, and firmly grasp hold of the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, in both our heart and our hands so that we too may be able to stand firm in the evil day against the devil's wicked schemes.
We are not called to walk the same ancient path to which Israel was called, but we are required to be faithful to our calling, to walk in spirit and truth as outlined in the Word of God, to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to mature in the faith that we have been taught.
He illuminates our minds with truth, inspires our heart with spiritual understanding and gives godly discernment to all who have been saved by trusting in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As His ministry progressed, Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God would come.
Jesus had already claimed to be Israel's King and had identified Himself as their Messiah through prophetic signs, miracles, teachings, and preaching.
The prophet John had identified Him as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, but legalism and false perceptions of their coming Saviour blinded the religious leaders to the truth of the gospel of God, and in chapter 17, Jesus starts to address their questions on the kingdom in order to correct their false perceptions.
They would only discover the kingdom of God by coming to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord - Who was sent to save the world from sin and Satan, death and hell - and Who stood in their very midst.
The Millennial Kingdom of God, about which these Jews were asking, can only happen when the nation of Israel repents of their sin, returns to the God of their fathers, and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Kinsman-Redeemer - and Jesus addressed this issue in this dialogue.
Jesus taught His disciples many things that would happen during the dreadful 'Day of the Lord' which would precede His coming, earthly kingdom, and in verse 26, He describes the wicked state into which the world will sink as the time for His return draws closer: Just as it was in the days of Noah, we read, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.
Those who go through the Great Tribulation will witness this progression of evil, but what of those in the Church Age who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?
And the prophesied wickedness during the Tribulation period will wax worse and worse until Jesus is ready to return in power and great glory, to set up the glorious kingdom of God.
In the penultimate verse of Ephesians, Paul is offering a familiar and well-loved salutation to his brothers and sisters in Christ: Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.Peace, love, and faith are three spiritual qualities that are sprinkled in unfettered abundance throughout Paul's writings, and yet they retain a freshness each time they are bestowed on God's children of faith.Only once in the New Testament, is this phrase peace be to the brethren, used.
Indeed, the peace of God which passes all human comprehension, is a gracious gift from our Heavenly Father which is promised to all His children through Jesus Christ our Lord, for it guards the heart and mind of all who cast their cares upon Him.God's peace is the gracious gift that under-girds our going out and our coming in, and every man or woman of faith in Christ, is promised that heavenly peace will garrison our heart and mind in every difficult circumstance or troublesome situation.
The peace of Jesus is also our precious portion, for our dear Saviour bestowed His heavenly peace on each one of us when He said, Peace I leave with You.
MY peace I give unto you.The amazing love of God, binds us together in worship and praise to our Heavenly Father Whose loves for us is so profound, that He gave His only begotten Son to become our substitute for sin, while the supernatural love of Jesus is such that while we were yet sinners, Christ died on our account so that we might be forgiven of our sin, receive a new life in Him, become united with Christ and abide with Him forever.Faith, enables us to worship in spirit and truth.
It empowers us to carry out the work that God has prepared for us to do and it emboldens us to engage in the spiritual warfare of this age, effectively: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and satanic powers, who prowl around, seeking to destroy our ministry and taint our testimony.Peace and love with faith, comes directly from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first covenant was in effect from the time that it was given through Moses, right up until the day that Jesus Christ was crucified on the Cross... when the New Covenant was cut in His blood - the New Covenant of which we are ministers.
The New Covenant of God will one day be fully ratified when Israel, as a nation, acknowledges Jesus as their King.
However, Paul clearly uses Hagar to represent that Old Covenant of Sinai, the earthly seed of Israel, and the earthly Jerusalem below, while Sarah symbolises the New Covenant, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the spiritual seed of God, through Christ Jesus our Lord - for we are all members of His Body, and ministers of a New and better Covenant.
The apostle John had written his Gospel in order that we may know and believe that: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing we may have life in His name.
As Christ's ministry progressed, the apostle John incorporated a number of signs that would give clear and irrefutable proof to the nation of Israel that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah, and that by believing in Him they might have life in His name.
The first sign was at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, when Jesus turned water into wine.
As Isaiah had prophesised, the Lord God had anointed and qualified Christ Jesus to preach the gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, the helpless and the afflicted.
And we read that many believed in Jesus, and many followed Him.
His fifth sign was the feeding of the 5000, which demonstrated that Jesus was the Living Bread Who came down from heaven to feed the hungry and to give refreshment to those that were tired and thirsty.
Jesus proclaimed: He who comes to Me will never be hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.
And following His fifth sign, when Jesus walked on water, stilled the storm, and rescued those that were perishing, He started to give a message that was increasingly difficult for His followers to accept.
As the Jews of His day started to reject the biblical signs that authenticated Christ's messiahship, the Lord Jesus began to give a much more graphic teaching on Who He was and why He had come: I am the bread of life.
As the perfect Man, Jesus died to pay the price for sin.
They profess to know God and can deliver motivational speeches, but in their lives they deny the Lord Jesus by twisting truth which disqualifies their profession of faith.
And Paul also mentions the astonishing and immediate judicial changes that take place in the life of every man and woman, who trusts in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
Let us not be drunk with wine or controlled by any other substance or emotion that discredits our Heavenly Father, but let us go on being filled, day by day, with the Holy Spirit of God so that we may manifest the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in our lives, today and throughout the rest of our time on earth.
The Lord Jesus was soon to demonstrate how deep that love was for all who receive Him as their redeeming sin sacrifice, for greater love has no one than this, that the Man Christ Jesus, God incarnate, would lay down His life for His friends.
And there is a legitimate reason that we are called upon to live godly in Christ Jesus, to walk in spirit and truth, to submit to the teaching and training of the Holy Spirit, and to learn obedience through suffering: To love one another as Christ loved us, for by this all people will know that you are my disciples.
God knows that disobedient Israel will one day return to His open arms of love, for they are like a flock of straying sheep without a shepherd and the wounds and pain that have been inflicted due to centuries of idolatry and apostasy will be over, when they acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
It is always a joy when a man or woman trusts in Christ as their Saviour and sets out on their life-journey with Jesus at the helm, but what a thrill it must have been for Paul when Titus, his true son in the common faith, was ready to take on full responsibility for the establishment of the Christian churches throughout the Isle of Crete.
Titus was an uncircumcised Greek who heard Paul preaching about Jesus many years before and responded to the gospel of grace by faith.
He was not only Paul's son in the faith, but became a loyal and trusted friend and a fellow bondservant of Jesus Christ.
And so, early in his greeting to Titus, Paul writes the encouraging truth that has become the privilege of all God's children: Grace and peace to you, from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.
His peace resides deep within our inner man and is our ever-present possession, when we look to Jesus and focus the eyes of our minds upon HIM.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, we also believe that God will resurrect ALL Christians who have fallen asleep in death.
Christians have obtained salvation by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and are not appointed to wrath, but these concerned believers thought that the Day of the Lord had already started.
The Christians in Thessalonica were fairly new believers, but Paul had made sure that he taught them the full counsel of God, including prophecies about the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, the coming man-of-perdition, and the terrible wrath of God that will be poured out on a world that rejected Him and refused to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus ate His final Passover meal with His disciples, and they sang a hymn together on the night that He was betrayed.
He predicted that Peter would deny Him before the cock crowed the next morning, and together they walked to the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed in great agony of soul.
But how dearly the Lord Jesus would have loved to have had their prayer-support at this crucial time.
And so we read, And going a little farther, Jesus fell facedown and prayed, 'My Father!
How gracious it was of Jesus to single out the blustery, self-confident Peter, who had just proclaimed his undying loyalty to his Lord, and yet was soon to face the greatest sorrow of his entire life, when he deserted the Lord he loved and denied Him three times.
Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, Whom to know is life eternal, and let us take heed to watch expectantly for the Lord's soon return - and also to watch with Him, in His continuous ministry of prayer and intercession.
Jesus, the Lamb of God and Shepherd of Israel had come to set up His eternal kingdom on earth BUT He was despised and rejected by those He came to save: We will not have this Man rule over us, was Israel’s final pronouncement, Crucify Him!
But God in His grace has designed this 7-year Tribulation Period to be the tool that will bring His errant nation, Israel, back into the loving arms of Jesus, the King of the Jews and God of Israel.
And they will live in peace and prosperity under Jesus' protection.
Our faithful God is the one who fed the hungry multitude, provides comfort for the broken-hearted, gives succour to the weak, strength to the weary, hope to the afflicted, and salvation to all who trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins - for while we were yet sinners, God in His grace provided a Kinsman-Redeemer to save His people from their sins.
Our good and loving God supplies all our needs, according to His riches in glory, through Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Though we may be afflicted on all sides... pressured, perplexed, and persecuted for righteousness sake, we have not been forgotten or abandoned by our Heavenly Lord... for Jesus is with us always and forever, even to the end of the age.
Though we live in the war-zone of this fallen world system, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ... and the peace of God which guards our hearts in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
They include all unbelievers who are dead in their sins, enslaved by Satan, at enmity with God, as well as many religious legalists and pious Judaisers who insist that we are still under the Law of Moses and not under the Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus.
By faith, we are no longer under God's condemnation because we trusted in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
It was at the Cross where sin, Satan, hell, and death were defeated and a New Covenant with Israel was made through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus.
The New Covenant with Israel was ratified at the Cross, but will be fully implemented after that nation has called out to Jesus as their Messiah to save them. 'Hosannah' they will cry. 'Save us, in the name of the LORD'.
And their Messiah Jesus will come in the name of the Lord a second time, to save His people from their sins.
Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus ignored the unscriptural traditions of the elders and would knowingly violate the unbiblical customs of the Scribes and Pharisees, and disregard their man-made rituals and manufactured ceremonies.
But in every respect, the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law of God which was given to Israel through Moses, and He kept the statutes of the Lord in order to remove the curse of the Law from those who would believe on His name and trust in Him for salvation by grace through faith in His sacrificial work at Calvary.
Both at the start and the end of His ministry, we discover the Lord Jesus cleansing the Temple of God from the many ungodly practices that had been implemented over the years.
Jesus had just washed the feet of His confused disciples, in an act of gracious love.
No one can love as Jesus loved by their own imperfect human effort, however hard we try, for the love of man is but a faint reflection of the glorious Son of Righteousness.
And as the Seed of the woman and Son of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ became Man.
Jesus purchased a pardon for every member of the human race, conquering sin and death, and then elevated all that would believe on His name to be children of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Throughout His life, Jesus proclaimed Himself as the Eternal Word made in human flesh.
In Revelation, the Lord Jesus identified Himself with three synonymous titles which alone are assigned to God Almighty: I AM Alpha and Omega.
I AM the First and the Last. In making this staggering announcement, it is clear that Jesus Christ is claiming equality with the Almighty God of the Universe, for He quotes directly from Isaiah, who wrote: Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the First and I am the Last, and there is no God besides Me.'
There are those that deny the supreme Deity of Christ and His equality with the Father and Holy Spirit, labelling Him as a lesser and inferior god, suggesting that, like us, the Lord Jesus is a created being.
This is Jesus, Who alone demands our worship and praise.
We need to consider the rich promises that have been poured out on us so lavishly, and we need to reflect, with thanksgiving, on all that the covenant of grace - into which we have been brought, means - through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the one to Whom every Passover lamb points - for just as these Passover lambs were slain their firstborn sons, so Jesus came to die in the place of sinful man. He was sent to redeem His people from their slavery to sin so that by faith in Him, they would LIVE.
We know that JESUS was to be the perfect Passover Lamb.
Jesus is our spiritual food and we who partake of His body and blood by faith, will LIVE.
Paul pointed us to JESUS as our Passover when he wrote: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Just as the blood on the doorposts of the Israelites in Egypt was a physical sign of their faith in God's Word, so a heart that has been sprinkled with the shed blood of Christ by faith in His sacrificial death on the Cross, is the spiritual sign that we have passed from death to life - from slavery to the freedom that is in Christ Jesus.
The Lord Jesus lived his life, from start to finish, in the way that God ordained that mankind should live from the beginning.
When we die to self and all that the sin-soaked nature of our old life in Adam represents, we are enabled, by the Spirit of God, to live in newness of life, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let us reckon ourselves dead to sin and all that the old sin nature represents and let us reckon ourselves alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord - so that by His power we may love the Lord our God with all our heart - and in His name, add to that godliness, brotherly kindness, and progress from brotherly kindness to the divine love - that is ours in Christ Jesus.
This second section of Isaiah's prophecy starts with chapter 40, which seems to be the numerical equivalent of Matthew's Gospel where Jesus is introduced to the Jewish nation as Israel's promised Messiah and rightful King.
We discover that John the Baptist was identified as the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophetic voices, who cried in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight, for we read in Matthew that Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The Shepherd of God's people is fully and finally revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, and the 66 chapters of Isaiah seem to be a beautiful unfolding of this never-ending story of grace.
The four Gospels combine to describe glimpses of His betrayal, His arrest, and some of the cruel treatment Jesus received at the hands of sinful men, yet He allowed Himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter and opened not His mouth, and in so doing, fulfilled all things which were prophesied of Him in Scripture.
Those Roman soldiers could never have imagined the part they would play in the glorious story of the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, as they crucified 'Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews' on a wooden cross outside the city gates of Jerusalem, and divided up His garments amongst themselves, by casting lots.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect manifestation of the grace of God, and on one specific day in the synagogue at Nazareth, He stood up to proclaim His revolutionary mission: that He was the promised Messiah of Israel and that He had come from God to address the enormous humanitarian problems on earth.
Jesus revealed that He would deal with poverty, sorrow, bondage, suffering, and oppression.
Jesus had come to set up His glorious kingdom on earth.
In that day, Jesus will come again for the second time and Israel will be saved as they look on their Messiah and cry: Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.
Let us live godly in Christ Jesus, as we look for His any day return in the clouds.
There should be no inner murmurings or resentments, but rather our work should flow from an inner being that delights to be of service, and seeks to undertake all that we do enthusiastically and with blessed goodwill, as though we were doing it all for the Lord Jesus Himself.
From this moment forward, whatever we do, whether in word or deed, let us undertake to do it with a pure heart and seek to do it as unto the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through Him.
Like King David, this apostle was encompassed about by many enemies and had to experience some severe hardships, and yet he learned the secret of total dependence upon the Lord and had come to appreciate that the grace of the Lord Jesus is sufficient for every eventuality.
Jesus had warned us that without Him, we can do nothing, and once Paul understood the deeper meaning of this, he boasted in his own weaknesses while rejoicing that through Christ he could do all things.
But the 'new life in Christ' is imparted to all God's children, making us part of a new 'spiritual' creation, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Every common task to which we place our shoulder and each Christian duty to which we are called, can only be successfully discharged as we rely on the Lord Jesus Christ for guidance and strength.
Jesus is our heavenly High Priest, and at least a quarter of the book of Hebrews is devoted to this glorious topic.
The former things were a dim shadow of the vastly superior priestly office and greater ministry of God's new and permanent priesthood, and Christ Jesus is the superior heavenly High Priest.
The sanctuary, sacrifices, feasts, festivals, and all the priestly activities connected with the Old Covenant, were a dim and distant shadow of all that it represented, for all these things that were written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, point to JESUS and His unique sacrifice on the Cross.
Only the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who became a Man and paid the ultimate price for the sin of the world through His sacrificial death, was sufficient to pay the price of sin.
Slowly it helps to conform us into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus, as we develop in godly discernment and wisdom from above.
Righteousness, peace and the joy of the Lord is an inner loveliness shining through the one who is loving the Lord Jesus, and seeking His kingdom first.
The second chapter of James confirms an important Christian principle that Jesus established in His Sermon on the Mount - mercy will be extended to those that show mercy, while the merciless man will face God's judgement.
Jesus explained this truth to his audience in Matthew: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Jesus did not say blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain salvation, nor is James implying that believers that demonstrate a lack of mercy will lose their salvation.
Salvation is a free gift of God's grace to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
May we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour so that we may become more like Jesus Who is full of compassion and of great mercy.
Not only was the penalty for our sin paid in full, by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also its suffocating power has been broken.
His righteousness endures forever.Jesus Himself reminded us that HE is the Sower and God is the One Who provides the good seed in its season, for us to sow.
And in this passage, we are given the many elements of unity that are ours in Christ Jesus - our one and only Lord and Saviour.
The authority to call Him Father is for those that believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
As many as received the Word-made-flesh - Jesus Christ the righteous - were given the right to become children of God.
Others like to twist this verse to imply that every human being is automatically a child of God or that all religions worship the same God, making Him Father of all people - but this is a false teaching for the Bible declares that ONLY those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ receive the right to become children of God - even to them that believe on His Name.
He gave advanced warning of different signs to watch for, which would announce a time when the dry bones of the scattered nation of Israel would be resurrected back to life by the regenerating breath of the Spirit of God; a time when the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah would once again be reunited as one nation under God and reunified under the sovereign rule of the Almighty, through the Lord Jesus, His anointed King and promised Messiah.
Christ Jesus is the one that is being described here; for as a shepherd who cares for His flock, it is Christ Who will shepherd His people Israel.
There are many that like to say that God has replaced Israel with the Church, but those pronouncements do not heed the truth of the Word of God, Whose promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus, and Whose Word stands fast for ever and ever.
And yet this was not the attitude of the Lord Jesus Who set side His heavenly glory in order to be made in the likeness of sinful man.
Jesus looked to the needs of others before He considered Himself.
During His sojourn on earth, the Lord Jesus was still omniscient, still omnipotent, and even still omnipresent, but He emptied Himself of His positional equality with God and veiled His divine glory within human flesh; a Body that God had prepared for Him in the womb of His earthly mother.
Jesus was fully human yet fully God - the unique God-Man.
This was the one and only 'hypostatic union' of God and Man, uniting the humanity of Jesus with the divinity of God in one unique, individual Person.
There is no more worthy example of selfless humanity and gracious humility than our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
And Jesus is the example that we are called upon to follow, but a road which is often thwarted by our selfish smugness and our self-absorbed pride.
We are challenged daily to let this mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus, and to choose to follow the path of the Cross by setting aside our own natural inclination to place self on the throne of our lives and, in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and by means of the new life of Christ, to empty ourselves of 'Self' and become a servant of all, for His sake Who loved us so much that He died that we might live.
Just as Abraham was justified by grace through trusting the Word of the Lord, so we too are justified by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, the living, incarnate Word of God.
However, in this Church age, all those differences have been removed: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus, our Lord. All who have trusted in Christ as Saviour are equal in the eyes of our Heavenly Father, saved by grace through faith in God's only begotten Son.
There is now no condemnation for all who are in Christ Jesus.
We have all received the new-life of Christ which is being transformed by the Holy Spirit, day by day, into the likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord.
We have been made privileged ambassadors of God with a heavenly citizenship and life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Though we all have our own unique gifting from God and recognise the distinctions between male and female in the various ministries to which we may be called, we are all members of the Body of Christ and as such: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Indeed, multiple times in the Gospels, we hear Jesus telling people, My hour has not yet come - My time has not yet come. But God's Word is never broken, and the perfect time came, as recorded by John: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
He knows that only as we sever our reliance on the world's destructive securities and rest our trust entirely on Christ Jesus our Lord, will we break free from the yoke of this world's slavery.
Instead of Israel looking expectantly for Jesus and welcoming Him as their Messiah and King, the religious authorities stealthily waited to ambush Him, arrest Him, and falsely accuse Him of blasphemy.
Rather than recognising Jesus as the Passover Lamb Who would take away the sin of the world and save His people from their sin, they ignored the testimony of John the Baptist, the signs and wonders that authenticated His messianic claims, and the audible witness of His Heavenly Father Who said, This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.
We do not have to undertake the annual cleansing rituals as laid out in the Law of Moses, but we do have to purify our hearts before the Lord - and we do this by trusting in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin, and by living each day in a way that honours His name.
Only in Him can we be declared righteous before God and only in Him can we grow in grace and become more and more like the Lord Jesus, as we die to self and live for Him.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, and God in His grace, He gave His eternally beloved Son to be born into the human race as Jesus - the Root and Stem of Jesse.
When the Lord Jesus walked this earth, He was the Light of the world.
Jesus reminded us that while He was on earth, He was the light of the world, but His light still shines in the darkness of this fallen globe for we, who have trusted Him for our salvation, have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, and the Light of His radiance continues to be reflected out to lost souls through the witness of the Church.
In His loving-kindness, the Lord Jesus offers the light of His grace freely and abundantly to all who will turn to Him as their Son of righteousness.
May we not bemoan the passing of youth but embrace each season in life by looking to Jesus, knowing that when He returns, we will all receive a crown of glory that can never fade away.
Knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus and His Word should be high-up on the priority list of the man or woman who is growing in grace and maturing in the faith... and we have been promised that if any of us lack wisdom we should ask it of the Lord, for He gives generously and without reproach... BUT there is a condition.
The very men who became Christ's disciples were the very people about whom the Lord Jesus was praying in this second section of His great High Priestly prayer: While I was with them, I have kept them in Your name.
While the Lord Jesus carried out His God-ordained, earthly ministry He kept, protected, trained, loved, and guarded the men whom the Father had given to Him.
And now the Lord Jesus was praying for their continued protection, knowing that His earthly work was almost done and that the time was fast approaching when He was to return to His Father in heaven.
These were the apostles and prophets whom God would soon ordain to write sections of the New Testament Scriptures and to bear witness that Jesus is Christ: the Son of the living God, the one and only way to God, the single and incarnate truth of God, in Whom are the words of the life of God - life that is abundant and life everlasting.
These were the ones whom the Father had given to the Lord Jesus, and He had guarded them from the evil one who would attempt to sift them as wheat and who roams about as a roaring lion seeking to devour and tear and maul its prey.
Jesus had kept and protected them, and had prayed for them that their faith would not fail.
But there was one amongst this little band of faithful disciples that Jesus identified as 'the son of perdition': I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition.
Jesus knew what was in the heart of man, and He knew that one of those that He had chosen was a devil who would betray Him.
There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, for whoever believes in Him by faith is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is already condemned: Because He has not believed in the only begotten Son of God.
John is entrusted with an unfolding revelation of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ which is written for our learning, reminding us to be ready for His any day return and encouraging us to take careful note of all that is written within the God-breathed Scriptures, for John tells us Jesus is coming soon, and His reward is with Him.
Having heard a loud trumpet blast, John turned to see a shining vision of the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus, dressed in judicial robes in preparation for the judgements that are soon to be carried out.
The candlesticks have no light of their own and should never seek to bring glory to themselves, but individually and corporately, we are to reflect the light of the Lord Jesus, the Light of the world Who lights every man that comes into the world.
He must increase and we must decrease as we die to self and to live for Him so that the world may know that Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, in Whom are the words of eternal life.
As Christ's earthly ministry progressed, the animosity against the Lord Jesus increased.
Christ Jesus the Lord presented this hostile group with the life-changing truth which could free each one from the bondage of the Law, slavery to sin and death, and eternal separation from God.
The Bible tells us that all unsaved people are, by nature, children of wrath and disobedience, until the time when they trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation by grace through faith in Him.
However, there are those who willingly reject the truth and turn their back on the only means of salvation: For salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ, for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
This call for singleness of heart is founded upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and not our preferred preacher or favoured ministry.
We are to develop the same attitude of heart toward each other that Christ Jesus has for us so that with one mind and one voice we may glorify our God Who in heaven, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord.
And may our love for each other flow out into the world so that unbelievers may see our love, be drawn to Jesus, and enter into a saving knowledge of our loving Saviour.
And do this for our dear Lord Jesus' sake, for in so doing we are participators in Christ's sufferings: This is what God has called us to do, and He will bless us for it.
The little words every and all seem so insignificant, and yet what a tremendous reach they have in our lives and what joy should fill our hearts knowing that in EVERY way we are enriched in Jesus, not only in a few or some or many ways, but in every way.
Should not we, who have been enriched in every way in Him, in all utterance and knowledge, show forth the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in our lives from this day forward and henceforth for every more?
Although many years had passed since Peter walked with Jesus on the way, met Him on the shores of the Galilee, and was commissioned to feed His sheep and protect His little lambs, this aging apostle's love and devotion for His Lord did not dim with the passing of years, but was strengthened as he faithfully fulfilled his God-ordained commission.
He was the man who stood up on the day of Pentecost and proclaimed: Men of Israel: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs which God performed through Him in your midst; this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a Cross by the hands of godless men, and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
Nor was he timid in rejoicing with unspeakable joy, the awe, wonder, and unfeigned love and affection he held for the Lord Jesus.
Peter's heartfelt desire was that those who had trusted Christ for salvation knew from the depths of their soul the incredible value of the gracious gift that was theirs through faith in Christ Jesus: This precious treasure is for you who believe, he declared.
But nothing can prevent God's plans and purposes from being fulfilled in and through Christ Jesus, the only Begotten Son of the Father, for He is that Stone about which Peter was writing.
If the Father places such significance on Jesus Christ as the Founder and Foundation of His perfect plan of salvation and identifies Him in the Scriptures as the 'chief Cornerstone' of life, should we not consider Christ and all that He is?
For many years, John had faithfully taught the Word of truth and seen many come to a saving faith in Christ Jesus, and it rejoiced his pastor's heart to hear that some of the believers connected with this dear, godly lady, were living righteous lives, walking in the truth of God's Word, and living lives that honoured the Lord Who bought them with His own blood.
Faithfulness to the truth of God's Word and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ is the essence of Christianity.
The Lord Jesus, Himself, said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes unto the Father but by Me, and this elderly disciple of Christ rejoiced because these children were occupied with Christ and obeying His command - which from the beginning was to love one another.
Paul's wise advice is not to react too quickly, but to remain married, live godly in Christ Jesus, and allow the Lord to work out His plan in the midst of such a relationship.Naturally, being wed to an unbeliever can also cause significant clashes of interest and become seriously destructive within a marriage, and this is an issue that Paul deals with, later on in the chapter.But Paul is calling each believer to walk in accordance with the gifts and graces that have been given them in Christ Jesus, to live one's Christian life in the way the Lord has called them to live, knowing that each person is accountable for his or her own choices and individual conduct.As believers, we are all accountable to the Lord and will one day stand before Him to give an account of the way we conducted ourselves, within our marriages and in our wider relationships.
At the start of chapter 2, Paul identifies the topic under discussion - the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the Rapture of the Church: The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him.
Paul takes 12 verses to show, step by step, the exact progression of end-times events - which starts with our being gathered to Christ and continues through the Time of Jacob's Trouble, to the point when Jesus returns in power and great glory to set up His earthly kingdom.
We look forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him.
And yet he gives the simple answer in this wonderful verse: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The key to living a godly life is only found in Jesus, and this truth is expanded in chapters 6 and 8 for our learning.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, was Paul's joyful song when he discovered that without Christ I can do nothing, but I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.
When we, as believers, finally realise this, we are able to say: 'Thanks be to God Who gives me the victory in Jesus Christ my Lord.' And as we read Romans chapters 6, 7, and 8 with eyes of understanding and a heart of grateful praise, we are enabled to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord, and to break free from bondage to the law of sin and its terrible consequences.
The qualities of a true friend or a beloved brother are best exemplified in the life of the Lord Jesus.
A true friend loves at all times, in good circumstances and during times of greatest difficulty and hardships, and Jesus reminded us that the greatest of all love is expressed when a friend is prepared to give up his own life for that of his friend or to forego his own desires and needs for the sake of his dearly beloved friend.
Luke wrote of all that Jesus started to do from the beginning of His earthly ministry until He ascended into heaven from a mountain, close to the little town of Bethany, leaving His disciples to rejoice in hope while giving praise to God for all His goodness and grace to them.
Hundreds of Old Testament prophecies were literally fulfilled to the letter during the short life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and hundreds more are to intersect with precision at His Second Coming.
Christ Jesus is the eternal, uncreated Son of God Who was in the bosom of the Father from before the foundation of the world, and Who has been loved by the Father from eternity past.
And yet on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples that the love that He has for them is the same as the love that the Father has for His only begotten Son, and the Lord Jesus has that same depth of love for ALL of His children.
We are accepted by the Father, in Christ, and we are loved with an incomprehensible love by the Lord Jesus Himself, Who has called us to abide in His love.
He calls us to be of one mind, to have unity of spirit in the bond of peace, to hold fast together our faith in Christ Jesus and the gospel of grace, and to live in harmony one with the other.
In a selfish world that is becoming increasingly hostile towards the things of God, is this not what our Lord Jesus Christ expects from each one of us; to show pity to those who are lost and hurting, to render Christian courtesy and compassion on all with whom we come in contact, to be tender-hearted and to be full of grace and truth, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ?
How we rejoice in Jesus, Who is our risen, ascended, and glorified Lord!
It is often the case that a carefree life of ease, abundance, and prosperity can cause us to take our focus off the eternal and on to the temporal, our prayer life can become less fervent and more mechanical, and the reality of Jesus' return does not burn in our heart.
Paul encourages us to live every day for Christ, redeeming the time, and eagerly awaiting our Lord: Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus.
When we bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we offer Him the praise and worship He deserves.
It is God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who is to be highly praised, for He gave His only begotten Son to be born into the human race and to die for the sin of the world, so that we might be accepted in the Beloved by faith in His saving work at Calvary, and be seated together with Him in heavenly places.
No surprise that Paul had to open his letter to the Ephesians by acknowledging Him to be the Father of all mercies and proclaiming: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
We are His spiritual children and the many blessings we have received from the Father, are contained in God the Son; the Lord Christ Jesus.
All we have to do is to access it: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, in Christ.
This small body of spirit-filled believers faced serious poverty, and yet they were commended by the Lord Jesus because they were spiritually rich.
Unlike other churches, they were not admonished or rebuked by the Lord Jesus, but they did receive some special words of encouragement.
Jesus is the eternal One, Who not only goes before them and was with them in every difficulty they faced, but He also comes after them and will never leave them nor forsake them, and in Him are the words of life eternal.
And when the Christians in Smyrna received confirmation that Jesus was with them in every eventuality of life, including their poverty and pain, it must have rejoiced their soul.
But Jesus knows exactly what we will face and for how long.
The opening verse of the Apocalypse explains what is being revealed: The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
It is the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ which God gave Him, to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.
The fundamental subject of Revelation is Jesus Christ, and John was given much information about Him that hitherto had remained hidden within the pages of Scripture.
Jesus is both the Giver of the revelation and also the Subject of the revelation.
In the Gospels, He rode on a lowly donkey on His way to the Cross wearing a crown of thorns while being labelled 'Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews'.
While John was told of things that must shortly come to pass, the object that is being revealed in these pages is Jesus Christ.
The person that is being unveiled in this final book of the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, and God the Father is the One Who is making Him known to us all.
God gave this revelation OF Jesus Christ TO Jesus Christ Who, in turn, gave it to His angel who was charged with passing it on to the apostle John... to make it known to God's bond-servants.
While there are many other things that are made known in this book, like the Antichrist, the four horsemen, the two witnesses, the ministry of angels, mystery Babylon, the mark of the beast, and the Great White Throne judgement seat... the primary thing that is being revealed throughout its pages is Jesus Christ.
The principal person that is made known to us is the Lord Jesus Christ, without Whom every other event within its pages is of no significance.
More often than not, students of Revelation are looking for the events that take place in Revelation and spend their energy trying to make sense of them, while missing the most important truth - that every event that takes place in this book is written to reveal more and more of the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last - the Author and Finisher of our faith, without Whom we would be without hope, forever lost, and eternally damned.
However, the first few words of the book make it strikingly clear to everyone that the primary reason for the writing of this book is to give us the full and final revelation of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus - to tell us things about Him which God the Father gave Him to show to His bond-servants, things which must soon take place - and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant, John.
While the book contains many prophecies that are to take place in the future - the fundamental truth to which we should hold is that the Lord Jesus is the central object of all prophecy.
Jesus is the one about whom prophecy is written and He is the one that ultimately fulfils all prophecy as John reminds us in Revelation 19: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Some suggest that Jesus is setting out a message of salvation; live this way and you will be saved and go to heaven.
Jesus had been identified as the Jewish Messiah by John the Baptist.
His teaching in those early days was only addressed to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, especially those who had repented of the nation's past sin of apostasy, through John's 'baptism of repentance'.Knowing that the message of salvation is: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, indicates that this 'Sermon on the Mount' is not addressed to unbelievers, but a message to those who are already believers in God. Christ's 'Sermon on the Mount' points out that sinful actions are conceived in the heart, and that a false 'righteousness' is hidden within man's fallen nature.
Only God in His grace, can give a repentant sinner a new heart of flesh, and God the Father has determined that it is by grace through faith in Christ.Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to establish His kingdom which was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.
In sending His seven letters to the churches early in the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus gives great insight into the spiritual temperature of the Christian Church... as the day for His return to earth draws ever nearer.
These Philadelphian Christians recognised Jesus as the One Who is holy and true.
Jesus alone has the keys of the kingdom of God - against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.
Our positional identification and progressive sanctification with the Lord Jesus will be completed, we will be perfected, and He has promised, I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death.
But when as believers we submit to the Holy Spirit, we discover a higher law working within (the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus) that gives power to the new-life-of-Christ within which we received when we were born again, bringing us to certain victory.
Let us live our life in the power of the Holy Spirit and submit to Him in all things, knowing that there is: NO Condemnation, for those of us who are positioned in Christ: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death.
But God's wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness is so much better, for whosoever will may be forgiven of their sins, through one perfect Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But how different from God's design for His children, for it was through suffering that the Lord Jesus Himself learned willing obedience to the Father and it is through the same pathway that we too grow in grace and come into deeper knowledge of Him.
The Lord Jesus is the good Shepherd of the sheep and He knows all the needs of His little flock.
At His first advent, Jesus made it clear, through His words and His works, that He was their promised Messiah and the Son of the most high God.
They heard His voice, they trusted His Word, and their faith expanded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting: You are the Messiah the Son of the Living God, was their confession, and they believed that God had sent Him into the world to save His people from their sin: I give eternal life to them, was Christ's promise to those who believe, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
And may we never forget that His promises are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing is able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The glorious time of Israel's restoration is couched in this declaration from God, for He has promised to save His people from their sin, and His promises to Israel will never fail, just as His promises to the Church are 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord - and our present sojourn in this fallen world, is likewise hastening to its grand finale.
He left the two young men, and taking the fire and knife in his hand – together, father and son walked to the appointed place of sacrifice.Isaac was to be a burnt offering unto the Lord – a freewill offering – a sacrifice of love that was to be given to the Lord by Isaac's father, Abraham.Like Isaac, the Lord Jesus was made to be a sacrifice unto the Lord.
Christ was given by the Father as a sacrifice of pure love, and Jesus gave Him life willingly, for love of the Father.God in His grace provided a ram as a substitute for Isaac so that he might live.
And our Father in His grace provided Jesus in our place so that we might have life – and have it more abundantly.
Loving those that love us comes naturally, and although there may well be a selfish motive underlying human love, Jesus tells us that if you only love those that love you, there is no credit connected with this in God's divine administration.
This may be the way of the world, but Jesus introduced a heavenly standard that can only be implemented in a redeemed life - as empowered from above.
Jesus called upon us to love our enemies as well as our friends.
Jesus even calls us to do good and to lend to others while expecting nothing in return.
This teaching of the Lord Jesus has nothing to do with justification.
We are saved by grace through faith in the sacrificial work and glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ - and this is non negotiable.
Only those that are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus can display these divine characteristics of our holy and loving God and Father.
May the love and grace of Christ so fill our hearts, that we manifest the divine love of God to others, in word and in deed, and become a beautiful reflection of Christ Jesus our Saviour and bring honour and glory to His holy name.
The Lord Jesus was 'the One Who was to come' as prophesied throughout the Jewish Scriptures.
Jesus was sent by God the Father to be the Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the whole world.
The promised King of Israel had arrived in the Person of Jesus Who, in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, carried out many mighty signs and wonders in order to fulfil Scripture, and as a demonstration that He was indeed great David's greater Son.
The Lord Jesus had chosen His apostles some time earlier, and bestowed on each one authority over demons, and the power to heal the sick and perform many mighty works.
The news of Jesus travelled far and wide and even reached the ears of king Herod, the wicked Tetrarch whose shocking, yet cowardly act resulted in the death of John the Baptist, Christ's chosen forerunner.
Herod's fear was that Jesus was the reincarnation of John, and so he sought to see Him.
But Christ's time had not yet come, and so, when the twelve returned from their gospel mission, the Lord Jesus took them aside privately into a desert place to rest awhile and to recover from the excitement and exhaustion of their Messianic ministry.
Jesus knew from the beginning that many in this crowd were neither circumcised in their heart nor grieving for their sin and the sins of their forefathers, but He had compassion of them for He knew that they were dead in their trespasses.
Within hours, we see Jesus feeding the multitude with five barley loaves and two small fishes, but He knew what was in their hearts.
But just as we, who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, were born in the image of the man of dust, so too we will also bear the image of the heavenly man; for He Who started a good work in us at salvation will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.
He intervened in the enmity between God and man by bringing all who trust in Christ Jesus as Saviour back into close fellowship with Himself.
It was Paul to whom the mystery of the Church, which is the Body of Christ, was entrusted, and Jesus Christ was the one Who not only preached the message of peace, but became incarnate peace for mankind: peace with God and peace with each other.
Jesus came as the GOOD Shepherd to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and He led out as many as received Him from the Jewish sheepfold to join His other sheep, His Gentile sheep.
And there shall be one sheepfold and one Good Shepherd of the sheep, for there is now no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.
Jesus brought peace to Jew and Gentile alike through the blood of the eternal covenant, for our GREAT Shepherd of the sheep came to save all His people from their sins.
Jesus laid down His life for His sheep so that all who believe on His name might be saved and have life and have it more abundantly.
We who are all in Christ have already received the abundance of His life, and one day Christ Jesus will return, as He promised, to take us to be with Himself.
We are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Good Shepherd Who will take us to the heavenly home He has prepared for all who love Him so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
There are so many passages in the wonderful book of Romans where we are reminded of our deliverance from bondage, our victory in Christ, and that there is absolutely no condemnation whatsoever to those that are in Christ Jesus, for every one that trusts in God's only beloved Son as Saviour, will never be condemned but receive life eternal.
God knew that you would trust in Christ Jesus, even before you were conceived in your mother's womb!
God ordained that each sinner saved by grace is to be conformed into the likeness of the Lord Jesus and each is to be fully justified, fully sanctified, and fully glorified.
AND we are reminded in many passages there is absolutely no condemnation whatsoever to those that are in Christ Jesus - Hallelujah!
Paul makes our lack of condemnation clear at the start of the chapter as he states in no uncertain terms: Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Hallelujah!
Let us begin to understand the depth of love Christ has for us as we live for Him, setting our mind on the Spirit, and being conformed into the image of the lovely Lord Jesus.
Jesus entered this world as the suffering Servant of God.
Jesus told His disciples shortly before His death: They hated me without a cause, and continued, and if they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.
The Lord Jesus Himself learned obedience by the things He suffered, and after His time of suffering, Christ came into His eternal glory and willingly and joyfully shares it with all who trust in His name.
That I may fellowship with Jesus in His sufferings and be made conformable unto His death.
We are one with our Lord, and on the same night that He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus prayed for ALL His followers.
It is as he draws his letter to a close, that Paul offers his concluding exhortation, which is beneficial for ALL who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus and to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.
They proudly celebrated this truth for centuries, but rejected God's offer of the kingdom of heaven on earth at Christ's first advent, causing the Lord to postpone His kingdom programme with His chosen people until the whole nation was ready and willing to acknowledge that 'Jesus Is Lord'.In the meantime, God in His grace is taking from among the Gentiles, a people for His name through whom He is forwarding His plan of redemption.
One important prophecy that must be fulfilled before His return, but which is often overlooked, is that Israel as a nation, MUST call on the name of the Lord for salvation before Christ Jesus can return to set up His Millennial Kingdom.Through the study of Scripture, we know that Christ told His people that they would see Him no more until they fulfil Psalm 118 by crying out, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Not only were they told that Jesus was to return to heaven to prepare a place for them in His Father's house, but they heard Him openly proclaim that He was God and equal in every way with the Father: He who has seen Me has seen the Father!
And now they heard that the Holy Spirit was to come to be with them in place of Jesus and that He would bear witness of Jesus, the eternal Son of God and Kinsman-Redeemer of fallen mankind.
But before all that could happen, the disciples had to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Helper Whom Christ sent from the Father on that first day of Pentecost, the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father, and Whose ministry to the Body of Christ is to testify about our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Sinners are saved from the penalty of sin by God's grace, once and for all, through trusting in the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation, but believers must mature in the faith and continue the process of ongoing salvation.
How important it is that believers continue to be sanctified by the resurrected life of Christ Jesus our Lord?
Mary is a beautiful example of a woman who loved the Lord Jesus and who was loved by her Saviour.
The love and respect Mary had for Jesus caused her to anoint His feet with an extravagantly costly perfume, which she reverently wiped with her hair so that: The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
The one who worships at the feet of the Lord Jesus in spirit and truth is the one who carries with them some of the fragrant beauty of His person: to those that despise the Lord it is an aroma of death but to those that love Him, it is a fragrance of life.
For Christ has promised to save us from the power of sin, the guilt of sin, the nature of sin, and the punishment of sin, but also to sanctify to the uttermost, body, soul, and spirit as day by day His Holy Spirit is conforming us into the image and likeness of Christ Jesus our Lord.His saving grace is not only for the eternal ages to come but will be carried through to its ultimate completion, for He will never abandon any that have trusted in His name as Saviour and who have come to Him for pardon and peace.
But the apostle Peter also makes it clear that our spiritual growth and our progress in the Christian life must be a continuous maturing in grace and an ever-increasing knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Growing in God's grace is not the accumulation of facts and information about the Lord Jesus, but a day by day transformation of our life, as we become increasingly like Him in disposition and character.
Spiritual growth is an ongoing process of becoming more like the lovely Lord Jesus.
As more grace is added to the grace we have already received, the more we mature in the faith and change into the beautiful image and likeness of the Lord Jesus.
We are also to: Grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This must be the pinnacle of God's grace, that we increase in our knowing HIM.
We are to pursue with a passion, the intimate and personal relationship to which we have privileged access, as we confess our faults to our Father and keep our eyes on our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, our all in all.
How fitting that this is the closing verse of his second epistle: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We cannot grow in grace apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, for without Him we will remain spiritually stunted in our Christian life.
Should we not delight to worship Him in this world and rejoice that in the world to come we will show forth the immeasurable riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
May we ALL grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for by grace we are saved through faith, by grace we are to live our lives through faith, and one day by God's grace, we will pass into His wonderful presence, when we shall see Him as He is, and we will be like Him and live with Him into the eternities of eternity.
When Nicodemus came to visit with Jesus by night, the Lord immediately knew the reason he had come.
Whether he came to Jesus by night for cultural reasons, privacy purposes, curiosity, for fear of reprisal from his Jewish peers, or simply out of respect for the Lord, Nicodemus found his way to Christ's dwelling-place and discovered that being born-again is God's requirement for entrance into heaven.
During their discourse, Jesus told Nicodemus three times the salvation truth he needed to hear.
In verse 5 Jesus expanded this important truth: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
The third time Jesus imparted this truth to Nicodemus is in verse six, where he says: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Jesus is honing his understanding that there are two types of birth.
We are born from above, and until the day when we go to be with Jesus, we sojourn on earth within our fallen body, waiting for that great day of resurrection when this mortal body will be clothed with immortality and this perishable body will be replaced with an imperishable one.
Jesus became a physical being like us, yet He was without sin so that He could pay the price for humanities sin through the shedding of His sinless, human blood.
This is the psalm of thanksgiving and joy that will be sung in the streets of Jerusalem when their Messiah-King returns from heaven to sit on the throne of His father David, for Judah will be saved; Israel will dwell securely, and they will herald the Lord Jesus Christ as, 'The LORD our righteousness.'
We who have been born again can already say with certainty, the Lord my God is Jesus Christ and He is the Lord my righteousness.
We can in spirit and in truth cry out and say, I have trusted Him, and I am not afraid - for nothing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Every Gospel presents different, yet complementary aspects of Christ's ministry and mission, and one important characteristic of Matthew's Gospel is the presentation of Jesus as Israel's promised Messiah and his role as King of the Jews, together with information about the kingdom over which He will rule.
Jesus was initially sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy, and the early chapters of Matthew record how He authenticated His messianic claims through signs and miracles, while teaching about His coming kingdom.
Once His ministry, mission, and messianic claims were rejected by the Jewish leaders in Chapter 12, Jesus knew that the kingdom of heaven He came to establish would be postponed and from that point, we discover a subtle change in His approach.
Jesus begins to teach about the coming kingdom in parables and He also starts to prepare His followers for the disturbing fact that He would be betrayed, condemned to death, and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles where He would be mocked, scourged, falsely accused, and crucified.
The mother of James and John even asked Jesus to give her two sons places of high honour by His side.
The disciples still thought of Jesus as their conquering King rather than God's suffering Servant Who takes away the sin of the world, and so... dismissing Christ's warning of His fast approaching passion, each developed his own specific expectation of their own, elevated position in the new administration.
But Jesus knew that God's plans for Israel and His Millennial Kingdom were to be postponed, due to national unbelief.
Jesus also knew that as the Head of His Body, the Church, in a new dispensation, His followers would be required to follow His example and experience the same suffering and distress that He was to go through.
Jesus needed to correct the flawed thinking of His followers, and so He called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
They were to be like Jesus, the Son of Man Who did not come to earth to be served but to be of service to others.
They were to be a reflection of Jesus Who came to give His life a ransom for many - and like the disciples of Christ's day, these principles are equally applicable to all of us who are called by His name.
And just as the Lord Jesus gave His life a ransom for many, may our lives become a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God for the sake of His Son - our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
There is no one that is excluded from His gracious offer of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ... and there are none that are given extra-special treatment based on their status, skills, colour, parentage, gender, intellectual capacity, political leanings, business acumen, or charismatic personality.
Whether a Christian is a slave or a freeman, it is the Lord Jesus Whom we serve in our work or business.
We are all saved by grace through faith in Christ... and as God's blood-bought children we should never forget that we also have a Master in heaven - Christ Jesus our Lord.
In consideration of the amazing grace that God has bestowed on each one of us by the redemption of our lives through the shed blood of Jesus Christ - should we not seek to honour God no matter what our status, skills, parentage, or gender?
Jesus Christ paid the price for every sin we committed, and He took the punishment for every broken Law through His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection.
Only those that are born from above can produce the spiritual fruit of righteousness, for it is not by works of the Law that a man is justified or reckoned righteous, but only through faith and absolute reliance on Jesus Christ.
Praise God that we have been made one with the Lord Jesus Who was raised from the dead so that we might bring forth the fruit of righteousness.
But it was not for them, nor is it for us to know when Jesus is going to set up His eternal rule on earth.
But before the Lord returns to earth in the splendour of His majesty and in power and great glory, the little remnant of Israel will first acknowledge the Lord Jesus as their Messiah-King and God of the universe, shouting in ecstatic harmony: Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
When compared with the righteousness of Christ Jesus our Lord, the whole world is guilty before God.
As Christians, we celebrate that there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, and as forgiven sinners we glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God.
Salvation is a gift of God's grace alone, through faith alone, in our Saviour Jesus Christ our Lord.
And we should live in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ so that His grace and peace may be multiplied to all who are called by His name.
The mystery of our call to glory is that we can rejoice greatly despite our trials and losses, because we have an unfailing hope in our eternal inheritance and the glorious redemption of our bodies, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In the book of Revelation, Christ Jesus Himself authoritatively declares, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
They are rooted in the eternal faithfulness of His everlasting Word, and His Word is securely anchored on the rock of our salvation which is Jesus Whose name is Faithful and True: For Faithful is He who hath promised, Who also will do it.
The glorious gospel of salvation, by grace through faith in the sacrificial death and wonderful Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, should delight the worst of sinners.
Paul's commission to teach the gospel came directly from the glorified Jesus Christ on the Road to Damascus.
Jesus Himself reminded us that it is not we who speak when we are sent with God's words on our lips, but it is the Spirit of our Father Who speaks in us.The promises of God do not change, for the Word of the Lord stands fast forever and ever.
Jesus used stories like the good Samaritan, the wise and foolish builders, and a fishing dragnet, to illustrate some of His teachings, while Paul utilised the patience of a long-distance runner or the courage of faithful soldiers in the fulfilment of their duty.
Jesus was the single Seed Whose death brought forth abundant fruit.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect picture of a single grain of wheat which can only become fruitful under certain circumstances: For unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
The Lord Jesus Christ was the heavenly example of a single grain of wheat, falling into the ground and dying - in order to bring forth an abundant harvest, to the glory of God.
May we set our faces as a flint towards the goal of our calling so that we may mirror the attitude of the Lord Jesus, as we die to self and live for Christ - so that by God's grace, we may become a fruitful branch of our heavenly Vine.
Yes, Jesus Himself warned that you cannot serve God and wealth.
Jesus was teaching some important truths to His disciples about wealth, stewardship, honesty, and virtue, but His instructions were overheard by the Scribes and Pharisees who were lovers of money and haters of the Lord Jesus.
Money is a good servant but a bad master, and Jesus needed to point out that it is impossible to live for God if our priorities are focused on something or someone else.
Let us love the Lord our God with all or heart, and all our soul, and all our mind, and all our strength, and look to Jesus, Who has promised to supply all we need, according to His riches in glory.
He laboured tirelessly and strove unswervingly to spread abroad the gospel of grace that he received directly from the glorified Jesus Christ, knowing that the life of the living and resurrected Lord had been imputed to him and was working mightily in him, putting to death the deeds of the flesh and conforming his new-life-in-Christ into the likeness of his Lord and Saviour.
Paul knew that the righteousness with which he was clothed is the right and privilege of ALL who would trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation, and so he strove to spread abroad the gospel of God; Christ crucified, risen, ascended, and glorified.
He worked unceasingly to bring to spiritual maturity, as many as would hear and receive the astonishing mysteries that were given to him on our account; the unsearchable riches in Christ and the surpassing treasures of God's grace and kindness toward us, in Jesus our Saviour.
For well over three years, the Lord Jesus had moved in and out among His disciples, living alongside His little band of followers every moment of the day and throughout the darkness of each long night.
As the incarnate Word of God, the Lord Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.
Jesus was the image of the invisible God Who was to return to the Father in heaven.
As the stark truth (that Jesus was indeed leaving them to return to the Father in heaven) was starting to penetrate the incredulous minds of the disciples, the Lord Jesus once again introduced the Person of the Spirit of Truth.
Jesus had just reminded His followers that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father, and so once again He told them, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.
It was the beloved John, that fiery son of thunder who, in his twilight years, was selected to be the final mouthpiece in God's amazing revelation of Jesus Christ to the Church and witness to all humanity, of things that are shortly to take place.
John had walked, talked, and lived with Jesus.
He had listened to all His teachings, and John's love for Jesus had multiplied with his passing years.
At the end of Revelation, Jesus reiterates this glorious truth that should gladden and comfort every child of God: Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves.
We have not been appointed to gaze on the Word of God without understanding, or in a frightened, astonished, or perplexed way, as did His disciples when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven.
Despite all that Jesus had taught the apostles during His earthly ministry, and even though He opened the prophetic Scriptures to their understanding following His glorious Resurrection, these disciples still held tightly to their limited perspective and biased understanding of what the Messiah would do and when He would set up His kingdom.
They hoped the Lord Jesus would set up His kingdom there and then, and had to be reminded that it is not for us to know the times that the Father has ordained to fulfil His plans and purposes.
Jesus will indeed return to earth and set up the literal kingdom of heaven on earth, but it will be when God decides, and it will not be influenced by the traditions of men, nor will it be worked out by mathematical gematria or extra-biblical revelation.
Just as the angels at the tomb had to remind these men of things Christ told them while He was still with them, so also the two men in white at His Ascension, had to remind them of Scriptural truths as they beheld Jesus being lifted up and watched in amazement as a cloud received Him out of their sight.
They would soon learn that just as Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives, He will return to the same holy Mount at His Second Coming.
Just as He ascended visibly at the end of His first advent and was received up into heaven in a cloud, so too at His second advent, Jesus will visibly return to the earth on the clouds of heaven, and every eye will see Him.
This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.'
The self-same Jesus Who rose from the dead in a resurrected body of flesh and bone and Who was taken into heaven in a risen, glorified body, will return from heaven in the same manner that these disciples saw Him depart.
The self-same Jesus Who came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself on the Cross, and to break the power of death by means of His glorious Resurrection, will appear a second time without sin.
The self-same Jesus Who came the first time as a baby in humility and disgrace, will return a second time as King of kings in power and great glory.
The self-same Jesus Whom His disciples watched being taken from them on clouds of heaven, will return to earth with His Church in the self-same way, on clouds of glory, accompanied by a host of angelic ministers.
When the two messengers in white told the Men of Galilee: This same Jesus, Who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven, they were referring to the Second Coming of Christ to earth, to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
The return of Christ, as proclaimed by the two men in white, is not referring to the Rapture of the Church, which will have already taken place, over seven years earlier, when Jesus comes in the CLOUDS to meet His people in the AIR.
How precious to know that not one promise from God has failed and we can be assured that this same Jesus Who died and rose again, is coming back to take His Church to be with Him forever, and He is also returning to set up His Millennial Kingdom; ALL for the glory of God.
In this passage, Peter is raising a concern that those who, for a time, escape the pollution and defilement of the world when they hear about the Lord Jesus, end up in a far worse state when they return to the world's entanglements.
But for those who have trusted Christ for salvation, Peter's warning is a call to live godly in Christ Jesus and not to follow in the foolish footsteps of the world.
Although Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, as prophesied of old, there was a certain point when He knew that the Jews would reject Him, and it was important that His disciples began to understand Christ's wider mission.
Jesus was that promised Seed of Abraham, and while Israel are his physical seed, all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, both Jew and Gentile, are his spiritual seed.
While Jesus had to bring the gospel to the Jew first, to fulfil Scripture, we also capture glimpses of His compassion towards the Gentiles, throughout His ministry.
In Chapter 4, Jesus started teaching the secrets of the kingdom to His disciples in parables.
This was Gentile territory, but as soon as the boat landed, Jesus was met by a wild, demon-possessed man, with multiple, unclean spirits, who lived among the tombs and wandered around the mountains.
This demon-possessed man knew that Jesus was Son of the Most-High God, and was fearful of Him.
The local herdsmen witnessed the entire display, but instead of rejoicing that the man was freed from His demonic possession, they rushed to the townsfolk to relate the happenings of the day - and promptly asked Jesus to leave their region.
How sad that they did not welcome Jesus into their town, like the Gentiles in Sychar, Tyre, and Sidon.
However, as Jesus got back into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged permission to go with the Lord and His followers. But Jesus would not allow him to join His band of disciples.
Similar miracles like this in the land of Israel had to be kept quiet, because the Jewish leaders hated Jesus and wanted Him removed.
Nevertheless, wherever the Lord Jesus went, He brought health to the body and healing to the soul.
This Gentile from the Gerasene was not permitted to follow Jesus back into Judea.
Jesus was the Horn of Israel, from the house of David, Who came to shine light into the heart of His own people first.
Just as the demons RECOGNISED that this was Jesus, the Son of the living God, so the man, when he was restored to his right mind, KNEW Him as Lord.
No one KNOWS Jesus as Lord except those who believe on His name for salvation.
This man was being called upon to prepare the way of the Lord, in the Gentile cities of the region, for a day was coming when Christ would lovingly stretch out His arms, as the sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, and welcome ALL who would believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John records the day when Jesus HAD to travel through Samaria because there was a widow at a well, who needed to be saved because people in her village were unaware that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
There is no one whose life is so ruined and heart so broken, that the Lord Jesus cannot have mercy on them and bind-up their wounds and commission them as His vessel, to reach out to others in need of salvation.
Unlike the apostles who accompanied Jesus throughout His earthly 'pre-Cross' ministry, beginning with the baptism of John, Paul was called to be an apostle by Christ following His 'post-Cross' Resurrection, Ascension, and Glorification.
Not only had he seen the risen Lord Jesus and been commissioned by Him to carry the gospel to unconverted Gentiles, kings, and the people of Israel, but Paul argued that the fruit of his ministry within their church community, should provide sufficient evidence for the legitimacy of his apostolic claims.
And while teaching a Gentile about the Lord Jesus, Paul's Jewish critics could easily accuse him of despising the Old Testament or even of committing blasphemy - but his motive was to draw whomever he could into the way of truth by meeting them at their particular point of understanding and need.
He was one of the company who went in and out among Christ's disciples from the beginning, and readily responded to the Lord's call to, follow Me.He heard the gracious words that Jesus spoke, and saw despised lepers healed.
He also looked-on during the arrest of Jesus, and denied Him three terrible times during Christ's illegal and unlawful trial.Peter was also able to testify about the personal visit he received from the risen Lord Jesus, and was deeply humbled to receive Christ's command to, feed my sheep, ...three times.
And Peter was one of Christ's inner circle who witnessed the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah of Israel and Son of the most high God, on that glorious Mount of Transfiguration.Early in his second letter, which was addressed to other believers in the faith, he called to mind that wonderful day when Jesus was transfigured before his eyes – a short while before the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, and rose again as the sacrifice for man's sin.Jesus received great honour and glory from God the Father, Peter recalls, with appropriate humility and awestruck wonder.
Peter must have been implored many times to recount those precious moments to these other saints, who also worshiped the Lord in spirit and in truth.The reverential fear of the Lord Jesus Christ is very evident in this verse, and Peter calls each one of us to be holy for the Lord our God is holy.
May we honour and reverence Him in all we do, for Jesus Christ is God’s dearly beloved Son: In Whom I am well-pleased.
But his authority is limited in both power and duration and his dominion over the earth will one day be returned to one, unique Man - the God-Man, Christ Jesus.
One day, dominion over the earth will be returned to the Man, Christ Jesus, our Kinsman-Redeemer and Lord... and He will be authorised to rule and reign over the earth - until ALL things are put in dominion under His feet.
One day, the authority that was wrenched from the hands of fallen Adam, by this evil being, will be returned into the nail-pierced hands of the second Adam - the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the rightful King over all the earth, for His redeeming blood paid the purchase price for lost humanity, and in His goodness and grace, He has appointed all who believe in His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, to rule and reign with Him in His coming kingdom.
As with any historian, Luke sets out to use all the available source material and eyewitness accounts of all that the Lord Jesus began to do and to teach during His earthly life.
And so in his narrative to Theophilus, Luke states very clearly that he has carefully investigated everything to do with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and written it down meticulously and in sequential order.
The salvation message of Luke's Gospel is: Good tidings of great joy to all people, and the core content of Luke's Gospel is that Jesus Christ has come to seek and to save that which was lost, both Jew and Gentile, male and female, young and old, rich and poor.
Let us hold fast to that which you have, knowing that the Lord Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that in Him we have forgiveness of sins and life everlasting, to His praise and glory.
Paul met the Lord Jesus at the point of his salvation, just as every sinner who comes to Christ meets and trusts in Him as Saviour when they are born from above.
It is indeed His will that none would perish, and every day many more people are being saved as they put their trust in Jesus.
Indeed, some are openly mocking those who are eagerly awaiting the coming of the Lord Jesus and Peter talks about these people: Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?
The Bible tells us that Jesus is returning.
The scornful scoffers and deriding mockers that belie the fast approaching Day of the Lord, are unaware that every passing moment is not slackness or disinterest on God's part, nor is God's acceptance or indifference towards man's sin, but just another expression of His long-suffering grace and His unwillingness that any should perish, but that all should turn from their sin to Jesus as the substitute offering for their sins and their glorious Saviour.
They were slandered and ridiculed, and they were hated and abused for the sake of Jesus Christ.
He urges us to remember the wonderful joy in the Lord that is ours, by trusting Jesus Christ as Saviour.
In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus Himself teaches: Blessed are those which are persecuted for righteousness sake, while in Luke He adds: Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
But now he was having to go through more excruciating birth-pains as he sought to bring them into spiritual maturity, becoming transformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the final moments before being handed over to be crucified, the Lord Jesus was found earnestly praying to His Father about His forthcoming betrayal and crucifixion.
Jesus had called His weary disciples to be earnest in prayer so that they would not fall into temptation.
And as the appointed time for the work of redemption drew ever closer, the Lord Jesus is found on His face beseeching the Father: If you are willing, remove this cup from Me... nevertheless, He submissively continues, not My will, but Yours, be done.
Only the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, where the floodgates of God's wrath were to be poured out on His innocent Son, could satisfy the righteous requirement of a holy God.
Only a believer who is being washed in the water of the Word, pressing on for their upward call in Christ Jesus, and maturing in their faith, can truly be called a disciple of Jesus.
And as we walk in Him, may the natural overflow be a desire to tell those we meet of the wonderful love of Christ Jesus and the salvation found in believing in Him.
If he delays there is a reason, and any delay pours an additional stream of grace into a Christ-rejecting sinful world, enabling sinners to turn to Christ for salvation, allowing the prodigal son to return to the Father's embrace, permitting the saint to grow in grace and a knowledge of his lovely Lord Jesus, for everything that God does is VERY GOOD.
It is to maintain an unswerving assurance that the promises of God are all 'Yes' and 'Amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let us hold fast to the joy that is set before us and watch and wait for that Blessed Hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Having exposed their worldly ways which did not honour the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul wanted to remind these born-again saints that their disorderly behaviour and incessant bickering was dishonouring to the Lord and contradictory to His ways.
They were not a reflection of Christ Jesus, their Lord.
They appeared to have forgotten that they, (like us) are positioned in Christ, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, clothed in Christ's righteousness, and have become part of a new and perfected creation - where Jesus is the Head and we are all members of His Body.
To call on the name of the Lord is an acknowledgement of the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
May we who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus always acknowledge that He is the one and only true God, and that His eternal Son was born into the human race to live a perfect life and to die a sacrificial death so that whosever believe in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.
Too many believers today are seeking to gratify their carnal lusts and excite their flesh, their feelings, and their emotions with sights and signs, miracles, wonders, and worldly 'hip' and 'hype' at the expense of true, spiritual satisfaction, which alone comes from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting Him as Saviour and Lord.
And so today as then, men labour for the bread which perishes in preference for the life-given Bread of life which is found only in the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord.
It was God alone Who gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness, and it is God alone Who has given us the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ to be our true and living Bread.
Indeed, it is not the sacrificial acts of a man or woman who desires to be pleasing to the Lord that delights His heart, but the one that walks in spirit and truth, the one that dies to the self-life and lives to Christ, the one that looks to Jesus, the one that abides in Christ, the one that can say: Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.
The Angel of the Lord appears many times in the Old Testament and His unique characteristics identify Him as the Pre-existent Christ Who walked on earth before His incarnation, Who visited men before He was born into the world as the babe of Bethlehem, and Who lived his life as the Man Christ Jesus; the sinless Son of a human mother and eternal Son of the Almighty God.
Despite the many appearances of the Angel of the Lord in Old Testament times, He never appears in the New, after the incarnation of Christ, and we who have been born-again into the family of God, have no need for a visitation from the Angel of the Lord, because He was born into the world as Jesus Christ and because we have His Holy Spirit dwelling within, as our ever-present guard and guide.
The opposition to Jesus Christ increased over the years, but the imprisonment of John the Baptist seemed to be a turning point in His ministry: He who has ears to hear, let him hear, were words of warning that were spoken at this time, and soon the prophecy of Isaiah would be fulfilled, when Jesus started to teach His disciples in parables: That having eyes they do not see and having ears they will not hear.
John had been sent to prepare the way of the Lord, and Jesus had come to fulfil His role as Israel's Messiah-King.
Old Testament Scripture pointed toward this very moment, but violent men attacked the message and the messenger, and Jesus had to pronounce judgement on this unbelieving generation and denounce the cities that rejected the Word of the Lord.
Jesus had only been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but this was the point in His ministry when He would start to turn His attention toward the nation that would bring forth the fruit of righteousness.
This was the crossroads when Jesus knew Israel must be set aside for a season.
This was the watershed moment when the Lord Jesus started to prepare His disciples for the post-Cross Church dispensation.
This was at this critical moment in Christ's ministry when Jesus offered the most beautiful prayer of thanksgiving to His Father, the Lord of heaven and earth.
The man who maintains an unshakable trust in God's Word, in spite of life's circumstances, and when human logic screams the opposite, gives honour and glory to our Father in heaven, and will prove to be praiseworthy and honourable when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.
The incredible picture that Abraham painted as he obeyed God's command to offer up his only son, was one that would take place hundreds of years later when Jesus, the only Son of the Father, would walk to the mountain upon which He was to be sacrificed.
And Jesus was nailed to that cross as the sacrificial offering for the sin of the world.
There are many such parallels that can be identified between the offering of Isaac by his father Abraham and the sacrificial offering of the Lord Jesus Christ by His Heavenly Father, Who loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son to be man's Kinsman Redeemer and the sacrifice for sin.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is only by His gift of grace that we are forgiven of our sin and declared righteous before God, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
It is by the amazing grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that we are not eternally condemned and bound for the lake of fire.
By grace we have an inheritance kept for us in heaven, and through His gift of grace, we have God's multifaceted peace - peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and the peace of God to guard our heart.
It is significant that whenever Paul writes this meaningful salutation in His epistles, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, it is always Grace that is the leading blessing, while Peace is the privilege that follows in its wake.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, has become a familiar and well-loved greeting, through the letters of Paul, but I doubt that in time or in eternity we will gain a full depth of understanding of what the all-embracing grace of God and the supernatural peace of God truly means.
But in the words of the apostle Peter, May grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.
While Psalm 69 is not specifically identified as a messianic psalm, there is much in it that causes scholars to see indirect or incidental links to Jesus.
The same all-engrossing fervour that David had for the house of God, is clearly exhibited in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ Who, on two occasions, zealously cleansed the Temple - once at the start of His ministry and once during the days immediately before He walked to the Cross.
Each Gospel relates how Jesus found people in the Temple who were selling oxen and sheep and doves at inflated prices and piling up their profits at their money tables.
Luke records how righteous anger welled up in the heart of Lord Jesus, Who made a scourge of cords and drove these mercenaries out of the temple, together with their sheep, oxen, doves, and filthy lucre.
We read how Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers, scattering their coins in many directions and that He commanded them to get out of His Father's House, calling this hive of mercenaries a den of thieves.
Once again we see a real messianic link to this verse in Psalms... whereas in John Chapter 8, we read of the shocking contempt the Jewish leaders had for the Lord Jesus.
And should not we also remember that because Jesus, like David, was hated without a cause, we will also face rejection and reproach, persecution and pain for His sake?
He skilfully introduces people and prophecies in his writings, to show that they have their fulfilment in the Lord Jesus Christ, His ministry, and His mission.
As if to lay the foundation for his specific focus, Matthew begins his Gospel with the earthly genealogy of Jesus Christ... the descendent of the great king David and his son, King Solomon.
Matthew traces this genealogy up to Mary, the virgin whom the Lord chose to be Christ's earthly mother and her husband, Joseph - the legitimate, adoptive, earthly father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not knowing about the Lord Jesus but believing in His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection for the salvation of our soul that is necessary.
He is Jesus; the Word made flesh and God incarnate Who came to earth as the Sacrifice for sin and to give His life so that by faith in Him, we too might live.
Indeed, the Lord Jesus Himself told us that in this world we would have trials and tribulation, but He has overcome the world and we have also been promised that His grace is sufficient and that He will be with us in every problem and pain we may face in life.
God has promised that no adversary can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We can be sure that a sense of awe in our great God and a trusting reverence for the person and work of the Lord Jesus is a great protection from the fear of man and our concern over what they can do to us.
They discover that this life is a day by day journey, where sweet fellowship with the Father can be realised, and the lovely Lord Jesus becomes more real to them and so much more precious than on the day they first believed.
Trials may not be easy, but God is ultimately in control and He has promised that they will last but for a short season and are designed for a distinct and wonderful purpose, which will only become fully evident when the Lord Jesus returns for His Church.
In like manner, the faith of a Christian needs to be pure, unblemished, and perfect, and the trials of life are designed to purify our hearts, increase our dependence upon the Lord Jesus, deepen our love for our Saviour, enrich our spiritual lives, strengthen our hope in His many precious promises, and increase our faith in the Word of God.
Let us rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all things, even during the trials that come our way: Knowing that the trial of our faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
He reminds us of the eternal glories that are kept in heaven for all who are in Christ Jesus, and admonishes us against living our lives in the lust of the flesh, like the unsaved Gentiles who are slaves to sin and without God in the world.
Paul calls to our remembrance that now we are children of the light who are to live our lives as unto the Lord, in accordance with the truth that is in Christ Jesus.
And so we are called to live in spirit and truth with our Christian brethren, to walk in holiness all the days of our life, and to live godly in Christ Jesus.
Christians have been made the righteousness of God in Christ by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and during the Church age there is a remnant of Israel that are being saved as part of that Body of Christ.
And on that day, both those from the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, will be united as one nation under God to trust in their great Messiah-King: The LORD our righteousness, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
John loved his Lord Jesus so passionately, and longed that nothing would estrange these converts from the only path of righteousness, peace and joy.
But we are no different in this generation, when we place greater importance on the things of this world in preference to the rightful position in our own lives that the Lord Jesus demands from each of His blood-bought children.
We read the following words from a well-loved hymn: The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be, help me to tear it from Thy throne, and worship only Thee, which captures the essence of what comprises an idol in any age, for anything and everything, anyone and everyone that lays equal or greater claim to our affection for Jesus, is our own, personal idol.
With what frequency and urgency did the Lord Jesus entreat us to 'abide' in Him and to remain under the shadow of His wing?
Both the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul were acutely aware of the delight, the strength, the grace, and the peace, that flows from this blessed communion with our Saviour, when we rest and abide in Christ and He in us.
Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
Jude's challenge continues in verse 21 with the command to: Keep yourselves in the love of God and eagerly await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
How crucial to immerse ourselves in the Word of God and live godly in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But God in His grace, purposed in His heart to redeem His fallen creation (through the Person of Jesus Christ), to breathe His eternal life back into His New Creation in Christ (through faith in His sacrificial work on Calvary and glorious Resurrection), to reinstate His own image and likeness into the heart of man (reflecting the glory of the Lord by being transformed into His image, from glory to glory).
Jesus must reign until he has put all enemies under His feet and the last of man's enemy to be destroyed is DEATH.
But no companion is so cherished and no individual so dependable, as the precious Saviour of our soul, Jesus Christ, Who loves us with an everlasting love and gave His life so that we might live.
Therefore, my son, is Paul’s compelling command to this younger pastor, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
God has promised to supply sufficient strength for the tasks we are to undertake, not because of anything that we have done to deserve it, but through the unmerited and unconditional grace that has become our portion in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Not only is Timothy exhorted to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, but also to provide spiritual strength for those in His care – for in the following verse we read: And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
May we be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and empowered to help and encourage others whom God has placed in our lives – and may we all grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus, for His greater glory and eternal praise.
Jesus condensed this down into a simple, universally agreed concept 1) love for God and 2) love for one's neighbour - and although these commands were specifically given to Israel as part of God's covenant with His chosen people, there is much that is supremely relevant to the Christian Church today and much that lines up with the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which was given to the Church today, and we do well to examine them closely.
Every commandment, with the exception of the command relating to the Sabbath day, were instructions given to the Church in the New Testament epistles in connection with living a holy and godly Christian life in Christ Jesus which is honouring to the Lord.
Jesus explained, that out of people's hearts, come evil thoughts, which includes murder, while James cries out, you people desire something and yet do not have it, so you murder to get it.
No wonder that the Lord Jesus wept over His people and cried: How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!
Christians in this dispensation of grace are that very nation about whom Jesus spoke, who are to bring forth the fruit of righteousness.
Rightly dividing the Word of truth, aligning our mind with the mind of Christ, and praying into the will of the Father in the name and nature of the Lord Jesus, are all necessary conditions to be pleasing in His sight and thus to receive whatever we ask in His name.
The transient nature of God's creation stands in stark contrast with the self-existence of Deity and the eternality of Christ Jesus our Saviour.
The first heaven and first earth will one day grow old and wear out like a garment, but Christ Jesus, the eternal, living Word of God will remain for forever and ever, and we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
And in the ages that are to come, by grace through faith in Christ's sacrifice at Calvary, we who are His children, will show forth the immeasurable riches of God's grace in kindness toward us, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul often prayed for the comfort, encouragement, establishment, and strengthening of the Body of Christ, which is the Church, and in this great prayer, we find Paul's fervent intercession addressed equally to the Lord Jesus Christ and to God the Father.
But Paul's prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ and our Father in heaven, travels down the centuries and is as relevant to us today as it was in those early days of the Christian church.
May we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Word of God so that we too may be comforted and encouraged: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
Let us be those who comfort and strengthen others by our words and our works, as we draw our strength and hope from the Lord Jesus.
May we also be strengthened and established in every good work and word, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father in heaven.
The kingdom of God is that heavenly sphere of life where His children are willingly governed by the Holy Spirit in which righteousness reigns - and it refers to the Body of Christ, the Church of the Lord Jesus.
His is a throne that puts down the mighty from their seat and lifts up those that are humble and meek, and today there is a man in heaven called Jesus, Who is seated: At the right hand of the Majesty on high.
One day, as God has ordained, the Man, Christ Jesus, will be seated on His Great White Throne to judge the wicked and the dead.
Every year since their escape from Egypt, Jews and Jewish proselytes celebrated the Passover, which looked back to their salvation from Egyptian slavery and forward to the promised Messiah Whom John the Baptist identified as Jesus, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
It was on this day that the Lord Jesus directed two of His disciples to go and prepare the Upper Room for the Passover meal.
Earlier that week, Jesus had told his disciples that the feast of the Passover was near, when the Son of man would be betrayed and crucified. The two disciples did as Jesus had directed them and hastened to prepare the Upper Room for the annual feast.
Jesus had already told them He was eager to eat this Passover meal with them - before He suffered.
Little did they know the significance of that particular Passover when Jesus rose from supper, laid aside His garments, girded Himself with a towel, and began to wash His disciple's feet.
It was amidst all this uncertainty, bewilderment, confusion, and anguish, that the Lord Jesus took bread in His hands.
It was as they were eating the Passover in the Upper Room that Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples and said, Take and eat it; this is My body.
Jesus was the eternal Son of God Who has become the perfect Son of Man, for this is the blood of the covenant; Christ's blood which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.
While Matthew chapter 2 determines the historical timing for the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist (in the days of 'king Herod the Great'), chapter 3 pinpoints the start of John's witness, in preparation for the ministry and mission of Jesus the Messiah, the royal Son of David, the promised Seed of Abraham.
And both John and Jesus were obstructed by religious leaders, unjustly delivered over to their enemies, and had to face a violent and unjust death.
But Jesus came to His own people in His own land and was spurned.
A time is coming when Israel will finally fulfil their God-given mission to preach the gospel of the kingdom to all the world, and THEN Jesus will return in power and great glory to be crowned King of kings in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Through his royal line was born the Lord Jesus Christ - the Good Shepherd of the sheep.
Jesus came to shepherd His people Israel, and is universally identified as the Good Shepherd, Who gives His life for the sheep.
Jesus is that great Shepherd of the sheep, Who was raised from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant and is also identified as the Door of the sheep-fold.
The apostle Peter further identified Jesus as the Chief of all Shepherds.
Peter was the disciple who was instructed by Jesus to feed My sheep.
When JESUS, the Supreme Shepherd returns in the clouds to take us to be with Himself, they will receive a glorious crown, rewarding them for their faithful efforts, that will never fade away.
For three and a half years, the Lord Jesus was on a journey towards a pivotal point in the history of humanity when the world would be examined and found wanting.
This was the hour that Jesus would be glorified through the sacrificial offering of Himself on the Cross.
This was the point on the timeline of eternity when judgment would be made upon this world system, and the ruler of this world would be driven out. And as for Jesus, this was to be the occasion when He would be raised up on a sacrificial Cross by mankind and highly exalted by His Father in heaven, for Jesus declared, And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.
Six days before the final Passover, Martha of Bethany prepared a meal for Jesus at the house of Simon the leper.
Her brother, Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead was there, and Mary - their sister who had anointed the feet of Jesus with some very expensive oil of spikenard, was also present.
Jesus knew that the pivotal point in the history of the world had finally arrived.
Jesus knew that the singular intersection between time and eternity had arrived.
God's appointed time had arrived and the Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, as the crowds cried out in unison, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
They were anticipating a golden reign of peace and prosperity but ignored the need to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
But Jesus did not come as a man of war, riding on a white charger.
Jesus came as the Man of Peace preaching a message of peace: Peace with God for all who believe, and the peace of God to guard their hearts.
He came to claim His rightful place as the God-ordained, legitimate Ruler in Jerusalem, but throughout His ministry, Jesus was rejected and despised by His own people - the Jews.
Not only was Jesus the Son of David Who was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but He also came to be Saviour of the entire Gentile world.
The Lord Jesus knew that before He would wear the glorious crown as Israel's Messiah and before He was honoured as Saviour of the world, the price of sin had to be paid, and so judgment was decreed upon this wicked world when the ruler of this world would be stripped of his authority.
Jesus had to face death on the Cross alone for you and for me, because He is the only sacrifice for the sin of the world and the judgement of God was to fall on HIM instead of us.
Jude, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, identified himself as a slave of Christ and set about unmasking the prominent heretics of his day, by making comparisons with various Old Testament characters and using Jewish tradition to illustrate his message.
Let us pray for our leaders, support the weak, help the afflicted, love and serve all men, and let us read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Word of God, knowing that we are living in perilous times - and our only confidence and help lies in Jesus Christ, our Blessed Hope.
Little children come to Jesus with a heart that is open to receive the truth willingly, and are not seeking to engage in the philosophical debating that is so evident within the closed minds of those that have reached the age of maturity.
The disciples wanted to continue quizzing Jesus on this matter, for it was evident that they also did not understand how God viewed these important issues, and so they sought to block the approach of some little children who were being brought to see Jesus by their parents.
Jesus was indignant.
The severity of rebuke that Christ gave His disciples proved to be the thing that angered Jesus the most throughout His entire earthly ministry.
Jesus was enraged because the eager response from the children was being stifled.
He was demonstrating how important it is in the eyes of God to share the gospel of Christ with little children, for Jesus knows that the childlike heart is the one that responds naturally to the gospel if someone does not get in their way.
The eager and simple way that children come to Jesus is the way that we all should approach Him: helplessly; simply; trustingly; without personal merit; without any learned biases; with a open mind that is ready to accept the truth willingly and joyfully.
It is no surprise that we are all called to come to Jesus like a little child: For truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.
Jesus tells us: Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was glad, and yet Abraham was only given a fraction of the truth that God has graciously given to us, through His completed canon of Scripture.
It was GRACE that caused the Lord Jesus to stretch out His hands and be pierced for our transgressions, and it is only through His shed BLOOD that we have been brought near to the Father and have been given peace with God.
How he praised the Lord for the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit that was carried out in their lives, and how he encouraged the saints themselves to always give thanks to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's desire for their ongoing sanctification and maturity in the faith was so strong that He prayed often and continuously that the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father (Who loved us and gave us eternal encouragement by His grace), would encourage their hearts and strengthen their souls in every good work and word.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father Who continue to love us as well.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father Who have given us eternal comfort by grace through faith.
And it is the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father Who have given us a good hope by His grace, and in the world to come, life everlasting.
The final Passover Lamb had been offered through the Person and work of Christ, and His Resurrection from the dead fulfilled many of the prophetic writings that pointed to their Jesus as their Messiah-King.
Jesus was the perfect role model, Who told us, I am meek and humble of heart, and on a number of occasions, Paul instructed the Corinthians to pattern yourselves after me - as I imitate and follow Christ.
The Eastern Gate, opposite the Mount of Olives, is the gate through which the Lord Jesus - the Good Shepherd of the sheep - will enter, when He returns to earth at the end of the Great Tribulation, to set up His eternal kingdom on earth.
It should be a joy for every Christian to rejoice together in the simple message of salvation, by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.It was the uncomplicated message of redemption that Jude planned to share with fellow believers in Christ, when he started to pen his epistle.
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, stand as an example of the punishment of eternal fire that awaits those corrupt individuals who indulge in ungodly perversions and reject the Lord of glory.The destruction of these cities was an example of the fate of all unbelievers who willingly turn away from God, deny His grace, refuse the truth, and ignore His warnings of the judgement to come.Jude's warning of heresy, apostasy, and the subtle infiltration of the Church by false teachers who deceptively creep into churches, deny the Lord Who bought them, and peddle a false, watered-down, feel-good, unbiblical gospel, has morphed into an apology for what is termed 'Christendom' today.The serious warning that Jude shared in his little epistle, should be taken to heart by everyone that is sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus our Lord.The best way to recognise a false teaching is to know the truth.
Jesus Himself warned of false Christs and false prophets who would arise in the end times... showing false signs and lying wonders in order to lead others astray - even deceiving the elect of God.
And it was the eternal Spirit Who empowered the Lord Jesus throughout His earthly life, for during this time, the eternal Son of God set aside His glory.
Although He was eternal Deity and the second member of the Trinity, we see Jesus living His life as God intended man to live: in humble submission and complete obedience to His Father in heaven.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to pay the full and final price for the sin of the world, and those who choose to believe in the Him are not condemned, but become one with Christ: For there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus came to die for the sin of everyman, because all have sinned.
Jesus came to call all men to repentance, to turn from their sins and to turn back to God, for there are none righteous, not even one.
Jesus came to call ALL sinners to repentance and to pay the price for the sins of all who would believe in Him, but those that were righteous in their own eyes, due to their sanctimonious religious sacrifices and strict adherence to the letter of the Law and Jewish traditions, were impervious to Christ's entreaties.
Over and again, the Lord Jesus painted word-pictures through simple stories and inspired parables which had prophetic meaning for those that have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that desires understanding.
And Jesus also told the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son where yet again He contrasts the repentant sinner with the self-righteousness Pharisee.
This verse is further biblical clarification that eternal life is found only in Christ Jesus, for He is the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man.
Sinners who believe in the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ as their sin-substitute have the resurrected life of Christ within, and nothing can alter their eternal destiny.
The Lord Jesus was declared to be the Son of God at His baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended on Him and a voice from heaven was heard to say, This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.
And Jesus proved to be the Son of God at the Cross when, as Son of Man, He was lifted up at Calvary, having done all the things that the Father required which so glorified His Father in heaven.
Sometimes we are unaware of the abundant blessings that have become ours at the point of our salvation and sometimes it takes time to become aware of all the gifts of grace that have been bountifully bestowed upon us, in Christ Jesus.
One of the many important free gifts of God's grace to all believers is that we are justified, we are made right with God, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But accompanying this devastating knowledge is a glorious truth: that the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Isaiah also reiterates this: You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Paul is a teacher who builds up the theme of his teaching in a logical progression which has its ultimate focus on the face of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of grace.
John records Jesus' words: Apart from Me, you can do nothing, and Paul reiterates the supremacy of Christ in Colossians: He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Like Paul, we should all desire to be bond-servants of Jesus so that He alone is lifted up.
Jesus identifies this as the greatest of all the commandments given to Israel through Moses: Hear, O Israel!
But Jesus goes even further, for as well as loving the Lord with all our heart and soul and strength, He adds that we are to love the Lord our God with all our whole mind and intellect as well.
Only as our thoughts and desires are focussed on HIM will we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Although Job longed to have a Mediator, a Days-man between man and God Who could arbitrate and argue his cause, we can rejoice that Jesus is our Mediator and we have been declared righteous by faith in Him.
Jesus is our living Redeemer, and the righteousness with which we are clothed is a gift of God to men and women of faith - to those who trust in His name - to those who believe His WORD.
They knew Jesus came from God, but were so bound up with legalism and religiosity that their eyes were blinded to the truth that Jesus was God incarnate.
Now that you are well, Christ warned the man, do not sin anymore, in case something worse happens to you. In this case it was his sin that had caused this man's paralysis, and Jesus connected sin to his sickness.
Although Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, He was criticised and persecuted for breaking the Jewish Sabbath.
They labelled Jesus a blasphemer and sinner, for He made Himself to be equal with God, which infuriated the religious leaders of the day.
For this reason, the Jews sought all the more to kill Jesus, as John records. He not only broke their Sabbath, but it meant that He was calling God His own Father, which made Himself equal with God.
Jesus had every right to heal on the Sabbath Day and to forgive sin.
He is equal with the Father - for Jesus IS God.
But Jesus continued, Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
Jesus not only healed on the Sabbath, forgave sin, and called God His Father, but He also had the confidence, or audacity, to tell them that He had the words of eternal life within Himself!
However, Jesus told the truth, for the Lord Jesus Christ is God - He is the Way and He is Lord of Sabbath.
Jesus could do all that the Father does because the Father loves the Son and shows Him all the things the Father does!
Jesus is fully God and fully man, but He chose to set aside His heavenly glory and come to earth in the form of a man, and live the perfect life the Father wants ALL His people to live - a life totally dependent on HIM, a life that listens to His voice, a life that obeys His voice, a life that is walking in spirit and truth, a life that dies to self and lives for Him, a life that is willing to say not my will but Thine be done, so the Father may be revealed.
JESUS is the God-Man, Who came to earth to reconcile sinful man back to a holy God.
The NEW Life that Jesus promised to the narrow-minded religionists of His day, through faith in His name, is the eternal life that the Father gave to the Son, when He raised Him from the dead, to enable Him to give newness of Life to whomsoever He chooses - to those who believe on His name for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
The Lord Jesus was sent to earth to redeem a fallen race of sinners who were dead in trespasses and sin, and enslaved by Satan, sin, death, and hell.
And Jesus, Who is the Son of God and God, the Son came to rescue us from and restore us back into fellowship with Himself.
Jesus is the Creator of the universe Who was born into the human race to deliver us from Satan's demonic control and reclaim mankind's rightful authority over the world.
But Jesus was sent by God to rescue humanity and reclaim rightful authority over the world, from this illegitimate ruler.
No wonder Satan and his satanic world system hated the Lord Jesus when He came to earth as the promised Saviour... and as those who are His followers, we should not be surprised that the same enemy of God is the enemy of humanity who hates the race that was made in God's image - and especially the souls that have placed their eternal trust in His redeeming work on the Cross.
Jesus told us many times that we would be hated by the world and persecuted because we belonged to Him: You will be hated by everyone because of your association with Me, he told us in the Gospels, You will be hated by everyone because of My name.
In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus gave many examples of the world's reaction to those that are enslaved by evil, because the thoughts of their hearts are only evil continuously.
We need to remember that throughout the history of the world, prophets of God, men of faith, and those who follow the Truth of God's Word were insulted, persecuted, hated, and rejected - just as Jesus was insulted, persecuted, hated, rejected, and even killed.
Those who hate and reject us are doing so because they have rejected God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So let us not be surprised if the world hates us, but let us pray for those who are lost in their sin and at enmity with God and pray that they open their hearts to Jesus and acknowledge Him as their Saviour and Lord.
The world's view of great gain is connected with money, material possessions, power, and prestige, whilst godliness with contentment is considered as great gain by the apostle.Paul was very critical of the prosperity teachers of his day, and of anyone who advocated a religious dogma which did not agree with sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ, or teachings which conformed to godliness.He labelled them as conceited and as people who understand nothing... having a morbid interest in controversial questions and engaging in disputes about words.
As a nation, they had collectively violated His Word and rejected His offer of salvation by grace - through faith in Jesus Christ, their Messiah and King.
And yet, it is through Israel that all the families of the earth are blessed because Jesus, God's only begotten Son, is the promised Jewish Messiah Who was sent to save His people from their sin and Whose death, burial, and Resurrection paid the price for the sin of the world; for whosoever would believe on His name.
We who were born in trespasses and sins, were groping about in deep darkness before we trusted in Christ for salvation and became children of light in the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is that true and living light Who enlightens every person born in to the human race.
We however are God's adoptive children, because we have received the light of life in our hearts and trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
Therefore, we are to set our affection on things above and to walk in the light as He is in the light, for God Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Today, let us meditate on the example of Jesus and strive to live as He lived: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
If we can consider the obstacles of life to be opportunities that mature our faith and produce in us patient endurance, we will come to understand that God is using the trials of life to benefit our Christian character, and to help us grow more like the Lord Jesus.
Through a series of beautiful examples, Jesus points out that both the birds of the air and the flowers of the field neither fret for their food nor worry about their clothing, but are graciously cared for by the Lord... a poignant reminder that God's blood-bought children are infinitely more precious to Him than pretty flowers or feathered foul.
Don't fret about what you are going to eat or what you will drink, and don't be concerned for your body, as to what you will wear, were the comforting words of Jesus to His people.
So as we trust Him to fulfil His promise to provide for our needs, remembering that He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, let us take the words of Jesus to heart to seek HIM first, and make HIM our main focus, today and every day.
The supply of bread and fish satisfied the crowd's physical hunger and excited their carnal cravings, but they neglected to understand the deeper meaning of this miracle of Jesus.
But Jesus knew that they were following Him for the wrong reason.
Jesus warned them not to work for the bodily food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life which He alone could give them.
It must have saddened His heart when Jesus saw their proud, unbelieving attitude, especially when they asked Him to show them a sign that He was the Messiah as He claimed.
They argued that their forefathers had eaten heavenly manna for 40 years, so by comparison Jesus had only done one paltry little miracle with earthly food, not daily manna from heaven!
They wanted Jesus to carry out a similar spectacle to Moses, as proof of His Messianic claims: Give us this bread from heaven, they demanded: Give us that manna from above.
He who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. Jesus offered Himself to the people of Israel, but they turned Him down.
Jesus announced the most earth-shattering truth to these people, and they misunderstood, through unbelief.
This was the first of seven claims Jesus made about being the Bread of Life from heaven.
The Lord Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.
Jesus is the centre and circumference of life.
Every word uttered by our dear Lord Jesus is spirit and life to all who come to Him as Saviour.
All those who feed on Christ will live forever, for Jesus said to those who followed Him: Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
He thanked God for their work which was energised by faith, their service which was motivated by love, and their unwavering hope in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Paul constantly bore in mind the Thessalonians work of faith, their labour of love, and the steadfastness of hope they had in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The third virtue of the Thessalonians was the steadfastness of their future hope in the Lord Jesus. His many precious promises and the blessed expectation of His soon return was not founded on empty optimism or a fingers-crossed-wishful-thinking attitude.
May we follow in the footsteps of the Christians of Thessalonica whose good works were energised by faith, whose service was motivated by love, and who maintained an unwavering hope in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
May our labour of love become a living sacrifice that honours our Father in thought, word, and deed, and may the steadfastness of our hope in Christ Jesus our Lord, stimulate others to work the works of faith, to labour in love, and to remain steadfast in the blessed hope we have in the Lord Jesus, in the presence of our God and Father.
God gives everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, an opportunity to come to know Him as their Father, through the Word of truth and by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.There is only one way to be saved, and God Himself proclaimed this to the nations: I have sworn by Myself, was His sovereign challenge, the Word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back – that to Me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance.God in His grace, extended His hand of salvation to the Gentiles, if they would turn away from their idols of wood and stone, and trust in the Lord for the forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation.That same gracious hand of reconciliation continues to be extended today, to whosoever will hear, answer, and believe in the One Who paid the price for the sin of the world – the shed blood of a perfect sacrifice – Jesus Christ the righteous.In the light of New Testament revelation, we know: At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.The message of salvation is one of hope and blessing to those that believe, and one of condemnation and eternal separation from God for those that refuse to confess His name.May we be ready and willing to go into the world, whether at home or abroad, and tell the good news of salvation to the lost – to Jew and Gentile alike: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We should not be stuck in the elementary teachings of the Christian faith, but should be pressing on and reaching forward for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, on a daily basis.
We should be maturing in the faith, growing in grace, progressing in the sanctification process, and becoming increasingly like the Lord Jesus Himself as we keep Him as the focus of our heart - for He is the Head of the Church and we are His Body.
It is even being prepared to suffer persecution and death for the sake of Christ Jesus our Saviour, about which Paul is speaking.
In this Church age, salvation is ours by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our body is a temple in which dwells the Holy Spirit of God, and as individual believers and as the corporate Body of Christ, we are His ambassadors; representatives of Jesus Himself.
But every one of the hundreds of privileges that have become ours by faith in Christ contain a supernatural element, for we have been 'blessed with all spiritual blessings' because we are His workmanship and are one with Christ, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we would walk in them.
When we start to trust in anything other than the Lord Jesus, we are looking to the wrong source of supply and allowing the old sin nature to govern our lives, rather than the new life in Christ which we received at salvation.
Whether they be Jew or Gentile, male or female, young or old, rich or poor, for all have fallen short of God's glory and all have to be judged against God's perfect standard, which is Jesus Christ our Lord.
We who are saved by grace through faith in the shed blood of Christ Jesus, have no right to consider ourselves superior to unsaved humanity, for our heinous sin put Christ on the Cross, and the inestimable price of our sin was paid for at Calvary.
We were purchased by God, and the redemption price that was paid was the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Having heard of their fervent trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and their love for one another, we read that Paul prayed often for the Colossians Christians.
May we be those who sit at the feet of Jesus getting to know Him more intimately, day by day.
When you contemplate the intricacies of nature, the complexities of design, and the unique position that humanity has been granted in the entire structure of the universe, not to mention the great salvation that is ours through trusting Jesus Christ as Saviour, the question surely must come to mind: What is man that God is mindful of him and the son of man that the Creator of the universe cares for him?
Jesus became a Rock of offence and a Stone of stumbling to unbelieving Israel, which grieved the apostle Paul who longed that His fellow-countrymen would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved: Brethren, he wrote in this first verse of chapter 10: Brothers-in-Christ, my heart's desire and earnest prayer to God for my Jewish brothers, is for their salvation.
I wonder if Paul recalled his own furious rejection and vicious persecution of Christians in those early days of the Church, when Jesus spoke to him on that road to Damascus and asked him, Paul, Paul, why do you persecute Me?
The dear pleasure of Paul's heart and his deep spiritual burden was for Israel's salvation. His personal longing and pleading prayer was that God's chosen nation would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and place their collective trust in His sacrificial work for the forgiveness of their sins.
Unsaved Jews would not recognise Jesus as Messiah, while many who believed in Him could not accept that the rites and rituals required of Israel were not a requirement for the Church.
However, Jesus was the final sacrifice for their sins.
Let us pray for the day when the current blindness to the truth is lifted from Israel's eyes, and Jesus returns as their Messiah and King to set up His earthly kingdom as promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and His Seed, forever.
As we journey through life we should earnestly seek to develop these behaviours and attitudes, as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
In the early years of Christianity when the Church was very young, it was very difficult for many Jews, who had placed their trust in the Lord Jesus as God's and Israel's promised Messiah, not to lapse back into pre-Cross Judaism and the legalistic rituals of the scribes and Pharisees.
He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed.Jesus pronounced the fulfilment of this ancient prophecy from Isaiah, and the people there wondered at the gracious words that fell from His lips, yet they sought to slay Him for they could not accept the truth – but He passed through their midst, for His time had not yet arrived.Although Jesus was rejected in His hometown of Nazareth and an attempt was made to kill Him, He fulfilled this and many more astounding ancient prophecies, over the course of His life.The Spirit of God was indeed upon Him, for He submitted to the leading of the Spirit throughout His life, spoke only those things He heard from the Father, carried out His Father's will, and fulfilled every prophecy relating to His first advent.He did preach the good news of salvation to the poor, proclaiming freedom from sin, Satan, death, and hell – by faith in Him.
As maturing believers, we are to contemplate Jesus and consider what He has done for us.
We who have a heavenly calling are exhorted to set our thoughts upon the Lord Jesus because it is His name, His Person, and His sacrificial work that we confess in our hearts and proclaim with our mouths for the salvation of the soul.
Jesus is our great High Priest and the one we acknowledge by faith as our God and Saviour, and we are to pay attention to His life and His behaviour - for He was faithful to His Heavenly Father Who appointed Him to be our Kinsman-Redeemer.
There are many Old Testament people, like God's servant Moses, who can be identified as 'types' of Christ, and Moses was one such prototype of the Lord Jesus because he was faithful.
Jesus is far superior to Moses in every aspect of His Person and work, for He is the eternal Son of the Most High God.
But God in His grace drew a beautiful comparison between Moses, who was faithful to his calling, and the Lord Jesus Christ - for like Christ Moses was also faithful in all his house.
The Lord is indeed rich in goodness and grace, mercy and love, wisdom and knowledge and power, and in Christ, we too have been made rich in everything, for He has bestowed on us the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus our Saviour and, by faith, we have a rich reward that is kept for us in heaven.
We are the called of God, the chosen of God, the elect of God, and enriched by God's grace simply because we believe God's Word and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation.
We are set apart unto God and called into fellowship with His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let us endeavour to live our lives as unto Him, for we were bought with a price (the precious blood of the Lord Jesus), and have been called into the fellowship of His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
When we are quietly resting in His presence and secure in the hope that is set before us, the peace of God which passes understanding will flood the heart and soul of all who walk godly in Christ Jesus.
A heart that meditates on the glory of the Lord and lifts up the person of the Lord Jesus, is the one that exhibits an inner grace and beauty, for such a one is willingly being transformed into the likeness of the Christ, for out of the mouth come thoughts that are conceived in the heart.
David not only understood the need for an inner cleansing and purity on a day by day basis, where God Himself governs and sanctifies the thoughts of the heart and the words of the mouth, but he had come to an understanding that the Lord Jesus - the coming Messiah - the divine days-man of Job - and the coming Seed of the woman, was the strength of his life and the only Kinsman-Redeemer for his soul.
Christ’s triumphant victory over sin, death, Satan, and hell, becomes our triumphant victory too, and the filthy rags of our old life in Adam are replaced with the glorious garment of righteousness which are imputed to us because of our new life in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
The trump of God will sound and the voice of the archangel will be heard to shout, as the Body of Christ are summoned to their heavenly home: Thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, just as one offence resulted in condemnation for all men, so one glorious act of righteousness results in justification and life for all, for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as through one man's disobedience many people were made sinners, so also through one Man's obedience, many people will be made righteous: So thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Surely, our jubilant shout of triumphant thanksgiving and victory will resound throughout the eternal ages to come: Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because we are already justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This enables us to grow in grace, mature in our Christian life, and rejoice in the established hope we have in Jesus.
As we consider this truth and apply it in our lives, we know that the pressure, affliction, and hardship we may be called upon to face, will produce in us a patient and unswerving endurance, a proven character, and a hope that is rooted and grounded in our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
It causes them to fall from grace and places them back under the law of sin and death, rather than living in the freedom of 'the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus'.
Instead of promoting the freedom we have in Christ, legalism enslaves a soul which leads to defeat, and Paul needed to reinstate his God-given apostolic authority in the strongest possible terms, by stating: Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead.)
The gospel Paul preached was given to him directly from the Lord Jesus and those who disagreed with him opposed God Himself.
His unique ministry came from God the Father Who raised Jesus from the dead, and also from the risen, glorified Lord Jesus, Himself, Whom he met on the road to Damascus.
It empowers every man and woman of God to live a victorious life that honours the Lord Jesus and glorifies our Father in heaven.
The love about which the Bible speaks, is different from every other type of human love, and is uniquely imparted to the child of God from the indwelling Spirit of truth and love.The Lord Jesus laid down His life for His friends... and for His enemies.
It is dying to our own self-interest and letting the beauty and love of the Lord Jesus be seen in us – so that it flows out to others in our actions and attitude.Loving in word, is contrasted with loving in deed.
Salvation must rest on a genuine, bona fide heart-faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ Who was sent by the Father be the sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, Paul told the Philippian jailer - for God gave His only begotten Son into the world that whosoever believes on Him shall be saved.
They teach that to be saved one must take two specific steps 1st) believe the gospel of grace in the heart and 2nd) confess Jesus as Lord, with their mouth, before other people: Otherwise, they argue, you are not properly saved.
Although this passage is used to teach that publicly confessing that 'Jesus is Lord' is necessary for salvation... a systematic study of every passage on salvation (soteriology), clearly shows that public confession is not a requirement for salvation.
The Gospel of John describes various people who believed in their hearts for salvation... but they did not confess Jesus as Lord before men with their mouths 'for fear of the Jews' or 'for fear of being put out of the synagogue'.
Joseph of Arimathea and certain other secret disciples were saved by believing in Christ for salvation... but they did not openly confess Jesus as Lord before others - and their reticence was out of fear.
But this is NOT biblical, and again, a systematic study of salvation (soteriology), clearly shows that believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins is sufficient for salvation.
Our faith must be IN the person and work of Jesus Christ Whom God has sent and our confession must be TO the Lord our God and not before other men - as so many like to teach!
God alone knows if we truly believe in our heart that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third day, according to the Scripture.
And when a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ in their heart for the forgiveness of their sins - God knows and He saves.
And it is God ALONE to Whom we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord.
And when a sinner confesses with their mouth to God that he believes in the Person and Work of Christ and that 'Jesus is Lord', God is faithful and just to hear our confession and forgive us our sins - for God hears and He saves.
And it is with the mouth that we confess to our Heavenly Father that Jesus is Lord - which results in salvation - and all is done to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus told us that in this world we will suffer tribulation at the hand of our enemies and through the wiles of satanic forces in high places.
Although we know the identity of the Lamb: our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the identity of the 'man of sin' will remain unidentified until the Church is removed from the earth, at the end of this dispensation of grace.
And after the world has heard this message of repentance and salvation, amidst all the tumult they are going through during the 7 year Tribulation, the Lord Jesus will come from heaven, accompanied by the Church, to destroy this satanic one-world system.
It is the Church-age saints who are clothed in linen, white and clean, who follow the Lord Jesus on white horses.
No matter what man tries to do to scupper the plans and purposes of God, there is no created thing in heaven above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth, either visible or invisible, that can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus; and nothing can halt God's purposes from being finally and fully fulfilled.
We are so familiar with the glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, through which we who believe have received His resurrected life, that we often lose the poignancy of the event.
The brotherhood of believers became one Body, and Christ reconciled them to God through the Cross so that Jew and Gentile alike are justified through faith, and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise God for Jesus Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer.
At redemption we were positionally sanctified and set apart for Him, but throughout our life on earth we are in a process of being sanctified, for He who started a good work in us has promised to complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.
This beautifying process, which takes a lifetime to complete, is to transform us into the likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ and is being carried out by the washing of the water by the Word.
The whole sanctification process from initial salvation to final glorification, is to transform us into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ Who loved the Church so much that He gave His life for us.
God did this so that in the day of Christ Jesus, His Church (which is His Body) will be perfected: Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
How glorious to understand that we who are 'born again' are dead to sin, that the power of sin has been broken in our lives, and that the day is coming when our bodies will be made perfect, for we shall be with Christ Jesus our Lord and see Him as He is.
The dead in Christ shall rise first, and then those who are still alive and remain on earth shall be caught up together with all the Church age believers into the clouds, to meet the Lord Jesus in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord.
While God shows no favouritism between rich and poor, because salvation is a free gift of grace to whosoever will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, James does seem to imply that God extends special favour towards those that are poor, in respect of the riches of this world: Listen, my beloved brothers, he writes, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
God knows that those that trust Him and believe His Word are truly rich – for the outcome of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is forgiveness of sins, peace with God, a new life in Christ, the indwelling Comforter, joint-heirship in Christ's coming kingdom, and a glorious and eternal heavenly home, among a multitude of wonderful blessings that are showered on all who are rich in faith by trusting His Word.
As we consider the disciples of Christ's day and the multitudes of saints that have trusted in Jesus down through centuries of time, it is clear that not many mighty men and not many wealthy nobles become followers of Christ and heirs of the kingdom.
Most of those who put their faith in Jesus and trusted Him for salvation, were simple folk with few earthy possessions - and yet the testimony they leave behind is a wealth of faith in Christ because they loved Him and discovered His grace to be sufficient and His strength to be made perfect, as He lived in them and they abode in Him.
They may have escaped the impurity of the world with its many entanglements for a short time when they came into a knowledge of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, but they never came into a saving knowledge of Christ.
May we be ready and willing to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ and pray that through our ministry, some may be plucked from the brands into a saving faith in Jesus.
Apart from a small remnant who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Israel is still in unbelief.
In that day, Israel will know and believe and understand that Jesus Christ is Lord and that before Him there was no God formed and there will be none after Him.
We immediately see the Lord working through Daniel, whom He used to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar's troubling dream, while revealing the course that human history would take, from the days of the Babylonian Empire to the time Jesus will return to earth to destroy the kingdoms of this world and set up His prophesied Millennial kingdom, of peace, prosperity, and righteousness.
May we not allow the world to shape us into its mould, but stand firm in the faith, knowing that He has promised to strengthen us to the end, so that we will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To fulfil prophecy, Jesus came to redeem His people, Israel, preaching repentance of sin and the gospel of the Kingdom.
According to Scripture, Jesus had to offer salvation to His own people first, before He could shepherd the Gentiles into His heavenly sheepfold, and most of His earthly ministry and Messianic claims were directed towards His own people - the Jewish nation.
But they rejected their Messiah and His message, and there was a point when His ministry began to change and Jesus started teaching in parables.
However, it was during the final few weeks before His crucifixion that Jesus started preparing His disciples for His death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Day of Pentecost together with the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell the Church during a new dispensation - the dispensation of the Grace of God.
As the second member of the Triune Godhead, Jesus was the exact image and pure representation of His Heavenly Father, while being clothed in human flesh.
Jesus was the incarnate God.
Being the radiance of God's eternal glory and the exact representation of His Father's perfect essence, the Lord Jesus was the visible representation of the invisible God, and not only did He come to die for our sin but He also came to show us the perfect nature and pure attributes of His Father in heaven.
Christ Jesus came to reveal the character and essence of the Father to mankind, and He demonstrated to the world How God expects His children to live.
The spiritual unity that prevailed between the Lord Jesus and His Father was so magnificent and pure that He could legitimately claim, I and My Father are one, and, He who has seen Me has seen the Father.
Jesus declared that He was One with the Father and challenged His followers to believe in Him: For in ME are the words of eternal life, He claimed.
Throughout His entire ministry, Christ's words, deeds, actions, and attitude bore witness to the truth that Jesus was one with the Father, which is why He was filled with amazement when He heard His followers question the truth and ask Him to show us the Father.
He asked Philip, before explaining: The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Jesus was so in tune with His Father that they were united in thought and unified in purpose - Christ in the Father and the Father in Him.
Although He was fully God, the Lord Jesus lived His life demonstrating to humanity how God wants every spiritual man to live - indwelt, led, and guided by the Holy Spirit of God while at the same time abiding in unbroken fellowship with our Father in heaven - every moment of the day.
In His relationship with His Father, Jesus demonstrated the true meaning of abide in Me and I in you.
They failed to recognise and accept that Jesus is the visible representation of the invisible God - the Word made flesh Whose very life was a beautiful reflection of His Father in heaven.
May we so grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus that we die to ourselves and live for Christ.
Day by day, may we be so united in spirit and truth that we are being transformed in the likeness of the Lord Jesus so that the things that we do and the words that we speak are carried out because we abide in Christ and He in us.
Just as Jesus did not speak on His own initiative, but did so through the Father living within and working through Him, may we not speak in our own authority but joyfully submit to His perfect will in our lives.
Prayer develops in each of us, an attitude of heart and mind that delights in continuous communion with the Lord Jesus.
Prayers, intercession, supplications, petitions, and thanksgiving are to be made for all men, and we are urged to: Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Jesus was the perfect example of a Man of prayer, by which He maintained unbroken fellowship with His Heavenly Father, from Whom He received strength, comfort, and direction.
He also longed for others to grow in grace, mature in the faith, and develop their own close intercourse with the Lord Jesus – and so we discover many heartfelt prayers for the maturing of the saints throughout His writings.
He was the brother of James and a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he desired to write a letter of encouragement to those who love the Lord and are loved by the Father.
He wanted to rejoice in the great salvation which we have in Jesus, and rehearse the beautiful gospel of grace in the ears of his hearers.
Their object in infiltrating the Church of God was to pervert the grace of our God into an excuse for immorality, greed, fame, and fortune; the consequence of which was to disown the Lord Jesus Christ as their sovereign Saviour and eternal Lord.
These men by nature are ungodly men who reject God's offer of salvation, wilfully distort the grace of God, and choose to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus.
We read in John that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are not condemned but those who do not believe in the only begotten Son of God are condemned already, and this seems to be the state of these apostate teachers, about whom Jude is speaking.
Peter used the Hebrew Scriptures to attest to the truth that Jesus is God's Messiah and cited His glorious Resurrection as biblical proof, for it was impossible for Christ to be held captive by death, because death is inconsistent with deity, for within Himself is life-eternal.
Let us similarly tell all in our sphere of life: This same Jesus Who died on the Cross to pay the price for our sins, was raised up again by God, to which we too are witnesses, for we who were once dead in our sins have been made alive in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ freed us from the righteous demands of the law by nailing them to the Cross, permanently erasing the un-payable certificate of debt that we owe so that all who believe in Him are no longer under law but under grace.
Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf, not so that we could live lawless lives, but to enable us to obey the Lord in spirit and truth and live godly in Christ Jesus out of love for Him, and not because of slavish fear.
And we are called to watch, pray, resist the devil, and keep our eyes on Jesus, knowing that Satan is already a defeated enemy.
May we who are positionally sanctified in Christ, so submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we may also be practically sanctified as we mature in the faith, grow in grace, and come to know the Lord Jesus more and more with each passing day.
But what a shocking silence must have descended on each person when Jesus stunned them with the words: Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
May we experience the words of Jesus in our lives when he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive, as we follow in the footsteps of our heavenly Lord, the Servant King.
It was not to the religious hypocrites and proud Pharisees who scorned the Lord Jesus to Whom He offered His words of grace and consolation.
It was to a disparate little group of His faithful followers that the Lord Jesus offered these words of comfort and encouragement: Do not be afraid, little flock, He told the anxious little group who had already started to be persecuted for righteousness' sake: Fear not, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.
Christ's little band of disciples were the frightened little flock that He addressed, as contempt for Jesus and His disciples grew in intensity and fervour.
The crowd that followed Jesus were only concerned for their earthly provision and temporal needs, but Jesus would often use their limited outlook of the hypocritical Jews, to teach His disciples deeper truths that had a heavenly perspective and eternal consequences.
No condemnation now I dread;Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!Alive in Him, my living Head,And clothed in righteousness Divine,Bold I approach the eternal throne,And claim the crown, through Christ my own.Bold I approach the eternal throne,And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
2 Peter 2:22 is the final verse in a section that describes the devastation that occurs in the life of an unbeliever who escapes the pollution of the world when they come to an intellectual knowledge of the Lord Jesus through an apostate teacher, but are not brought to saving faith in Him because they are taught a counterfeit Christ and a fake gospel.
The travesty of such a scenario is that having come to a superficial knowledge of Jesus, they have no foundational truth and become discouraged with a teaching that cannot fulfil any spiritual needs and entangles them back into the world.
Although they heard about Jesus as a Person, they did not trust in Him as their Saviour. Sadly, they remain in their folly and return to their former ways.
Those who are truly born again, by faith in the Person and work of Jesus, are changed people.
God in His grace has reconciled those who believe in the Lord Jesus to Himself, and through Christ, we have been given this important ministry of reconciliation, so that the world may know that God is the Lord and Saviour of mankind.
Jesus came, so that the world might be reconciled back to their Father - and we are called to be His peacemakers.
Our initial salvation brings peace WITH God but during our walk of faith through the journey of life, we can enjoy the peace OF God - God's continuous, divine peace in our hearts, Let not your heart be troubled, Jesus told his confused disciples just before He was to walk to the cross, Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.
And may we become ambassadors of God's peace in a world at war, through our ministry of reconciliation - through Him Who is our one and only mediator between God and man - Jesus Christ our Lord.
Eve knew her Seed would crush the serpent's head and Abraham looked for a city, whose Builder and Maker was God.Israel were promised a land and a kingdom of peace and prosperity, with a descendant of king David sitting on the royal throne – and the Lord Jesus was sent to earth at God's appointed time, to take up His position as King of Israel and Saviour of the world.Repent Israel, for the kingdom of God is at hand, was the cry of John the Baptist, but Israel rejected the kingdom and their King – and they crucified their Messiah.
They cried with a loud voice, We will not have this Man to rule over us, and so the kingdom was set aside for a season and Jesus, the Crown-Prince of heavenly glory, returned to His Father's throne until a future time when He would be accepted by His people, seated on the throne of David, and crowned as their eternal King, Sovereign Lord, and promised Messiah.Today, the kingdom has been postponed and the Prince of Peace continues to be Israel's 'King-in-Waiting'.
Today, Jesus is seated on the throne of His Father, until that time when the very nation that rejected Him will cry out with one voice for Him to save them: Hosanna!
Jesus came as Prophet 2000 years ago, but they did not believe Him.
He came as King, but they did not crown Him.Today, the Lord Jesus is functioning as our great High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.
The kingly Lion of the tribe of Judah is also God's great High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.Jesus did not become a High Priest based on a legality concerning physical descent – like Israel's priestly inherited line.
Jesus became High Priest based on the power of an indestructible life.
Jesus, the God-Man, became the Mediator of a New and better Covenant because He gave His life as the ransom price for the sin of the world and was raised to life – based on the power of an inextinguishable life.Jesus was fully God and fully Man.
Mark gives additional insight into Mary and her deep love for the Lord, for it was Mary Magdalene from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons.
There are many blasphemous books that have been written and false teachings that have circulated, regarding Mary Magdalene's love for Jesus and His deep love for her.
He records that she mistook Jesus for the gardener until He spoke one word of intense comfort to her - 'MARY!'
The reason that Mary was unable to touch the Lord Jesus, is explained in Exodus and Numbers.
Jesus was not only the High Priest of God but also that 'Wave Offering' which the Law required.
Jesus was the First-fruit of all who will one day rise from the dead into newness of life... and He had to present Himself to the Father in heaven before anyone else could partake of Him.
No-one could touch the Lord Jesus Christ until He had presented Himself before His Father in heaven.
Mary was beautifully saved by grace through believing that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel and she was rewarded at the empty tomb early on that first day of the week, when He appeared to her first, lovingly addressing her by name, and giving her the highly honourable job of telling His disciples that He had risen from the dead!
The prophets of old foretold of Christ's death and Resurrection, and Jesus Himself also predicts in a number of places that He would die and rise-again from the dead.
The Lord Jesus was not talking about the temple that had been made with man's hands, for heaven is God's throne, the earth is His footstool, and God is not confined by man's limited imagination.
Jesus was the eternal Son of God Who had come to earth as a man; the perfect, sinless Son of Man.
Jesus had come to offer His life as a purchase price for the sin of the whole world to give His life willingly as a ransom for many.
Jesus had a unique relationship with His Heavenly Father, for He was the eternal Son Who became a Member of the human race, but He also had a unique relationship with humanity, for He was fully Man and yet fully God.
This hypostatic union of eternal deity with perfect humanity is found in one Person alone, the Lord Jesus Christ Who became the Head of a new creation and the Author of eternal salvation to all who believe on His name.
Jesus was made perfect, and having been made perfect He became the source of eternal life to all who believe on His name.
The Lord Jesus had to be perfected in His office as the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.
Jesus was perfected by the things that He suffered so that by means of His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, He could become our perfect Saviour.
Multiple passages tell us that salvation is by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but here we read that He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey.
We read that the 'obedience of faith' is brought about by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
And Paul concludes His Roman epistle with these words: Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to the obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever.
It is hard to imagine the grief that must have flooded the questioning hearts of Christ's disciples when they started to face the reality that Jesus was going away.
He had clearly told them that He was leaving them and was going back to the Father in heaven and yet, in His loving-compassion, the Lord Jesus reminded them that He would send the Spirit of truth to guide them into all truth: And to disclose to them what is yet to come.
Many of those truths were yet to be revealed to the apostle Paul by the Lord Jesus Himself.
But Satan will never succeed, and God's perfect, unbreakable plan that the perfect Man, Christ Jesus, will rule and reign as God's appointed king over Israel and Saviour of the world, will happen in God's perfect timing and in God's perfect way.
To pray earnestly that they may grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us seek to follow the example of Paul who prayed earnestly and continuously for all his fellow believers, thanking God for their lives and praying that they may grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray and keep on praying that our brothers and sisters in Christ would be used mightily by God in the work of the gospel, to the glory of His name, so that He who started a good work in their lives would complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.
He is the rock upon which we stand, and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, so we fear no one, dread nothing, and trust in the Lord with all our being.
David's proclamation should be the hymn that fills the lips of all the saints of God for the Lord Jesus is the light of the world and in Him is life eternal, as well as safety and strength, purity and peace.
When we put the Lord Jesus into proper perspective and see Him for Who He truly is, we should neither fear man nor dread the unknown.
We are reminded that this world is not our home, and as sojourners in a foreign land, we will have to undergo the same sort of hostility the Lord Jesus endured, from sinners who opposed Him.
Jesus said: Peace I leave with you.
It is as we turn the eyes of our heart upon Jesus and fix the thoughts of our mind on Him that His peace, like a river, will flood our heart.
Let us never forget that we have a faithful Father Whose promises to His people are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord, and should cause our hearts to rejoice in the Lord always and be glad in Him for evermore.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the event that declared Him to be 'The Son of God'. He was the living One Who died, but rose again from the dead.
Jesus was the preeminent One.
Though fully God, Jesus was fully Man, but He was the sinless Man upon Whom death had no hold.
He sacrificed His life willingly to pay the price for the sin of the world and Jesus became the first Person to rise from the grave. Perishable put on His imperishable and mortal was clothed with His immortality.
It is as John begins to unfold the revelation of Jesus Christ, that we read the incredible truth: I am the Alpha and Omega... I am the First and the Last.
The vision John saw when he turned to see who spoke to him, was the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the Centre and Circumference of all we are, and the Genesis and Revelation of light and life, for Jesus is the living One Who was dead, but rose again and is alive forevermore.
Only Jesus the perfect Son of Man had blood in His veins that would one day be shed to pay the price for the sin of the world.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the glory the eternal Son shared with the everlasting Father before His incarnation remained His right after His Resurrection, for the Son of God Who died is God the Son Who rose from the dead.
When liberal thinkers and Christian cults refuse to acknowledge the deity of the Lord Jesus Who, as the second Person of the Trinity, is fully GOD, yet fully MAN, they destroy the one truth that can save their soul, a truth that cannot be compromised: Only a holy GOD is pure enough to pay the price for sin and break its deathly power.
But God is Spirit, and only a perfect MAN of flesh and blood is both able and worthy to become our Kinsman-Redeemer and pay the incredible price for the sin of the world by shedding His sinless blood for us, the Man Christ Jesus.
Only after His glorious Resurrection was Jesus able to say: I am the living One.
The Lord Jesus Christ holds in his hand two keys; the key of Death, and the key of Hell.
And when we believe in the death, burial, and Resurrection of Christ, for the forgiveness of sin, we are saved in body and soul, and at the same time we are born from above, receiving the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
But Jesus did rise from the dead and He announced: I AM THE LIVING ONE.
Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life for ALL who believe on Him.
Indeed, it is recorded that there were over 60 million slaves in Paul's day, and much attention was given, in Scripture, to the instruction and conduct of slaves, as well as their slave-masters.People often offered themselves as slaves when they fell on hard times, and Paul gave important instructions on how to carry out their duties as unto the Lord, even when their masters were unfair.Although he gave instructions on godly living as a slave, Paul also encouraged those in slavery to secure their freedom whenever possible: If you are able also to become free, rather do that, was His wise advice.Of particular importance, it is to be noted that nowhere in Scripture are members of Christ's Body instructed to engage in the abolishment of slavery or the correction of any other social injustices, in preference to our given ministry to the lost.Jesus said, The poor you will have with you always, and Paul could easily have said, slaves will continue to be with you (however distasteful this is) until Christ's return when He comes to set up His earthly kingdom of peace, prosperity, righteousness, and justice.Although we must certainly stand against the evils of our day, protect those that are weak, help those that are afflicted by social injustices, and show patience towards all men, the preeminent function of the Christian Church is to honour the Lord and tell sinners about Jesus – that He died to pay the price for our sin and rose again so that all who believe on Him will not perish, but have eternal life.We are told to go into all the world and preach the word of truth to a lost and dying humanity.
But his letter was designed to keep these believers focused on the truth, steadfast in their faith, and looking to Jesus.
For although Paul was absent from them in body, his spirit was with them and he was delighted to witness their spiritual discipline and the solid front they presented by their unshakable faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God gave the first witness of His Son's authenticity at His baptism when He spoke these beautiful words from heaven: This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord Jesus Christ and remained upon Him throughout His earthly ministry.
And He witnesses within our inner being that we are children of God and that we have received eternal life, by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
The Lord Jesus reminds us that without Him, we can do nothing.
Mary of Bethany is found on three occasions simply sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus, communing with her Saviour, listening to His Word, looking to Him, learning of Him, loving to be with Him, and pouring out her worship to Him.
Jesus told us all that one thing is necessary, and Mary chose the better part.
Work that we do for the Lord is good and profitable, but it must be combined with worshipping at His feet, looking to Jesus, listening to His Word, and seeking that deep and intimate communion with Him that Mary found as she sat at His feet and looked to her Saviour.
Our outstanding joy, eternal hope, and unassailable victory is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is through Christ Jesus our Lord that we are saved, and it is in Him that we are overwhelming winners and irrepressible victors.
Should we not rejoice in the Lord always, knowing that we can overwhelmingly conquer in all things through Christ Jesus Who loves us, strengthens us, and shed His lifeblood Himself for us?
This is a godly principle of faith – that when we abide in Christ during the inevitable disasters that flood our lives, faith increases, trust is amplified, hope is expanded, and our love of Jesus reaches even greater heights, as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of Him.Oh, such life victory has nothing to do with our own great strength, intellectual ability, or healthy bank balance, for of ourselves we would be overwhelmed by all these things rather than becoming a conqueror through Christ.
Both kings of Israel were human vessels whom God would use to forward His eternal plans and purposes for the human race, and both men are also seen as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The lives of both these kings were used by God to illustrate different aspects of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ Who, like David, would shepherd His people Israel and, like Solomon, will one day set up His eternal kingdom of peace and prosperity, to the praise of God and for the benefit of humankind.
How similar to the lowly life of Jesus Christ Himself Whose delight was to carry out the will of the Father, and to do God's perfect will.
Both the performances and the promises of God are the subject of David's high acclaim and great rejoicing in God's eternal splendour, which is further revealed in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the final revelation of the greatness of God, Whom to know is life eternal.
Without the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christian faith would be in vain, for the gospel dictates that Christ died, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures, and Paul started to name the many eye-witnesses who met with Jesus following His glorious Resurrection from the dead.
He reminded them that Jesus had appeared to over 500 brothers at one time and that many were still alive and living among them, although some had already 'fallen asleep'.
We read that all the apostles were eye-witnesses to His Resurrection, and Paul even included himself in that long list of believers who had seen the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, for we read: Last of all, He also appeared to me.
Cephas, who had been given the name 'Peter' by the Lord Jesus, was the first name on Paul's list of eye-witnesses of the Resurrection.
Peter was the disciple who was given the keys of the kingdom when Jesus met him on the shores of Galilee and instructed him, three times, to feed my sheep and feed my lambs.
Peter was the one who stood up on that day of Pentecost and declared to Israel, Jesus, the Nazarene, through Whom God did miracles, wonders, and signs was crucified by wicked men, but God raised Him up.
Peter reminded them that the Lord Jesus, Whom lawless people nailed to a cross and killed, was resurrected from the dead, ending the power and pain of death for all who would believe, because it was not possible for the eternal Son of God to be held by death: God has resurrected this Jesus, was Peter's clear testimony on that day of Pentecost, and we are all witnesses of this.
Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum and astounded the people with His gracious words and authoritative teaching, which even amazed the Jewish leaders.
During this energetic introduction to Christ's ministry, the drama intensified when a man in their synagogue, who had an unclean spirit, shouted out in the middle of the service: What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth?
None of Mark's readers could continue pleading ignorance about Christ's identity after this unexpected outburst so early in His ministry which stated clearly Who Jesus was.
The testimony this demon-possessed man was compelled to make during that Sabbath service, stated plainly Who Jesus was and where He was from.
He was Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God Who was feared by demons.
Jesus had already left His hometown of Nazareth, when threatened with death by the people who lived there.
Because Jesus is the incarnate Word and the Word of God is living and powerful.
The demon-possessed man initially identified the Lord with a derogatory label: Jesus of Nazareth.
for Jesus was the Son of God - GOD, the Son.
The demon also acknowledged the purpose for which Jesus came.
The destruction of sin and Satan, death and hell was to happen at the Cross, but first Jesus must reveal Himself as the authoritative Word of truth, the incarnate God, the Holy One of Israel Who came to save sinners from their sin.
This demonic being knew Who Jesus was.
Jesus came in the likeness of man, to redeem the descendants of Abraham, and ALL who believe on His name WILL be saved.
They take their eyes off Jesus and start to doubt God's Word.
Let us remember that Jesus said, I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life... I will never leave you nor forsake you... I go to prepare a place for you... I will return and take you to be with Me, that where I am, you may be also.
Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem caused the leaders of the Jews to become increasingly hostile towards Jesus.
They refused to admit that John the Baptist was a prophet from God, for to do so would cause them to acknowledge - by default, that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel.
These religious leaders knew exactly Who Jesus was, but they hated Him because He exposed their hypocrisy.
Jesus authenticated His Messianic claims through signs and wonders and addressed many of their questions by quoting Scripture but He also made use of parables to expose their sanctimonious hypocrisy.
It was a simple parable about a good landowner and His evil tenants that Jesus used to expose His critics and restate His own divine authority.
Jesus told how a generous vinedresser leased his vineyard to some tenant farmers, allowing them to work it during his lengthy absence.
Jesus explained to the Jewish leaders and those that were listening that although the greedy tenants thought that by killing the son and heir they would inherit the vineyard, they were mistaken and would be severely punished by the rightful owner.
The reaction of the Jewish leaders is very revealing for we read: The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people; for they understood that Jesus spoke this parable against them.
But their concern was heightened as they listened to the parable of the landowner knowing that Jesus had exposed their secret conspiracy to kill Him.
From that very hour, these evil men tried to capture the Lord Jesus secretly and silence Him permanently - because they feared that on hearing the interpretation of the parable, the people who had welcomed Him earlier with cries of Hosannah would realise that they were planning to kill Him.
Through His parable, Jesus exposed the real motive behind the Jewish leadership's hatred of Jesus - He laid bare their contempt for God and their unwillingness to be accountable to Him.
They considered that removing Jesus would maintain the 'status quo' to which they had become familiar...
However, His time had not yet come - for Jesus had an appointment with the Cross of Calvary where He would lay down His life for the sin of the whole world.
Jesus is the Stone of stumbling and Rock of offense - the Stone cut without hands Whom Daniel prophesied would crush His enemies; and all who challenge His authority and reject His sacrificial offering will be severely punished for their lack of belief - for He is the Son of God and God the Son.
The letters that are written by Paul and the epistles that other New Testament apostles penned, should thrill our hearts, for in them we gain exclusive information about our Heavenly Father and privileged access to Him through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the heavenly Man in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells and we are described as epistles of Christ whose function is to translate the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ into words and deeds to those with whom we come in contact.
His confidence was in the Lord Jesus and His life flowing in and through these men and women - who were able to be called epistles... written in the power of the Holy Spirit.
May we too have confidence that our lives are living epistles that bring glory to our Heavenly Father and our gracious Saviour, Jesus Christ.
We should not lower the godly standards that He expects from His children when we are in the company of those that do not believe, for although we are in the world, we are not part of the world; we are bought with a price, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have been made ministers of reconciliation.
And the sinless Lord Jesus, Who is God in the flesh, took upon Himself every sin we committed and every violation of God's perfect Law, together with the inherent sin we received from our forefathers and the inherited sin nature we received as part of Adam's fallen race.
Paul, the servant of Christ Jesus, who was called and set apart to proclaim the gospel of God to Jew and Gentile alike, was not ashamed to take the good news of the lowly carpenter Who died for the sin of the world and rose again the third day, to the sophisticated capital of the Roman empire.
It is through believing on the gospel of Christ (which is the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ alone), that we are saved.
But today, the gospel is to be preached to Jew and Gentile alike, for all have sinned, all fall short of the glory of God, and all need the gospel of Christ: Which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not to fear, for though we were dead in our sins and eternally separated from the Lord, He has redeemed us with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Let us not only read these words of comfort but let us meditate on them and wholeheartedly believe them, for the One Who created us in Christ Jesus has also said: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
The oil with which Mary anointed the head and feet of the Lord Jesus, not only filled the house with the lingering fragrance of sweet perfume but it flooded His heart with joy, for she had become a beloved friend that sat at His feet and bathed in His wonderful words of wisdom.
Let us be that friend that brings forth the sweet aroma of Jesus, as He lives in and through us.
Although the Lord Jesus is truly God, He is also fully Man Who has walked His own earthly pathway and understands the difficulties and dangers of living on this earth in a body of flesh and blood.
Although Christ Jesus is truly Man, He is also the eternal, omnipotent, all-knowing God Who will judge the world in righteousness, and we can confidently claim: The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
We see the Lord Jesus suffering and condemned by evil men.
The Lord Jesus is a fitting companion to accompany each one of us as we journey through the ups and downs of this fallen world, for He knows and understands all the circumstances that can cast a shadow across our Christian walk or cause us to become weary or distressed.
Although true Deity, the Lord Jesus is also fully man, and because He walked this earth before us, He is well-able to sympathise with all our weaknesses and He understands all the problems and pain that we will face in our individual lives.
He believes that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures.
Praise God that Jesus knows the way of the righteous.
Following this final prophesy in Malachi, we have the Gospel of Matthew which opens with: A record of the life of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
He was the prophet who pointed to Jesus as: The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. He was the one who witnessed the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descend, like a dove, on Christ as the Father declared, This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.
He was the one who would turn the heart of many back to the Lord, and Jesus identified him as the greatest of all men born of women, with the following statement: And if you are willing to accept it, John himself IS Elijah who was to come.
For Jews and Gentiles alike who believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, John the Baptist was Elijah the prophet Whom God sent to prepare the way of the Lord.
Today, the Lord Jesus Christ is seated on His Father's throne in heaven.
But a day is coming when the Lord Jesus will return to take up His ruling position on earth and establish His authority on the throne of His father, David, and the opening verse of Psalm 97 is anticipating that day when Christ returns to claim His rightful position as King of kings and Lord of lords.
He will rule the nations with a rod of iron, but He will rule in righteousness and peace, and there will be worldwide rejoicing when Jesus Christ returns to set up His Millennial Kingdom on earth.
So often the comforting statements of the Lord Jesus are designed to link a wonderful promise of God to deep concerns that may surface within the heart and mind of believers, as we journey through life, in an increasingly alien world.
As the shadow of the cross grew closer, Christ's little company of disciples became fearful of the antagonistic attitude of the religious leaders towards Jesus, which grew stronger as Calvary loomed ever closer.
But in His farewell discourse, Jesus took time to reassure His frightened little flock that His perfect peace would flood their heart and mind, if they would trust the words He had spoken to them and believe the things He had taught them.
People would be antagonistic towards them too, just as they were towards the Lord Jesus.
The comforting words of Jesus were given for a reason, to sustain us in times of doubt, to strengthen us in times of weakness, to support us in times of suffering, to light up this gloomy world in times of darkness and to raise us up when we falter and fall.
Before He was led to Pilate and crucified on a wooden cross, the Lord Jesus was able to make the most astounding claim.
Jesus not only overcame sin by living a sinless life, He overcame sin on behalf of ALL who would trust in His sacrificial offering on the cross.
Jesus not only overcame death when He rose from the dead, He overcame death on behalf of ALL who have been born from above and are clothed in His righteousness.
These words were spoken to warn of the many tribulations and trials that inevitably stalk the paths of all God's blood-bought children, and to encourage each child of God, knowing that Christ has won the victory on our account, so that no matter what may happen, we are safe in the arms of Jesus.
Tensions between the two groups increased so significantly that the religious, Jewish leaders who rejected their Messiah, took steps to suppress the testimony of God's grace by exterminating everyone who professed faith in Jesus of Nazareth - the King of the Jews.
The fulfilment of this promise was through Jesus Who was the promised Seed of Abraham about Whom the Scriptures spoke.
Jesus was the One through Whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.
May we exhibit the same steadfast trust in our God and Saviour - whose Word is true and Whose truth is fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And to placate the people and to fulfil the determinate will and counsel of God, Who loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son to die for the sin of the whole world, we see Jesus... crucified on a Roman cross between two thieves.
God continued for centuries to unveil His name, His character, and His attributes to His people, Israel, who were to discover the Lord to be their Banner, their Healer, their Peace, their Shepherd, their Rock, their Redeemer, and their King, but eventually God gave the greatest revelation of Himself through the Person and work of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus would continue to reveal to His people, Israel, and to His Church in this dispensation, that He is Who He is, and that He is everything we will ever need in this life and in the ages to come.
Jesus completed God's gracious revelation to mankind in many ways, but perhaps the most memorable way that Christ unveiled God's name, God's character, and God's attributes was when He said, I AM the good Shepherd; I AM the Vine; I AM the Door; I AM the Bread of Life; I AM the Resurrection; I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.
And the work that He wants to do in the lives of each of His children, is to transform us into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ - spirit, soul, and body.
We are to be deeply in love with our Lord Jesus in principle and in purpose, in thought, word, and deed, just as He was with His own Father when He walked the dusty roads of Israel, for He did only those things that He heard from His Father and His prayer was always, Your will be done so that You may be glorified.
And Jesus told us, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by Me.
No man can gain eternal life and enter heaven except through faith in Jesus.
In God's perfect economy the good deeds, generous acts, philanthropic behaviour, and kind conduct that fallen man is able to generate, falls far short of the glory and perfection of our holy God, for faith in Christ Jesus our Lord is the only Way. There is nothing we can do that could earn us a place in the heavenly realm.
But praise God that the verse continues with redemptive words of hope: But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How important to read to the end of the sentence: BUT the GIFT of God is eternal life THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. God loved His creation so dearly that in His grace, He gave His only begotten Son to be born into the human race so that He could become man's Saviour, through paying the price for humanities sin through the shedding of His lifeblood - through the sacrifice of His perfect, sinless life.
The gift of eternal life can ONLY come through JESUS CHRIST our Lord.
Salvation is given freely THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.
Forgiveness of sins and eternal life is God's free gift which comes to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, Paul told the Philippian jailer, while John tells us in his gospel: For God so love the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son so that all that BELIEVE ON HIM should not perish but have eternal life.
The payment for sin is death, but Jesus received the payment on behalf of every man when He died on Calvary's cruel Cross: For the wages of sin is death; BUT the free gift of God is eternal life, THROUGH BELIEVING ON JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.
He should instruct his sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, in the things of the Lord so they come to a saving faith in Christ, mature in the faith, and grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Psalm 118 is a very important Messianic psalm that points directly to God, Whose goodness and grace lasts forever, and it identifies JESUS as Israel's Messiah, Who has become their strength and stay.
And Jesus is our Redeemer as well.
This is a psalm that rejoices over our great salvation and points directly to the Lord Jesus as our mighty Deliverer.
This is a song that is attached to the very core of God's own heart, for it is referring to the scheduled day, when the Lord Jesus Christ will sit upon His heavenly-ordained throne, as David's rightful heir in the holy city of Jerusalem.
THIS is the day of Israel's redemption when His people cry out to the Lord Jesus, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord - SAVE us.
At His first coming Jesus came to His own people, but they rejected Him, and yet He was the royal Son of David - the Anointed of God.
They criticised Jesus because He was from Galilee.
An apostle is one who is sent; and in almost all of his epistles, Paul is very clear about the legitimacy of his calling, identifying himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Paul was personally called and commissioned by the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus, while journeying to Damascus.
The Lord Jesus is the One and Only hope of the world and the only way to gain salvatio.
We also look to the Lord Jesus as our blessed hope Who will return one day to take those who have trusted in His finished work at Calvary to be with Himself forever.
Jesus Christ is man's only hope and He is given the title 'Saviour', for He it was Who set aside His glory and was born into the very race that He created in His own image.
And Paul was called and commissioned to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus, Who is our hope.
The one who is prepared to give up the good for the very best will discover the inner joy of Jesus that is reserved for those that can say from their heart: The life that I now live in the flesh is not mine to live but Christ Who lives in me.
We often use the terms; justification, sanctification, and glorification to explain a believer's initial salvation (justification), ongoing maturity as we walk with the Lord in our lives on earth (sanctification), and the wonderful eternal state in heaven, when we see Jesus and will be like Him (glorification).
May we walk worthy of our calling and look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our salvation.
May we look forward to that day, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when our whole spirit and soul and body will be preserved complete and without blame, sanctified entirely by God Himself.
These words of Jesus flood our heart with encouragement and assurance that His return is imminent.
Jesus is coming back without warning; both at the Rapture (when he comes in the air for the Church), and at His return to earth at the end of the Tribulation (when he returns as King of kings to set up His Millennial kingdom).
Three times in the final section of Scripture, Jesus announces His return.
is our rapturous reply, Come, Lord Jesus.
No matter what difficulties pursue our path, whatever disappointments strew our steps, whatever trouble we may have to face, and no matter what trials we may have to endure, Jesus is assuredly returning soon to put an end to His children's struggles, to close the final pages of His servants' sufferings, and to bring His reward with Him.
He knew it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, and it was while on the witness stand that he summarised his encounter with the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, on the road to Damascus.
God was to use Paul to bring the good news of the gospel of grace to lost sinners, whose minds are blinded by the god of this world and whose eyes are closed to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ: To turn them from the dominion of Satan to God and tell them that through faith in the Lord Jesus they would receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ.
From that time on, we begin a lifelong process of progressive sanctification as we are changed from glory to glory, into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus.
We know Him as Jesus, the One True Mediator of a New and better Covenant.
Jesus was God’s Days-man for Whom Job longed, Who would come from the nation of Israel.
Jesus was the Seed of the woman Who was to crush the serpent’s head.
Yes, this verse was speaking about Jesus, God’s chosen Prophet Who would save His people from their sins – and He was God’s Sacrificial Lamb Who was slain from the foundation of the world.
And so throughout their discourse, we see the Lord Jesus slowly, patiently, tenderly, and truthfully addressing each of the issues in this woman's life.
But Jesus was no ordinary Man and no ordinary Prophet, for he was the Prophet of God about Whom Moses spoke.
I cannot imagine what astonished thrill and ecstatic wonder must have filled her heart when Jesus replied: I, Who speak to you, Am He. Indeed the word HE was not part of the original text.
I AM was the staggering reply she received as the Lord God of creation in the Person of Jesus Christ, when He revealed His identity to her on that day, as He sat by the side of a well, in Samaria.
Jesus came to earth as the best example of how man should live.
He was the perfect pattern, the matchless measure, and exact representation of ideal humanity, and Jesus lived His life the way that God had intended all men to live.
Jesus demonstrated throughout His earthly walk, a life that was well-pleasing to the Father, for He walked in spirit and truth depending on the guidance of the Spirit and entrusting His life into God's keeping, moment by moment.
But while being reviled Jesus did not retaliate, and while suffering He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to the One Who judges the heart.
Jesus suffered wrongfully at the hand of sinners as an example to us.
In this verse, Paul contrasts God's principles of servitude and slavery which results if we follow the lust of the flesh and engage in sinful pride and unrighteousness with the liberty and freedom that we can have if we choose to serve Christ Jesus - which enables us to live godly lives by rejecting the former and applying the latter.
Let us from this day forward be willing servants of Christ's righteousness so that we may grow in grace and increasingly gain greater knowledge of our Lord and Saviour - Jesus Christ.
God has set out His plan of the ages within the pages of Scripture, and God's purposes for those that trust in Jesus Christ as Saviour are steadfast and sure.
Hebrews states: It is impossible for God to lie, while the Lord Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, stated in Luke: Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
God is NOT a man that He should lie, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the faithful and true Witness Whose Word stands fast for ever.
Praise God that despite the instabilities and uncertainties of this world, and in spite of the faults and failings of men, the Word of the Lord is sure, His decrees are unalterable, and all His promises are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Soon, all prophetic voices that warned of judgement and called for repentance were stopped, and Israel was plunged into 400 silent years, before the arrival of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Every one of them 'ate of spiritual food' when manna fell from heaven and they ALL 'drank spiritual drink' as refreshing water gushed from the side of the Rock, which was identified as Jesus, the Rock of their salvation and Sustainer of their soul.
He is the Rock of our salvation and the Sustainer of our soul, and Jesus is with us every step of this journey through life.
So far it has lasted 2000 years, and this current dispensation will usher in 'the consummation of all things.' This Church Age will bring the world to the climatic end of the ages, the Day of the Lord and the return of the Lord Jesus to earth.
Following Christ's Resurrection, James, the half-brother of Jesus, believed the gospel of grace and became the leader of the Church in Jerusalem.
Little wonder that much of the epistle of James touches on areas of Christian living that would be close to the heart of this repentant man who identified as a bond-slave of Christ Jesus, the brother he once despised.
May the words of our mouth, the meditation of our hearts, the attitude of our soul, and the motive behind all we say and do, be honouring to Christ Jesus our Lord.
May we take to heart the wise warning of James - the bond-servant of Christ Jesus and put into practice the wisdom from the book of Proverbs which reminds us: In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise; the tongue of the righteous is choice silver but the heart of the wicked is worth little and the lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom.
However, from reading the book of Revelation, we discover that their faith will be severely tested, for about three quarters of the entire world's population will be slain during this period.Although there will be a global slaughter during this terrible time, a great multitude will be saved for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, because they did not worship the beast, nor his image, nor did they receive his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands.Though not part of the Church, these saints of God will be resurrected when the Antichrist is defeated and Christ returns to earth to take up His rightful position as Israel's King.
Just as there were false teachers, lying prophets, seducing spirits, and great deceptions of old, so Peter warned the recipients of his letter to expect the same, for such evil people will always abound: They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Lord Jesus Himself, Who bought them with His own precious blood.
The Word of the Lord Who sits in the heavens, will never fail, for the day is coming when He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man Christ Jesus, Whom God Himself has appointed.
But it is God in His grace Who reconciled the world back to Himself, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
But let us never forget that the enormous cost which was paid for our reconciliation with God, was the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
It was in the eternal council chambers of the Godhead that reconciliation for the fallen human race was conceived, and it was declared that the price to purchase that freedom was the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Let us never forget the enormous price that was paid in order for us to be reconciled back to God, and let us continue to boast about God through our Lord Jesus, for He alone is worthy of our honour and praise.
He was a much younger man than Paul, but in this letter the apostle graciously referred to him 'a fellow bondservant': Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, were Paul's opening words.
Both men loved the Lord Jesus, and both had devoted themselves to His service.
Their great salvation was secured at Calvary through faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus.
It was much later when he was incarcerated in a Roman prison, that Paul penned this well-loved letter: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.
These two bond-servants of Christ Jesus ministered together in the city and joyfully met up with a group of believers who trusted in Christ for salvation.
They were: The saints in Christ Jesus, in Philippi.
As believers, they were set apart by God and called 'saints' because of their faith in Christ Jesus.
Not only was his letter addressed to: All the saints in Christ Jesus, who lived in Philippi, but Paul made a special point: Including the overseers and deacons, in his introductory salutation.
The simple structure of the early Church is clearly defined in the opening verse of this letter to the Philippians, where saints, spiritual leaders, and temporal stewards of the Church, are all greeted by Paul and Timothy whose humble status as bond-servants of Jesus Christ, is also in view.
He demonstrated His love towards man in a multitude of ways, but the incarnation of His dearly beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the brightest and best signification of the love of God towards mankind.
How we glorify God for the supernatural love of the Father of our Lord Jesus, Who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
They will want to have their ears tickled, with a watered-down and compromised gospel, he continues, and they will accumulate for themselves teachers, who say the things they want to hear, by preaching a feel-good credo instead of teaching the plain truth of the gospel of grace, about sin and salvation and about Jesus Christ as the one and only way to be justified by God.
Jesus told us: You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
The truth of God is found in His Word and points us to Jesus, Who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; and the truth shall set us free.
Paul knew the critical importance of teaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Having been saved by grace through faith, he wanted them to grow in grace and reach spiritual maturity so that they may finally reach the fullest knowledge of the open secret, which is Jesus Christ Himself.
The spiritual life to which we are all called is not an easy path to tread, and Christ Himself warned us that in this world we will have tribulation, while Paul reminds us that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
Just as the Lord Jesus suffered without complaint for doing good on our behalf and for the glory of God, we too are called to suffer for righteousness' sake, which also glorifies our Father in heaven.
The Lord Jesus was a wonderful example of a Man who was perfect in thought and word, in action and attitude.
He was patient in tribulation, devoted in prayer, and full of grace and truth, and Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered.
Our position in Christ is not a license to sin, but a motivation to live godly in Christ Jesus, for in Him, and by Him, and through Him, we have all that is needful for life and godliness.
Let us seek to emulate our Lord Jesus in all things, by keeping our old sin nature nailed to the Cross and appropriating all that we have in our new life in Christ, for we have been called for this purpose: to suffer for Christ's sake Who left us an example that we should follow in His steps.
The Lord Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law on behalf of all who would trust in His name as Saviour, so there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.
And yet, Jesus called us to keep His commandments, why would this be?
We may no longer be under the curse of the Law but this does not exclude us from living godly in Christ Jesus.
We are no longer under the old covenant that was cut in stone but under the new covenant that was written in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
And when we abide in His love and walk in spirit and truth, we truly fulfil the new commandment that the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples, shortly before His death and Resurrection.
Jesus gave us a new and better covenant and He also gave us a new and better commandment that can only be carried out in spirit and truth.
A new commandment I give to you, were some of the last words that the apostles heard before His crucifixion: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. This new commandment to the Church is a foundational principle upon which Christianity is founded, and if we truly love the Lord Jesus, we will keep His commandments of love so that the life we now live in the flesh is not of us, but Christ living in us.
And God has recorded this incredible gift of grace to us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, in His Word.
However, in this Church dispensation, every person who trusts in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour is given this incomparable gift of the permanently indwelling Holy Spirit in their heart, as proof from God Himself that we live in Him and He in us.
Before His crucifixion, none of Christ's brothers believed His Messianic claims, but in his brief letter to all those who are called by God, loved of the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ, this sibling of our Lord does not proudly boast of His earthly relationship to Christ, but rather humbly designates himself: A slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.
In his desire to warn believers of the increasing numbers of false teachers and heresies that were bombarding the Church of his day, Jude wrote an epistle of encouragement and advice, but he begins with a beautiful greeting; a prayer that has travelled down the centuries to the Body of Christ, and an entreaty to God that mercy and peace and love be multiplied to all those who in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He also knew that giving them practical examples of how to live in these times, would be beneficial to them, and those around them: But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
In his desire to contend earnestly for the faith, Jude's prayer and pleading to the Father was that multiplied blessings be bestowed on all those who are in Christ Jesus.
He asked that an overflowing abundance of mercy, peace, and love be showered on all who trust in Jesus. He knew that wolves were prowling around seeking to scatter the little flock of God, and so he asked the Father for mercy to help in time of need and for an abundance of peace and love, in the midst of difficult times.
Let us unite to plead God's mercy and peace and love on all Who are in Christ Jesus.
He came as a light to lighten the Gentiles and He manifested the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
He is Jesus Who has been made to us: The power of God and the wisdom of God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption, and salvation, belong to Him.
This verse is in a passage that points to the coming wrath of God which is soon to be poured out on a Christ-rejecting sinful world, but this verse points beyond the Tribulation terrors, to the return of Christ Jesus as the Sun of Righteousness Who will arise with healing on His wings.
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for HE died to set us free.
When a Christian dies, their spirit and soul goes immediately to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven until the day He comes in the clouds to gather his saints to Himself.
As we keep the eyes of our heart upon Jesus, abide in the Lord moment by moment and align our mind to the mind of Christ, the less attractive and alluring the things of this world will become.
So may the God of peace Himself sanctify each of us entirely; and may our spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
He was to be a descendant of the great king David, as foretold by prophets of old, and He would bring salvation to His people, Israel.Zechariah quoted many Old Testament verses in his beautiful song of thanksgiving, which pointed to the Lord Jesus Who would bring salvation to Israel, deliverance from their enemies, and freedom from the hands of all who hated them.He rejoiced that God remembered His holy covenant with Israel and gave thanks that the Lord had not forgotten the oath which He swore to his forefather, Abraham, that He Himself would rescue His people from the hand of their enemies and that they would serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of their life.Zechariah proclaimed that the One to come would give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
We are to hold fast to the Word of God, which contains all that we need to live godly in Christ Jesus.
We are to keep the Word of God in our heart as the singular benchmark for truth, and to look to Jesus every moment of the day, for He is the Author and Finisher of our faith Who will one day come to take us to be with Himself.
We too need to stand fast in the Word of life and to grow in grace and in a knowledge of Jesus, as we press toward the mark for the prize of the high call of God in Christ Jesus.
May we not only run to win the prize for ourselves through godly living, but that we rejoice with all our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we have interacted in our Christian life, as together we watch for the any day return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The blood of innocent animals could only cover humanities sin until the perfect Lamb of God in the Person of the Lord Jesus came to earth to become that singular sacrifice Who alone was sufficient to cleanse us from all sin and clothe us in the righteousness of God, and we access His forgiveness of our sins by faith in Him.
But rather than being hailed as the sinless Son of God Who became Immanuel, God-in-the-flesh, to die on the Cross to save us from our sins, the Lord Jesus was oppressed and afflicted by those He came to save.
Jesus had to die if we were to live.
And so for your sake and for mine, the Lord Jesus Christ was led like a lamb to be slaughtered, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, Jesus did not open His mouth so that all who believe on Him by grace through faith in His death, burial, and Resurrection would not perish but have everlasting life.
Just as He used David's sling, Gideon's pots, Balaam's donkey, and the staff of Moses, God used the chains that bound Paul and his imprisonment in Rome as the most effective tool to spread the good news of the death and Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ to many Roman guards.
God is able to open prison doors as well as men's hearts when a man or woman is ready and willing to be a prisoner in chains for Jesus Christ and become a living sacrifice, ready and willing to witness to the truth of the gospel of God.
As believers, we are called to abide in Him, to rest in Him, to remain in Him, to live holy in Christ Jesus, to walk in spirit and truth, and not to be conformed to the fleshly ways of the world.
And as we abide in Him and live godly in Christ Jesus, the indwelling Holy Spirit abides in us and produces in us an abundance of spiritual fruit.
As we submit to the Holy Spirit in spirit and truth, He transforms us into the likeness of the Lord Jesus.
When God redeemed us through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, our eternal future was assured forever.
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.'
Let us seek to grow through humble obedience to His Word so that our life may grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us remember these words that Matthew wrote, and as the days get darker, let us shine the light of Jesus into a world that desperately needs His life-giving, Light of Life.
We have been bought with a price; the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and everything we say and all the choices we make should be done as unto the Lord and should not cause a conflict between brothers.
He reminds us of the warnings spoken beforehand by the Lord Jesus Himself and His apostles: That in the last days there will be mockers, following after their own, ungodly lusts.
He even warns that they will deny the Lord Jesus Who died for them, and bring swift destruction upon themselves.
Having just read of Christ's glorious Resurrection, been introduced to the women who sped to tell the apostles that Jesus is risen from the dead, and having read how Peter immediately rushed to the tomb and was amazed to see nothing but the linen cloth, the scene rapidly changes to two distraught men discussing the shocking events of Christ's death.
Then the Lord Jesus Himself comes alongside and starts to walk and talk with them on the way.
They started to tell him about Jesus the Nazarene Who was a prophet, mighty in deed and gracious in word, both in the sight of God and all the people.
They had believed Jesus to be the Messiah and trusted Him for their salvation, but they had expected deliverance to come through political success and military might.
Were they recalling the time that Jesus took His twelve disciples aside and told them that everything written in the prophets about the Son of Man would be accomplished?
Did they have a glimmer of hope when they told the stranger what Jesus had said on the way to Jerusalem, when He took the twelve disciples aside and told them that the Son of Man would be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, who would condemn Him to death and hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and that on the third day He would be raised-up from the grave? Maybe!
Did they start to recall some of the things the Lord Jesus had taught them, when the stranger who was walking with them started to open up the Scriptures to their understanding?
Was their hope increased when, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, their fellow-traveller started to explain many things concerning the Lord Jesus in all the holy Scriptures?
The fluctuating hope and teetering trust of the two disciples was shortly to be transformed into factual faith, when they invited Jesus to come into their home and sup with them.
These two disciples had placed their faith in the Lord Jesus for salvation, but they had not yet learned to live by faith; to walk in spirit and truth; to live their life by trusting God's Word and not relying on sight, circumstances, or their fluctuating feelings.
Should not our love for one another reflect that pure, selfless love that the Lord Jesus demonstrated toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us?
This elderly disciple of Jesus, who heard his Master declare, I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life, and saw Him stretch out His arms of love on the Cross, cannot contain his joy that some of the elect lady's children are walking in the truth of the gospel - in keeping with a command they had received from the Father from the beginning - to love one another.
During His ministry on earth, the Lord Jesus instructed His followers to love the Lord their God with all their heart, and soul, and mind, and strength: This is the first and great commandment, He reminded them, and the second is 'you shall love your neighbour as yourself.' And the entire truth of God's Word hangs upon the Law and the Prophets.
In hindsight, we understand that God used the epistles that Paul wrote during his imprisonment to give us vital truths to explain the beautiful revelation that Gentile believers are united into one body with Jewish believers (the Church) by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is not sufficient to believe that Jesus was simply a good man and a moral teacher whose life should be emulated, but to know that He is the eternal Son of God Who was born into His own creation as the perfect Son of Man.
It is not an intellectual assent as to His historical existence or the acceptance of His moral teachings that identify a believer, but whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of the living God.
The man or woman who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, is the one whose heart has turned to Christ for full and free salvation.
It is faith in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary that renders a man or woman saved, forgiven, and a citizen of heaven.
It is whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, who has the Holy Spirit of God living in them, and they in Him.
He is the one who has the love of God shed abroad in his heart and confesses Christ crucified, risen, ascended, and glorified; the one who trusts in the atoning Word of Jesus Christ in his heart, by faith with thanksgiving.
He is the one who has been made a new creation in Christ and is enabled to love others with the supernatural love of the Lord Jesus, for divine love is of God and everyone who loves with a Christ-like love is born of God and knows Him.
He is the one who confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; and God abides in him, and he in God.
In a few short verses, the writer to the Hebrews whisks us through a 'whistle-stop tour' of the infinite wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal glory of His Person.
I will not give My glory to another, is the unchangeable decree from the lips of Almighty God, and yet with equal authority He proclaims to the Lord Jesus Christ: Your throne O God is for ever and ever and the sceptre of Your kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness.
The LORD Jesus Christ is the incarnate Word of God through Whom all things were created and by Whom all things hold-fast together.
In the beginning, the LORD Jesus Christ laid the foundation of the earth.
And the LORD Jesus Christ was born to die as the sacrifice for humanity's sin so that all who believe on Him might be reborn from above and live with Him forever.
Our very life has been redeemed from the pit of the dead, for not only are we forgiven of our sins and the beneficiaries of eternal life, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but part of that free gift of grace was to redeem us from that pit of destruction that was prepared for the devil and his angels, and eternal separation from our heavenly King.
But all who trust in God's only begotten Son rejoice that we have been redeemed from the pit of death and destruction, and the only acceptable redemption price was the precious blood of our Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord.
It was by divine design that this Psalm so beautifully describes the Lord God as our great and caring Shepherd, for although it is often used as a great comfort at a time of death or bereavement, it is equally a Psalm that points to the Lord Jesus Christ as our sustenance and support in every season of our lives.
He is indeed your Shepherd, my Shepherd, and He is the Shepherd of all that love and trust Jesus as Saviour, for we are the sheep of His pasture and none can pluck us out of His hands.
Looking at the relationship of a human shepherd and his flock is a wonderful reminder of our relationship with Jesus.
It was by divine design that the Lord Jesus is so beautifully represented as a tender shepherd; the Good Shepherd Who gave His life for His sheep; the Great Shepherd Who loves His own with a deep compassion; the Chief Shepherd that rescues His scattered straying sheep and gives them life, eternal life, abundant life.
Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I need never be afraid, for Jesus is close beside me.
Our Christian life should reflect His humility and patient endurance and our life should blossom into godly fruitfulness, reflecting the love of God in the face of Christ Jesus our Lord.
He has given all who are born from above the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
It was prideful rebellion against the Lord that enslaved us to sin and entrapped us in the darkness of this world system, but we have been bought with a price; the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Because his first letter of correction was addressed to: God's Church at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called saints, we know that these men and women were justified.
But in this verse her misery and wretchedness prefigures the deep agonies of the Lord Jesus, whose rebellious people rejected His beauty, despised His Person, and refused His gracious offer of salvation.
He wrote it so that his next visit would not cause him continuing sorrow over their stunted, spiritual growth, but that their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ would be a cause of great rejoicing for Paul and great joy for these saints of God.
And of David, who is a beautiful type of Jesus - the true Shepherd of Israel - we read: He shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skilful hands.
Just before He ascended into heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ's instructed His disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised: They would all be baptised with the Holy Spirit, into the Body of Christ.
Just before His crucifixion, Jesus had promised that He would ask the Father to send the Spirit of Truth as a pledge and guarantee that all His promises were true, that He would abide with them forever, and guide them into all truth.
And each was rewarded for their obedience, when the Father sent the Spirit to permanently indwell all who would trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, the salvation of their soul, and life everlasting.
This meant that men of Israel from around the world would hear the wonderful works of God in their own language and be saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, their promised Messiah and almighty God.
It is only during the Messianic rule of the Lord Jesus, that wrongs will be righted and a righteous rule will be established throughout the world.
Prophets, priests, psalmists, and other holy men of God have prophesied of that coming time when this utopic peace will be established on earth and Jesus will be the supreme Ruler of the whole world.
Jesus Christ made the Law of no effect by giving His sinless life to pay the full price of all sin, which was the only payment that a holy God could accept.
Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ (the perfect Son of God and sinless Son of Man), could satisfy the righteous demands of God Who had decreed that the wages of sin is death.
Jesus died to pay that price for you, for me, and for all who would trust in Christ as Saviour, and in so doing, Jesus made the commands and demands of the Law of no effect for all who trust in Him.
Jesus died to pay the penalty of God's broken Law which is broken by every man: For all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself made of no effect the Law (which consisted of impossible commands, unachievable requirements, and unattainable rules and regulations) for all who would believe in Him.
Jesus paid the price of sin for all people, but Jesus made the Law of no effect for all who would believe on His name.
But there is no condemnation to those that believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour because His shed blood nullifies the condemnation of the Law for all who will trust in His name.
Only the death and Resurrection of Jesus is sufficient to pay the full and costly price for the sin of the whole world.
Christ did indeed die to pay the price for humanity's sin, but only those that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, experience His full and free forgiveness, forever.
In bygone days, the first line of a Psalm was often the title of that whole song, and the opening words of this poignantly prophetic Psalm is no exception, for these were the very words that the Lord Jesus Christ cried out from the Cross when He was made sin for your sins and for mine: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
Matthew's exposition of that unique day was that at three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice the very Psalm that was penned by David: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? and very likely the Lord Jesus recited every wonderful word and every agonizing verse of that astonishing Psalm, which details the shocking truth of what Christ had to bear on the Cross, to pay the required price for the sin of the world.
On that pivotal day in the history of the universe, Jesus had already sought forgiveness for those who knew not what they did.
He had already promised one dying thief that he would be with Him in paradise when he acknowledged Jesus as Lord, and He had also made gracious provision for His grieving mother who would be adopted into the family of His servant, John, before His Father turned away from the Son of His love, as the sin of the world was laid on His shoulders.
Jesus was no ordinary man.
At the darkest point in His life, Jesus set us a perfect example by calling to remembrance the goodness of His ever-faithful God by reciting the Scripture that met His deepest point of need.
He never has, for He willingly suffered all the wrath of God and punishment for sin that you and I deserve, when the Father placed your sin and mine upon the Lord Jesus.
At His first advent, the Lord Jesus came as the promised Messiah and was able to announce in the synagogue at Nazareth: Today is this prophecy fulfilled in your ears.
Today, only those who believe in Jesus are able to declare: He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation and hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
It was given by God to point them to Jesus; the Saviour Whose sinless life fulfilled the Law on behalf of all who would believe.
However, the seriousness of his next sentence cannot be overlooked, for if circumcision was required for salvation, the very reason he was being persecuted was void: For the stumbling block of the Cross would have been abolished. But NOTHING, including circumcision, can be added to Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, for we are saved through faith alone in Christ alone, working through love.
The birth of Jesus shows Him to be both true deity and fully man.
It was this point in time when God the eternal Son, became Jesus the perfect Man, Who took upon Himself a human nature.
When the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ was united with the divine nature of God the Son, He became Jesus, the God-Man.
This is the hypostatic union of the human personage of Jesus Christ with the divine Person of God the Son.
The mystery of all mysteries took place at the virgin conception of Christ and His birth at Bethlehem, when divinity and humanity united into the Person of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus was born to save His people from their sins and Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth, was given the divine office and responsibility of becoming the earthly, adoptive father to God's only begotten, heavenly Son.
And he was further instructed to give this anointed Son of God the name of Jesus, which is the name above all names.
He would be a little boy, Whose name was to be Jesus, and He was to save His people Israel, from their sins.
And you, Joseph, YOU shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. For centuries Jewish people had been looking for their promised Messiah.
Joseph was instructed to call His name JESUS, which means THE SALVATION of GOD.
The Lord suddenly appeared to this man in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, as the head of his family, was instructed to call this Child JESUS, God's Salvation, the name that is above every other name, for there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.
It was through the Child, that Joseph would care for, that our Salvation was accomplished, through the death of Jesus, Who redeemed us from our sins and transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His glorious light.
But our salvation means so much, for it embraces the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, Who sanctifies us and conforms us into the image of Jesus.
It lifts us up out of the miry clay and sets our feet forever on Jesus, Who is the Rock of our Salvation.
And 2000 years ago, a young man called Joseph the carpenter, was entrusted with the earthly parentage of Jesus, sent by God to save His people from their sins.
To watch the Son of God suffer so cruelly on the Cross, must have broken the heart of so many people who loved this holy Lamb of God Who had come to seek and to save that which was lost.We are told in Mark, that Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council who was also awaiting the kingdom of God, boldly went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus, which he wrapped in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb.
We also read in Luke, that certain women saw the place where the dead body of Jesus was laid, and for a time they lingered in agony before His burial chamber.All His followers were grief stricken to see Jesus dead and buried, and these grieving women followed and watched where they laid Him.
Luke explains that even the women who had come with Him out of Galilee, followed and saw the tomb, and how His body was placed.But strict Sabbath Day regulations prevented these heart-broken, Jewish women from visiting the tomb the following day, which was a Sabbath and so from Friday, through Saturday, and into Sunday, the stone-cold body of the Lord Jesus Christ lay in silence – and alone - in the borrowed tomb of a wealthy man.No doubt copious tears were shed and many hearts bitterly grieved, as these loyal ladies fulfilled the requirements of the Sabbath Day – for we read that they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.No doubt, they started preparing spices and perfumes to anoint His body, throughout that evening and into the night-time once the Sabbath was over.
Just as we have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, we have also been called into one hope of that calling - which is founded on the ONE Lord - Jesus Christ.
This particular verse reminds us there is ONE Lord... and this refers to the one Lord Jesus Christ, our God and our Saviour, for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
He has been offered the way to be saved: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Man has a choice: EITHER to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, OR not to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and not be saved.
But refusal to acknowledge their Creator does not nullify His existence, and rejecting His offer of salvation through unbelief does not nullify the faithfulness of God to keep His Word: that whosever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, will not perish but have everlasting life.
God Himself bore audible witness to the truth of Christ's Messianic role, as did our Lord's own life and ministry so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might have life in His name.
The person and work of Jesus was testified by God the Father and was validated by the prophesied Messianic signs, wonders, and miracles that He Himself carried out in His life and ministry and which continued into those early years of the fledgling Church.
The Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate, and His coming fulfilled many biblical prophecies.
The Lord Jesus not only came to fulfil the Law of Moses and the prophecies that related to His first coming, but He came to demonstrate in Person, what God desires from all His worshippers.
Although the Lord Jesus Christ was fully God, He showed us how to live our lives as God intended every man to live; in spirit and in truth.
As Jesus spoke to a lost woman at a well in Samaria near the beginning of His earthly ministry, He looked past the shadow of the Cross to that glorious day when the Church would be born.
From the beginning to the end of His life, the Man, Christ Jesus, was the perfect example of a worshipper.
Let us choose to imitate the Lord Jesus in how He lived so that we too may worship the Father in spirit and in truth to His praise and glory, as we submit to the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit and trust in Christ Jesus, our Strength and our Redeemer.
How blessed was the apostle John, who was the chosen witness to write of the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show His servant what was soon to happen.
God's promise to Abraham is equally pertinent for all God's children, for the faith of ALL who believe in God and the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, is credited to them as righteousness.
You who lie in the dust, will awake and shout for joy. Although Israel are God's chosen people, they are not all automatically saved. Only those who believe on God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent, will be redeemed.
She knew her brother would rise again in the resurrection on the last day and then Jesus made his startling claim, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
First: The Lord Jesus; the first-fruit from the dead: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
Let the grim realisation of the second death renew our hearts and minds to tell out to a lost and dying world the glorious plan of salvation in Jesus Christ: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
Jesus Himself told us that those who mourned and wept over their sin and the evil it causes, would be blessed.
May we cleanse our hands, purify our hearts, and mourn over sin and the devastation it causes in our life, and may we praise and thank our glorious Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who died on the Cross to pay the enormous price for our sin, so that by faith in Him we might be eternally forgiven and receive the promise of life everlasting.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, is a faithful and trustworthy saying.
Our Saviour had to be God AND Man, and Christ Jesus was God incarnate, He was God in the flesh.
YES indeed, it is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you WILL be saved.
For Christ Jesus DID came into the world.
And Christ Jesus DID die on the cross to save sinners.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save YOU, and He came into the world to save ME too.
Who would have known as they gazed on that tiny infant that; Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners?
And like ALL the trustworthy sayings in Scripture, it is worthy of our full acceptance, because it brings us to the foot of the cross and an important decision, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
When we consider the price Christ Jesus paid to come into this world and save us from our sin, when we reflect on the stain that sin has left on our heart and realise the forgiveness we have received by God's grace, through faith, surely we can do nothing other than conclude with Paul that of all sinners, I am the worse sinner of all. He saved us, not because of the righteous things we have done, but because of His great and wonderful mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
This is indeed, a noble and glorious truth that is deserving of full, total and praiseworthy acceptance and warrenting our eternal praise, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Unlike the rest of Christ's apostles who walked with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, Paul was called to be God's apostle to the Gentiles following the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Ascension into heaven.Because of Paul's unusual calling and unique ministry, there were many who criticised his teaching and challenged his authority, which is why he so vigorously defended his calling and frequently made reference to the direct revelation he received from the Lord.Here in first Corinthians, Paul found it necessary to severely admonish the believers in Corinth for their disgraceful conduct which discredited the Lord, tarnished their witness, and rendered them carnal Christians and spiritual infants.The unruly disunity, riotous behaviour, greedy indulgence, and disregard for the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ, was even displayed during the celebration of the Lord's Supper – which Paul had already taught was a time to reflect on the reality of Christ's sacrificial death, until His coming again.And so in this passage, Paul is preparing to criticise and correct the shocking behaviour of these carnally minded believers, by reminding them of his own unique calling and the direct revelation he received from the Lord, which had already been taught to them on an earlier occasion.He reminded them that he had been called personally by God, and delivered a specific message regarding the importance and seriousness of the Lord's Supper, which they were currently disregarding:For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, Paul reminded them, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and gave thanks, and broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is given for you – do this in remembrance of Me.'May we never forget the enormous price that was paid for our redemption, at the Cross.
Jesus Himself warned us that in this world we would have tribulation and Paul added that all who live godly lives will suffer persecution.
David came to understand that we are to rejoice in the Lord and in the power of His might, and that in everything by prayer and supplication we are to look to Jesus and make our requests known to the Lord.
One of the vital lessons of life we all must learn is that when God is given His rightful place in our lives, we too will be given the sufficient strength to live godly in Christ Jesus and will be enabled to rejoice in the Lord always and to sing praises to His holy name, even in our distresses and pain.
The Lord Jesus offered up His sinless life to His Heavenly Father as the full, final, and sufficient sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.
The Lord Jesus had fulfilled the righteous requirements of God's perfect Law in spirit and in truth, by living a sinless, blameless, holy life, walking in submission to the Holy Spirit and living in complete dependence upon God, day by day.
Today, the Son of Man is seated on His Father's throne in heavenly splendour, but the day is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ will return in the clouds astride a white horse, accompanied by thousands upon thousands of His saints, all dressed in fine linen, clean and white.
The day is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ will return as King of kings and Lord of lords.
This wonderful Second Coming is when Jesus Christ returns with the Church to defeat the Antichrist, overthrow evil, and then establish His thousand year reign upon earth.
The beautiful characteristics of divine love are seen being lived out in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and God's will is that all His children reflect the love of Christ in their heart and life.
Love endures all things by maintaining an uncomplaining attitude in every affliction and trial, tribulation and temptation, persecution and pain, whether it be for the sake of the saints or for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The foundational truth of Christ Jesus our Saviour, Who died to redeem mankind and reunite sinners with their Creator God, is that Christ Jesus is the Word made flesh.
Christ Jesus is the Almighty Creator of all things, for we read that by Him were all things created.
The foundational truth seen in this verse, is that the eternal God Who co-existed before creation began, exhibited His almighty power in and through the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Similarly, in the verses that follow we are reminded: The Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
And the wonderful truth is that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, and that His faithful to keep all His promises to us.
The character of the Lord Jesus and attributes of God are changeless: unalterable, immutable, indestructible, irrevocable, lasting, and one by one, the Word of God unveils the unchangeable nature of God and His faithfulness to His Word.
Jesus Himself told us that in this world, we will have tribulation.
While He was on earth Jesus was the Light of the world.
All that we do and all that we are, should reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus for a special purpose so that our Heavenly Father may be glorified through our lives.
We are entrusted to serve one other, forgiving one another, while reflecting the beautiful character of Jesus in all we do and say, for He is the Son of light.
We should be like the moon reflecting the glorious light of the sun, diverting attention away from ourselves onto the lovely person of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus gave an example of righteous anger in Matthew 21, where he turned over the table of the money-changers and those who were selling oxen, sheep, and doves in the Temple court.
Micah is speaking of the time when Jesus Christ will rule and reign as King of kings and Lord of the whole earth: He will judge between many peoples, during His coming millennial rule: He will render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
During the time of the judges, the people of Israel rejected God as their King and during His earthly ministry, they rejected Jesus as King.
But during Christ's coming reign of peace and prosperity, Jesus will sit on David's throne and rule the world in justice and in righteousness.
For only when Jesus judges between many peoples and renders decisions for mighty, distant nations, only THEN they will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Christian hope is centred on the never-failing Word of God and His many precious promises, which are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The hope we have in Christ will never disappoint nor put us to shame, no matter what we may be called upon to face, for God has poured His abundant and overflowing love into our hearts and that love remains sealed in there, until the day of Christ Jesus.
A unique and glorious blessing is given to the person who reads, hears, and puts into practice the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which is found in the last book of the Bible.
Revelation is the unveiling of the Lord Jesus - the revealing of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, which the Father gave to Him so that He, in turn, could tell His servants the amazing things which must shortly and speedily come to pass at the consummation of all things.
And Jesus sent it and communicated it through His angel to His bond-servant John - for our learning.
Revelation should be taught from pulpits and studied by the people of God because it is a tool God has given to His servants to fine tune our appreciation and understanding of the Person and Work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And while there is much information of the devastating events that will take place in during that terrible time of devastating disaster - it is a book that reveals the Lord Jesus Christ to those who find themselves facing God's wrath - and those in the Tribulation who also read, hear, and heed the words of this prophecy by calling on the name of the Lord will also be blessed - for they too will be saved.
They were divinely guided and followed a star that rose in the east – which would lead them to Jesus.Some suggest that they were descendants of wise men who had been taught, by Daniel the prophet, that 490 years would pass from the issuing of the decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the House of God, until the coming of Messiah, the Prince, the anointed King of Israel.
After coming into the house and seeing the Lord Jesus with Mary His mother, they fell to the ground and worshiped Him.
These men knew that Jesus was no ordinary child.
The beautiful perfume of frankincense is said to signify His sacrifice, priesthood, and perfection, while the bitter taste of myrrh depicts Him as Prophet and represents His suffering and death on the Cross.Whatever their symbolism, these gifts from Gentile sages who had journeyed from the east to find Jesus, gave Joseph the means to provide for Mary and Jesus during His sojourn in Egypt – as Herod carried out his murderous attempts to destroy His life.However, the beautiful picture of these Gentile sages arriving from faraway lands with gifts, was one that was foretold by Isaiah the prophet, centuries earlier, for he wrote that Gentiles will come bringing gifts of gold and frankincense and will bear good news of the praises of the Lord.
Many passages in both the Old and New Testaments explain this 'Day' as follows: 1) The 7 year Tribulation period, as outlined by Daniel. 2) The period which Jeremiah calls 'the Time of Jacob's Trouble' which occurs during the last 3 1/2 years of the 7 year Tribulation period. 3) The prophesied return of Christ to earth with His saints to set up His earthly Millennial Kingdom at the end of the 7 year Tribulation period. 4) The 1000-year Millennial Kingdom when Jesus reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. 5) The destruction of heaven and earth at the end of the Millennium - before the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.
Paul also goes on to tell us that although we are to be watchful for the Day-of-the-Lord, we as believers will not be on earth for the 7 year Tribulation period where God's wrath is poured out: For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
Every other apostle, including Matthias (who was the person that the eleven disciples chose to replace Judas), were men who had been with Jesus from the very start of His ministry.
With the exception of Paul, all the apostles were with Jesus from the very beginning when John was baptising in the wilderness, until the day that Christ ascended into heaven.
Indeed, Jesus said only hours before His crucifixion, I have much more to say to you, but you are unable at present to bear the burden of it at the moment.
Christ's ministry to Israel was before the Cross, but after the Cross, salvation was open to Jew and Gentile alike and it was by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And God has given us all that we need for that new life to grow in grace and in a knowledge of Jesus, but we must do it God's way and not man's way.
But we have to grow and develop the way that God has determined, not by reforming, refining, or repairing the old nature through self-effort, but by yielding our new self to the Holy Spirit so that He works in us and transforms that new life into the image and likeness of Jesus.
As Christians, our conduct should reflect the new life and not the old, and this is achieved as we come to know the Lord Jesus more and more.
This is eternal life that ye might know Him and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
We are to walk in spirit and truth as guided by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and He will teach and train our new self which is being renewed, day by day, into even greater knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They will all perish and wear out like a garment, but God has promised to make a new heavens and a new earth so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in His kindness toward you, me, and all who are in Christ Jesus, all who are saved by grace through faith in Him.
In the opening chapters of the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul gives a wonderful overview of our position in Christ and the riches of God's grace that have been poured out on all who are in Christ Jesus.
The Christian has enormous heavenly blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus, but every true believer soon realises that we are living in a world in which we are engaged in war.
The Lord Jesus is the One Who charges us not to be discouraged or dismayed because He is our God and that truth should be sufficient.
Firstly, we are not to fear for the Lord has promised to strengthen all that are His, and Jesus amplifies this truth to the apostle Paul when He tells him: My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Indeed, the Lord Jesus Himself promised, Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
There is nothing in the vastness of the universe that compares with the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of God's free and unconditional love towards those that simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
By the merit of His death, Jesus paid our debt for sin, and the wages of sin is death.
If the Father did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, and if the Lord Jesus was willing to be made sin for us and to atone for our sins through His sacrificial death on the Cross, should we not trust His Word implicitly?
In the New Testament, we see the Angel of the LORD conversing with the father of John the Baptist, while after Christ's resurrection, many consider that great angel that released Peter from prison to be an appearance of the risen ascended Lord Jesus Christ.
And Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, also tells of his personal encounter with the risen, glorified Lord on the road to Damascus, when the greatest persecutor of the Church, became the most ardent follower of Jesus.
Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature.
He upholds all things by the word of His power, and when Jesus made purification of sins, through His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, until that day when He returns to bring all things to their final consummation.
Jesus alone, Who is man's only Mediator before God, is worthy to open the scroll - because He humbled Himself and became a Man so that by faith in Him we might be exalted as sons of the Most High God.
Jesus was identified as the perfect Man Who overcame sin and death - and He alone was worthy to open the book and its seven seals.
It was Christ Jesus, Himself, Who took hold of the scroll to break the first seal which caused the 24 elders to burst into joyful singing.
There is no song so glorious to the redeemed than the new song that was recorded by John when he wrote the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.
God's accumulated anger and wrath against your sin and mine was placed on Christ Jesus on Calvary's Cross.
We are not destined to have God's wrath poured out on us, because we trusted in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as the payment for our sin.
We have not been appointed for wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus had been teaching the good news of the gospel of the kingdom to the lost sheep of the house of Israel for over a year.
Jesus was the prophesied Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the whole world Who will one day bring in His eternal kingdom, for He is King of kings, Lord of lords, and God incarnate.
Throughout His life, Jesus had regularly attended this very synagogue, and for over a year He had been healing the sick, casting out demons, and teaching that the time of God's favour had come to His chosen people.
But how like the world in which we live today, where Jesus is hailed as a great teacher, a moral man, a charismatic character, a good influence, a person to be emulated, and even a prophet from God.
Praise God that Jesus set at liberty those who are bruised, and proclaimed the year of the Lord's favour to all who by faith have trusted in Him.
We are to turn right away from our sinful lusts and look to Jesus as we seek to do His perfect will in our lives.
We are to remember that we are blood bought children of God and as such have a responsibility to resist the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, lest we grieve the Holy Spirit and forfeit the heavenly rewards that God has planned for all who live godly in Christ Jesus.
And we are to patiently endure the inevitable sufferings of this life and not throw away the glorious hope that is set before us, knowing that: In just a little while, the Lord Jesus is coming in the clouds to take us to be with Himself.
There is urgency in these words from the apostle John as he continues the revelation of Jesus Christ, to the church at Sardis: Be alert, he exhorts his readers: Be watchful!
The Lord Jesus Christ will come in righteousness with ten thousands of His saints to judge the wicked and make war with the principalities and powers of evil.
This truth is a comfort to the heart of every believer in Christ as we unite in the harmonious chorus: Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Each of the four Gospels introduces the Lord Jesus in their own particular way, laying peculiar emphasises on different aspects of His Person and work; His character and ministry; His life, and His death.
John wanted his audience to understand that the essence and nature of Deity inhabited the Lord Jesus Christ in bodily form.
At the start of His ministry, Jesus called His disciples to follow Him.
Philip, who had been called by Jesus, went to look for his friend, Nathanael, and found him sitting under the fig tree and told him excitedly about Jesus: We have found the One about Whom Moses and the prophets wrote - Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!
Nathanael showed some serious skepticism and jibed, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? But Philip insisted that his friend come with him to see Jesus.
He was surprised that Jesus had understood the desire of his heart and asked Him how it was that He knew him: How do You know me?
Nathanael asked Him, and Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
We do not know what was passing through Nathanael's mind the day that he meditated in the shade of that particular fig leaves, but this simple display of Christ's divinity caused him to respond to the Lord Jesus in faith, with the words, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God.
However, when he addressed Jesus as 'Rabbi' and identified Him as 'The Son of God' and 'King of Israel' his words showed great respect and a heart of faith and hope in the truth of Scripture.
Others may have called Jesus, 'King of the Jews' in a derisory manner or to sneer at His Messianic claims, but Nathanael's heart was open to the truth and he was rewarded by being a man who walked with Jesus for the three and a half years of His earthly ministry.
May we have ears that are ready and willing to go and see Jesus and develop an eternal relationship with the Son of Man Who is equally God the Son.
From the middle of chapter 3, we are led through a treasure trove of God's infinite righteousness which is revealed through a single man – the Lord Jesus Christ.The earlier chapters lay a trail of man's sinfulness, and establish many reasons for the eternal condemnation of all men – for all have sinned and all fall short of God's glory and perfect righteousness.All men are condemned according to divine standards which are laid out in the Law.
Treat others the same way you want them to treat you, is often an aggressive accusation that is blurted out by someone who has been offended by another person and who does not understand the context or underlying principle upon which this instruction, from the Lord Jesus, is given.
As admirable as this command from the Lord Jesus is... it is important to read it in its correct context if we are to apply it in our lives, in spirit and in truth - because 'The Golden Rule' is a statement that underpins true righteousness which comes from Christ alone.
As we apply 'The Golden Rule' in our lives, may our godly conduct help to draw many into a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus.
God in the Person of Jesus Christ came to earth and was born into His own creation so that all who believe in His finished work on Calvary's Cross for the forgiveness of sin, might be forgiven and have eternal life.
But discipleship sets out some very rigorous requirements, for when it comes to true discipleship, the Lord Jesus is more concerned with quality of character and a heart that is focused on Him, rather than quantity in numbers.
Redemption requires us to believe on the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and by grace through faith in Him we are born from above, but that is only the starting point.
The majesty of His glory and depth of His wisdom stands in sharp contradistinction with created humanity, and yet God has an intimate interest in each one of us, and a dear desire that none should perish but that all should come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
He is Jesus Christ our Lord, and He has been crowned with honour and great glory - and today He is seated at God's right hand.
Soon, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to take up His God-ordained dominion over the works of God's hand, which were forfeited by they first man but which will be fully restored by the Second Man.
What is man, that the eternal Son of the living God became the Man Christ Jesus?
The Lord Jesus is the federal head of the new creation and the very personification of love, for the Man, Christ Jesus was also the eternal Son of God united in one human body.
Those that are called to be children of Light and imitators of Christ are also called to live godly lives in Christ Jesus so that through the power of His Spirit, they are enabled to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God, in love.
Jesus is one with the Father and He is the Source of life, the Fountain of life, the Sustainer of life, the Perfector of life.
The triune God has life within Himself and Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, is one with the Father and so this attribute of self-contained, eternally existent life also describes the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly: In Him was life and the life was the Light of men.
The living God is not only the foundation and superstructure of all life, but Jesus is also pure light - eternal light and the source of all light.
A vital aspect of John's Gospel is found in John chapter 20, which links directly to the early verses in John chapter 1: These are written in this book, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that believing in Him you may have life in His name.
Jesus did not simply come to bring life and light or show it to us. He is life, and He is light, and without Him there is no life and there is no light.
The Lord Jesus is not only the Source and Sustainer of our physical life - the old, fallen, biological life we inherited from Adam, but He is also the Author and Finisher of our new, spiritual, eternal life, which we received by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, not long before He was to face Calvary's Cross and bear the full weight of man's sin on His shoulders.
Although God formerly spoke through these great men of faith, Jesus Christ was the Word made flesh. He was God's anointed Ruler and consecrated Spokesperson.
Jesus was the final Mediator between God and man.
As the vison subsided, Jesus returned to his three disciples who were instructed to remain silent about all that they had seen: Until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. It was as they descended the mountain slopes that Peter, James, and John were given strict instructions not to speak about this to anyone until after the Son of Man rose from the dead.
But Jesus was not speaking about the general resurrection of all the dead, but a specific and selective Resurrection which would conquer death and hell.
Although they had been with Jesus for three years and been given a glimpse of His glory on the holy mount, they had not grasped the enormity of Who He was and what His death and Resurrection would accomplish.
They were still expecting Jesus to set up His Kingdom on earth, there and then, and were unaware that they would be the apostles and prophets who would lay the foundational truths of the gospel through their own teachings.
But the undisguised hatred of the Jewish leadership and their rejection of the Lord Jesus, necessitated the postponement of the kingdom age until the time of the end.
He was the One Who would guide them into all truth and bring to their remembrance the things He had spoken so that generations of believers would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ through their testimony, and be saved.
It was during his second missionary journey, while staying in the city of Athens, that Paul taught certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers about the gospel of God and His great salvation – which is through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.On his arrival at Athens, Paul's spirit was provoked within his breast, when he saw that the city had been given over to the worship of idols and false deities.
The pagan deities that the Athenians worshipped, needed human beings to build their temples and bring them things, whereas the great God of the universe needs nothing from men – since He Himself gives life and breath to all people and all things.There is no correct way to introduce the gospel of grace to unbelievers, but there does need to be willingness to tell others about Jesus and bring God's message of salvation to the lost – and many missionaries have found that a good starting point is to give others a correct understanding of the God of creation Who made heaven and earth and everything in it, and of man whom God created in His own image, but who sinned and needs to be redeemed from sin and death and hell.May we, who have been saved by grace through faith, make ourselves available to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit so that lost sinners may be given the opportunity to hear the gospel and believe, through our ministry – for how shall they hear if no one is willing to tell them?
It is a wonderful truth that confounds our understanding and belies the credibility of man, that God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ should come to earth and die on the Cross to pay the price for our sins.
Nonetheless, the Lord Jesus was the beloved Son of the Father Who was well pleasing to God and grew up before Him like a tender shoot.
Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus grew-up in favour with God and man and was compared with a root that sprang forth from a dry, dusty, and arid land.
The Lord Jesus grew up before God like a tender shoot which pushed its way up through the parched ground.
The true Light of God that brightly shone for 33 years in a fallen world is seen in the face of Jesus Christ, Who: Gives light to everyone that comes into the world.
For 6000 years through creation, conscience, and the Cross of Christ, mankind has been offered peace with God through the shed blood of our Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Like other watchmen on the wall, Micah looked down the corridors of time to proclaim a Saviour Who is Christ the Lord, and His name was to be called Jesus for He shall save His people, Israel, from their sins.
The Lord Jesus had laid aside His eternal glory and set apart His life for this hour, and in humility and grace, He took a basin of water and washed His disciples' feet.
All believers that would grow in grace by dying to self and living to Christ and those who would imitate the conduct of Christ, would have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit become manifest within their life.
Peter, however, balked at the idea of his Saviour washing his feet, but after Jesus told him, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me, Peter urged Jesus to wash his whole body.
Jesus then gives a beautiful picture of our justification (initial salvation) and sanctification (ongoing walk with the Lord): Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean.
When Jesus had finished washing His disciples' feet, He left them with some wonderful words of encouragement: Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
And this is as relevant today for us as it was for Jesus' disciples.
Let us heed Jesus' words, walk in His ways, cleanse ourselves and others by the washing of water with the Word, and as we bless others, we will also receive wonderful blessings, to the glory of God.
As Jesus told His disciples, so He tells us: Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
While we were dead in sin and estranged from our Maker, He demonstrated His amazing love towards us by sending Jesus, His dearly beloved Son, to be the propitiation for our sin.
It emboldened certain believers to proclaim the message of Christ fearlessly and even Ceasar's elite, praetorian guard, heard the good news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, because Paul was in their custody.
His earnest expectation and hope, was that his message and ministry would not be discredited or put to shame in any way, but that he would be able to continue speaking out the marvellous message of salvation freely, openly, and boldly so that whether he lived or died, the lovely Lord Jesus Christ would be magnified by his imprisonment.
At times, he felt hard-pressed to know whether departing this life to be with Jesus or remaining here to continue his ministry was preferable.
His driving passion was to exalt Christ, yet he considered death would be for his gain, for he would be with Jesus, Whom he loved.
It also seems that as he penned this verse, Paul began to anticipate his next visit to Philippi and the mutual 'joy in the faith' they would have when they next met, for he continued: That in me you may have abundant cause for exultation and glorying in Christ Jesus, through my coming to you again.
Paul found his joy in Jesus and 'the joy of the Lord' is our strength too, and whether we live or die, our 'joy in the faith' is one of the many benefits we increasingly access as we abide in His love and He in us.
Many of the roles and responsibilities of this temporary, earthly priesthood, provide insight into the permanent heavenly role of the Lord Jesus as our heavenly High Priest.
Those who believe, both Jew and Gentile alike, know Him to be Jesus Christ the Righteous, Who died for the sin of the world and rose again the third day.
However, through the eye of prophecy, we know that this joyful reception looks forward to the return of Christ Jesus our Lord, to set up His kingdom on earth.
We know Him as Jesus, the Son of the living God, and a day is coming when He will return in power and great glory, to set up His millennial kingdom and bring peace and prosperity to the whole earth.
The one who hates his brother does not know where he is going because the darkness, caused by his hatred, has blinded his eyes.This is, indeed, a strong condemnation of the 'one' who hates his brother, especially as this serious state of affairs does not refer to the condition of an unbeliever prior to their salvation, but to a Christian after having been born of the Spirit.Earlier in the epistle, John explained that the believer who sins, must confess his sin to God the Father… and the Lord Jesus will act as our Heavenly Advocate so that our sins may be forgiven and fellowship with the Father may be restored.Hatred is a sin and every sin we commit causes the believer's fellowship with the Father to be broken – until our sin is confessed to Him.
Christians who harbour hatred in their heart for other believers, are seriously impaired in their Christian walk.This serious matter is not just limited to those that outwardly detest or criticise other Christians, but those who put on a show of Christian piety and civility while nursing a heart that is blackened by hatred towards their brethren – which equates to murder in the eyes of the Lord.What a shocking state of affairs that believers can be so filled with dislike for another child of God, that they are described as being in darkness, walking in the darkness, and not knowing where they are going because their hatred has caused this darkness which has blinded their eyes.The direct contrast between light and darkness, love and hatred in this passage, is staggering when we realise that this is referring to a Christian – for although saved by grace through faith… their life and witness is being wasted away in their cancerous attitude.Christians are ambassadors of Christ in this world, and everything that we say and do reflects positively or negatively on the Lord Jesus, Himself.
We are exhorted to: Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He is pointing out that faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ should not reflect an attitude of personal favouritism, and then he goes on to give a brilliant example of hypocrisy that can be found in the lives of many Christians, even inside the doors of certain church fellowships.
For three glorious chapters, Paul has been outlining the riches of God's grace towards His people, explaining our privileged position in Christ and reminding us of the love of God which passes all human understanding, before he implores us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called, to the praise and glory of God the Father and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
that He is able to do above all that we ask or think. Paul in this inspiring and exhilarating doxology of praise wants us to KNOW that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, which is to transform us from being fallen sinners into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The superabundant blessings that God gives to all who simply trust in the divine Person and atoning work of Lord Jesus Christ are ours: According to the power that works within us.
Now to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
The Lord Jesus is the heavenly Man Who came to reveal the Father to a lost and dying world.
The Lord Jesus is God incarnate Who set aside His heavenly glory to become humanities Kinsman-Redeemer.
The Lord Jesus is the Living Bread Who came down from heaven so that all who partake of His body would not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus could legitimately say to this Gentile woman: You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews.
Jesus was not only the almighty, omniscient God Who planned and purposed that salvation would be available to all by grace through faith in the Messiah of Israel, but prophets of old wrote that He would be born of the Seed of the woman Who would come through the nation of Israel, of the line of Judah, and the house of David.
Salvation is indeed from the Lord, for God planned and purposed that His only begotten Son would be born as a Man, that His name would be called Jesus, and that He would save His people from their sins: For there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved.
This dear Gentile woman had a partial but limited understanding of the truth of God, the worship of God, and of God's great plan of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us worship the God who ordained from the beginning His glorious plan of man's salvation by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
The good sacrifices of the Mosaic Law foreshadowed the Lord Christ Jesus, Who is the better Sacrifice.
It is only those that have trusted Christ as Saviour who are able to act justly and be merciful and walk humbly before their God, for only those that are born from above have been endowed with the new-life in Christ, the godly nature of Christ Jesus.
The God and Father of Jesus Christ is deserving of our thankful praise and eternal worship for His overflowing grace and His abundant mercy.
He is FATHER with respect to Christ's divinity and He is GOD regarding the humanity of our Lord Jesus and how we bless His wonderful name.
In this chapter, Peter reminds us about our great inheritance that is being kept for us in heaven, and that this life is our one opportunity to prove our faith, as we walk by the Spirit to the praise and glory of the Father, eventually resulting in praise, glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. And the reason we can so confidently walk by faith today is all because of Christ, our living hope: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Let us live upright and godly lives in this present age as we wait for that blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, in Whom we trust.
We have the confident assurance that when we pray into the will of the Father, in the name of Jesus, and the power of the Spirit, our prayers will be heard and answered.
He spoke of the Light that came into the world to give light to the children of men and he testified that Jesus was the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
He pointed to Christ's first advent as: The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, and also of His Second Coming, when he simply shouted: Behold the Lamb of God, for Jesus is also the Lamb that sits upon the throne and Who has authority to open the seven seals of Revelation.
John identified Jesus as the anointed Messiah, equal with the Father.
John also identified Jesus as the One sent to dispel spiritual darkness and Who came as the heavenly Lord of eternal Life.
The Man on Whom he saw the Spirit of God descending and remaining, would be the Lord's anointed, and when the Spirit of God descended and rested on Christ at His baptism, John began to boldly testify that JESUS is the Son of the living God.
Although John received great acclaim as God's prophet, after 400 years of prophetic silence, John was under no illusion that Jesus must become increasingly important, while he was to become of less and less significance.
Both John and his loyal followers had to come to terms that Jesus, and not John, was the Man to follow.
Had John not been loyal to the revelation he received, he could have enticed his followers to hold him in higher esteem than the Lord Jesus, but John knew the truth and he testified: He must increase, but I must decrease.
John's disciples may not have wanted to accept this truth, but he insisted, 'Jesus must increase in importance and influence, while I must decrease'.
When Jesus is given His rightful place in our lives, we can be sure that we are in the will of God and serving His purpose in our lives.
Wherever we are, whatever our role in the Body of Christ, and however vast or insignificant our ministry for our Lord may be, when Jesus is central in every area of life we are bound to say: He must increase, but I must decrease.
Although Jesus attempted to teach them the truth of the gospel of God, their hearts were hardened against Him and their antagonism toward Him intensified.
Jesus was deeply indignant that the truth of the gospel was rejected by Israel's leaders, but He was also distressed that the Jewish people were like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus came to receive His inheritance and be crowned King of kings, but His own people rejected Him because of the pride and stupidity of these blinded guides who conspired to lead them away from the truth.
Throughout His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus had longed to gather the children of Israel together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, yet their leaders were not willing to acknowledge the truth.
Over and again Jesus cried out in righteous anger, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees - you hypocrites!
Early in His ministry, the Lord Jesus had presented Himself to Israel as God's Anointed Messiah Who had come to redeem His people from their sin.
And at the start of His ministry, the Lord Jesus gave His people some wonderful blessings (beatitudes) in His Sermon on the Mount, but as His time on earth came to an end he had to pronounce a terrible series of 'woes' on Israel's leadership because they caused the people to reject the Lord of Glory.
How shocking that the very group who should have promoted Jesus' message and ministry to the needy people, were the ones who turned the crowds against Christ.
May we learn from the mistakes of these Jewish leaders and give Jesus the honour due to His holy name, in sincerity and truth.
Through this heavenly Person, the glory of the LORD was revealed when Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, was born into the human race to save His people from their sin.The glory of the Lord was revealed at Christ's First Coming, which resulted in His death, burial, and Resurrection from the dead, through which He made purification for our sins.
On that day, Jesus will return with all His holy ones, at the end of the 70th week of Daniel.
All flesh will see Jesus returning to earth in the clouds of glory at the end of the Great Tribulation, when this Prince of Peace is finally acknowledged as King of Israel and returns to take up His rightful position as KING of kings when He sets up His Millennial Kingdom – for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
Three days before her declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, Martha had buried her beloved brother and was grieving deeply.
But Jesus deliberately delayed His journey and His beloved friend died and was buried in a stone-cold tomb.
Jesus could have healed Lazarus from a distance, just as he had healed the nobleman's servant, but He delayed His visit for a purpose - and that purpose was for the glory of God.
Jesus had made some astonishing declarations during His earthly ministry, but here He was claiming to have sovereign authority over life and death.
Jesus was declaring that He had the supernatural power to resurrect the dead and give life to all who believe in Him: Do you believe this?
First, she announced that Jesus was the Christ, the 'Messiah of Israel'.
Secondly, she acknowledged Him as the 'Son of God' and third, she confessed that Jesus was the 'Coming One' Who had been prophesied to come into the world to save His people.
This grieving lady made her declaration of trust in the Lord Jesus while her brother's body lay cold and lifeless in the stony grave.
The message that Paul delivered was a demonstration of the power of God as the Holy Spirit worked through him, causing a spiritual stirring in the hearts and minds of those that heard his healing words of truth which brought them to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus suffered cruel treatment and gave up His life willingly so that all who believe on Him might not perish but be given peace with God, and have His inner peace guarding our hearts: For by His stripes we are healed.
By His death and Resurrection, the Lord Jesus paid the enormous price for our sins and broke the power of sin and death in our life forever, returning us into fellowship with the Father.
Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and John the Baptist called upon Israel to repent nationally, turn from sin, follow their Messiah, and fulfil their original calling to tell the world of God.
At Pentecost, we once again discover the apostles calling on God's chosen nation, the men of Israel, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Who is God's Messiah, God's appointed Man, God's Servant.
For God raised up His Servant, Jesus Christ, and sent Him first to Israel.
Until that time, all who believe in the Lord Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, become part of the One New Man in Christ, where there is no differentiation between Jew nor Gentile, bond or freeman, male or female, young or old, for we are all ONE in Christ.
Those who heed His Word will discover that all His promises are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah wrote in chapter 55, So will My Word be, which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty; it will accomplish what I desire, and succeed in the matter for which I sent it, and this should be a HUGE wake-up call for Christians to mend their ways and for sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is NO OTHER NAME given among men whereby we must be saved.
Jesus is God’s anointed and has been appointed to bring all things in heaven and earth, back under God’s sovereign control, during the 'Day of the Lord'.
Jesus is to redeem both the world and the righteous saints of all ages from the hand of Satan – before handing them back to His Heavenly Father.
Jesus paid the price for the sin of the whole world – such that whosoever believes on Him is redeemed by His precious blood and transferred into the Kingdom.
During this, yet future, amazing 'Day of the Lord', the Almighty Creator will smash the satanic kingdoms of this world and set up Jesus, the Prince of Peace, on the throne of His father, David.
Although Christ’s Millennial reign on earth will be a time of righteous rule, when the wolf will lie down with the lamb, the Lord Jesus will be required to reign with a rod of iron for the inhabitants of His earthly kingdom will continue to be born with a sin nature – until ALL thing are made new.
In the eternal ages that will follow the new heaven and earth, Jesus will no longer rule with a rod of iron.
Sadly, they do not yet know that Purim is a dim shadow of their great salvation which comes through faith in Jesus Christ - for the eternal Son of God came to earth as the perfect Son of Man to pay the price for their sins and to redeem His people, Israel, as foretold by the ancient prophets.
The time is coming when both Passover and Purim celebrations will be replaced with the return of Jesus as Messiah to the earth - when He will be hailed as Messiah of Israel and crowned as King of kings and Lord of lords.
But it also points us forward to Jesus the light of the world and the light of life, for we read in the Bible that the fruit of the light results in all goodness, grace, righteousness, and truth
Paul makes a direct reference to this first act of creation when he writes: For God, Who said, let light shine out of darkness, make His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The division of light from darkness as God's first act of creation is almost a picture of the illuminated soul that has been made alive in Christ Jesus through spiritual rebirth and placed into the kingdom of light, while the ones that are dead in their sins remain a prisoner in the kingdom of darkness.
There is no greater demonstration of perfect love than that which was shown in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it was while we were still ungodly and unrighteous sinners who were dead in trespasses and hostile towards God, that Christ died for us.
He is still our Rock of defence and our Strong Tower in these troublesome times, and His precious promises to all His children continue to be 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The true nature of man is diametrically opposite to the godly nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If the spiritual fruit of love is to bud, blossom, and mature in our life, we must keep our eyes looking to Jesus and our hearts submitted to the Spirit, as we humbly kneel before the Father and say: Thy will not mine be done.
Throughout Scripture, we discover verse after verse that reminds us that the love of God caused Him to send His only begotten Son to die on the Cross for our redemption, and it was by the grace of God that His free gift of eternal life is given to whosoever will believe on Jesus Christ as Saviour.
And those were the ones that: God predestined to be adopted as His own sons, through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
Indeed, it is not God's will that anyone should perish but that all should come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and so be given eternal life, and there are a multitude of heavenly benefits that flow from this free gift of salvation, given to all who trust in Jesus as Saviour.
And God, in His omniscience, foreknew all of us who would choose to accept Christ Jesus as Saviour: He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
We are simply pilgrims passing through this mortal coil, sojourning on earth for a brief life-span, and so we should not be mindful of earthly things that pass away, but we should fix our hearts on the coming king, looking for Jesus, our soon coming Lord.
All our discussions and dealings while passing through this life should honour our King, for we are all His representatives and ambassadors of heaven, and all our conversation and conduct should reflect the righteousness of Jesus with which we are clothed and covered.Our eternal home is a gift from God, but it is only through faith in the spilt blood of Jesus that we have a full assurance of our heavenly inheritance.
The Lord Jesus is our promised rest, and to live a victorious life in the daily challenges we face, is to appropriate what is already ours - by faith - for His grace is sufficient.
While Canaan was Israel's promised rest, Christ Jesus is our promised 'Rest'.
While the literal land of Canaan is a physical inheritance promised to God's earthly people, Jesus is the spiritual inheritance promised to His Body, which is kept for us in heavenly places.
Jesus is the good Shepherd of the sheep Who laid down His life for us, and just as the blood of the Passover lamb was smeared on the lintels of their house to cover Israel's sins and redeem them from Egyptian slavery, so the blood of Christ cleanses us from all wrongdoing and redeems us from the slavery of sin.
In the introductory remarks of his first epistle, John quickly places his focus on Christ Jesus, the incarnate Word of God Who was manifest in the flesh and spoke the words of eternal life.
Jesus was the Word made flesh, Whom they saw with their eyes, touched with their hands, and heard speaking with their own ears, and John wanted to make it very clear that he and the other apostles were not propagating second hand information to their readers, but were actual eye-witnesses of Christ's amazing ministry.
In his second epistle to the elect lady, John wanted to make her joy complete by coming to speak to her about the Lord Jesus, face to face, while in his third letter to Gaius, he admits he has no greater joy than to hear that his children are walking in a knowledge of the truth of the gospel.
May the joy we have in our Lord Jesus Christ be made complete as we speak of the lovely Lord Jesus, through Whom we have received forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
There are names of biblical prophets like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Isaiah, that are more highly esteemed and widely recognised than John the Baptist, and yet the Lord Jesus said that among those that are born of women, there is none greater than John.The voice of God’s holy prophecy had been silenced for 400 years, due to Israel’s continued apostasy and refusal to repent... and their punishment for breaking their covenant with the Lord continued under the cruel captivity of the brutish, Roman empire.The three previous kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, and Greece, had risen to world dominance, conquered nations, and been defeated by their enemies, just as Daniel prophesied... and so the intense longing for the promised Messiah of Israel grew stronger with every passing year.Israel longed for the prophesied Seed of the woman to come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
John the Baptist was most certainly the singular voice of prophecy in Israel, because He was making way for Jesus... the SEED, promised to Abraham.
But God’s salvation painted a very different picture from Israel’s perceived imagination of deliverance, at that first advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.He shall save His people from their oppressors but FIRST He must save them from their sin.
John was the human voice (PHONE) and Jesus was the incarnate Word (LOGOS).Sadly, Israel as a nation did not listen: We will NOT have this Man rule over us, was the national cry at His First Coming.
That is the day when Jesus returns as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The hour had arrived for Christ's betrayal and crucifixion, and the Lord Jesus gave His disciples an amazing glimpse into the intimate fellowship and precious communication which took place between the Father of all mercies and His dearly beloved Son, as Jesus prayed His High Priestly prayer in their hearing.
And Jesus was about to transfer the enormous responsibility of spreading the gospel into their hands.
This little group of men were very precious to the Saviour, for the Father had given them to the Son and they had received His word and understood that Jesus came forth from God and was sent by the Father.
The Saviour of the world was to be undiminished deity, eternally united with full humanity, in one Person; the Lord Jesus Christ.
As the second member of the triune Godhead, the Saviour was the only begotten Son of God: A Son is given, for God so loved the world that he GAVE the beloved Son of His love, Jesus Christ, to be our Redeemer.
Christ Jesus is indeed our Wonderful Counsellor.
And God alone, in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, shed His lifeblood so that all who believe on His name would have peace with God, that perfect peace of God that passes all understanding.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that Child that was BORN and He is that Son that was GIVEN.
We are born into the family of God and have become a new creation through spiritual birth, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our character and conduct should reflect the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, for by His grace and through faith in Him, we have been given access into the throne-room of God.
We can stand in the very presence of the Almighty because we are eternally identified with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who is God the Son.
We are not informed when or why these other articles were removed, but it is likely that Israel was unaware of the glorious antitype, to which they pointed (Jesus, the living Bread of Life; Jesus, the Good Shepherd of the sheep; Jesus, the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek; Jesus, the coming Judge of those who rebel).
Nothing should become more important to a Christian, or be elevated to equivalent standing with Christ Jesus.
He did not have to carry out some penance or legalistic action to atone for his sin, for all his sins, past, present, and future were forgiven because of his faith in God's sacrifice for sin; Jesus Christ the righteous.
The Law of Moses demanded adultery be punished by stoning and they asked Jesus what He would do.
But Jesus said nothing.
He simply stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' Once more Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
And Jesus was left alone with the woman.
What an incredible example Jesus set.
We don't know what Jesus wrote on the ground.
Others think it gave Christ time to pray to His heavenly Father for wisdom and guidance, for Jesus only said and did those things that He heard from His Father.
However, Jesus was well aware of their trap.
Jesus did not excuse this woman's adultery by finding fault with God's law, for later He challenged her to face her wrong-doing and to go and sin no more. And by His atoning death, she too was forgiven by grace through faith.
But the gift of God is eternal life, which is accessed through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, having finished writing in the sand, Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they?
Did no one condemn you? She said, No one, LORD. This woman KNEW Jesus as her Saviour, for she addressed Him as LORD and no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit of God. And Jesus said, 'neither do I condemn you.
There are a number of passages in the Bible that give clear instructions about the attitude and behaviour of wives in the home, and their role in the wider fellowship of believers.Paul reminds women to submit themselves to their own husbands in the same way that we should willingly yield to the Lord Jesus, Himself.
One of Satan's greatest attacks against the Lord is on godly marriages.May we individually and collectively seek to maintain the God-appointed roles and responsibilities, as laid out in Scripture – for marriage was instituted by God, and a submissive wife is one who counteracts the enemy's wiles and becomes a beautiful reflection of the Church’s relationship with Jesus.
God's wisdom is not available to unbelievers and is also hidden from the angelic rulers of this age, for had they understood the incredible saving power of the Cross to redeem humanity - by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory!
The Lord Jesus Christ has rightly been called the Prince of Peace, for Christ is the propitiation for our sins, bringing peace with God for all who believe in Him.
And through Christ Jesus our Lord, those who have trusted in Him as Saviour may have the peace of God which transcends all human understanding guarding their heart and mind, for He has promised to keep in perfect peace those whose mind is stayed on Him.
And His mother was instructed to name Him Jesus, which being interpreted is, 'God is Salvation'.
And by His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ became our peace from that time forward, uniting His chosen people, Israel, with those who were once considered to be heathen, Gentile dogs.
Through His death and Resurrection, Jesus broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, uniting us together into one Body with one Lord Jesus Christ, one faith in Him for salvation, and one baptism by the Holy Spirit of God into the Body of Christ, which is the Church.
But having redeemed us, He sent His Spirit to abide in our heart and, day by day, seeks to transform us from ugly, bitter, antagonistic sinners into beautiful, thankful, mature children of God, having the same godly nature as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Nevertheless, this Word from the Lord is as true for us today as it was so many centuries ago, that God Who started a good work in us will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD.
In this dispensation, Christians are a spiritual house and all believers are living stones that are being assembled together as a fitting dwelling-place for God, with the Lord Jesus Christ being the chief Cornerstone.
Not only are we living stones that are being fashioned into a spiritual house, but we are all ambassadors of God, representatives of the King, and a holy priesthood: You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, Peter writes, in order to offer up spiritual sacrifices, that are acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ.
We do not approach God in our good name but through the saving name of Jesus.
We come to God 'in Jesus' name'.
We are living stones that are being fashioned, honed, and built into a spiritual house because of what Jesus did on our account.
We are only able to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God because we are identified with JESUS. Jesus identified with our sin through His sacrifice so that we could be identified with His righteousness, by faith.
Only the saved can fellowship with the Father and enter God's presence, for not only have our sins been forgiven, but we have been placed IN Christ and must approach the Father THROUGH the Lord Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, and Jesus came as the fulfilment of God's written Word.
The Jewish leaders searched through Scripture, thinking the letter of the Law contained the words of eternal life, but Jesus had to tell them: All Scripture bears witness of Me!
The Law, the Prophets, and Psalms, all point to Jesus Who came, at God's appointed time, to fulfil all righteousness.
That living Word of God is Jesus Christ, the righteous Man born of a woman.
Jesus of Nazareth is the incarnate Word, the Son of God Who was given to redeem the world.
Before Abraham was, Jesus could claim I AM, but in these last days, God has spoken in a unique and special way.
He has spoken to us through His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus is the very image of the invisible God.
The Lord Jesus is God the Son Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, amen.
The unchangeable nature of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, is an all-embracing assurance that His Word is faithful, and His promises are true, His saving grace is free to all who trust in Him for salvation, and none of the many precious promises contained in the Word of God can ever fail.
They all belonged to God, our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Whom He sent to be the propitiation for our sins.
Like Paul, his readers had abandoned their respective belief systems and placed their trust in Jesus as Saviour and thereby become members of God's family.
God holds every man responsible for the choices he makes: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
There is no doubt that Thomas was a redeemed man who believed in the risen Lord Jesus and was a pillar of the early Church.
He worshipped his Saviour as my Lord and my God, but only after he had seen that Jesus was alive from the dead.
Like all the other disciples, Thomas forsook Him in the garden and fled when Jesus was arrested.
Thomas' hope in Christ was reignited, and he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ because he saw Him with his own eyes and worshipped Him when He came and stood among His followers in the upper room.
The experience Thomas went through eight days later, when the disciples were again inside and Thomas with them, was written for our learning as well as for his, for even though the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them, and said, Peace be with you, and said to Thomas, Put your finger here, and look at my hands.
Then Jesus told him, because you have seen Me, you have believed.
We are to live by trusting God's Word and believing His promises, not because of what we see or what we feel, and there is a special promise for those who have not seen the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus but have believed on Him.
No wonder the Lord Jesus in this gentle chiding of His dearly loved disciple, who had walked with Him for three long years, was to explain the secure and better way, Blessed are those that have not seen Me, and yet have believed in Me, for they will not be disappointed.
The pre-Cross ministry of the Lord Jesus was specifically to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Finally, the appointed time for Israel's deliverance arrived and God, in His grace, raised up a horn of salvation for His people - Jesus, the Christ.
Jesus came as a sacrificial offering to put an end to sin, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.
Finally, the hour for Him to glorify His Father, through His sacrificial death arrived, and so after having eaten the last supper with His disciples, they went into the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was betrayed by Judas.
There were many false testimonies levied against Jesus but no fault was found in Him, for the lying testimonies of His accusers were not consistent!
So hostile were the Jewish elders against the Lord Jesus that every part of their heinous trial, which was carried out in the dead of night, broke the holy Law of Moses, which they claimed to revere.
Jesus was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and like a dumb sheep, He opened not His mouth.
In Matthew's Gospel, we even read that the high priest charged Jesus under an oath, to the living God, to answer: I command you by the living God to tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God!
And Jesus said, I AM, and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.
Jesus was incarnate TRUTH, so His testimony was true.
The attitude of these religious men was so hostile towards Jesus, which conflicted with their own perceived notions that they were blinded to the truth and missed the blessing Christ was ready and willing to give.
Earlier in this Psalm, we are told not to fret about evil-doers nor to be envious of those that work iniquity, for when our mind is correctly focused on the Lord, then our hearts are not weighed down with the troublesome behaviour of the wicked, nor overwhelmed with the continuous influx of evil in the world.Rather, we are instructed to keep the eyes of our heart upon Jesus Who has promised to carry all our burdens and to comfort us in all our affliction so that we may offer solace to others who are also weighed down by the cares of this world and oppressed by evil-doers.As we change our focus onto the Lord, so our faith in Him is excited within our heart and we are encouraged, by David, to trust in the Lord and do good – to feed on His faithfulness so that we may become strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
Make Him the cornerstone of your hope and linchpin of your life, and He will give you the desires of your heart.The Lord Jesus is the perfect example of a Man Who delighted Himself in the Lord.
Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus delighted Himself in His God and Father throughout His life, and even endured the Cross and despised its shame for the JOY that was set before Him.
Jesus made some blistering criticisms of the hypocritical Pharisees of His day.
Jesus condemned their vain, repetitive prayers and their blatant hypocrisy and began to teach a model prayer which we call 'the Lord's Prayer'.
We should pray into His will for the advancement of His kingdom, where Jesus Christ will reign on earth as God's heavenly King of kings.
We are justified by God and forgiven of our sin by grace through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
However, Jesus was not teaching here that we earn the right to God's judicial forgiveness by forgiving other people as this would be contrary to the Bible's teaching that the forgiveness of sin is an expression of God's grace and mercy because of our faith in Christ.
Like Paul we also are to discover that no matter what difficult circumstances or financial hardships we have to face in life we are to be content in all things - knowing that it is God to Whom we look for our provision for He has promised to provide all we need according to His riches in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And God's gift of salvation to the human race would be LIFE, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord - the second Man - the last Adam.
He was the last Adam and His name would be called Jesus, the only begotten Son of the most high God: For He shall save His people from their sins.
God was to crush the head of the serpent through the promised Seed of the woman Who was to be passed down from the generations of Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and on down though the great patriarchs of old until Jesus (the incarnate Son of God and perfect Son of Man) would finally fulfil God's plans and purpose for mankind.
Jude, who was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ and who despised his older brother during His earthly ministry, is here seen to be a bond-slave of Christ Jesus his Saviour.
Christ was resurrected from the dead 2000 years ago, and because you and I would one day also trust in the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we ALSO were raised into newness of life at that time, just like all those who down through the centuries would one day trust in Him as their Saviour.
Before the creation of the world, the omnipotent God foreknew which men and women, down through the centuries, would choose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
And so, although there was a point in time when, having heard the gospel of grace, we trusted Jesus as Saviour and were born again into His new life, God foreknew that we would one day make that freewill choice.
We are to live by trusting in Jesus and not by trusting in our own abilities.
There is probably no higher pinnacle of praise to the glorious grace of God than the first few chapters of Ephesians, and there is possibly no more staggering truth for believers than to be accepted in the Beloved: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
According to His favour, He foreordained that He would adopt us through Jesus Christ for Himself.
We are accepted by God simply because we trust in Jesus.
It is because we are in Christ that the Father looks at you and me as if He were looking at Jesus.
But the moment that we believed in Jesus and were born-again in-Christ, we were also baptised into His Body, became part of His Church, sons of God, and were accepted in the Beloved.WOW!
But Christ's sacrifice is fully sufficient.If you have trusted in Jesus as Saviour you are born again and accepted in Him.
If you have been born from above, by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, these precious verses are written for your edification.
And like Enoch, we are waiting for Christ’s any day return, when we will be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus in the air and so we shall ever be with the Lord.
He knew Jesus would be despised by the Jews and crucified on a Roman cross.
However, they refused, even with Jesus teaching them Himself, and so the time arrived when His teaching style changed and Jesus started to talk in parables because Israel's ears were deaf, their eyes were blinded, and their hearts would not believe.
Jesus is characterised as the vine-dresser who sought in vain for fruit, during the three years of His earthly ministry, but found none.
Although God ordered Him to cut down the unproductive tree, Jesus interceded on Israel's behalf, and one more year was granted for Him to try to get the tree to bear fruit (to get the nation to bring forth the fruit of righteousness).
It was about six months before His crucifixion, that Jesus told the parable of the fig tree, which should not be confused with the real fig tree He cursed in Jerusalem, only days before His death, although one can see some connection.
Christ was to die, the Church was to be born, and many were to come to faith in Jesus as the Messiah before that year was completed - and judgement should have fallen on the nation.
Paul had taught them the truth of the gospel of grace and by faith in Jesus, they had been born again, forgiven of their sin, transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, and received the gift of eternal life.
The characteristics that the natural man so values are things like intellect, wealth, position, power, and success, but the attributes that God looks for in His servants is faithfulness to the cause of the gospel, fidelity towards the Lord Jesus, loyalty and devotion to those they serve, and steadfastness in the work with which they have been entrusted.
We live in a fallen world, and there are many challenges that face the believer who has not only trusted Christ for salvation, but is also ready and willing to deny self, take up his cross, follow Christ’s example, and say without compromise – Thy will, not mine, be done.The newborn baby Christian has to grow in grace and mature in the faith over an unspecified period of time, to reach this level of maturity in his faith, while other who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ may slip in and out of carnality and worldliness for many years, stunting their growth and even regressing in their faith back to spiritual infancy.Many, if not all believers, are called to become mature in the faith by walking in spirit and truth and living godly, Christ-centred lives, but few are willing to exchange the cosy blessings of early Christian infancy, for the difficulties that inevitably follow the mature believer.
We live in a fallen world with a spiritual enemy who prowls around as a roaring lion – or appears to us as an angel of light – seeking to devour, destroy, or deceive us.Jesus clearly told us that in this world, those who believe in Him would suffer persecution and pain, and Paul expands that truth by adding that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
But we have also been supplied with many precious promises which reassure us that His grace is sufficient, His strength is perfected in our weakness, that suffering for Christ's sake is a privilege for the child of God, and that no amount of trials, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or the sword, is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.May we grasp this truth in His strength, and remember that in this world we will have tribulation… but that if we fellowship in the suffering of Christ, we will also be glorified with Him Who loved us so much that He died for us, that we might live for Him – forever.
Let us never forget Whose we are and what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on Calvary's Cross so that we might be children of God who have the Spirit of God dwelling in our hearts.
Paul had been entrusted with the good news of the gospel of grace and the hidden mystery of the Church, which is His Body, and had been commissioned by God and Lord Jesus Christ to share these glad tidings of great joy to Jew and Gentile alike.
Paul desired to present the Church as a chaste virgin: Without spot or wrinkle or any such blemish, to her betrothed husband, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us search the Scriptures daily so that we will not be led astray from the simplicity of the gospel of grace and from purity of devotion to Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is only ONE God and God is ONE, for we read in Exodus: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!, and Jesus Himself said, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord, yet God is presented throughout Scripture in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In God's grace, the Lord Jesus Christ was sent to earth to redeem this lost race of sinners and be reinstated as God’s representative MAN of earth, for all who believe in Him.
Paul begins this chapter appealing to the Thessalonian believers to continue to walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, to grow in grace and to walk in spirit and truth: Finally then, brethren, he writes, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction, as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), and that you excel still more.
This first verse begins an expanded section on how to live a sanctified life; a life that glorifies the Lord Jesus.
Paul begs and admonishes them, by virtue of their mutual union with the Lord Jesus, that they carefully follow his instructions on godly living and apply all they have learned about spiritual matters so that they please and gratify the Lord.
May we never forget that we are ambassadors of the Cross and representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The gracious words that fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus confound the minds of many today, just as they astonished Christ's disciples when they were first uttered.
It was after Jesus addressed a wealthy young man on the issue of his riches being the obstacle he faced if he wanted to enter the kingdom of heaven, that the disciples asked, who then can be saved?
Jesus had challenged the young man to sell all he had, and give the proceeds to the poor.
It was then that the Lord Jesus turned to His disciples, and looking at them, intently, He said to them, 'With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' With man, it is impossible to be saved, but with God all things are possible, including the salvation of sinners.
Jesus was teaching that good works aren't sufficient to gain salvation and riches can't buy salvation.
Jesus had taken the time to listen to the question of the rich young ruler, who dearly desired to enter the kingdom.
Jesus used the man's own words to show him that God alone is good.
The Law was a schoolmaster God used to point His people to Christ, and Jesus used the Law to show this young man that no one can enter heaven on their own merit.
Our thoughts immediately turn to Sarah, the wife of Abraham through whom the promised Seed was to be born, and to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist who was born to be the voice, crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord Jesus.'We also recall Rebekah and Rachel, and in the book of Psalms we read that God makes the barren woman abide in the house, as a joyful mother of children.Perhaps the woman who touches our heart most powerfully is Hannah.
If we are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are bound to go through various difficulties and dangers, trials and tribulations.
But both the root and the fruit of salvation are only manifested in a man or woman that is a born-again believer, and not in an unsaved person who is professing to believe in Jesus or pretending to be a Christian.
The object of our faith must be the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
But James is also making a contrast between a true believer and one that only makes an outward profession of faith while not having truly trusted in the only object of faith which brings salvation to mankind (the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man).
His eyes penetrated deep within her hurting heart, and Jesus knew that He was all she needed.
She needed to drink of the living water of life that only comes by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who alone paid the price for her sin, and ours.
She was to come to realise that there is salvation in no other name than Jesus, for salvation has come through the Jews, in the person of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Jesus knew that when He was lifted up, all earthly temples, buildings, and mountain tops would become inconsequential, for men would worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
For the unbeliever, faith in God is trusting in the death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus for redemption, trusting Him for the forgiveness of sins.
The Christian is to trust God to carry out the ongoing work of sanctification in our lives so that we are conformed more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.
The gospel of God stands or falls on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Only Christians can rejoice that Jesus is alive for evermore.
John reported: They took Jesus away and He went out of the city, carrying the Cross by Himself to a place called, The Place of the Skull.
The angel calmed the women's fear and proceeded to tell them the good news, reminding them that Jesus had already said He would rise from the dead on the third day.
These faithful and devoted women who had sped eagerly to the tomb that resurrection morning, were encouraged to come and see the place He had lain, before being told to go and tell the other disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead and would meet with them in Galilee in the near future, just as He had already told them!
The sadness of these heart-sick women was translated into wonder and praise when they realised that Jesus was not there but risen from the dead.
Let us have this confidence in Christ today, for His resurrection identified Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God.
They were constantly looking for ways to get rid of Jesus and accused Him of breaking the Sabbath day.
Jesus responded by saying My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working. But His statement further inflamed them, for they accused Him of blasphemy.
But it was in His humanity that Christ Jesus was given all power and authority by the Father.
It was in His human capacity that God gave Jesus all authority to judge.
In His discourse, Jesus detailed the authority He received from the Father, the Father has given all judgment to the Son. The question may be asked why?
Why would the Father commit all the judgement of humanity into the hand of Jesus, when Jesus is already the righteous Judge of the earth, because of His deity?
The first man Adam, was made a living being, but the last Adam, JESUS, was sent from above to become a Life-Giving Spirit - a Man who gives life.
As the eternal Son of God, Jesus was good enough to pay the price of sin, and so He came into the world as the sinless Son of Man.
Jesus, the God-Man, was given life within Himself, (a Life-Giving Spirit), the authority to judge His kinsfolk, (fallen humanity), and the ability to give life to all who would believe on His name.
However, as a Man Who was born into the human race, Jesus had to be given authority, from above - and indeed He was.
Jesus was given jurisdiction to judge the world in righteousness.
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given ALL judgment to the Son. By giving all judgement to Jesus, Who is the second Adam, as well as the sin-sacrifice, with life within Himself, God is returning Man into his original position on earth, with dominion over all creation, as determined before man fell.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the second Adam, into Whose hands have been given ALL judgement.
The events of the sixth seal are vividly described by John, Jesus, and many prophets of old.
In Matthew 24, Jesus gives an exhaustive description of the Tribulation period to His disciples, when they ask Him to describe the time of His return to earth to set up His kingdom.
The Tribulation period is not only to punish the nations for rejecting God's offer of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but is designed to punish His people for their rebellious apostasy, defiant idolatry, and many centuries of disobedience.
The great day of God's wrath was poured out on Jesus for the sin of those who have trusted in Christ.
Neither Old Testament saints nor the Body of Christ will be harmed by the wrath of God, for the wrath of God was poured out on Christ for all who believe in His name and the debt has been paid in full by Jesus.
Praise God that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, for the wrath of God was poured out on Him in place of us.
And James also teaches about the effects of true and false wisdom – the cause of covetousness and its righteous cure.And here in this verse, the apostle simply explains to his readers the consequences of knowing what is godly and honourable in the sight of the Lord, and yet refusing to carry it out... therefore, he warns, to the one who knows the right thing to do yet does not do it, to him it is sin.The man or woman who has become a child of God by faith, may not be under the law of Moses, but we are most certainly under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and James teaches that to know what is good but to do what is evil – whether in thought, word, or deed, dishonours the Lord Who bought us with His precious blood and blemishes our testimony for Christ.As children of God, our motive and attitude should be to live for Christ every moment of the day – to present our lives as a living sacrifice to Him, to trust His Word and walk in utter dependence on Him, moment by moment, and for His greater glory.Living the Christian life as God intended and instructed, should be the main aim of the Christian, and failure to do so is identified by James as a sin which should be confessed to the Lord and addressed in our life if we are to remain in holy fellowship with the Father and grow in grace, to His honour and glory.
We saw in the Gospels, the necessity of prayer in the life of the Lord Jesus, and Paul's epistles contain many inspired prayers that have encouraged saints down through centuries of time.
The next on the list is simply called 'prayer' which may refer to general prayers or be a reminder of the incredible privilege believers have - in that we have the right to approach the throne of grace and enjoy fellowship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ - our Lord and Saviour.
The Lord Jesus was not intimidated by these religious leaders, but pointed out that like God the Father, He too was exempt from the petty traditions of men which they had added to the Mosaic Law and brutally imposed on the Jewish nation.
Jesus reminded them that neither the Father nor He were bound by their religious traditions.
The time was getting closer to the day when the Lord Jesus would be betrayed and handed over to wicked men, who would crucify Him by nailing His sinless body to the Cross.
No one spoke the gracious words that Jesus spoke, and no one performed many mighty miracles that Jesus performed; prophetic signs that authenticated the Man Christ Jesus and His supernatural ministry of reconciliation.
This is one who will grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the man or woman who chooses to take God at His Word and live their Christian life trusting all He says, no matter how much their emotions, feelings, or circumstances seem to scream the opposite, is the man or woman that will be taught by the Spirit of God and come to a deeper understanding, as He gently guides them into all truth.
Jesus was the Word made flesh Who was born into this world to be our Kinsman-Redeemer - to be our Saviour.Although He set aside His glory for a season, the Lord Jesus Christ was, nonetheless, eternal God and perfect Man.
He became the Founder of our faith and Finisher of our salvation.Though He was fully God and a perfect, sinless Man, Christ was to be made perfect during His sojourn on earth, through a willing obedience to His Father and the things that He suffered as He walked towards the Cross: For it was fitting for Him, for Whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.Jesus was not 'made perfect' through some moral refinement or lessons on virtue, for perfection can’t be advanced or improved.
The perfecting of Christ was the glorious end and final consummation of the wonderful plan and faultless purpose of God in bringing many condemned sinners back into a right relationship with Himself and adopting all who believe in Jesus Christ into His family, as His sons.
In order to achieve God's purpose - to redeem mankind and bring many sons to glory, Jesus had to become a Man and live as God created man to live - in obedience to the Father, in submission to God through the power of the Spirit, as He walked in spirit and truth.But to get to the crown of glory, the Lord Jesus had to stretch out His arms of love on the Cross.
Although this gracious invitation to 'come' in the Gospel of Matthew, is offered to all people, it was initially given by Jesus to Israel.
Jesus presented His faultless, Messianic credentials which were authenticated by His mighty signs and wonders, but His offer was refused. He was despised by men, hated by the Jewish leaders, and rejected by those He came to save.
Israel did not recognise the time of their visitation, and Jesus reached a point in His ministry when He transferred His attention from the nation as a whole, to individuals who believed in Him.
This was the time Jesus stopped offering the kingdom to national Israel, began to teach in parables, and started to turn his undivided attention to believing individuals who laboured and were heavy laden, and invited them to come to Him for rest.
Jesus is the well-spring of Life and the Light that has come into the world to give hope to all who will trust on His name for salvation, and His invitation to 'COME' is for whosoever will.
Jesus came to show us the Father, for He is the incarnate God, and the one who has seen the Son has seen the Father.
The invitation to 'come' is from Jesus and contains no limitations or restrictions.
This promise of rest that Jesus offers is a rest that He freely gives to all who will come to Him for salvation.
The Jews are the target audience of Matthew's Gospel, and many prophecies relating to Jesus are found in his writings.
Matthew opens by announcing that Jesus is the Son of David and Son of Abraham, and throughout his Gospel, Matthew refers to things which were fulfilled by Old Testament prophets as it was written...
Starting with Abraham, he finally reaches Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, where Christ is finally identified as: JESUS, Who is called the Messiah.
One cannot get away from the Jewish nature of Matthew's Gospel and for good reason, for salvation is from the Jews because salvation must come through faith in JESUS, the Jewish Messiah.
However, Jesus was not an ordinary baby and although Mary and Joseph were simple folk, they were no ordinary couple for they had been chosen by God to raise His only begotten Son in their simple home in Nazareth.
They were entrusted to raise Jesus to maturity and help prepare Him for manhood and the enormous task of redemption for which He had been sent.
She will give birth to a Son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.
It is after Matthew's in-depth genealogy and unabridged, unflattering, and embarrassing account of Mary and Joseph's betrothal and the birth of Jesus, that he was finally ready to tell his Jewish readers: Now all this took place to fulfil what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, 'Behold, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a Son,' whom Matthew identified as: JESUS, Who is called the Messiah, and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated 'God is with us.'
It stresses that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
It came by direct revelation of the risen, ascended Jesus Christ.
Paul was praising God for saving his soul from damnation and setting his feet on the pathway to peace with God, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and he did not want the Galatian believers to put themselves back under the Law, as these Judaisers were teaching.
May we keep the Lord Jesus in His rightful position, at the centre of our life... for when He is the focus of our heart, other things are kept within a correct perspective.
As Christians, we live in the dispensation of grace and although all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus during this Church Age are saved by grace through faith in Him - this particular prophecy specifically relates to Israel and the coming Great Tribulation period when all who call on the name of Jesus will be saved from God's terrible wrath.
Indeed, the Lord Jesus in His earthly mission and ministry is the singular demonstration of how God expects all His children to live.
Jesus Christ lived His entire life in willing surrender to the leading and guiding of the Father and His entire ministry demonstrated His Messianic claims and served and a dependable witness to His God-given authority.
But the religious Jews were jealous of Jesus and purposed both individually and collectively to discredit His ministry and destroy His witness.
Jesus had just healed a man who had been physically disabled for 38 years, but because this wonderful miracle was carried out on the Sabbath day, the Jews sought to destroy Him.
I can do nothing on My own initiative, Jesus informed them, for He was living His life as God created man to live, in total dependence on the Father, only doing those things He heard from God.
The Lord Jesus was One with the Father in spirit and in truth and so He was well able to judge correctly what to do, and His judgement was just and right because it flawlessly reflected the perfect will of the Father - every time.
Jesus was well able to say: As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me.
The Lord Jesus in His earthly mission and ministry is the singular demonstration of how God expects all His children to live: doing nothing in and of ourselves, but only doing and saying those things that we hear from Him.
He knew that problems and persecutions were destined for all who live godly in Christ Jesus and so, in his prayerful pleadings for the Christians in Thessalonica he prays: May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.
And because our battle is against spiritual rulers of darkness that influence the evil that is taking place in this world today, they can never be defeated in our lives through natural weapons and worldly ways. There is only one way to defeat the spiritual enemy that seeks to shipwreck our faith in Christ Jesus, and it is through the Holy Spirit of God Who works in believers.
Following his introductory greeting to the saints at Corinth, where the amazing grace and abundant peace of Almighty God is the heavenly blessing that Paul bestows in great measure on all the congregation there, He turns his rapt attention and deep affection upon our great God and Father in heaven: Blessed be GOD the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; Blessed be the GOD and Father of all mercies and Blessed be our Father in heaven Who is the God of all comforts.
As the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we worship our great Creator.
We in turn can comfort others that are in trouble, with the same comfort we ourselves receive from God: The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and God of all comforts.
It was to a great religious teacher that Jesus spoke these life-changing words: Unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
The man to whom Jesus was speaking was a very religious leader of the Jews, a teacher who read his Bible, worshiped on the right days, and tried to keep the commandments of God.
Salvation is only given to those that have faith in the Messiah; the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.
Nicodemus did not understand that Jesus was talking of a spiritual birth, an immediate and irreversible action that is carried out in the human heart by the Holy Spirit, on everyone who believes in Christ Jesus.
The new birth is a supernatural, spiritual act that is performed by the Holy Spirit within the heart of a man or woman, the moment that they put their trust in Jesus Christ.
However hard man tries to please God, the only way possible is by faith in Jesus Christ: Unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
The punishment that we deserve was meted out to Christ on the Cross for our sake, and we are to glory in the scars that beautify the hands and feet of our Lord Jesus, for by His stripes we are healed, and by His blood our sins are forgiven.
Paul considered that the outward signs of persecution on his body were a testimony that he was a Christian and belonged to Christ: For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus, he wrote in his Epistle to the Galatians.
Suffering for righteousness sake is an indication that the Spirit of Christ rests upon us and although the name of Jesus is blasphemed by the persecutors of His blood-bought children, nevertheless our Saviour is glorified by the sufferings of His persecuted saints.Should we not consider it our greatest privilege to be insulted for Him?
May we look to Jesus and away from the world, and may the Word of Christ dwell in us richly so that the ungodly mindset of the world will be diminished.
It tells that Jesus was sent as an expression of the indescribable love of God for us: For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
This astonishing truth was told to Nicodemus by Jesus, as He unfolded heavenly truths to this secretive, synagogue leader.
Jesus explained the kingdom of heaven was only open to those born of the Spirit who look in faith to Christ, their Kinsman-Redeemer.
The forgiveness of sin, life everlasting, and the gates of heaven itself are flung open wide to whosoever will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
The only condition to receive His free gift of salvation is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
It stretches from before the creation of the world and the fall of Adam, to the revelation of Jesus Christ, the ushering in of the eternal kingdom of God, and far beyond into the eternal ages to come.
The things written in the book of Revelation are not the imagines of some mystic, but the revelation of Jesus Christ through God's eternal plan which the Father gave to His servant, John for our learning: All who read and take to heart the words of this prophecy and keep what is written therin, will be blessed beyond compare, but cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, will have their share in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur which is the second death.
It is Jesus, the supreme ruler of heaven and earth.
It is the Lord Jesus, Who died, is risen from the dead, and is alive for evermore.
In the beginning, the first Adam lost dominion over the earth through sin, but Jesus paid the price for sin through His own blood which He freely shed at Calvary, and became the second and last Adam.
It is Jesus who will bring God's plan of redemption to its conclusion and usher in the eternal state, for He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
For Jesus alone is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Peace is one of many beautiful characteristics that are manifested as fruit of the Spirit in the life of a believer who is growing in grace and being conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus.
It is the Spirit of peace Who reconciles man to God through faith in Jesus Christ and gives us the ministry of reconciliation.
When these conditions are met, we have the assurance that the peace of God, which passes human comprehension, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May the peace of God which passes human understanding, guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, and may the God of peace be with us all, amen.
However, we're exhorted to occupy 'til Jesus comes.
Israel, on the contrary, are given many hundreds of prophecies relating to both Christ's first advent - when He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, and also His Second Coming, when Jesus returns to the earth in clouds of great glory, to set up His Millennial kingdom that will never end.
At His second advent, Jesus will come with the clouds and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him.
And how we rejoice as well, for His promises to the Church are equally true and altogether righteous - for they are all yes and amen through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul reminds us that believers are not only called to trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation but also to be ready to suffer for His name's sake.
We live in a world where the vast majority of people are dead in their trespasses and sins, at enmity with God, and have willingly rejected His gracious offer of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that when men shall reproach us, persecute us, and say all manner of evil against us falsely for His sake, we are blessed.
Jesus not only tells us that unbelievers hate Him without a cause but that they will also hate us because of Him.
God is long-suffering and of great goodness, but the day is getting closer when every knee will bow down to the Lord and every tongue will give praise to God: At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Paul knew the Lord Jesus as his Saviour but desired to know Him more fully, for he recognised that the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ was the most important and precious thing in this life and in the life to come.
Paul admitted that despite his impressive parentage, worldly privileges, educational advantage, and outstanding achievements, he would have been condemned to a lost eternity had it not been for the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice at Calvary... for there is no favouritism with God.
Paul already had the assurance of the resurrection of the dead, due to his faith in Jesus.
Some scholars suggest that the OUT-resurrection is a reference to the Rapture when we are resurrected out of this world to be with Jesus.
But no matter which interpretation you favour, this verse reminds us that we are to strive to know the Lord Jesus more intimately, to know the power of His Resurrection, and to fellowship in His sufferings.
God's Sabbath rest was halted, and He began His amazing work of redeeming fallen humanity, which was why the Lord Jesus answered the Pharisees by saying: My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.
Jesus had just healed a sick man who had been bedridden for 38 years and who lay at the side of the Pool of Bethsaida.
Jesus, as Son of God and Saviour of the world, released this man from thirty-eight years of slavery to sin and Satan by simply commanding him to take up his bed and walk.
How sad that Israel not only ignored the voice of John the Baptist, who was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, but they failed to recognise the Lord Jesus Himself, Whose cleansing of His Father's House paved His way to Calvary's Cross, rather than the Messianic crown.
Christ took the punishment for the sins of all who believe on the name of the Son of God for salvation; God's wrath was poured out on Him in our stead, and for His sake, there is no longer condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Paul's desire for all Christians is that we study to show ourselves approved unto God so that we may grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Paul knows that spiritual knowledge, godly counsel, and an understanding of the Scripture, is able to make us wise for salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are to keep our hearts free from fretting and worry and this can only be achieved as we cast all our care and concern on the Lord Jesus, for He cares for us.
This is the point where God gives the nations to Jesus as His inheritance and makes the ends of the earth His possession.
Once the loud rejoicing of a great multitude in heaven have testified that the Lord God Omnipotent reigns, and having pronounced that His judgement is just, His salvation is sure, and His glory and power belongs to God, we are treated to the most awe-inspiring description of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is coming in power and great judgement.
Jesus Christ is the incarnate Word, the Word made flesh.
Jesus Christ is the Word of God Who lives and abides forever, and the written Word of God testifies that HE is the One Who will be clothed with a robe dipped in blood when He comes as the Divine warrior-Judge, riding on a white horse in His might, majesty, dominion, and power, to set up His Millennial Kingdom and judge the world in righteousness.
All who are credited with righteousness through faith, have the new life of Christ breathed into our soul, for though Adam became a living soul, Jesus became a life-giving spirit.
She was to be the human mother of God's only begotten Son - and His name was to be Jesus, for He was to save His people from their sin.
Mary was the mother of the Lord Jesus - the Son of God Who is equal with the Father.
Mary was the blessed vessel that God used to bring forth the Son of His love into the world, and together with Mary we all look to Jesus as the Author and Finisher of our faith: My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour, was her glorious song of rejoicing which was recorded in Scripture - when she praised God that the child in her womb was indeed her own God and Saviour.
Praise God that she was used by Him to be the vessel to give birth to our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Now it so happened that Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews and He saw a man sitting by the Pool of Bethesda who had suffered an infirmity for 38 years but he had no one to help him.
It was the Jewish Sabbath and Jesus drew near.
After 38 years of sickness, this man was cleansed and made whole by Jesus, the Creator of the world, the Author and Sustainer of all life.
It was for this reason that the Jews were persecuting the Lord Jesus.
They did not recognise that the Lord Jesus was not only a good Man but that He was indeed their long-awaited Messiah-King Who was the Lord of the Sabbath, Creator of the universe, and God Incarnate.
The disciples had just seen the Lord Jesus feed 5000 men with a few small loaves and fishes, walk right to the middle of the Sea of Galilee on the surface of the water to join the disciples on their fishing boat, give Peter the authority and power to walk on water himself - and then witness him being rescued from drowning by the strong arm of the Lord Jesus when his faith failed!
No wonder that all those in the boat were in filled with wonder and amazement, and worshipped the Lord Jesus saying: Truly, You are the Son of God.
In a few short hours, the disciples perception of Who the Lord Jesus was had been considerably enlarged.
Many today refuse to consider the countless times that Jesus confirmed to a watching world that He was God incarnate, the Word of God made flesh, very God yet truly Man.
I will not share my glory with another. The Lord Jesus Himself also cried out in His temptations: You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only, and throughout the holy Scriptures, we discover the severe admonishment to worship no one but the Lord God of Israel - the Creator of heaven and earth.
Yet in this singular moment, when His disciples were finally starting to realise the significance of Who the Lord Jesus truly was we read: Those in the boat worshiped Him and said, 'Truly You are the Son of God!' One more of the foundational stones of understanding had been laid in the lives of Christ's disciples, in preparation for the day what they would cry out in union: My Lord and my God.
God has set clear biblical standards for the normal Christian life, as outlined in the Church epistles and which are founded on the teachings of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself being the foundation stone.
By Him, and through Him, and for Him were all things made, and without Him was not anything made that was made. His name is Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.
And so John warns us, My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Sin is the instrument that erects a barrier between ourselves and God, and close communion can only be restored if we confess our sin to Him... through Jesus Christ our Lord Who alone is able to bring us back into fellowship with the Father - for Jesus Christ is our Advocate.
We have a sinless Man Who is ready to plead our case before God - Jesus Christ the righteous, for He is the propitiation for our sins.
Jesus is the one and only Mediator Who can restore man into fellowship with God.Our Lord Jesus is our representative Man Who identified with our sin.
Jesus is the only Person Who can speak to our Heavenly Father on our behalf.
Jesus is the only Person Who can plead our case before God when we confess our faults - when we acknowledge our sins before Him.
And because of our faith in Christ Jesus, God will graciously open His arms of love wide and show us the nail prints in His hands which paid the price for your sin and mine.You see, little children, our sins are all forgiven, forever, to those that believe.
But if we confess our sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One Who will plead His blood over us and return us back into the arms of our Father, to Whom be praise and glory forever and ever, amen.
The people will call for Jesus to save them and in that day they will cry out with one voice: Lo, this is our God.
Today, Israel is blinded in part to the truth of the gospel of God, because they did not recognise the day of their visitation, but a day is coming when the scales will drop from their eyes and they will call on the name of Jesus, and 'all Israel will be saved'.
The time is fast approaching when they will recognise Jesus as the One Who was wounded for their transgressions and pierced for their iniquities, and they will mourn for their sin.
For the time being, all in this age of grace who have recognised the Lord Jesus as our God and Saviour, both Jew and Gentile alike, are part of Christ's mystic Body (the Church).
It was also for love of the Church, which is His Body, that the Lord Jesus willingly gave up His life, so that she might be set apart, perfected, and changed into His likeness, through a lifelong process of 'sanctification'.
This same Jesus Who was taken into heaven to prepare a place for His Bride, is to return in the clouds and receive her unto Himself.
It was for the joy that was set before Him that the Lord Jesus endured the Cross, and it is with hopeful expectation and joyful anticipation that we wait for His any-day return, when He will take us to be with Himself forever, and how we rejoice in our sure salvation.
Jesus came to present Himself to Israel as their promised Messiah-King, from the line of David - the Prophet like unto Moses - the Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
The day came when Peter confessed, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus told them of His imminent death and warned of the high cost of discipleship.
But then Jesus said a most astonishing thing regarding those who would believe in Him, but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognise him... Jesus was speaking to them about John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
However, the disciples were still confused, for they realised that Jesus had come before the Old Testament Elijah appeared on the mountain!
Jesus had been born 33 years earlier and had begun His ministry three years before this appearance of Elijah on the holy mountain.
Jesus knew that like John, He too would be rejected and the kingdom, promised to Israel, would be put on hold, because the nation refused to recognise John as Elijah and Jesus as their Messiah-King.
But Jesus came to His own people, and they rejected Him, and the kingdom of heaven had to be postponed until the time that God has appointed.
But for those who do not believe in Jesus, this prophecy of Malachi has yet to be fulfilled. It may be fulfilled figuratively, it may be fulfilled literally and it may be both figuratively and literally.
Jesus told us that Elijah is coming and will restore all things.
Like John the Baptist, Elijah will prepare the hearts of Jewish people to call on their Messiah - Jesus Christ the righteous, Who Himself will restore the kingdom of God that was lost in Eden to that old serpent, which is the devil, Satan.
Israel rejected Jesus and the kingdom was put on hold, but Christ will restore the kingdom and reconcile man to God.
Elijah will come to testify to the truth of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
To know Christ Jesus our Lord is to know God Himself, for He is the exact image of the invisible God.
Christ has made known to us the Father... and the Father has unveiled to us the Son in the person of Jesus Christ - for in Him dwells all the might, majesty, dominion, power, and fullness of the Godhead bodily... and by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord we have been saved and made one - with Him.
How necessary to make sure that the Lord Jesus is given His rightful position in our lives, no matter what opposition we face or whatever things may be shaken in our lives.
He reminds us that there is one Body of believers (the Body of Christ), one Holy Spirit Who indwells and seals each believer, one hope of our calling which is reserved for us in heaven, and one Lord, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
There is also one faith with a settled body of doctrine that is clearly laid out in Scriptures, one baptism into the Body of Christ at the moment of salvation, one God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one Holy Spirit Who gives spiritual gifts to all who are positioned in Christ.
Jesus had many followers and disciples, but the role of apostle was an office that was divinely appointed by God.
It is only by looking at God's perfect Sacrifice for sin, Jesus Christ, our sin-Substitute Who was lifted up on the Cross so that all who would look on Him by grace through faith would live.
As Nicodemus tenderly removed the body of the Lord-Jesus Christ, Who had been lifted up on the Cross like the fiery serpent in the wilderness, its profound significance and the intensity of its meaning must have pierced his soul to the very core.
Three long years had passed since that night when Nicodemus first started to understand that he must be born again, but as the day of Jesus' death grew ever closer, when He would finally be lifted up like that brass serpent in the wilderness, we read these poignant words from our Saviour own lips: I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.
Let us exult His name together, and let us lift up the beautiful name of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world that has been bitten by sin so that they too may look and live, by grace through faith in Him.
Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus was demonstrating to His disciples that He was fully God yet fully Man.
And throughout His life, the Lord Jesus sought to demonstrate that He and the Father were ONE - one in nature - one in Spirit - one in unity with each other - one God in three Persons.
And throughout His life, His human body was the temple in which His Father resided, and the Lord Jesus lived and moved and had His being in the Father so that He could truly say: You Father are in Me and I am in You.
And as the shadow of the Cross loomed every closer, Jesus prayed that all those who were to one day become part of His Body would be one with Him and one with each other: May they be completely one, just as we are one.
May we continue to grow in grace. May we press on to the high call of God in Christ Jesus. May we be ready to declare the awesome deeds of the Lord to the next generation with hymns of praise, words of wisdom, and a humble heart that reflects the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the sweet fellowship that come from the Holy Spirit.
Whether we are married or remain unmarried, may we be a living witness of a life that honours the Lord, in all we say and do so that others may see Jesus in us.
The subject matter of Hebrew centres on the Person, work, and office of the Lord Jesus Christ, and emphasises His eternal deity and unique manhood.
And the promise God made relates to Person, Work, Ministry, and Office of CHRIST JESUS our Lord and His sacrificial death on the Cross and glorious Resurrection; a promise that is pertinent to ALL who believe on Him.
Because Abraham is the father of faith and all believers are his 'spiritual seed', God's pledge and guarantee to Abraham encompasses every man, woman, boy, and girl who has believed in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
God's promise to Abraham includes ALL who believe in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
However, we are subject to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which is laid out in the New Testament epistles, and as blood-bought children of God, our conduct, behaviour, actions, attitudes, and motive is equally important if we are to walk in His ways and honour His name - and should be wholeheartedly embraced.
Although the majority of the Jewish leadership were against the Lord Jesus and conspired how to get rid of Him, there were those from the ruling classes who were convicted by Christ's words and who sought the truth.
And here we discover a young man who was a teacher of the Law who was intrigued by the wisdom of Jesus.
This earnest young man would be conversant with all 613 of Israel's commandments which were given by God, through Moses... and he asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment: And Jesus answered him, 'the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord.'
This young man wanted to know which was the greatest commandment and Jesus answered His direct question by quoting the first part of the revered 'Shema': Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is One Lord.
And Jesus went on to explain that love for God and love for one's neighbour is the fulfilling of God's perfect Law.
From the creation in Genesis to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we see evidence of the biblical doctrine of the Triune Godhead.
Paul reminds us that there is no other name, but the name of Jesus whereby we must be saved, while in Revelation, John (quoting Isaiah) records that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending which is, and which was, and is to come, the Almighty God.
He is unique and there is no other God beside Him, but the unmistakable doctrine of the Trinity has its stamp of authority throughout the entire Word of God and the 'Shema' which the Lord Jesus referenced to the young Jewish ruler, only serves to endorse the monotheistic doctrine of the Triune Godhead - for the Lord our God is ONE Lord - unique from all the false gods of the pagan nations for He is the One Creator and the only wise Saviour Who is One in unity, One in purpose, One in thought, and word and deed.
We also believe the Word of God as we look back to the Cross of Christ to Jesus, our God and Saviour, our risen, ascended, and glorified Lord.
They were covered by the blood of the passover lambs temporarily, until the saving blood of Jesus Christ, God's true Passover Lamb, would take away their sin and the sin of the whole world forever through His own blood, shed at Calvary.
The Lord Jesus was not simply referring to the physical resurrection of people like Lazarus, Jairus' daughter, or the dead son of the widow of Nain, but to all who would hear and receive His message of salvation, and trust in His own redeeming blood for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
Step by step, the Lord Jesus explained the necessity for a new, spiritual birth to Nicodemus, a renowned teacher of the Law who, despite his great learning and honoured religiosity, was dead in his sins, confused about the kingdom of God, and ignorant of his great need of a spiritual birth.
The Lord Jesus Christ, as the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man, was in heaven before the foundation of the world, and it was He Who came down from His heavenly residence to be born into the race of sinful man.
The Lord Jesus was not simply a good man, a great teacher, a renowned prophet, or a charismatic miracle-worker.
Jesus Christ is God.
Jesus Christ is the third member of the eternal Trinity, the Word made flesh Who alone came down from heaven and Who, by His own intrinsic power and authority, ascended into heaven.
And God has spoken to us through Jesus Christ the Son of Man Whom He has appointed heir of all things, and Who alone has ascended into heaven.
After a brief reminder that they were once alienated from their Creator, bitter enemies with God in thought, word, and deed, and slaves to every kind of evil, the Colossian Christians were reminded that by His immeasurable grace, God had planned for their reconciliation back to Himself through the matchless death, burial, and Resurrection of His dearly beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The eternal Son of God was born of the line of David into a fallen race of sinners as the Lord Jesus Christ.
It describes the Lord Jesus Christ in the most beautiful and intimate terms.
Jesus Christ is desirable in every way.
The truth of the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ and the many precious promises that surround the beauty of His Person can only be described as the sweetest and most beautiful truths known to mankind.
Grace and truth came to us through the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the transforming light that streams into the inner recesses of man's bitter soul, bringing new life and new hope and new joy into the inner recesses of man's spirit.
Jesus Christ is indeed altogether perfect.
Let us today turn our eyes upon the lovely face of Jesus, our Saviour, our King, our Bridegroom, our Redeemer.
And let us remember the intimate relationship we have with Jesus as we join with Solomon saying:
There is one God, Paul reminds Timothy, There is one God and one Mediator also between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
The immortal, invisible God revealed Himself to mankind in the lovely person and face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is ONE, which is why the Lord Jesus was able to say to His disciples, I and the Father are ONE.
Although Jesus was fully God in power and essence, He set aside His glory and came to earth as a man to live a perfect life in order to demonstrate how God designed man to live on earth - in perfect submission to the Father's will.
Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of God's nature, Who upholds all things by the word of His power.
Jesus was willing to become man's Kinsman-Redeemer so that He was equipped to be the one and ONLY Mediator between man and God: No one comes to the Father except through Me, were the words Jesus spoke to His disciples.
ALL need a Saviour Who will mediate between God and man and the Bible clearly tells us that there is only one Mediator between God and man - the Man, Christ Jesus.
But it also demonstrates God’s wisdom and grace, for He did not give multiple ways to return into fellowship with Himself, but one, simple, childlike way: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.God did not make it difficult for man to come to Him.
Paul knew the importance of relational closeness with the Lord Jesus, for by faith in His sacrificial death on our account, we were positioned in Him, and eternally united with Him.
All who are positioned in Christ, died to sin when Jesus died on the Cross.
Being united with Christ is to be identified with the Person and work of the Lord Jesus.
Day by day, we should desire a relational closeness with Jesus as we acknowledge Him in 'all' our ways.
Jesus is the One who removes the obstacles on the roadside and He is the One Who bring you to your appointed goal, for the all-seeing God is the One Who has promised in all things to: Direct your paths and to lead You in the way of righteousness.
May we be those whose faith is established and anchored to the facts of Scripture, for when faith is founded on God's unchangeable Word, we know ALL that He has promised WILL be completed, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But the superlative expression of God's glory, which must warrant our eternal rejoicing, is found in the gracious person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
May it be our daily prayer that those who do not rejoice in Christ Jesus as Saviour, come to a saving knowledge of His grace and mercy, while it is still today.
The law of sin and death has been replaced by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Because the predominant audience for the book of Hebrews was initially Jewish believers in Christ, there are many references to Old Testament rules and regulations which have been superseded because of the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ Who gave His life as the full and final sacrifice for sin.
We have God's assurance that nothing can pluck us out or His hands and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is eternally ours - by faith in Christ Jesus.
Paul had a great love for the Gentile churches that had placed their trust in the Lord Jesus and the Christians in Rome were no exception.
The first thing that Paul wrote, after his characteristic greeting of grace be to you and peace, was a grateful word of thanksgiving to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for the faith which was being proclaimed throughout the whole world by these dearly beloved saints in Rome.
Every attack on Christianity has its roots in Satan's demonic agenda which is designed to blaspheme the God of heaven and earth, to discredit His holy Word, to belittle the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross, to blind the eyes of the unsaved who are perishing, and to shipwreck the lives of those that have been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
The Christians at Galatia had started their Christian life so well by trusting in the Lord Jesus for salvation by faith.
But God remains in control and the Lord Jesus continues to quietly and successfully build His Church, as He promised.
Let us run the race that is set before us, looking away from the world and looking steadfastly to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
When anxious thoughts start to flood our mind or when we are tempted to sin, our immediate reaction should be to look to Jesus and to remember who we are in Christ.
And Paul reminds us that the best way to react to anxious thoughts is to cast all our care upon Jesus and to take all our needs, necessities, concerns, and cares to the Lord in prayer, but to do so with thanksgiving and praise.
Jesus is the beloved Son of the Father in undiminished Deity, and in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Jesus Christ is the mysterious union of Deity with humanity, which we accept by grace through faith in Him.
His description is beautifully inscribed in the 45th Psalm where, as our Kinsman-Redeemer, we read of the Lord Jesus Christ: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The millennial rule of Christ on earth will be the full, final, and glorious fulfilment of this ancient truth when, as King of kings and Lord of lords, Christ Jesus will rule and reign in irreproachable justice for He loves righteousness unfailingly and hates wickedness with a godly hatred, and did only those things that He heard from His Father in heaven.
We are presented with a feast of all the privileges that are ours in Christ Jesus Who has delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into His kingdom, by grace through faith.
But how we praise God that we who were once alienated from God and hostile towards Him in mind and deed, are now reconciled to Him through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Paul began to draw a stark and astonishing comparison between riches and poverty as he spoke about the great and generous grace that God had bountifully poured out upon all humanity through our Lord Jesus Christ, for though He was rich beyond all measure, yet for our sakes He became poor so that by His poverty He could make us rich, beyond our wildest imaginings.
As the disciples struggled to keep their little boat afloat in the midst of the tempestuous storm that raged across the sea, Jesus came to them, walking on the water.
They had been battling the raging storm throughout the night and they were exhausted, but it continued to lash their little boat well into the early hours of the morning, for we are told that it was the fourth watch of the night when Jesus came to them.
Many of these men were weather-hardened fishermen who had battled many a storm, but on this occasion they were terrified - they were all filled with fear and the Lord Jesus understood the anguish that had gripped their heart.
And so He called out, giving a loving response to their prayer without any delay: But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, 'Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.'Did you see that?
Jesus called out to them, immediately.
The moment they cried out in fear, Jesus heard their distress call and straightaway He spoke words of comfort, reassurance, and encouragement to them.
The Lord Jesus was aware of the danger they were in but He was also concerned about their peace of mind.
The new life we received at salvation is being transformed into the image and likeness of Christ, as we mature in the faith, grow in grace, and gain a more intimate knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
And it is all by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, our only God and Saviour.
In Matthew 15, Jesus had already been accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, His Messianic claims had already been rejected by Israel's religious leaders, and He had already started to teach in parables, to all who had ears to hear.
Jesus knew His mission was to call His people to repent of their sin and to deliver the message of salvation to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And Jesus also came to earth as Saviour of the world to Jew and Gentile alike.
Throughout His ministry, we see many Gentiles putting their trust in Jesus and in this passage, we rejoice to find a Canaanite woman, from the region of Tyre and Sidon, being saved by grace and having her demon-possessed daughter restored to full health and a sound mind.
This distraught woman was brought into a deeper knowledge and understanding of Who Jesus was, when she cried out to Him as He walked along the dusty road, that day.
Following His rejection by the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus took His disciples away from the land of Israel and withdrew to Tyre and Sidon.
Only Israel had the right to address Jesus as 'Son of David', for Jesus was the Son of Abraham Who had been sent by His Father to His covenant nation.
Jesus had been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and this woman was not a Jew.
Jesus, Who was sent to bring salvation to Israel, was from the tribe of Judah; of the house and lineage of David.
He was the Lord Jesus Christ Who had come to save His people from their sin.
This daughter of the Gentiles had to gain some dispensational understanding before Jesus could help her, for salvation is from the Jew.
Jesus tested her heart by reminding her that food for the children (Israel), should not be thrown to the little puppy dogs (Gentiles).
The reply this Canaanite woman gave, revealed her trusting heart to Jesus, for she pointed out little puppies-dogs are allowed to partake of the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
Jesus may be Israel's Messiah, but Gentiles can still receive from Him.
The woman's reply greatly blessed the Lord Jesus, for it demonstrated a faith that was rare, even among His own Jewish nation: O woman, he replied, Great is your faith.
Salvation must come through faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father and prophesied Messiah of Israel.
Jesus was teaching the important lesson that there is no other name given among men, whereby we must be saved; the lovely name of JESUS.
This Gentile woman may have addressed Jesus incorrectly at the beginning, when she appealed to Him by His Messianic title 'Son of David', but she acknowledged Him as her LORD, and so her faith was credited as righteousness.
The lesson we all have to learn is that it is only by faith in Christ that we are redeemed by God and declared righteous, for salvation is by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord and Israel's Messiah.
Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel as their long-awaited Messiah.
Israel, as God's firstborn, adopted son, had to turn back to the God of their forefathers and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - God's only begotten Son and anointed King Who would become the 'firstborn' from the dead and Saviour of the world.
They accused Jesus of working through the power of Beelzebub and not through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus told them that on the day of judgment, people will have to account for every careless word they speak.
But no-one who believes that Jesus died for their sin, was buried, and rose again the third day can ever commit this unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit.
The new creation has been reconciled to the Father and enjoys the freedom of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, our Saviour.
Every member of humanity is born into the old creation, but only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, are part of the new creation and become a member of the 'one new man in Christ'.
Not only have we been declared righteous by faith but also we have been given the indwelling Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which has set us free from enslavement to the old sin nature and freed us from the power of sin in our daily lives.
We are clothed with a new spiritual life by faith and not by works, and begin a process whereby we are being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, Himself.
And God promised that through him, all the nations of the world would be abundantly blessed - for one, very special Seed of Abraham was to be born - the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Abraham had many sons and daughters, but it was through Isaac (the son of promise) that Jesus, (the promised SEED) would be born - for Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob's sons became Israel, the great nation under God through whom the promised SEED was to be born.
The blessing about which God spoke, was the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
Paul received his gospel by revelation of Jesus Christ.
The gospel we have through Paul was given to him directly from the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul's determination to remain true the pure gospel that he received by revelation from Christ, is evident in each of his epistles.
But the Word of God teaches that we are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself being the Chief Cornerstone.
The gospel message is clear and uncompromising; that those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are not under condemnation, but have passed from death to life.
There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus (which is accessed by faith) for God's wrath was poured out upon Him in our stead and we have been forgiven and have received the gift of eternal life by God's grace and through faith in Christ.
But in all cases, the sure remedy is to take every thought captive to Christ: Let this mind be in us that was is Christ Jesus.
And so we are called upon to be of one mind, having the same love for one another and living in perfect harmony with a singular focus: the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and walk in spirit and truth so that we may live godly in Christ Jesus.
Let us seek to live in total dependence on our Heavenly Father and in godly unity with our brothers in Christ, and let us pay heed to Paul's earnest entreaty: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, so that our words, deeds, actions, and attitudes may be a true reflection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
He clearly lays out the path that we are to follow and we should read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Word of God with an undivided heart so that in the power of the Holy Spirit, we may grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God in each of our lives, that we should know God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
Christ Jesus was God's free gift of grace to every member of the human race.
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was God's free, indescribable, inestimable gift of grace that was given freely to every man and woman without any strings attached.
Simply accepting this unspeakably precious gift from God (which we do by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the only begotten Son of God), causes a whole host of other amazing things to be showered without limit upon the blessed recipient.
Simply rejecting this unspeakably precious gift from God (which happens when people refusing to accept and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God), results in everlasting condemnation and spiritual death, which means eternal separation from God which Revelation tells us happens in the Lake of Fire.
God, in His grace, not only removes the sin-barrier that estranges man from his Creator God, but He desires His people to rest in His love and to know His own precious peace deep within our hearts so that we may enjoy sweet fellowship with Him.The Lord has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and all His promises to us are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Men have rejected true wisdom in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus, and have chosen to live their lives according to their own perceived intelligence, which results in jealousy, envy, ambition, strife, and every kind of evil work.
The sad bitterness, revengeful thoughts, arrogant attitude, and angry unforgiveness of the ungodly, that so often floods the minds of sinful man, stands in stark contrast with the overflowing loving-kindness, compassionate-mercy, and unmerited gracious-pardon that streamed from the veins of the Lord Jesus, when He stretched out His arms of love to embrace whosoever will.
That blessing would come through Abraham's Seed - Jesus Christ the righteous One Who would crush the head of that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan.
But God, in His grace, had established a secondary Law that supersedes the Law of sin and death - the Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
But the day is coming when their eyes will be opened and they will cry out in faith, Blessed is He - JESUS - Who comes in the name of the Lord.
By God's grace, He is using the Body, the Bride of Christ - which is the Church, to stand in the gap for Israel by prayer, supplication, and through the proclamation of the good news that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and Saviour of the world.
Paul instructs them to remain united together with one mind... before committing them into the Lord's safe-keeping with a beautiful benediction that has become beloved by generations of believers: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of God, the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
Indeed, it is often prayed as a parting benediction before brothers and sisters in Christ depart from a time of Christian fellowship and it is often prayed as a beautiful blessing over those for whom we care deeply: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with YOU.
And it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have been saved... for He set aside His glorious majesty to become one of us and to take upon His sinless body the punishment that we deserve for the sin we have committed.
It is by grace - through our faith in Jesus that we have been given eternal life and an everlasting inheritance that is kept for us in heaven.
And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you ALL - Hallelujah - what a Saviour.
The God of the universe, with all His divine attributes and entitlements, became the man Christ Jesus.
Paul appears to be saying that before he was converted he viewed things, including the Lord Jesus, from a human perspective; paying attention to things like family, education, position, popularity, the things He said and did, and the chronicled records of His actions and performance.
Jesus had just made the first of many earth-shattering 'I AM' statements that announced His Messianic authority and proclaimed His eternal deity.
But the Lord Jesus was not discouraged by Israel’s unbelief, for He knew that the plans of God would certainly be fulfilled.
And in these few simple, yet profound words, Jesus declares that man's salvation is dependent on two things: divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
The Father gives to the Son all who choose to place their trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
But ALL that the Father gives to Christ will come to Him, and not one who comes to Jesus for salvation will be cast away.
This beautiful truth nestles in the midst of the section in Romans where Paul expresses his deep desire that all his fellow Israelites, who had not accepted Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, would come to saving faith in Him as the Messiah of Israel and the Saviour of the world.
Paul recognised Israel's zeal for the Lord and yet also pointed out that they based their righteousness on 'doing' the works of the Law rather that 'believing' in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Salvation is offered to anyone who will call on the name of the Lord - and that name is JESUS, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
In this Church dispensation, there are many of Paul's Jewish brethren together with many Gentile believers that have called on the name of the Lord because they have trusted in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as Israel's Messiah and the Saviour of the world.
But whether we are graced with a loyal friend or not, every believer in Christ can state with certainty that JESUS is a friend that sticks closer that a brother.
We are to place our confidence in a true and living relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ and all that He achieved on the Cross on our behalf.
Paul was a man that, having met the Lord Jesus on his Damascus Road, set his face as a flint to press on for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
That I may know Him, was Paul's personal longing: That I may know Jesus and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Growing in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus requires single-minded dedication.
The single-minded fervour we see in the lives of Paul, James, David, and even the Lord Jesus points to the fact that a man with a single aim is a man God can use and that single aim is to carry out the will of the Father, in all His ways.The complacent Christian does not have an urgency to be about his Father’s business and the proud believer has an alternative agenda, while those that are lukewarm in their faith seem indifferent to their spiritual growth.
But the child of God who seeks to lift up the Lord Jesus and to glorify His name, is jealous of the task ahead and resolutely sets his eye on the finishing line of this earthly race.Such a one does not rest on his laurels but strains his spiritual muscle.
It is very important to understand that Jesus was specifically sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 15: I was sent ONLY to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and all four Gospels trace Christ's life and ministry within Israel.
They highlight Israel's growing disregard and hatred of Jesus, and all four Gospels give detailed accounts of the Jew's rejection of their Messiah-King, His illegal trial by their leaders, and His crucifixion, death, and burial by His own people.
Israel were God's chosen nation to Whom Jesus was specifically sent, but they rejected Him.
The mighty signs and wonders that Jesus performed throughout His ministry, were to authenticate His Messianic claims.
Having already chosen His twelve disciples, Jesus encouraged them to pray for labourers to be sent throughout Israel, to tell of the good news of the kingdom of heaven.
God's chosen people were to turn from their sins and believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God FIRST.
God's chosen people, who had become so apostate over the centuries, were to repent of their sin, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, crown Him as King, and then be a light to the Gentiles and Samaritans, by proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom throughout the world.
The responsibility to tell the world about Jesus was given to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.
Today, the Church is proclaiming the 'gospel of the grace of God' to unsaved Jew and Gentile alike, until the WHOLE nation of Israel repents of their sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, and THEN the 'gospel of the kingdom' will be preached throughout the world, and Christ will return to set up His kingdom, as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Despite its shocking storyline and display of human misery, the grace Hosea showed to his adulterous wife serves as a tiny reminder of the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of God's love towards us and His never-failing faithfulness towards His people; for the day is coming when every promise to Israel, the Church, and all who have trusted Christ as Saviour, will be completed, and Jesus will reign on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The full and final fulfilment of this magnificent prophecy is still future, for although the glory of the Lord entered the Temple when Jesus Himself visited, during His first advent, lasting peace in the holy city will only happen when the Prince of Peace returns in the clouds of glory and sets His feet on the mount of Olives, to bring in His Millennial Kingdom of peace and prosperity.
On that day, every eye will see Him and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Those in the church at Thessalonica heard the gospel, were ready and willing to turn from their former ways, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
They responded to the good news Paul taught, by placing their faith in the Lord Jesus.
Paul had been personally taught by the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus, and he loved his Saviour so dearly, that he followed Christ's word and imitated His ways.
They were ready to use Paul and his fellow-labourers in the Lord as a pattern for life, just as Paul patterned himself after the Lord Jesus.
In spite of the inevitable adversity that comes to all who believe in Jesus, we read that the Thessalonians also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation - and with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
Just as Paul patterned himself on Christ, so these dear believers patterned their lives on the men who brought them the gospel, who were imitating the lovely Lord Jesus.
Just as they became imitators of both Paul and Christ, so we as the Body of Christ, are to pattern our lives on the Lord Jesus.
As the body of Christ, we are to be united in love, to walk in the way of the Lord Jesus, and to live the same type of life that He lived.
May we never forget that we have an assurance that if we die to the old self-life and live the new life of Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, (as did this great apostle of God), our consolations will more than compensate for the inevitable afflictions and difficulties that accompany the lives of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
This truth that some strangers we encounter today could be angels sent from God, is no less true today than it was when Peter was led from his prison cell by an angel, or when the disciples heard from those two men clothed in white, that Jesus will return in like manner as they saw Him go.
But through it all, Paul was quick to recognise that Jesus Christ was exalted and the gospel of grace was being preached.
He explained that instead of silencing the gospel, his incarceration in a Roman prison had the opposite effect - even members of the prison guard understood that Paul was in chains for Christ's sake, and many were coming to faith in the Lord Jesus through Paul's ministry... despite his unjust imprisonment.
Like Israel, we too can look back to God's unfailing mercies and look forward to the day when He Who started a good work in us will be completed, in the day of Christ Jesus.
Jesus had been teaching His disciples the principles and practice of righteousness in the life of a believer and the spiritual priorities that should govern our behaviour.
What Jesus is doing in this passage, is to expose man's inclination to find fault in another believer while dismissing that same fault within themselves.
What Jesus is identifying in this passage is hypocrisy, where internal corruption is hidden beneath external correctness, where we do the right thing with the wrong motive - and in the eyes of God this is gross hypocrisy.
It was the problem of unrighteous judgement, hypocritical conclusions, sanctimonious reasonings, legalistic pride, and destructive criticisms that caused Christ to utter the warning: Do not judge so that you will not be judged. Jesus knew that the standard by which we judge others, will become the self-same standard by which we ourselves are measured.
But since we have been partakers of the goodness of God, and since we have been born into a living hope in Christ Jesus, we are called to earnestly desire the milk of the Word, to guard against the lust of the flesh, and to flee from selfish pride and a carnal life-style.
To engage in such behaviour violates our Christian witness and discredits the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If as born again believers we have indeed tasted and seen that the Lord is good, we should be motivated to live as unto the Lord, to thirst after the pure milk of the Word, to abstain for ungodly actions and attitudes, and to walk godly in Christ Jesus.
This thirteenth chapter is considered by many to be the supreme treaties on love, and indeed as we read through this passage that is beloved by many, we discover that only the name 'JESUS' could easily be substituted throughout for the word 'LOVE'.
And justifiably so, for Jesus is patient, and Jesus is kind.
Jesus does not envy, and Jesus is not boastful nor conceited.
Jesus is not rude nor does He insist on His own way.
Jesus is neither irritable nor resentful, and Jesus does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but He rejoices with the truth - for He is the Truth.
And only in and through Jesus are we able to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endures all things.
The birth of every baby is a wonderful miracle of life, but the birth of the Lord Jesus was the miracle of new life that had been planned by the Most High God in eternity past.
And in the ages that are to come, the Church is to be an example to the angelic host, of the incomparable riches of God’s amazing grace, which are seen in His multiplied blessings towards us – in Jesus Christ our Lord.
But under the New Covenant, it is Jesus Who is appointed our great High Priest, and He is now the one and only Mediator between God and man, and we are called to stand in the gap as we pray for God to bless others with the truth of the glorious gospel of grace.What more wonderful benediction could be offered over any of us than the blessed invocation in this beautiful verse in Numbers chapter 6.
May we who have been so blessed by God to be His children, be used by Him as channels of His blessing through Whom the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is poured out in great measure to others, this day and forevermore, AMEN.
At God's appointed time, they returned to the land the Lord gave to them, but they returned in unbelief and have not yet acknowledged nationally that Jesus is great David's greater Son.
Jesus is the Son of David after the flesh and God's anointed King in the power of the Spirit, and His kingdom and kingship will never end.
May we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, knowing that the only true peace that will overshadow the nation in unbelief, is when they recognise Jesus as Lord and cry out to Him for their salvation.
On that day (at the end of the Great Tribulation, which is Daniel's 70th week), Jesus will come in the clouds of glory, to claim the throne of His father David and set up His kingdom for ever and ever.
It is encouraging to read through the privileges and promises that are ours in Christ Jesus in the first three chapters of Ephesians, and know God is able to do abundantly above all we ask or think.
Paul then makes an appeal for Christians to clothe themselves in a new morality that reflects the righteousness of Christ by putting off their old, pagan practices and putting on the New Man, which is created in Christ Jesus and expressed in holy living and righteous acts.
Let us rejoice in the enormous privileges that are ours in Christ Jesus, but let us also take on board the great responsibility we have for living a life that honours the Lord, by putting off the old man and putting on the new.
In the first few chapters of his Gospel, Matthew introduces the reader to Jesus as God's anointed King.
The Lord Jesus was identified as God's beloved Son at His baptism and started His mission and ministry by calling His disciples to follow Him.
From Chapter 8, Jesus began to present His Messianic credentials through a series of miraculous works and healings.
We read how the leper knelt before Jesus reverently, giving Him worship and paying Him homage.
The very words of this man showed the genuine, depth of faith this leper had in Christ's power to heal, for he acknowledged Jesus as 'Lord'.
No doubt he had heard about Christ's ability to heal the sick and had an assurance, in his heart, that Jesus was able to make him clean.
Any doubt he expressed was that Jesus may not choose to do so: Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.
But we read in this verse: Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing.
Jesus was both able to heal, and He was willing to heal this leprous man who trusted in Him.
But the compassion and grace with which Jesus replied and the expression of love that followed when he touched the leper's diseased body, is not only moving but powerful evidence that His Messianic claims were true.
By His action, Jesus demonstrated a fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
And what an awesome exchange is made when a lost sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and is redeemed from the slave-market of sin and transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's everlasting light.
May we be ready and willing to extend the same compassion and love towards every lost soul we meet as Jesus did to the leprous man when He touched him and made him clean.
The sacrifice of God is the broken spirit and contrite heart of the believer who desires to die to self and live godly in Christ Jesus.
But we can grieve the Spirit of God by our words and actions and we can quench the work He desires to carry out in our lives, when we are not looking to Jesus, and walking in humbleness of spirit and dependence on our Father in heaven.
Following forty glorious post-Resurrection days, the risen Lord Jesus led His little band of disciples out from the tiny town of Bethany to the beautiful Mount of Olives, where He spoke to them for the very last time before being taken into heaven.
Finally, their beloved Lord Jesus and Saviour was lost from view.
How that memory must have been etched forever on the minds of each one who was silently standing in that little olive grove, a place that had become such a setting of significance to our Lord Jesus.
As Jesus ascended into heaven, He reminded them of the promised presence of the Holy Spirit Who would come to them a few days hence.
How their hearts and minds must have started to pound in hopeful expectation, as they considered those words of Jesus.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven while Jesus was ascending, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.
And so He sent two men, dressed in shining white to comfort His people and remind them that this same Jesus Who had been taken from them into heaven, would one day return in the same manner that they saw Him go into heaven.
What a glorious experience the disciples had that day, as they watched Jesus ascend into heaven and received the message of His return from those two men dressed in white raiment!
And one day yet future, the prophecies from Zechariah, Joel, and other Old Testament prophets will finally be fulfilled when Jesus returns at His Second Coming (at the end of the Tribulation Period), to the Mount of Olives to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
Let us keep watching with eager anticipation: Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Matthew lets us know that John the Baptist was reluctant to baptise the Lord Jesus - because John's baptism was a baptism unto repentance, while Christ was without sin.
Jesus came to fulfil the whole Law on our account.
It was in the midst of all this eager anticipation, that Jesus appeared on the scene.
But on closer inspection we read that it was in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee.
It was during the time of John's frenetic ministry that Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan.
It was during all the excitement of John's preaching campaign, that the Lord Jesus came from His hometown of Nazareth - and went in and out among John's faithful followers.
The Acts of the Apostles even implies that Jesus was there at the start of John's ministry, for when choosing a disciple to replace Judas, Peter insisted, It is necessary that Judas' replacement must have accompanied us all the time... that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us - beginning with the baptism of John, until the day that He was taken up from us, into heaven.
For thirty silent years, God had been preparing the Lord Jesus Christ for His ministry of reconciliation between God and mankind.
Whatever Christ's baptism signified - whether it was His identification with sinners for whom He was to be the substitute, an act of obedience to His Father in order to fulfil the righteous requirements of the Law, a presentation of Himself as the Messiah of Israel and Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, an act of dedication to His God and Father, or simply a picture of His forthcoming death and Resurrection - we know that in the days of John the Baptist's ministry - Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptised by John in the Jordan.
He had been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus and set free from the curse of the Law.
Paul came to realise that it was Jesus Whom he had been persecuting in his murderous attempt to wipe out the Christian faith, and that in so doing he was fighting Almighty God.
What a wake-up call to Paul, who in his religious fervour, discovered that it was Jesus Who gave His life sacrificially so that by faith in Him, he might find forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
Paul had come to understand that in this world we will have tribulation, but we are to be of good cheer for Jesus has overcome the world by means of His sacrificial death on the cross and glorious Resurrection.
Paul came to understand that when the Body of Christ (the Church) is suffering, so too is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
He also recorded many prophesies that will happen during the 'time of Jacob's Trouble' when terrible tribulation will come upon the whole earth, but he also writes of the future reign on Christ on earth, when Jesus sets up His Millennial rule as King of kings and Lord of lords.
And on that day their Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, will make provision for their cleansing and the remnant of Israel will be re-gathered before a promised time of peace and prosperity floods the whole world, when the earth will be filled with the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
During the coming Millennial rule of Christ, Gentiles will be commanded to come up to the holy city of Jerusalem to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Israel and Lord of Hosts.
And in the Gospels, we see a beautiful fulfilment of this verse where the Lord Jesus Christ, as Israel's appointed Messiah King, went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.
Jesus was the visible representation of the invisible God, and He only said and did those things that He heard from His Father in heaven.
The Lord Jesus was identified by the Father as: My Beloved Son, and He was anointed by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, and walked in spirit and truth.
Jesus lived His entire life in complete and utter dependence upon God, content to lay aside His eternal glory and pray in humble obedience: Thy will not mine be done.
The mystery of God is indeed bound up in the truth of the Trinity, for God Almighty broke into time, space, and the history of mankind, and He visited His own creation for thirty-three years in the unique person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But like us, they were unaware of the timing that this event, only knowing that it would descend upon an unprepared world as a thief in the night, for as the Lord Jesus reminded believers in the first chapter of Acts, it is not for us to know the times and the seasons which the Father has ordained by His own power, but we are to be watching for our Lord's return.
But nothing should come as a surprise to those that trust in God and are looking for the blessed hope - the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
We may not know the time that the God the Father will send God the Son to rescue the Body of Christ (the Church) from the wrath that is to come, but we have His promise that we are not appointed to wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, as, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed into His image, day by day.
The most glorious yet awe-inspiring description of Jesus Christ is given in this first chapter of the Revelation to John, for our learning.
The apostle had lived alongside the Son of Man during His sojourn on earth, and bore witness that Jesus was the incarnate Word of God.
It was Christ Jesus; the Alpha and the Omega, Who is, and was, and is to come, the Almighty.
It was Jesus Christ Who was dead but is alive forevermore, that stood before him.
It was Jesus - the Head of the Body - the King of the Jews - the Saviour of the world - the Almighty God of heaven - the Ancient of Days.
It was Jesus Who had washed his filthy feet so many years before, standing before John in the magnificence of His glory.
It was Jesus, Who is the express image of His Father.
It was Jesus, the God-Man Who upholds all things by the Word of his power.
It was JESUS; Who having by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
But the wrath of God for your sins and mine has already been poured out on Jesus; our sin-substitute Who died in our place, is risen, and is alive for evermore.
Some of the most beautiful and moving descriptions of the Lord Jesus are found in the writings of Isaiah, the prophet.
In chapter 42, the Lord God speaks of Jesus as His Servant Whom He upholds and in Whom He delights.
Similarly, we read that Jesus, the tender-hearted Servant of the Lord, will not quench the smouldering wick of a flickering candle and He will not extinguish a smouldering flax.
By nature, the Lord Jesus is compassionate and righteous.
But the Lord Jesus is God's good and gracious Servant Whom He has sent to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim delivery to the captives, to recover sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised and broken.
We may face injustice in this world as the enemy of our soul seeks to discredit our testimony, discourage our hearts, and destroy our faith, but Jesus has promised never to leave us and to be with us whatever betides.
To live for God and trust His Word OR to live for self and doubt His Word... to obey His voice as we journey through life OR to disobey the Word of the Lord and waste the short time we have on earth: To save our life (our soul) OR to lose our life (our soul), as Jesus said, for whoever shall save his soul-life shall lose it (death) and whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it (life).
These proud leaders of the Jews were seeking to discredit the Lord Jesus.
Their aim was to discredit the Lord Jesus as a healer and a teacher and label Him as no more than a sinner, but the outcome was to expose their own bigoted opinions and their gross spiritual myopia.
The Pharisees had become so frustrated with the adulation that the Lord Jesus received from the crowds because of His supernatural abilities and Messianic claims, that they threatened to excommunicate from the synagogue, any person who was prepared to legitimise Christ's gifts of healing or consider His Messianic claims to be authentic.
And so we find that for a second time the Pharisees summoned the man who had been born blind in a desperate attempt to have him denounce the Lord Jesus and expose His miraculous healing as fraudulent: We know this man is a sinner!.
they cried in a further, desperate attempt to have this healed man deny the Lord Jesus, but what a brave and accurate challenge they received in return: Whether he is a sinner or not I do not know but this one thing I do know, that once I was blind but now I can see.
This is a true story, but it is also a beautiful picture of developing faith; a simple childlike trust in the Lord Jesus which gave birth to the salvation of the soul for the forgiveness of sins, life everlasting, and spiritual growth.
In their proud and jealous attitude, the religious leaders of the day were so intent on discrediting this little miracle of the Lord Jesus that they missed the greatest miracle of all: that God incarnate was in their midst.
Paul spoke to the gathering in Athens with an articulate, philosophical argument, but he did not mention the gospel of grace and the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul described the Man Whom God had appointed to judge the world, but he did not mention the name of Jesus Who died to pay the penalty for sin and Who would save them by grace through faith in His finished work at Calvary.
How critical to let them know that there is forgiveness of sins and life everlasting for all who trust in the name of Jesus Who died and rose again from the dead, on our behalf.
For all who reject Christ's sacrificial death and God's offer of salvation, that final day of judgement is fast approaching, for God has fixed a day in which the crucified and resurrected Jesus will judge the world in righteousness.
The crowds had been following Jesus because of the mighty miracles He performed, but they did not understand the spiritual implications of His mission.
And as the day of His crucifixion drew ever closer (when He would offer Himself up as Israel's Passover Lamb and the Sin-Sacrifice for the whole world), Jesus began to prepare His little band of faithful disciples for the reality of His God-ordained mission.
Jesus had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but they misunderstood His mission, and the promised earthly kingdom, which had been covenanted unconditionally to their forefathers, would have to be placed on hold for a season.
Jesus knew that the people did not recognise Him as the incarnate Word of God, the Messiah of Israel, and Saviour of the world.
The mission for Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, has had to be placed on hold until as a nation they will one day cry, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
Oh, we are certainly being sanctified in this life as we grow in grace and mature in the faith through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, but even this group, whom we discover to be the most carnal Christians in the New Testament, have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and set apart unto God.
Should we not seek, day by day, to willingly submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our life, and seek to live godly in Christ Jesus, as we grow in grace? Should we not humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and cry out for Him to search our hearts, test our thoughts, and identify any offensive behaviour in our lives?
Jesus made it very clear that His kingdom is not of this world system which thrives on fleshly desires, carnal lusts, the pursuit of pleasure, worldly ways, and climbing up the staircase of success.
Jesus said, He who gains his life/soul on earth will lose his life/soul in heaven, and he who loses his life/soul while here on earth will gain his life/soul in Christ's eternal, heavenly kingdom.
My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus, is a verse we all love to quote as we rejoice in the abundant supply of our generous God Who is overflowing with gracious-mercy and bubbling over with loving-kindness.
Indeed, it is because of this sacrificial giving in support of the gospel, that Paul promised that God would supply all their needs according to His riches in glory - in Christ Jesus.
Because of their sacrificial giving, Paul promised the Philippians, and my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
All good and perfect gifts come from our Father in heaven Who is our great Provider. Indeed, not one of us could draw another breath without His provision and grace, but God is no man's debtor and Paul wanted these dear believers at Philippi to KNOW that their generosity to Paul would be honoured by the Lord Who would supply all their needs according to His riches in glory - in Christ Jesus.
However, it appears that the trigger-point for Jesus to make His astonishing announcement: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, took place when a little group of God-fearing Gentiles, who had come up to Jerusalem to worship God at the feast of Passover, came seeking the Lord and said to Philip, Sir, we would see Jesus.
Jesus came as the fulfilment of prophecy.
The hour had come for Jesus to be beaten and whipped, scourged and mocked, ridiculed and put to death.
And so, as the hour came for the Son of Man to be glorified, a group of Gentiles, who were travelling to Jerusalem with others attending the feast, came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying: Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
Today we are living in the age of grace when whosoever wishes to come to Jesus may look to Him and live.
May we not only be that little group of Gentiles who wished to see Jesus, but may we be like Philip; men and women who point others in His direction.
Such godly qualities are exhibited in a life that is dying to one's own self-interest, while looking to Jesus, and placing the interest and will of Christ at the centre and circumference of their heart's desire, not the promotion of one's own self-seeking ambition, adherence to the wisdom of the world, or engaging in unscrupulous controversies.
It is by immersing oneself in the Word of God and maintaining fellowship with the Father through God's grace and godly living that causes a Christian to be conformed, day by day, into the lovely image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In His amazing Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives a list of the characteristics He expects from His followers - from those who would be subjects of the kingdom He came to establish.
Jesus uses sections of the Mosaic Law to set out the godly principles of behaviour He expects His disciples to follow.
Is Jesus criticising the Law of Moses?
Is Jesus telling His disciples not to follow the Law?
Jesus was born under the Law and throughout His life, He kept the Mosaic Law.
Jesus was not teaching that we should never resist the evil in this world.
But throughout His teaching, Jesus was teaching the true meaning behind God's Word.
Jesus, however, was teaching His disciples that accepting personal insults and injustices instead of taking revenge or retaliating against an offender was the godly response, that vengeance in all of our lives belongs to God, and leaving matters in His hands is the correct response for children of God.
Jesus not only taught the true meaning of the Law, He lived out its principles in His own life - for He was despised and rejected of men, He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, He was falsely accused and led as a lamb to the slaughter, but He did not open His mouth.
And Jesus taught an amazing truth that those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake are blessed.
Praise God for Jesus, our holy, heavenly Mediator and righteous Kinsman-Redeemer.
Praise God that Jesus' poignant prophecy in Matthew will eventually be fulfilled and all Israel will be saved, for as He faced the Cross He said, You will not see Me again, UNTIL you say the 'Blessed is He, Who comes in the name of the Lord.'
And as Simeon visited the Temple of God that day, behold he saw Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus Whom they had brought to the Temple for both circumcision and dedication, as required by the Jewish Law.
No doubt, when Simeon saw Mary with the baby Jesus, his heart was stirred by the Holy Spirit so that he would take the baby into his arms and sing his memorable song of praise and thanksgiving: Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your Word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples - a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people, Israel.
Paul's closing remarks in his epistle, start to challenge the more spiritually mature believer who may rejoice in the gracious liberty he has in Christ Jesus while harbouring his own ungodly attitudes towards the personal practice of those that are weaker in the faith, exposing an unchristian bias against those that are spiritually immature or weaker in certain doctrinal issues.
There are those that love the Lord Jesus with all their heart, but due to traditional influences, denominational leanings, legalistic instruction, exclusive practices, or the lies of the enemy, have been blinded to the gracious liberty they have in the glorious gospel of grace.
Let us flee from the influences of tradition, denomination, legalism, and exclusivity, and grow in grace and in a knowledge of Jesus Christ, knowing that we are all members of the same Body whose Head is Christ Jesus our Lord.
The opening verses of Hebrews lay the foundation for the glorious truth of Who the Lord Jesus Christ is and how great is His status and His position.
And being found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
But through His obedience to suffer and die for the sins of the world, God has highly exulted Him and given Him a name that is above every name: That at that name of Jesus every knee should bow.
And so the Son of God as Son of Man became higher in rank than the angels He created, just as the name He inherited is superior to theirs for He was given the name Jesus: The Lord is my salvation - for He shall save His people from their sins.
Jesus said, I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and He is the only One Who is able to ensure the success of our earthly endeavours.
How blessed, therefore, is the home, the family, the nation – the people, who have God as the Head of their house and Jesus as Lord of their lives.It is king Solomon to whom this psalm is ascribed, whose great wisdom was acclaimed throughout the world and many of his precepts and proverbs, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, are contained in the Scriptures.
Whether we are building a family or a business, a home or a community, a website or a republic, a church or a nation, it is both foolish and futile to begin a building assignment - no matter what realm it may cover, if God is not the One Who builds it - if Jesus is not ascribed the principal place of honour that is due to His name.Should we not diligently seek to apply this truth in every corner of our lives, our homes, our work, and our world – for unless the Lord is afforded His rightful place in all our doing, we will labour in vain, Unless the Lord 'builds the house' our lifework will be fruitless and we will have laboured in vain.
Jesus warned us that in this world we would have tribulation.
We would be hated by all men because we are His people: They hated (judged) Me without a cause, Jesus warns us, and they will hate (judge) you too, because of Me. The harsh judgement that the unbelieving world meets out to Christ's followers can even be considered beautified, for God uses the evils we undergo to hone us and refine us.
While the other Gospels often portrayed Jesus as the suffering Servant and Son of Man, John presents Him as Son of God and God the Son.
And so following an illegal religious trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin where Jesus was labelled as a blasphemer, He was dragged before Pilate, the Roman governor, where they labelled Him a criminal Who claimed to be the King of the Jews.
We do not know what the Jews told Pilate of Jesus' Messianic claims, but they portrayed Him as an insurrectionist!
As Caesar's representative, Pilate needed to know if Jesus was a threat to his emperor, and yet he was perceptive enough to realise that the Jew's accusations were rooted in jealousy and hatred.
When Pilate asked Jesus, Are you the King of the Jews? He replied, My kingdom is not of this world. Christ's kingdom was never to be part of this world's system, which is under the power of Satan.
Jesus answered Pilate with quiet, impressive authority. 'Yes Pilate, you are right.
Majestically and factually, Jesus testified to the truth that He came to reveal God to a lost and dying world.
Jesus told Pilate the good news of the gospel of grace and that He was indeed a King, that He was born to be King, that He came from heaven above into this fallen world to tell the lost souls the truth of salvation, and that whosoever hears His voice and believes in Him will be saved: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
Did he hear the truth and believe on the Lord Jesus?
As Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
We discover our position, individually and corporately, and rejoice to hear of the multiplied privileges and precious promises from God, which are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have been redeemed through His blood, redeemed from the curse of the law, redeemed from all iniquity, and bought with a price - the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son.
Our salvation has nothing to do with what we have done, but it has everything to do with what Christ had done on our account - therefore the desire of our hearts should be to do only those things that are pleasing in the sight of God and to live godly lives, in Christ Jesus.
We are to bear one another's burdens and thereby fulfil the law of Christ - and we are to examine our own lives to see if we are honouring the Lord Jesus Who died that we might live.
Like most prayers that we find in the Scriptures, Paul's intercession was: addressed to the Father; in the power of the Spirit; offered in the name of Jesus.
In this verse, we find Paul once again bowing the knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and he has a special picture in his mind of God the Father as the One: From Whom the whole family of earth and heaven is named.
It is only by faith in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ that we receive the right to be called children of God and to address God as Abba, Father.
Redemption is offered to all, without exception, but is only received by those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
It is only those that believe on the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting that are given the right to become Sons of God.
It is only those that have been saved by grace through faith in the sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus Christ that have the right to approach the throne of grace for help in time of need.
At the very start of His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus had to establish His God-appointed authority on earth, for as He set out on His three year walk towards the Cross He would honour no other instruction than those that came from His Father in heaven.
His mother had often pondered the gracious words and godly wisdom she heard from the only begotten Son of the Father, and she had to began to understand what we all have to learn: that there is an unbridgeable gulf between God and man which only the Lord Jesus is able to span.
Mary had to be reminded Who Jesus was and that His mission could never be influenced by mortal man or woman.
Mary did what we are all called to do; she pointed others to God's only begotten Son; she directed their attention away from herself to the Lord Jesus Christ; she decreased in her own self-importance and elevated the eternal Son of God and sinless Son of Man Who today is seated at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places.
Jesus had sent His twelve apostles out with a special commission to preach repentance to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and had given them apostolic authority and divine ability to: Drive out many demons, anoint many sick people with oil, and heal them.
The apostles were no doubt flushed with excitement at the success of their ministry and weary from their exhausting schedule and: They gathered around Jesus and told Him everything they had done and taught.
There is indeed a time to work, but as Jesus reminded His disciples, there is also a time to rest: Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.
Should not all who are earnestly carrying out the special little ministry that God has purposed for them, be watchful to gather around the Lord Jesus and to sit at His feet daily.
And individually, should we not come aside from the rush of daily life by ourselves, to be with Jesus?
Speculation about the identity and origin of Jesus Christ was as widespread among the people of the first century as it is within today's modern generation.
There were some equally preposterous suggestions in those days as to who they thought that Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Man was, as there are in this day and age.
They had heard Jesus' invitation: Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you the Sabbath rest that God promised you so long ago.
Oh yes, the people of the first century were equally aware of the claims of Jesus Christ of Nazareth as are today's modern generation.
But you, Jesus asked His disciples, Who do you say that I AM? And the eternal destiny of His disciples, along with the eternal destiny of every individual who ever walked this earth, rests on the response to that question.
So… who do YOU say that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, is…?
Yet real wisdom is found through trusting the Word of the Lord in all things and believing that He will supply all that we need in this world, according to His riches in Christ Jesus.The wealth of this world is passing away, but the riches of God that are ours in Christ, are eternal.
We should place neither trust in our own sufficiency nor fix our hope on that which is fading away, but maintain faith in the Word of the Lord which reminds us that our hope in today’s provision is from His gracious hand, and that our secure hope for the future comes from Jesus Christ alone.
The Lord Jesus was starting His earthly ministry, and one of His first public appearances was attending the Passover in Jerusalem.
It was then that we read: The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Many prophecies had already been fulfilled by Jesus, which authenticated His claims.
Jesus was ready to make Himself known.
The time had arrived for Jesus to reveal Who He was, and so when the Passover was near, He went up to Jerusalem.
However, the combined ministries of John the Baptist together with that of the Lord Jesus Himself, did not bring the entire nation to cry out to Him for salvation.
And although a remnant of Israel confessed Jesus as Lord and acknowledged Him as the Messiah and Son of God, their promised kingdom was postponed and their anointed King returned to heaven – until the entire nation of Israel will cry out to Him for salvation (at the Second Coming of Christ).
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good, healing all manner of sickness, and delivering all who were oppressed of the devil.
When approached by those who desired healing, the Lord Jesus made sure he addressed the 'faith' issue, and the healing of the demon-possessed boy demonstrates this in a beautiful way.
The Lord Jesus had just been transfigured on the mountaintop in front of three of His amazed disciples, but then descended to the valley where a distressed father had unsuccessfully sought healing for his demon-possessed child.
A distraught father had come to ask Jesus to heal his son.
The devastated man hurriedly rehearsed all that had happened as Jesus drew near. Out of the crowd, the man approached Him: Teacher, he pleaded, I brought my son to You.
But Christ's compassionate heart quickly turned to the man and his mute son and Jesus gently picked-up on his faltering faith and hesitant entreaty: If You can?
It was his faith that Jesus needed to restore.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and His ability to heal the broken-hearted, cast out demons, set the captive free, make the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, has never diminished over time.
Peter made it clear that these were religious leaders who secretly taught destructive heresies to pliable believers, and even denied the Lord Jesus, Who bought them.
Although it was partially fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when many men of Israel repented of their sins and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, the full and final fulfilment of Joel's prophecy, which begins with a day of thick darkness and progresses into the glories of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, will take place at the end of Daniel's 70th week i.e.
Both for the nation of Israel and for unsaved Gentiles alike, the precious truth of this passage is that it is never too late for sinners or backsliders to turn away from their sins, to return to the Lord with all their heart, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation.
It is a beautiful demonstration that the goodness, grace, and mercy of our long-suffering God, remains open to ALL who will simply trust in His Word, remember His goodness, genuinely return to Him with heart and soul - and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
Jesus said earlier in His ministry that not one jot or tittle of the Law would pass away until all things have been accomplished, and in many respects Jesus came to fulfil both the Word of the Lord and the Work of the Law.
Jesus came as the fulfilment of many psalms and prophecies that were foretold in the days of old by holy men of God.
Heaven and earth will one day pass away, for this world has been contaminated by sin, but the pure words of the Lord Jesus are perfect.
Jesus came to earth as a man in order to become the single spokesperson for the whole human race.
Jesus Christ was also to take on the role of man's Saviour for He alone was to become the sacrifice for all mankind.
Although He was fully God and perfect Man, Jesus also had to learn what it was like to be tempted as man is tempted and to live in a fallen world where death and destruction is the birthright of every man.
Jesus did what no other member of the human race could do.
Jesus was not made like an angel, for the angels that sinned cannot be redeemed from their sins by faith.
Rather, Jesus had to be made in the likeness of human flesh in order to offer redemption to fallen man, by faith.
And so Jesus was made like His brethren so that He could become our Kinsman-Redeemer.
The word 'sanctify' means 'set apart' and in this amazing high priestly prayer, where Jesus prays for his disciples to be 'set apart unto God' through the truth of the Word of God, He also sanctifies Himself: For their sakes I sanctify Myself so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus sanctified Himself to do the will of the Father.
The Lord Jesus was sent into a world of men as a Man, to be the perfect sinless Son of Man and to live a perfect sinless human life.
He did this so that the character and attributes of the one, eternal, omniscient, holy God might be revealed to the fallen race of man through His only begotten Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
But the Lord Jesus also was given to the world to die for the sin of the whole world so that all who believe on His name might be sanctified and set apart unto God.
Before He made His humble entrance onto the stage of universal history as the Son of Man, Jesus Christ was and is and ever shall be.
From all eternity and into the ages that are to come, Jesus is the dazzling brightness of God's glorious magnificence, the essential blazing radiance of His resplendent glory.
Jesus did all this so that You and I might receive forgiveness of sins by believing on the Name of the only begotten Son of God – the Son Who is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of His nature Who is sustaining all things by His powerful WORD and Who has made purification for your sins and mine.
Fighting the good fight of faith is not so much hostile combat against a physical enemy, but rising to the challenges of our Christian life or confidently taking hold of the eternal life that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.Each enemy is harmful to the soul and detrimental to our spiritual growth and so each must be earnestly resisted with fortitude and determination.
It is about growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and developing a precious intimacy with Him as we abide securely in His love.
And Paul wanted to remind Timothy that the cause of Christ was worth fighting for and that his young friend and fellow labourer in the gospel needed to keep pressing forward for the prize of the high call he had in Christ Jesus.
Every one of us needs to realise that we are to keep on keeping on to the very end... so that with Paul and Timothy, we may lay hold of that for all that Christ Jesus intends for each of His children.
Like Paul and the other disciples, Timothy followed the same path that the Lord Jesus took.
As the apostle Peter draws his final letter to a close, we should all take note of the increasing urgency of his message and remain watchful for the any day return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. May we all be diligent to guard our hearts and minds and be found at peace in Christ.
Not only is salvation given to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as a free gift of God's grace, but His ongoing favour is readily available to every believer, as we journey along the path of life.
Humility is a fruit of the Spirit that should be exhibited in every life that lives godly in Christ Jesus, but there is much misunderstanding about biblical humility and what it means to humble one's self before the Lord.
After Christ's illegal trial and unjust interrogation before Annas and Caiaphas, the high priest, Jesus was sent to the Praetorium, to be delivered to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea and Samaria.
When Pilate asked what crime Jesus had committed they could only reply, If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you!!
They were basically saying that although Jesus committed no crime and there was no accusation against Him, He must be guilty of something because He was sent to Pilate to be sentenced!!
History records that Pilate was a corrupt and cruel individual, who frequently offended people with his cruelty and outspoken attitude, but he was also a weak man, with a flawed character, and the Jews hoped to manipulate him into sentencing Jesus to death with no evidence of a crime.
The Bible records that Christ came as the King of the Jews to fulfil Scripture, and it was this title of 'King' that intrigued the governor... and so we read, Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, 'Are You the King of the Jews?' Pilate knew Jesus had been brought to him out of envy, and he sought to deliver Him from the hands of the Jews - not out of compassion, but as a slight to the Jewish leaders, who caused him much grief with their various uprisings and resistance to Roman rule.
Jesus was born King of the Jews at His birth in Bethlehem, and He was labelled King of the Jews at His crucifixion at Calvary - but as the prophesied Messiah and rightful King of Israel, Who was appointed by God, there was so much more than Pilate failed to understand.
Jesus is the King of Glory and the God of Glory for He is the Lord God Almighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
Yet Jesus was led as a Lamb to the slaughter and stood silent before Pilate, bloodied and bruised, so that He could pay the price for OUR transgressions.
I wonder if he ever discovered Who it was Who told him, My kingdom is not of this world's system. I wonder if Pilate, who boasted I have power to crucify You, and the power to release You, ever came to a saving knowledge of Jesus and discovered that He is the great Creator-King of the universe, and the One Who loves us so much that He died so that we might live - that Pilate might live - by faith in Him?
Jesus did not only come as the Passover Lamb for the Jews and the compulsory Sin Offering for the whole world, to fulfil the will of His Heavenly Father.
Jesus also came as the sweet-smelling savour to the Lord, for He stretched out His arms to the cross willingly, so that He could give His life for love of the Church.
For the joy that was set before Him, Jesus endured the cross.
The King that stood before Pilate was Jesus, Who is our God our Salvation.
Jesus was born to be the sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, and every step He took in life brought Him closer to the Cross.
Jesus knew from the beginning that His Messianic claims would be rebuffed by Israel, even though the people enjoyed listening to His teaching and were fascinated by His miracles.
Jesus came to provide redemption for His people.
Jesus had to deal with the sin of His people before setting up His kingdom on earth.
Nevertheless, Jesus only said and did those things that He heard from His Father, and for three years He went about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead, and authenticating His Messianic claims through His teachings, miracles, signs, and wonders.
But at last, the time came for Jesus to predict the destruction of the temple, which would happen in AD70, before predicting the end of the age when God's judgement is to be poured out on a Christ-rejecting, sinful world.
We read: During the day, Jesus was teaching in the temple complex, but in the evening He would go out and spend the night on what is called the Mount of Olives.
For those last days before the Cross, Jesus would spend the entire day, from dawn to dusk, ministering in the temple before returning to the peace and safety of Mount Olivet.
While the people were blinded to the truth of salvation because they were only interested in Jesus fulfilling their physical needs, their leaders were blinded to the truth through a lust for control over the people and a refusal to hear the truth of God's Word.
The Jewish leaders detested Jesus and plotted to permanently remove Him, but His popularity with the people prevented them from making an arrest during the day.
Jesus is the perfect example of a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to Him.
Like Jesus, we are facing increasingly difficult days before God calls us home, through death or the Rapture of the Church.
It was by God's grace that Christ Jesus came to earth, instructing us how to live godly lives which honour our Father in heaven.
The Lord Jesus came, as promised, to be the sacrifice for man's sin.
And although He appeared at God's appointed time as the sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, only those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are identified with Him, through the forgiveness of their sins; only they receive eternal life; only they are equipped by the Holy Spirit to live godly in this evil age.
The Bible lists over 200 things that are true of all believers who have been saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The seal of God on each believer confirms our union with Christ and our identity as God's purchased possession, for we were bought with a price; the precious blood of Jesus Christ our God and Saviour.
And although we are in the world and need to abide by the regulations of the established authorities and appointed governments (which we are reminded, were instituted by God Himself), we are also to remember that our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for our coming Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Christian Church has been waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus for two thousand years, and as we draw ever closer to that promised return, we are increasingly reminded that the day of His coming is very near, even at the very door, and we are warned to prepare our hearts, to put aside all sinful actions and worldly deeds, to clothe ourselves in the armour of light, and to put on the Lord Christ.
In the Gospels, God spoke predominantly through Jesus of Nazareth as Son of Man, but in the book of Hebrews He is presented uniquely as the Son of God and heir of all things.
Jesus came 2000 years ago as Son of God and Son of Man.
Israel holds a special place in God's redemptive plan for it was through the nation of Israel that JESUS, the Redeemer of the world was born, and we who have been saved by grace through faith in Him are beneficiaries of this blessing, in this unique age of grace.
How blessed are those that are born again in Christ in this dispensation of grace, for we are also chosen as His own inheritance - we too identify as sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ.Jesus is not only the great Sustainer of nature and the generous God of providence, but He is our peace and hope, love and joy, and He is our Comforter, Defender – our Saviour and Friend.
But Paul tells us, all Israel will be saved, when they repent of their sin, return to the God of their fathers, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - which they will do as a nation at the end of the Tribulation period (the time of Jacob’s Trouble - that future time of great distress).But truly blessed, without measure, is the man, the woman, the people – the nation whose God is the LORD.
Truly blessed are His people Israel and His Body, which is the Church, for He loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but become inheritors of His coming kingdom and be given life everlasting – and ALL His promises, both to Israel and to the Church are 'Yes' and 'Amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Once he discovered that Jesus of Nazareth was his God and Saviour, Paul's desire was to tell others of our great salvation.
Paul felt compelled to share the good news of God's amazing grace, and just as the Lord Jesus pointed His disciples to His Heavenly Father during His earthly ministry, so Paul points us to our Saviour and Him alone.
Paul's passion was to teach that salvation does not rely on anything we do but rests entirely on what Jesus Christ has done for us.
Paul was not interested in promoting himself, but in pointing people to Jesus.
Paul wrote: For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, MUCH MORE those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
But when you consider the plan of salvation that God has designed, we can only wonder at His goodness and grace in sending Jesus, His only begotten Son, to pay the price for the sin of the world so that whoever will trust in His name is identified with HIM and declared righteous through faith in Him.
And although our sinful nature is incapable of keeping God's perfect Law or of producing meritorious acts in our own strength, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to carry out good works which God ordained that we should do through the power of the Holy Spirit.
But God graciously dealt with this act of rebellion and provided something so much better - the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reigning in our lives through the One, Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus triumphed over sin, Satan, death, and hell, in order to demonstrate God's manifold wisdom, might, majesty, dominion, glory, and grace to the angelic hosts.
Every aspect of God's amazing plan of redemption that is received by faith in Christ's sacrificial death and His glorious Resurrection, was in accordance with the eternal purpose and plan of God, which was hidden for ages and generations... but which God finally carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God's plan has now been made known so that in the ages to come He might show forth the surpassing riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us - in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul went on to point out that having been saved by grace through faith in Christ, they were to live by grace through faith in Christ, grow in grace by faith in Christ, and mature as Christians by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
On many occasions, the Lord Jesus used the phrase I Am, as a bold proclamation of His deity and equality with God the Father.
Jesus contrasted His own position as Good Shepherd Who kept, protected, and provided for the sheep with the prideful Scribes and Pharisees, whom He identified as false and evil shepherds of Israel, and whose wicked motives were rooted in hypocrisy, pride, unbelief, and selfishness.
Jesus used this analogy of lost, needy sheep and a good, faithful shepherd many times.
Having been spoken to in the Scriptures, by firstly the prophets and then by Jesus Himself, should we not hunger for the Word and study to show ourselves approved, to our benefit and his glory?
How we praise and glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for He has poured out every single blessing in the heavenly realms upon us, simply because we are united with Christ by faith and are One with Himself.
How we rejoice, for this is one facet of the cut diamond of His immeasurable grace with which God has chosen to bless us.It was not happenstance or fate, good luck, or a happy fluke that rendered us so blessed, but a beautiful showering of His wonderful love on all who believe in Jesus Christ, for which we praise His wonderful name which deserves to be glorified into the eternal ages to come.
In Ephesians, Paul opens the floodgates of God's blessing on His people, with the words, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him - in love.He has blessed us with pardon and peace, redemption and adoption, and illumination and truth from His Holy Spirit.
He chooses us so that we will be conformed into the likeness of Jesus, for He wants all believers to die to their own desires and live for Him alone.But just as there is a balance between God's election and man's free will with respect to justification, there is a similar interplay in the sanctification process.
May we who are the elect of God use our free will wisely and for the glory of God.How we should praise and glorify our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, for He has poured out every single blessing in the heavenly realms upon us, simply because we are united, by faith, in Christ.
The exclusion of the Lord Jesus Christ from the lives of evil men, the absence of the truth, and a self-willed rejection of the glorious gospel of grace, corrupts the human mind and darkens the imagination, until the presence of God's Light become painful and distasteful.
It was at the end of His interview with Nicodemus, that Jesus explained that all men are condemned: For all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.
The true Light of life, the Lord Jesus Himself Who is able to illuminate the heart and transform the soul, has already come into the world, but men love darkness more that the light because their deeds are evil.
Jesus is the true Light of the world Who was sent by the Father to bring light and life, health and wholeness to a darkened world.
During Christ's present, High Priestly ministry in heaven, the Church have been entrusted to be lights in this dark world of sin: Ye are the light of the world, Jesus told us, and as His representatives on earth we are to shine for Him.
Paul warns that such rites, rules, rituals, and regulations, are human commands, man-made doctrines, and deceptive arguments, designed by the enemy to neutralise our faith, entice us away from the truth of the glorious gospel of grace, destroy our testimony, and dishonour the Lord Jesus.
They are simply a shadow of what is to come; a schoolmaster to point us to Jesus Christ Who is the substance of all things.
The Lord Jesus effected reconciliation through His death on the Cross when He shed His human lifeblood for us, and NOTHING can be added to His finished work of reconciliation.
He also expressed joy that they were beloved by God and chosen in Christ Jesus.
Paul knew that the gospel of Jesus Christ, which he taught unashamedly, was not simply another religion where sinful man makes his futile attempts to find favour with God.
And Scripture tells us that Jesus is the last Adam, and the only way to salvation.
Hundreds more are waiting to be brought to completion with the Rapture of the Church, the Great Tribulation, the return of Christ Jesus to set up His Millennial Kingdom on earth reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords, and the making of a new heaven and a new earth where sin and death are gone forever.
The book of Revelation references and expands prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled, but its main purpose is to reveal Jesus (Who was, and Who is, and Who is to come).
There is a high price to pay for those that would pervert the Revelation of Jesus Christ, by twisting biblical truth in order to deceive others.
Indeed, it is the Bible that reveals to us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that by believing on Him we may have life - for He is the Word made flesh, in Whom has the Words of eternal life - and He willingly became the sacrifice for our sin.
And in this letter to the pilgrims and sojourners of Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynian, we see him faithfully carrying out his Lord's instructions as he shares the good news of the multiplied grace and peace of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We too have been chosen by God due to the sanctifying work of the Spirit in our heart at our salvation, and we too we are called to obey Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord, and be sprinkled with His life-giving blood in the midst of an evil and perverse generation.
Indeed, everyone who has been saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and life everlasting, is part of that elect group.
God knew from before the foundation of the world, that we would hear the gospel of the grace of God and choose to place our trust in Jesus Christ as Saviour.
God foreknew who would trust Jesus as Saviour.
Christ Jesus was born into the human race to be our sin-substitute, but He also gave each man and women a freewill to choose to accept or to reject His offer of salvation; to either believe in the death, burial, and Resurrection of Christ, or to refuse to believe in this free gift of grace.
God foreknew that some would believe on the Lord Jesus Chris, and they would become His elect.
However, God also knew ahead of time that some would not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and they would not become part of the elect.
He knew from before the beginning of the world who would be saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus as their sin-substitute and, and He called us His 'elect'.
The grace of God appeared on earth in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and through Him alone was salvation brought to all men (for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death but the gift of God's grace is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Who appeared in Person, bringing salvation to all men).
Yes, the grace of God was made manifest in the unique God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ Who brought salvation to all men so that all who believe on His name will not perish but have everlasting life.
We are not only saved by grace through faith in Him, but we are to be continuously sanctified by grace through faith in Him and to live our earthly life by grace through faith and dependence and trust in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Thank You, Father, that at Your appointed time, grace appeared the Person of Jesus Christ, bringing salvation to all.
The man or woman who sits at the feet of Jesus, drinking in His Word, being filled up with His love, will be those who, naturally and instinctively, love others as the overflow of Christ's love pours into those around them.
Not only do we have an assurance of the eternal, heavenly glory that is to come – but His promises include this present age, which means that our entire life is secure in His keeping.We are safe in the arms of Jesus and nothing can separate us from our glorious God of Hope – neither the various trials of this present life nor the bitter circumstance we all have to face.
Neither the ravages of the old sin nature nor the temptations of the enemy who seeks our destruction, can separate us from the love of God or remove the hope that is ours, in Christ Jesus our Lord.Paul’s dear desire for the Body of Christ is translated into the most beautiful, intercessory prayer: Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
May we be motivated to enlarge our perspective of our glorious God of Hope and fix our hope on Him Who has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It was on the day of Pentecost that Christ's amazing promise was fulfilled: John baptised with water, Jesus told them, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.
It was repeated to the disciples only days before Christ was crucified when Jesus said, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever.
We not only see Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit on that day of Pentecost: For they were ALL filled with the Holy Spirit, but in the fourth chapter of Acts, we see this apostle being filled once again by the Holy Ghost, and speaking boldly to the religious leaders of the day, concerning a man who had been healed by the power of Jesus Christ.
We read: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers and elders of the people... know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, Whom you crucified but Whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.'
Peter challenged the rulers, elders, and scribes of the people to reflect on the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He proudly proclaimed God's holy Servant, Jesus, had been resurrected from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, which proved His Messianic claims.
Matthew's goal was to identify Jesus as the Jewish Messiah Who is the fulfilment of Scripture's prophetic writings, while Hebrews was written to show that during this Church dispensation, God is speaking through His Son Who is the exact image of the invisible God and the fulfilment of the Law, the prophets, and the psalms.
Rather, let us consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession and let us hold fast our confidence in Christ and the boast of our hope in His truth.
Just as certain women tended to the needs of Jesus during His earthly ministry, and Christ's other apostles received financial support from various churches, Paul explained that he had the same entitlement to financial support from the Corinthians, even though he did not take up this fundamental right.
He wanted to warn his readers that these scheming infiltrators not only twist the Word of God into becoming a licence to engage in immorality, but also deny the Lord Jesus Christ as our only Sovereign, Saviour, and Lord.
And we are to be looking for the soon return of the Lord Jesus to take us to be Himself.
We are to be holy because He is holy, and we are to always remember that God Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, must never be divorced from God's gracious plan of redemption.
Jesus shed His lifeblood on the Cross, and was resurrected with a life-giving spirit in a human body of flesh and bone.
Although fallen, fleshly, sinful bodies could never enter the heavenly realm, it was through His glorious Resurrection that BY FAITH, we became identified with His clean, pure, immortal, imperishable, resurrected body with the certain promise that we too would receive a pure, immortal, imperishable, resurrected body, like unto His glorious body - a body of flesh and bone which would be animated by the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
While on earth, the life of the first creation is in the blood, but at the resurrection, the life of all who believe will be imputed to us through the 'spirit of life in Christ Jesus'.
By faith in Christ, we all face physical death... but have a sure knowledge that we will rise to life immortal in a resurrected body of flesh and bone like unto Christ's body... for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable, but thanks be to God Who gives us the victory over Satan, sin, death, and hell through our risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
As saved saints, we are not appointed to wrath and will not be here when the Antichrist is revealed, but we have a solemn task ahead of us as we occupy ourselves in the things of God until the Lord Jesus comes to take us to be with Himself.
Many believers like to focus on the love of Jesus because they think that this will cause unbelievers to get saved but they prefer to allow Christ's death, burial, and Resurrection to be side-lined in a blurry background, in case it offends or puts the unbeliever off the Christian faith!
It was LOVE that caused the almighty God to send His only begotten Son into the world to become the sin-sacrifice for the entire race of humanity and it was LOVE that caused the Lord Jesus Christ to lay down His life for us.
And it was LOVE that caused the Lord Jesus to be crucified on a cruel cross willingly, so that all who believe on Him might not perish but have everlasting life.
The Lord Jesus offered the supreme example of ultimate love when He laid down His life for friends and enemies alike.
We cannot presume to comprehend what it cost the innocent Lord Jesus Who, as God incarnate, had to lay aside His eternal majesty and supreme glory, be clothed in human flesh, and then be made sin for you and for me.
When we look at the Cross of Christ and the blood that He shed for us at Calvary, we see incarnate LOVE, and we know what real godly love is by this: that Christ Jesus laid down His life for us.
And despite Christ's ex-clusive role as Israel's promised Messiah and His in-clusive position as the Saviour of the whole world, the Lord Jesus Himself proclaimed that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel during that special time that He sojourned on earth.
But following Christ's sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary (where as Messiah He was Israel's Passover Lamb, and as Saviour He was the sin-sacrifice for the whole world), the Lord Jesus rose from the dead and commissioned His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
It was the men of Israel who were therefore called upon on a number of occasions to: Repent and turn back to the God of their Father, and to believe in Jesus as their promised Messiah.
How we praise our Heavenly Father for Calvary: that our sins are forgiven, that there is no more condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, that we have been placed in union with Christ, and accepted forever in the Beloved.
How important to know the Scriptures that are written for our learning, and to read, mark, learn, inwardly digest, and apply their godly instruction during this age of grace, and to rightly divide the Word of truth so that we may grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
How important to trust the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father Whose promises toward His nation of Israel will one day be finally and forever fulfilled and His promises toward His Church will never fail, for are all 'Yes' and 'Amen' in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Although the heavens declare the glory of God and creation shouts abroad the wonders of His name, only the Word of God gives us a full and final revelation of the Father, in the face of Jesus Christ.
We are born from above, regenerated, sealed, adopted, baptised into the Body of Christ, and permanently in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit Himself, and He calls us to walk in spirit and truth and to live godly in Christ Jesus.
Indeed, Jesus Himself in His earthly life demonstrated through the way that He lived, exactly HOW we should do the good works of God in a manner that is pleasing to Him.
It was by Jesus submitting His whole life, in thought, word and deed, to the leading of the Holy Spirit so that He ONLY said and did those things that He heard from the Father.
Such a man seeks His counsel from the Lord, pays attention to God’s written Word, and keeps his eyes firmly fixed on JESUS.Such a person is wise in his routines and circumspect in his conversation.
Such a one walks in the light of God's truth, hearkens to the godly counsel of the indwelling Holy Spirit, submits to the voice of his Lord, and sits at the feet of Jesus, day by day.
Once a believer takes their eyes off Jesus and allows their ears to be tickled by human wisdom, their spiritual fervour is dampened and they are tempted to loiter in the way of the ungodly until they are willing to stand firm in the company of evil men instead of standing firm on the truth of God's Word.
As we increasingly consecrate our lives to Him, we start to be conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus and are enabled to become effective in our Christian witness.
Love seems to be both the guiding principle and pinnacle of the Christian life – for God is love. Indeed, it was love for the world that caused the Father to give His only begotten Son to die as our sin-substitute on the Cross, and it was love for the Church that held Jesus to the Cross, for He loved the Church so dearly that He gave Himself for her.
Jesus condensed the entire Mosaic Law into one simple instruction: You shall LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself.
No wonder the Lord Jesus, in His staggering interview with Pilate, the governor of Judea, proclaimed, My kingdom is not of this realm. My kingdom is not of this world.
Jesus made it very clear to Pilate that He was a King, but His kingdom was not a political kingdom that would threaten any earthly rule.
Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world.
Jesus did not come to conquer Rome, or any other kingdom through earthy means.
Not only that - Pilate had no power over Him because Jesus had at His disposal twelve legions of angels, if His mission had been to topple Rome and conquer the world by human means.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the heavenly Son of God and the rightful King of kings and the Lord of the universe.
Jesus confessed His kingly authority in the presence of Pilate, only days after multitudes in Jerusalem had hailed Him as their long-awaited King, strew palm branches in His path and joyfully cried out, Hosanna to the Son of David! - but within days, those same voices screamed out, we will not have this Man to rule over us - we have no king but Caesar - crucify Him!!
Before Jesus could be enthroned as the eternal King of kings and Lord of lords, He must first die the cruel death of the Suffering Servant, so that by His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, He could smash Satan's spiritual authority over the earth and man, destroy the works of the evil one, crush the serpent's head as prophesied in Genesis, and claim victory over the current realm of Satan.
When Jesus came to set up His kingdom at His first advent, in fulfilment of prophecy, He was rejected by those He came to save and crucified on Calvary's Cross.
Jesus did not come as a conquering King to defeat Rome.
The Lord Jesus Christ has already gained the victory, and will one day return to finish all that He started and set up His heavenly kingdom on earth.
First the redemption of mankind and then the setting up of Godly appointed authority on earth, when God's lost kingdom is regained - through Jesus Christ - God of gods, Light of lights, King of kings, and Lord of heaven and earth.
There are two creations living side by side; those with their feet firmly fixed in the old creation in Adam (who are part of the kingdom of darkness), and those with their hearts resting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (who are part of the kingdom of light and have been born again into the new creation in Christ).
Knowing the brevity of our live in this earthly sphere, may we be keen to go about our daily duties keeping God in the centre and Jesus as our focal point.
His name was to be above every name - and His name is JESUS - which means SAVIOUR.
Jesus certainly came as Saviour of the whole world: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him - Jew or Gentile - would not perish but have everlasting life.
Israel had been commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel of peace to every creature, but the nation failed to obey the Lord and did not recognise Jesus as the prophesied Son of David Who would save His people from their sins, when He finally arrived.
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus sent out His disciples, commanding them, Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, she cried.
But before His crucifixion and Resurrection, no Gentile had any right to address the Lord Jesus as the 'Son of David'.
However, as soon as this Gentile woman addressed Him as 'LORD' and asked Him to heal her daughter, she was saved by grace through faith in Jesus as the Saviour of the world - for Salvation is of the LORD.
Salvation is of the Lord - the Lord Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, and all who believe on Him, whether Jew or Gentiles are saved and declared righteous by faith.
For salvation is of the Lord and we are the spiritual seed of Jesus Christ - the Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the world.
However, we see from this verse and many similar passages, that in order for Christ to fulfil the whole Law, this Gentile woman had to approach Him as Lord and Saviour of the world, rather than Jesus, Son of David.
To the one who overcomes, and keeps My deeds until the end, I will give authority over the nations, was the precious promise that the Lord Jesus gave to that faithful little flock, in the church at Thyatira.
Peace WITH God is our permanent possession when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, but the peace OF God is conditional upon a believer being in a relationship with the Lord Jesus; as we abide in Christ, trust His Word, depend on His guidance, die to self, and live for Him.
Paul teaches the Philippian Christians: IF they are anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication make their requests known to God with a thankful heart, THEN the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Peace WITH God is never removed from the man or woman who has trusted in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to save His people from their sins, and for many centuries God's chosen people had been warned by prophets like Isaiah that sin had separated them from their God, and their rebellion was likened to wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores, with no soundness in them at all.
But in His grace, He sent the Holy Spirit into the world to convict fallen man of sin, righteousness, and judgement and to draw sinful man into the saving arms of Jesus.
Because of His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, God ascribed all authority to the Lord Jesus Christ Who was to become the federal head of a new creation of humanity: a new-creation 'in-Christ'.
Jesus lived a sinless life so that He could willingly give His life as a sacrifice for you and for me, and God raised Him from the dead and gave Him authority to bestow His own eternal life on all who would believe on His name, making Him Head of the Body, which is the Church, so that He Himself would have preeminence in all things.
Jesus had already demonstrated His God-given authority in His teachings, for no man spoke the gracious words that He spoke.
We can have absolute confidence in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for there is no power in heaven or earth or under the earth that has not been placed under His supreme authority, in time and through eternity, for at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of things in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Indeed, their faith in the Lord Jesus had been made known throughout the Roman empire.
Like all who trust in Jesus Christ, Paul had been given a new nature, a new life in Christ which delighted to spread the good news of the glorious gospel of Christ in spirit and truth, and which loved these believers with a Christ-like love.
Not all will make that specific response to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only response required by God to be saved unto eternal life is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
No one is excluded and all who DO believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are given life - a new life - a new nature - the resurrected life of Christ.
All who do believe on the Son of God are made a new creation in Christ with a new life so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but should live for the Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us AND WAS RAISED, and we must never under-estimate the enormity of that glorious Resurrection.
Christ died for all, and salvation is a free gift of grace that is available to whosoever will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, but the gift of His resurrection life is only for those that trust in Him as Saviour.
Surely, we who LIVE: We who have by grace received His resurrected life, surely, we should no longer live for ourselves, but for the Lord Jesus Christ Who DIED for us and was also RAISED.
He encouraged them to stand firm in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ that he himself had taught them.
Paul also instructed them, in the name of the Lord Jesus: Keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and does not live according to the tradition which you received from us.
May we be disciplined in our Christian life and strive to live godly in Christ Jesus.
Both secular souls and those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will often quote, The Golden Rule which is, love your neighbour as yourself. It was first written in Leviticus by Moses and was quoted and expounded by the Lord Jesus, and this command is further referenced in the letter to the Romans.
At the end of His ministry, the Lord Jesus gave a new commandment to the Church, which condenses this important law of love, into one simple command, LOVE one another as I have loved you - by THIS shall all men know that you are My disciples.
Paul reminds us that when we love others in the same way that Jesus loved us we fulfil the whole of God's law, for love is the fulfillment of the law.
BUT we can only love as Jesus loves when we are walking in spirit and truth and allowing HIM to lead and guide every word we say, every action we undertake, every attitude we express and every motive of our heart.
We will not all be required to be great leaders like Moses or Joshua, but we are all His people, members of the body of Christ who have been born into His family and created in Christ Jesus to carry out the work that God has prepared beforehand for us to do.
Jesus taught them four blessings that would be received by those who hungered after godliness and were persecuted for righteousness sake... while an equal number of woes were passed upon those who were rich and self-sufficient, popular with the world, and enjoying the good things that this fallen world-system provides.
Paul was passionate that the elect of God may, like him, obtain a full and free salvation in Christ Jesus, and to finish the work to which God had called them to do so that they may obtain the glorious crown and the reward of eternal glory, which is promised to all God's children.
May we be ready and willing to say with Paul: I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; for the sake of Jesus Christ my Lord.
And like so many of Paul's writings, his main focus was to further the gospel of Jesus Christ and to equip the saints in sound doctrine so that they would be enabled to grow in their own spiritual understanding of the glorious gospel of grace, and to proclaim the undistorted truth of God to others.
And so we find Paul (a bond-servant of God and a special messenger of Jesus Christ), delivering sound doctrine, exposing false teaching, preaching the Word, promoting the faith of those who would trust in Christ for salvation, and stimulating all believers to godly living on the basis that God Himself has promised eternal life to all who trust in Christ for salvation and God's Word can never be broken, and His truth stands fast for ever and ever.
Jesus Himself promised: He who believes on Me HAS eternal life.
Let us rejoice and be glad that God has given us eternal life both now and in the ages to come, which is ours by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
The sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus on the Cross to pay the price for our sins, is a tiding of great joy.
The Corinthian Christians certainly believed in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Himself.
When the Lord Jesus rose from the grave in His glorified, human body of flesh and bone, He triumphed over sin and Satan.
There is a Man today, seated on the right hand of the Father in power and great glory: Jesus Christ the Righteous Who is the First-Fruit from the dead.
Down through the centuries, many have heard the glad tidings of great joy that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, that He died as our sin-substitute, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures, breaking the power of sin and death in the lives of all who believe in His name and becoming the First-Fruit of all who sleep.
Having joyfully recalled his trust in Jesus, as well as the sincere faith of his mother and grandmother, Paul called on Timothy to: Fan into flame the gift of God, which was in him.
It is a future hope that is linked to the past, and a hope that starts and ends with the Lord Jesus Christ.Paul was one of many hundreds who were eye-witnesses of the risen Lord Jesus, but Paul was also unique in the encounter that He had with Jesus of Nazareth, for Paul saw the risen Lord Jesus was in His resurrected, ascended, and glorified body.
Christ is risen from the dead, and He has become the First-Fruits of all who 'sleep' and because He lives, all those who are positioned IN Christ will also live.The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the complete assurance that all who have trusted on His name will be raised from the dead, with a new resurrected body that will be like His glorified body.
Paul, who was a minister of the gospel of Christ Jesus, longed to know more and more of his Saviour and Lord.
Paul's passion was to carry out the responsibility to which God had called him; emphasising His deity through the title 'Christ' and His humanity through the name He was given, 'Jesus'.
He was the apostle whom God uniquely called to share the message of God's amazing grace through the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But Paul was specifically charged with being a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, to act as a priest of the gospel of God, and to die to his own desires and life-opportunities.
As he had journeyed to Damascus with hatred in his heart for Jesus the Nazarene and His followers, he had met the risen, ascended, and glorified Christ.
The apostle Paul set us a wonderful example of a minister of God whose dear desire was to bring many to saving and sanctifying faith in Christ Jesus.
And Christ Jesus calls each of us who are saved by grace through faith in Him to become His ministers; His hands, His feet, His voice, and His witness as we point people to Christ Jesus and develop that caring concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ that is so honouring to God.
May the Spirit of Christ Jesus live in us and work through us so that His name is glorified in all we say and do and think and reason.
Faith in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ - the Son of the most high God - is the single requirement for salvation.
And that price was paid by Jesus Christ the sinless Son of God at Calvary, but it is only by faith in the sacrificial offering of Himself upon the Cross can that heavenly forgiveness become ours: for we must be born from above, by faith in Him.
And so, Jesus used a beautiful Old Testament illustration to demonstrate to this highly educated Jewish rabbi that salvation is a free gift of grace which can be accepted or rejected by faith: For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, on the Cross, to pay the price for the sin of the world.
But that brass serpent also represented the Lord Jesus Christ: for in the same way that Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that all who looked on it would live, so the Lord Jesus was lifted up on the Cross so that all who look to Him and believe on Him would not perish but be made whole.
A literal, historical fact was used by Jesus to illustrate a beautiful spiritual truth.
Jesus came from heaven to be the full and final payment for the spiritual healing of Adam's fallen race.
Jesus came to receive the punishment for the sin of the world so that whosoever believes in Him would be redeemed: spirit, soul, and body.
Little by little, Paul guides us from recognising the serious nature of our depravity, our rebellion against God, and the shocking consequences of our estrangement from Him, to the glorious truth that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
And verse by verse, Paul builds up the blistering catalogue of corruption and perversity to which men and women throughout history have fallen, and the pit of shame into which we all plummeted before the Lord Himself pulled us out of the miry clay and set our feet on the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord.
His is the living water that revives, restores, revitalises, and reinvigorates the man or woman whose inner being 'thirsteth' for more of Jesus.
The one who asks for more of Jesus and keeps on asking will receive.
The one who seeks the Saviour and keeps on seeking will find Him, and the one that thirsts and pants and keeps on thirsting and panting for more of Jesus, will have their thirst quenched.
May we in humility of heart and gentleness of spirit, thirst and keep on thirsting for God, for the more deeply we sense our need of the Lord Jesus, the more passionately we will pursue the Living Waters of life.
Just as Christ was the One through Whom all things were made by His mighty power in the original creation, which was ruined through sin, so also that same Christ Jesus is the One through Whom the new creation is formed and made.
Through that same Lord Jesus Christ, God is going to make peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the Cross.
They were focused on themselves, instead of looking to Jesus.
May we grow in grace and progress into spiritual maturity so that we may gain spiritual discernment and be renewed in our heart and transformed through the mind, into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What wonderful reassurance we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, for He is our Great High Priest, and heavenly Mediator.
Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and we are invited to come before Him with boldness, Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. We are not to cower anxiously before His magnificent presence.
And by His grace, Jesus took upon Himself the sin of the world, so that we could be saved by grace.
And what a blessing to know that many will see the wonderful works of God in our lives, be encouraged to look to Jesus for deliverance in their lives, and to place their trust in Him.
As he neared the end of his second epistle, Peter expressed his deep desire that believers maintain their hope in the Lord's return, and pay heed to the signs of the times in which they live - signs which would indicate the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Both carnally minded Christians and scornful sceptics would express contemptuous disbelief of biblical truth and the promised return of Jesus Christ for His Church.
Old Testament types, become New Testament realities - all bound up in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the physical, tangible, and eternal reality belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ alone - Who is the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.
Adam was a type of Christ, and the temporal, passing, Aaronic priesthood in the earthly temple of Solomon, shadowed the higher, permanent and eternal Melchizedek Priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is carried out in the heavenly Temple of God.
And Jesus is the eternal Son Who is that final sacrifice.
Similarly, the Sabbath day ritual, which was guarded so jealously by the religious leaders of Israel, was simply a pale shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ Who Himself, has become the Sabbath rest for the people of God, and for all who trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
Jesus is the solid fact of that which was foreshadowed.
And for us, to live as God desires us to live, is to learn in all things to rejoice and say: My bread is to do the will of My Father, so that no matter what we face in life we can say with Jesus: Thy will not mine be done.
Jesus is the one and only life-giving artery by Whom our new born-again life is energised.
Every Christian knows that we are called to abide in Christ: And the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as Jesus walked. Sadly, not all Christians walk in spirit and truth but instead they live a barren, fleshly existence.
It is only as we abide in Christ that we can walk as Jesus did.
He lived his life looking to the Father moment by moment, just as we are called to keep our eye looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Following a flurry of words that reminds them of his heavenly appointment as God's chosen apostle to the Gentiles, and in spite of an array of arguments of why they should live godly in Christ Jesus and walk in humble obedience to God, Paul reluctantly boasts of the many sufferings he had endured for the sake of the gospel and the many sacrifices he had made on their account, in order to underline that his motive towards them was to secure their spiritual growth and not for his own financial reward.
Paul was praying that his dear friend Philemon would be an effective witness as he shared his faith with others. He further prayed that he would come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the incredible riches of God's unfathomable grace that are discovered in Jesus Christ alone.
It was the Lord Jesus Himself that demonstrated how to live in spirit and in truth, by the leading of the Spirit of God.
Jesus lived a perfect life by looking to the Father, day by day, and learning obedience through the things He suffered.
It was Paul who revealed the mystery that was hidden from the ages and from the generations, but has now made known to his sanctified people. It was a mystery kept hidden from past ages and generations, but has been unveiled to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We will never understand the full extent of the incredible riches of God's unfathomable grace that are discovered in Jesus Christ our Lord, but the more we know Him the more effective will be our Christian ministry and witness.
We need to pray for one another, just as Paul prayed in the book of Philemon, that the fellowship of OUR faith may become increasingly effecting as together we all grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The more we come to know Jesus and the blessings that flow to us from Him, the more we will desire to share these blessings with others until we can pray: He must increase, but I must decrease.
was Christ's cry of profound significance and ultimate joy, which must have resounded throughout the entire universe as the Lord Jesus pronounced His triumphant victory over sin, Satan, and death.
This sixth word from the Cross was not Jesus announcing that He Himself was finished, but that the penalty for sin had been paid in full.
The purchase price for mankind had been fully and finally met and its effects must have rocked the foundations of hell and caused a heavenly choir of angelic voices to explode into jubilant praise.Jesus came to fulfil both the Law and the prophets, and to announce Himself as God's anointed King and firstborn Son.
The Lord Jesus not only saved us by His blood, but has delivered us from all condemnation; past, present, and future, because all our sin was imputed to Him.
But he also brings God's incredible gift into focus: But the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul did not want those who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus to be rescued from the slave-market of sin, only to live a defeated life in this world, and fail in the work that God has prepared for us to do.
In Roman Chapter 6, Paul put it this way, do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus have been baptised into His death?
Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel in fulfilment of biblical prophecy.
Partway through His ministry however, the Lord Jesus started to give hints that God's plans and purposes for Israel were to be postponed for an undisclosed length of time.
As the time for Christ's crucifixion drew ever closer, Jesus started to disclose certain things to His few, faithful followers that would shortly come to pass: These things I have spoken to you that you might have joy.
As they partook of the Passover supper when Jesus washed their grimy feet, their understanding remained limited - but as time passed, things that had been hidden from ages and generations started to become clear to them.
Jesus knew they would be like sheep in the midst of wolves, but He prayed that God would keep them in the midst of the tribulations they were soon to face.
They hated Me without any cause, Jesus told them, but if the world hates you - never forget that it hated Me before it ever hated you.
All those that follow the Lord Jesus will go through tribulations and suffer persecution for their faith.
All of us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be despised, rejected, persecuted, and killed because of Christ Who came to pay the price for the sin of the world and gave His life as the ransom price for whoever would believe on His name - but how few have ears that really listen.
He is the Word of God made in human flesh... and Jesus spoke only those things which He heard from His Father in heaven.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the officers of the Law who had been sent by the high priest to arrest the Lord Jesus, reported back to the Sanhedrin so admiringly saying, Never has a man spoken in the way that this man speaks.
But the Pharisees and Sadducees loathed the Lord Jesus.
And from the start of His ministry, Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were sick or demon possessed.
And on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, only six months before His sacrificial death, the Lord Jesus stood up and repeatedly shouted-out His astonishing proclamation, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me, and drink.
Knowing that many were following Him and accepting Christ's Messianic claims, the chief priests sent certain temple guards to arrest Jesus.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.' These temple officers were so astonished with the beauty of His words, that they left Jesus without arresting Him: For never has a man spoken the way this man speaks!
How astonishing that our body has become a temple of the Spirit of God by faith, and that we have the resurrected Spirit of Christ dwelling in our heart, living in our body, empowering us to live godly in Christ Jesus, and enabling us to live as God designed us to live.
He could not refocus his narrow-minded thinking from the familiar but restricted physical realm, to the greater, supernatural, spiritual sphere of which the Lord Jesus was speaking.
He was not making some sarcastic suggestion when he asked the Lord Jesus: Can a man be born again when he is old?
He recognised the inner turmoil that he faced in the inner core of his being, but Paul knew that the answer to overcoming the lust of the flesh was found in Jesus Christ.
And the answer is equally fundamental: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to trust in the person of the Son of God, to put our faith in the one and only object that has the power to save - the Lord Jesus Christ - the only begotten Son of God - humanities unique Son of Man - the God-Man Jesus, Who is Creator of heaven and earth, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.
The unbeliever must put his trust in the gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.
All the jailor needed to do to be saved was believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and all his family needed to do to be saved was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the first step in our Christian life is simply to believe: Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.
Let us not cloud the simplicity of the gospel with any of our human reasoning, rules, or regulations, but simply tell people who want to know how to be saved, by faith in the death and Resurrection of our precious Saviour, Jesus Christ.
But in Psalm 69 we are told: They gave Me vinegar for My thirst. In order for this part of the Messianic Psalm to be fulfilled, it necessitated that the Lord Jesus Christ receive a sip of vinegar for His thirst.
And so Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, cried out, I thirst, in order to fulfil the Scripture.A jar of wine vinegar was there, and they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips so that along with every other prophetic Scripture that related to His First Coming, this prophecy was also fulfilled.Oh yes, there was indeed an eternal reason that Jesus called out, I thirst at the particular poignant point as He hung on the Cross.
But in order that ALL Scripture might be fulfilled and not one jot or tittle of the Law or the prophets be overlooked, Jesus said, I THIRST.Though higher critics delight to scrutinise biblical passages in an attempt to spiritualise the Word or discover some small place of discrepancy, while other foolish and liberal-minded men attempt to discover some scriptural contradiction in order to discredit the Word God and His Christ, we can stand firm on Christ's finished Work, for He is the end of the Law and the fulfilment of all prophecy, in order to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.Christ completed every prophetic utterance and the righteous requirement of the Law, and His death for you and for me paid the full price.
But praise God that Jesus cried out, I THIRST as He hung on the Cross, before He bowed His head and said, Into Your hand I commend My spirit.
As Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, He told His three disciples not to disclose the wonderful vision they had seen there, until after He had risen from the dead.
Having just left the wonderful, mountain-top vision, where Moses and Elijah met with the Lord Jesus, the disciples turned their thoughts to a teaching of the scribes and Pharisees..
However, Jesus had been ministering long before this day of transfiguration, and the three men were confused, and so they questioned Him about this doctrine.
The prophecy to which they referred, is found in Malachi, where we read, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. Jesus explained this scripture, which was given to Israel.
But Jesus continued to say, but I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him.
The disciples realised Jesus was speaking of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
But Jesus also told them that just as John had suffered and died at their hands, as a result of his being rejected, so also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. John, the forerunner of Christ, suffered and was killed... and in like manner, Jesus, the Son of Man would also suffer at their hands - and be crucified.
Malichi's prophecy was only partially fulfilled at Christ's first coming, for both John and Jesus were rejected, they both suffered, and died, before the prophetic Word reached its completion.
In the same way, the Jews did not recognise the Lord God Almighty, in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His purposes were also cut short.
Similarly, the Jews failed to recognise Who Jesus was and why Jesus came... and they refused to believe on His name.
So Jesus died without accomplishing ALL that He came to do.
But the Jews rejected John and missed Jesus, because of their lack of Scriptural understanding and because they had had a flawed, preconceived notion about the Messiah - and Jesus did not fit in with their biased imagination.
Jesus accomplished MUCH at His first coming, but the Son of God also came to set up His kingdom, in fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant.
In this letter, the apostle John warns his readers: Many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.
He warns of the deeply held view of gnostics who did not accept that Jesus came to earth in the flesh (one of the fundamentals of the Christian faith - that Christ was not only fully God but also fully human).
Peter warned of damnable heresies from teachers who even denied the truth of the gospel of God and the Lord Jesus Who bought them, while Jude, like James, denounced the various heresies that were brought into the Church by false teachers who turned the grace of God into wantonness and ungodly liberality.
He wanted believers to be discerning and to be able to identify that anyone who refused to acknowledge that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and that Jesus is fully God and fully Man, is a deceiver who should be labelled as an antichrist.
John was keen that 'The Chosen Lady' and her children, as well as the Christians in general, must hold fast to Scriptural truth; that Jesus was God the Son Who came to earth as a real Man at His first coming, that He came as a sacrificial offering for the sin of the world, and that He came to earth as Man Who knew no sin so that He could shed His human blood to pay that price for the sin of the world and to reconcile fallen man back to God.
May we be ready to share it with the lost, to study it day by day to show ourselves approved unto God, to grow in grace and in a knowledge of Christ, to be ready to give an answer for the hope we have in Him, and to look for the any day return of Jesus to take us to be with Himself.
As Christians, we are to remember that the Lord Jesus suffered in the flesh for our sake - so that we could be saved by grace through faith in Him.
But it is God's will that after salvation we put away such worldly pursuits and leave that old life behind us, together with those former desires, as we press towards the goal of our calling - just as the Lord Jesus set His own face as a flint towards Jerusalem, the Cross, and the redemption of mankind.
The Lord Jesus Himself was hated and despised by the men and women He came to save.
Jesus Himself told us, They hated Me without a cause, and they will hate you too, for although we are in the world, we are not of the world, even as the Lord Jesus was in the world for a season but was not part of this fallen, world system.
Although Jesus is God's anointed King Who will one day rule and reign over all the earth, Christ's kingdom is not of this unrighteous world system, which must first be destroyed before He returns to rule and reign in righteousness, together with those who have trusted Him as Saviour.
We must never forget that everyone will one day be required to give an account of himself to the Lord Jesus Who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
The Lord Jesus is the One Whom God has appointed to judge the world in righteousness.
God has set a day when He will judge the world with justice and equity, by Jesus - the Man Whom he has appointed from the foundation of the world.
Everyone who has maligned and mistreated us in this world will be required to give an account of themselves to the Lord Jesus Who is currently seated in heavenly places and interceding on our behalf - and on behalf of all His children.
We can either permit New Age pantheism, contemporary polytheism, Pagan practices, transcendental meditation, Marian apparitions, false 'christs' and another 'Jesus', which is infiltrating the life-blood of the Church of God to affect us OR we can act like Nehemiah.
Before he was arrested on the road to Damascus by his blinding vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, the proud and arrogant 'Saul of Tarsus' had everything going for him from a worldly perspective.
But Paul came to understand that no matter what we gain in this world; physically, intellectually, educationally, financially, or socially, and no matter what plaudits and praise we receive from others, it is of no worth when contrasted with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as Saviour and Lord.
Indeed, we may even be shunned by friends, family, and colleagues alike, but let us all seek to echo the words of Paul; that for the sake of Christ we are prepared to: Count all things but loss for the excellency the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
but, Can this action be carried out in the name of Jesus and to His glory?
Can the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be done in the name of Jesus?
Were we to do everything in word and in deed in the name of the Lord Jesus and live our lives in total dependence upon Him through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving and praise, how honouring this would be to our Heavenly Father.
By grace through faith in Him we are eternally joined with the Lord Jesus, identified with His righteousness, in union with Him, and a member of His body.
Whatever we do in word and in deed no matter what it is, let us do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in total dependence upon Him.
May all we do in word or deed be done in His name, giving praise and thanksgiving to God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And the Holy Spirit, in His grace, is transforming and transfiguring my new nature, day by day, into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ.
In this Church age of grace, the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life is to bring us into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Himself.
May we continue to be changed into the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ with every passing day, and show forth His goodness and grace, not only in our lips but in our lives, by giving ourselves up to His praise and glory.
It is a godly love that will reach into the eternal ages to come, a deathless love that will never end, for God is love.And yet, that continuously existing communion between Father and Son was broken at Calvary's Cross, as the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for you and for me.
Praise God that Jesus our precious Saviour and Kinsman-Redeemer drank the Father's bitter cup to its dregs so that you and I who believe on His name, would not perish but have eternal life with Him.
We are familiar with the many parables Jesus told in the New Testament, but Judges chapter 9 contains one of the few parables found in the Old Testament.
We are to eschew all forms of impure behaviours, for God has called us to live godly in Christ Jesus, Who died to pay the price for our sin, and has called us to live a life that is consecrated to Him.
He was called to prepare the way of the Lord and pronounce the arrival of Israel's long-awaited, promised Messiah. John was sent from God as a witness to testify that Jesus was God's anointed King, the Word made flesh, the Light of the world.
And the day came when John identified Jesus as: The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
John faithfully identified Jesus as the One spoken of by the prophets.
He told his followers that someone standing in their midst was of far greater import than he, and confessed that he was not worthy to untie the strap of His sandals. The identity of the Lord Jesus was gradually revealed to John the Baptist over a period of time, and once again as Jesus passed by, he cried out, BEHOLD!
Two of the Baptist's faithful followers who were standing with John that day, decided to follow after the Lord Jesus.
Jesus wanted to know if these disciples of John wanted to know Him personally or if they simply have a superficial curiosity and a shallow character.
The question Jesus asked those men on that momentous day is a question that we should all seek to answer honestly.
Perhaps Christ's direct question surprised these two men, but they wanted to find out more about Jesus so they asked Him, Where are you staying? They wanted to know more about the Lamb of God and Jesus was ready and willing to draw all men to Himself, and so he invited them to, Come and see.
Even though it was the tenth hour of the day and quite close to sunset, Jesus still invited the disciples to stay with Him.
Jesus will never turn anyone away.
When we answer His invitation to Come, we will discover that Jesus gives us more than we could ask or imagine.
Paul instructed us to walk in spirit and truth, and we learn from the Lord Jesus that this means that we are to abide in Him and He in us... as we journey through life.
We are to rest in His love and to trust in His Word, even during those difficult times so that we may live godly in Christ Jesus.
We should not fear the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, for no real harm can come to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Although we may face physical suffering, financial hardships, material deprivation, other deep losses, and even death, we have God's absolute assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, including tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, poison, the sword... and even the perils of the 21st century.
There is no one that can harm us and nothing that can separate the born-again child of God from the eternal promises that are ours in Christ Jesus our Saviour: Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come... nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing is able to harm us or separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And it causes us to worship our Father in heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ Who shed His blood so that condemned sinners might be made perfect before His face: And so we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory.
The written Word of God is symbolic of a mirror that reflects, to the unveiled eyes of the Christian, the living Word of God: our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the truths contained in the pages of Holy Writ, we see Christ Jesus reflected in all His glory.
As we meditate on the written Word of God's eternal love-letter to human-kind, we see the wonderful face of Jesus and we start to reflect His beauty and radiate His grace, to the glory of God.
Every verse in the book of Proverbs holds gems of wisdom from the Lord, whether they are words of warning or precious pearls of instruction, exhortation to live a godly life, or simply encouragement to trust in the Lord with all our heart and to keep the eyes of our heart firmly fixed onto our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Jesus tells us that it is the words that come out of the mouth that defile a man, for our speech reflects the thoughts of our heart, while James reminds us that a tiny spark carelessly cast from the tongue, can ignite a great and destructive inferno.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect example of One whose words were gracious and kind, wise and instructive, for He spoke the truth in love.
His third utterance from the Cross, is a one of gracious comfort and loving assurance to His mother, as well as bestowing an opportunity of sweet service to John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.
For we read: When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son!' Then said He to the disciple, 'behold your mother.'The woman, chosen to be the mother of our Lord, who was also present at the beginning of His earthly sojourn, was now weeping at the foot of the Cross.
Perhaps she was understanding a little more of the serious words she heard from the lips of Simeon, when he took the baby Jesus in his arms and prophesied that her holy Child was appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed.
But friend or foe alike, every one needed to be washed in His redeeming blood or pay the consequences of sin's deadly hold.Devoted obedience to the Father, gracious redemption of humanity, a glorious Bride for Himself, and the victorious reclamation of the kingdom was the goal of His divine calling, yet the loving-kindness He showed towards His mother, demonstrates the humanity of our Lord and the empathetic nature of God for His children, for when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple He loved standing nearby, He said to his mother, Dear woman, here is your son, and to the disciple he loved, Here is your mother.
Jesus said, He who is not with Me is against Me, and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.
Jesus could have said: He who is not with me is antichrist.
John states very clearly, Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
God has provided us with the perfect standard to test who is for the Lord Jesus and who is against Him, to test who is for Christ and who is antichrist.
It is only through a knowledge of the truth of Scripture that we can know the Spirit of God, for every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God while: Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is the spirit of the antichrist.
The Word of God is living and active, and is given as the objective standard for doctrinal accuracy, and every teaching that conflicts with the Truth of Scripture needs to be rejected: Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, must be rejected, exposed and identified as: The spirit of the antichrist.
But God in His love, pity, mercy, and grace sent Jesus, His beloved Son, to be the propitiation for our sins, and all who believe on His name are saved by grace, through faith.
The Lord Jesus warned us that as servants of God who have been born from above, we will be hated by the world in the same way that the world hated Jesus when He walked this earth: If you were of the world, He explains, the world would love you - because the world loves its own.
Jesus identified with our sinfulness by dying on the Cross so that sin could be removed from our account and we could identify with Christ's righteousness, and not the unrighteousness of our former nature.
Unregenerate man remains hostile towards God and the Lord Jesus, and the antagonism unsaved men have towards God is expressed in hatred towards all that believe on His name.
John witnessed how the world hated Jesus during His earthly ministry and experienced increasing hatred towards Christians following Christ's Ascension into heaven.
Jesus warned us, during His earthly walk, that His followers would be hated of all men for His name's sake, and all who follow Christ would also be hated by the God-hating, Christ-rejecting, sinful world.
Rather, he encourages us to continue to show forgiveness, love, kindness, and grace towards those that hate and revile us, just as Jesus did when He told is to pray for those that despitefully use us.
We are urged to put on the whole armour of God and equip ourselves with the spiritual weaponry that is ours in Christ Jesus - Who alone is able to assure us of victory over the evils of this present age.
May we look to Jesus the incarnate Word made flesh, Who died and rose again so that we who believe on Him would never die, but gain forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
The Corinthian Christians were a group of believers who delighted in their outwards gifts and talents... to the exclusion of an inner spirituality which centred on Jesus Christ and which would produce in them, the beautiful fruit of the Spirit... which is rooted and grounded in love.
By remaining immersed in division, discord, and even depravity, these believers identified themselves as carnal Christians who had reverted to spiritual infancy instead of maturing in the faith, growing in grace, and being built up in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul came to them, determined to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, knowing that the message of the Cross is the power of God unto salvation, for all who believe.
It was Christ Who said that He would build His Church and one by one, down through centuries of time, men and women have come to faith in Christ Jesus and one by one, they have each been fitted into the growing Temple of the living God.
He identified the Christian Church as a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through our Saviour Jesus Christ.
For by the one offering of Himself has the Lord Jesus Christ perfected for all time, all those who have trusted in the blood of the Lamb for the forgiveness of sins and the redemption of their soul.
Sadly, today there are some Christian denominations that continue to offer up the Lord Jesus as an ongoing, perpetual, sacrifice each time they celebrate His death on the Cross in their services.
But once we do believe and are saved, we should then become a true disciple and take up our cross and follow after Jesus, for this is God's desire for all His children.
The simple gospel of grace requires no effort, for we are saved by grace simply through faith in Christ Jesus.
This takes effort and courage which only comes from the Spirit of God, but in so doing we are obeying the Lord as we press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
The armies of heaven were at His disposal, but He could never respond to the jeering crowd that taunted, If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross and save Yourself, for to do so would have shut the door to paradise for everyone and slammed closed the gates of heaven forever, with no hope for mankind in the world.The mocking hatred of the crowds, the spurious lies of the leaders, the twisted testimony of the false witnesses, and the foul deeds of the Roman soldiers, were amplified with the reviling sneers of the two criminals who were crucified alongside Jesus, until one was deeply convicted and recognised the King that was staked at his side.
I wonder whether it was Christ's gracious prayer of forgiveness that prompted his requests when, with a repentant heart he cried, This man has done nothing wrong, and then turning towards the Lord and pleaded, Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.I doubt that the thieving criminal expected to hear Christ's merciful reply, Today you will be with Me in paradise, nor would he have anticipated the wonderful joy into which he would shortly enter.
But immediately, his simple faith was rewarded with a promise of paradise in the company of the Redeemer Himself.Though salvation is conditional on the repentant sinner turning to Christ, this beautiful passage gives assurance that it is never too late to look to the Lord Jesus and live.
It is faith in the Person, the Work, and the Word of the Saviour that secures for us the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.It was by the sin of the first Adam that paradise was lost, the way to the Tree of Life barred and guarded by mighty angels with flashing swords, and it was by the sacrifice of the second Adam that paradise was regained, and the way to the Tree of Life was once again flung wide open, to whosoever will believe.The door to paradise was unbarred and the gates of heaven were thrown wide open to this repentant sinner who hung next to our Lord, for he gained the right to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the paradise of God, simply because he trusted on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin.
They (pre-Cross Old Covenant saints) looked forward to the coming Saviour and the Cross, while we (post-Cross New Covenant saints) look back to the finished work of Jesus Christ, the living, risen, ascended, and glorified Word of God.
His single offense caused the sting of spiritual death and the icy fingers of physical death to touch the lives of all his descendants, with one exception - the God-Man, Christ Jesus - the only begotten Son of His Father in heaven.
But the free gift of salvation, available to all, rests on one act of righteousness carried out by the only perfect member of the human race, Jesus Christ.
Indeed, the fruit of the Spirit that forms in the life of a believer, is a manifestation of God's mercy and grace, working in and through His child, for Jesus said, without Me you can do nothing.
Today, as then, many Christians have strayed far away from the glorious gospel of grace and are proclaiming another gospel and looking to a different Jesus.
The final book in Holy Scripture is the full and final revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to the risen, ascended Lord Jesus Who in turn gave it to the aging apostle John through an angelic messenger, to show His bond-servants things which must soon take place.
The exact attribute of the eternal Father of Old Testament Scripture is ascribed to the Lord Jesus Whom John describes as Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. God the Father made it clear to Moses, Isaiah, and other holy men of God that He alone is the first and He is the last, the beginning and the end, and that no other God is equal with Him: Before Me, there was no God formed, is Isaiah's great pronouncement from Yahweh, and there will be none after Me! And yet Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, was able to pronounce in this verse, I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty.Jesus, the virgin-born Seed of the woman and second Person of the Trinity, rightfully claims equality with the Father, for He is the visible image of the invisible, triune God, sent by the Father to shed His perfect, human blood as the single, sacrificial offering for the sin of the world so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
When walking the earth with His disciples, He pronounced His eternal deity by declaring: Before Abraham was I AM. Jesus could rightfully make this proclamation because He is fully God, with all the perfect attributes of God. Yet during His earthly sojourn, He set aside His glory for a time. During His earthly lifetime the Lord Jesus was limited because he only said and did those things that He heard and saw from the Father.
God, the Son came to earth as Jesus, the Man to show the fallen race of humanity how God Almighty wants His servants to live (in total dependence upon Him and His great power, and not relying on our human resources, for His omnipotent power is made perfect in our human weakness).
In this magnificent verse, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who understands our humanity, reminds us of His power and authority: The Alpha and the Omega, Who was and Who is and Who is to come, the Almighty.
No matter what we face in life, we can be assured that Jesus is always with us and that He is in control.
When we are struggling in our walk with Christ, it is important to remember that Jesus is the source of our strength.
May we never forget that we are in the world but not of the world, for our citizenship is in heaven and we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.
The quiet, unassuming prayer life of the Lord Jesus was very different from the showy pomposity of Israel's religious leaders, whose presumptuous prayers were designed for the ears of other people and were not offered to our Father in heaven.
The intimate prayer life of the Lord Jesus with His Heavenly Father, was very different from anything the world had ever witnessed before.
Jesus was the Passover Lamb, and the Law given through Moses demanded that four days before this Feast, the Passover lambs were to be selected and carefully checked for blemishes.
And for four whole days before His crucifixion, Jesus was relentlessly pursued and bombarded by the scribes and Pharisees with trick questions in an attempt to accuse Him of blasphemy.
But Jesus was the perfect, innocent, sinless Lamb of God Who had been sent to take away the sin of the world.
But now, just before this special Feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come.
Jesus knew that He had been born to die for the sin of the whole world, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to be the sacrifice for man's sin.
Jesus knew that His hour had come to die as Israel's Passover Lamb.
Jesus knew that He would soon be departing out of the world to return to His Father in heaven, and would have to leave behind the dear disciples whom the Father had given to Him, all of whom He loved so dearly. The infinite and eternal love that Christ had for them, and has for all His blood-bought children, is far beyond our comprehension.
And so, when the hour had come for Him to depart out of this world and to return to the Father, Jesus took His disciples aside to the upper room to share the Passover meal with them before being sacrificed for us as our own Passover Lamb and the sacrifice for sin.
Nevertheless, as the Lord Jesus looked at the men that had walked with him for over three years, His divine heart of love reached out to each one of them and yearned for them with a depth of love that stretched into eternity and a breadth of love that reaches beyond infinity.
We were placed into the Body of Christ the moment that, by faith, we trusted Jesus for salvation, and all who would one day come to place their trust in His finished work at Calvary were crucified with Christ.
Indeed, all who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
It is not attained by self-effort and self-reliance, but by letting the life of Christ grow and develop within as we submit to the Holy Spirit and look to Jesus for our sufficiency and strength.
The moment that we are saved, we have the potential to live godly in Christ Jesus, for the flesh with all its passion and desires is crucified.
This does not mean that the sin nature is eradicated or rendered inactive, but it does mean that we have the potential to live godly in Christ Jesus and to develop the fruit of righteousness, by grace through faith.
But if and when we do transgress, we are to quickly acknowledge our sin and make sure that our old sin nature is firmly nailed back on the Cross, for victory has been provided for all who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus died UNTO sin and this means that He died to break the power of sin in our lives.
He died to deliver us from the very influences of sin in our lives: Jesus died UNTO sin ONCE and for ALL, but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Jesus not only died to pay the price for our sins but to release us from the Adamic-nature that we inherited from our forefathers so that He could replace it with His own Christ-like nature; His own resurrection life; the new-life-in-Christ.
Jesus died so that we may become a new creation in Him as well as being forgiven of our sins, and it is all by grace though faith in HIm.
The sinless Lord Jesus Christ not only paid the death-penalty for our sins, but He was MADE sin for us, He IDENTIFIED with our sinfulness.
Through His death, Jesus BECAME sin for us (as well as paying the price for sin) so that in return we might be made the righteousness of God in Him: For He died unto sin once and for all, but the life that He now lives, He lives to God.
God removed us from the old, unrighteous headships of fallen Adam and placed us under the new righteous headship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The whole of Psalm 2 looks forward to the day when the Lord Jesus will be crowned as King of the whole earth and will set up His Millennial reign over the nations.
Satan became prince of the power of the air when man fell, but God purposed in His heart to return the reins of power to humanity, through His only begotten Son, the Man, Christ Jesus.
Although Satan was to offer the earthly reins of power to Christ when He was tempted in the wilderness, the Lord Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, so that the shed blood of our Kinsman Redeemer could redeem mankind from the suffocating clutches of Satan.
In point of fact, this is simply a reference to the new life in Christ that is given to each sinner by the Spirit of God, the moment that we believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again.
We are made a new creation in Christ and are given a new life - the life of Christ - a life that needs to grow in grace and be conformed into the image of Jesus, a life that cannot sin.
By God's grace, we are given the perfect, sinless, holy life of Jesus Christ as our very own life, which the Holy Spirit seeks to conform into the image and likeness of Jesus throughout our earthly life.
This did not catch God out by surprise. Forgiveness was on the heart of the Father Who planned for the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus from before time began, before space was created, before the worlds were made.
The section on Christ's healing ministry follows the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus gave witness of His Messianic claims to the people of Israel.
Jesus had been sent from God as Israel's long-awaited Messiah.
This uncircumcised Gentile sought Jesus out because he had heard that He was from God and could perform mighty miracles.
He not only showed compassion for his slave but also approached the Lord Jesus with great humility and a faith in the Lord Jesus that was sadly lacking in Israel.
The Centurion explained to the Lord that he was not worthy to have Jesus visit his home and also explained a fundamental truth; he said that because he was a man who carried out commands from his superior officers and gave orders to his subordinates, he understood that words have power.
Jesus marvelled at the great faith this Centurion demonstrated.
Jesus was amazed at his reply.
He had not found such genuine faith amongst His own people, the Jews, as He did from this Gentile: And Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.' And the servant was healed that very moment.
Immediately, the Centurion did as Jesus bade him.
It shall be done for you as you have believed. Following this miraculous healing, Jesus explained to His disciples truths about the kingdom of God.
Jesus told them that many Gentiles, like this Centurion, would be drawn into the kingdom He was proclaiming, ahead of many of His own countrymen.
Jesus explained in this passage that faith is rewarded in proportion to the level of trust and depth of confidence we have in God's Word.
The faith that delighted the Lord Jesus is the absolute assurance that God is true to His spoken Word and to His written Word.
Paul noted that we were foreordained to be adopted as His children, because of our relationship with the Lord Jesus.
He prayed that God would bestow on them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ Jesus, and He began to explain the mystery of God's will - the redemption of man through the Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom He will usher in the fullness of the times and bring everything together in Him.
But at the start of chapter 3, his euphotic flow of thought is suspended, momentarily, with an announcement, it is for this reason that I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus - it is for the sake of you Gentiles.
Jesus told us, In the world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
He knew that the gospel of Christ was the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes...to the Jew first, but ALSO to the Gentile, and for this reason, he was the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles.
For a second time in His ministry, the Lord Jesus drove out the corrupt, profiteering money-changers from the Temple court, likening them to a den of thieves and condemning their ungodly practices.
Jesus had been sent by God to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and to cast out devils.
He had come to bring good tidings to the meek, hope to the poor, salvation to the afflicted, liberty for those that were bound by chains of sin, and freedom to those that were enslaved by Satan. Jesus had come to bind up the brokenhearted, comfort those that were afflicted, proclaim physical and spiritual liberty to the captives, and to free those who were imprisoned by Satan.
Jesus had come to open the eyes of all who are blinded by the evil god of this world.
Wherever He went, the Lord Jesus was honoured by the people who started to anticipate that He was the One Whom God had promised to send to be their Messiah and King.
May we look to Jesus with childlike faith, humility of heart, simplicity of spirit, and total trust in our heavenly Saviour.
May we live in a way that honour the Lord and sing out in joyful abandon like those little children in Jerusalem, for we have been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and our Redeemer.
Our reconciliation comes through the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin, but faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the message of Christ, the incarnate Word of God.
The message of peace with God through our Saviour, Jesus Christ, is the gospel of grace that continues to be proclaimed today to the fallen race of man, but faith in Him comes by hearing this message of reconciliation.
The first and most important thing on the mind of Paul was thanksgiving for the faith these believers had in the Lord Jesus, because testimony of their trust in God had reached to the farthest extremity of the known world.
Indeed, the proof of Paul's deep love towards these Christians was that he lifted them up, in continuous, fervent prayer to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is by the lives we live, our love for one another, and the grace of the Lord Jesus reflected in our lives, that others will know that we are His disciples.
God loved us so dearly that He not only sent Jesus to be our Saviour but He purposed to transform all who trust in Him into His image and likeness so that when we see Him, face to face, we will be like Him.
And everyone who has this hope fixed on Christ purifies himself, just as the Lord Jesus is pure.
Should we not... in astonished wonder, deep humility, and reverent praise, behold the matchless love and compassionate grace that has been poured out by the Father in such generous abundance on us - even making us His children simply because we have trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour?
As children of the Father and joint-heirs with Christ, we have become children of light and have a glorious hope that is founded and fixed on Jesus, Himself.
Jesus is our blessed hope.
Indeed, Jesus is the hope of all the ends of the earth, but those of us who walk in spirit and truth and have our hope fixed on Him are purified – in the same way that He is pure.
Just as Jesus was identified with our sin and sinfulness, so we are identified with His righteousness and purity.
And when our hope is in Him, and by faith we have trusted Him as our Saviour, we become increasingly like Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.Like the Lord Jesus, we too are despised by this pagan world system and increasingly have become targets of ridicule and ill-treatment by a world which does not understand what manner of love the Father has towards you and me... who by faith in Christ have become His children and been made joint-heirs with Christ.
One day the Lord Jesus is coming back to take us home and as sons of God, we will be made known to the world.
Let us hold firmly to this sure hope that is set before us, looking to Jesus - the Author and Finisher of our faith, knowing that those of us who have fixed our hope upon Him, purify ourselves just as Jesus is pure.
He is the Beginning and the End, and He alone holds the keys of death and hell, for HE is JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our faith. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being, and it is through Him that we have been made a New Creation in Christ.
They had seen Jesus heal the many sick people, and even raise some from the dead, and so they hurriedly sent an urgent request for Him to come and heal the one He loved so dearly.
However, on receiving this heart-wrenching message from Bethany, Jesus did not immediately cancel His plans and rush to their side to offer help and encouragement.
Having heard Lazarus was sick, Jesus stayed two more days in the place where He was!
It was not a lack of love that caused His delay, nor was it fear of the Jews who were motivated to kill the Lord Jesus if He ever showed His face in Jerusalem again.
Jesus did not mean that his friend would not die physically, but that his death would not be the final outcome of his sickness, and the terrible time of mourning his sisters were facing would be replaced with joy and faith in believing.
Jesus was in constant communion with His Father.
And yet when they finally returned to Bethany, his sickness had ended in death and the body of Lazarus was cold, and in the tomb, and we read: Jesus wept.
The tears of the Lord Jesus were tears of compassion for the wretchedness of these poor, mourning souls, whom He loved so dearly, yet who were under the condemnation of sin; for the wages of sin is death, and death is sin's ultimate victory over every fallen man.
It was after two days that Jesus went to Bethany.
Jesus knew His own death was only weeks away and that the passing of Lazarus was to be used by His Father to glorify Himself: That the Son of god may be glorified by it.
Jesus used the death and resurrection of Lazarus as a wonderful demonstration of God's almighty power.
Jesus used the death and resurrection of Lazarus as a type of His own, forthcoming death on Calvary for the sin of the world and His glorious Resurrection which would break the power of sin and death in the lives of all who believe on Him; for after two days in the grave He rose to life immortal, on the third day.
When the risen Christ returns to earth to set up His kingdom, at the end of the 'Great Tribulation', thirsty souls will be satisfied and the earth will be filled with the glory of God as Jesus comes to tabernacle amongst His people.
The Lord Jesus Himself testifies to this in the final chapter of Revelation, when He announces: I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches.
Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel in fulfilment of Biblical prophecy.
Jesus had come at God's appointed time to announce that He was the promised Messiah of Israel, sent from heaven to bring in the promised kingdom of heaven on earth.
Zacharias prophesied that Jesus, the son of Mary, was God's promised Dayspring from on High, the Prophet of Whom Moses spoke, Who would come to rescue His people from the hand of their enemies: And guide our feet into the way of peace.
However, to achieve the peace OF God that we all desire so deeply, sinful man must first have peace WITH God, through faith in Jesus Christ.
When He came to earth so many years ago, the Lord Jesus came to finish the transgression to make an end of sin, and to make atonement for iniquity through His sacrificial death so that He could bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy, and anoint the most holy place.
You believe in God, He told Israel, believe also in ME. This is the work of God, He taught them, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. Israel were to believe in Christ as their Messiah if Jesus were to finish the work that God called Him to do and bring in God's kingdom on earth.
True peace can only be found in a relationship with Jesus.
We should not allow our attitude, actions, comments, or clothing to be adversely influenced by the pagan culture of our day, lest we are tempted do develop a careless attitude towards godly behaviour and neglect our spiritual development - or lest we leave our first Love, the Lord Jesus, and adopt the profane values of the society in which we live.
Whether we are men or women, let us seek to live godly in Christ Jesus... to abide in Him and to submit to His leading and guiding so that we may grow in grace and become increasingly transformed into the image and likeness of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
One lie that continues to be perpetrated today, is that knowing about the Lord Jesus... is the same as trusting Him as the only sacrifice for sin.
There are many people who accept a historical Jesus that lived on earth and was crucified on a Cross... but they do not trust Him as Saviour and remain under God's eternal condemnation.
True faith must be placed in the One and Only, True, Living, and Eternal God, and His Son, Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent.
And so God Himself had to come to earth, in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and be born into the human race - and He came as Emmanuel, the incarnate God, the Word made flesh.
Yes, Jesus is the incarnate God.
Jesus is God - made man.
Jesus is the eternal Son of God Who became the perfect Son of Man.
Jesus is the God-Man Who was born to become our Kinsman-Redeemer.
The life of man is in the blood, and the Man, Christ Jesus, had to shed His lifeblood to redeem the fallen race of man.
Jesus died to pay the price for humanity's sin - and not the sin of fallen angels or demons - and only faith in HIM brings salvation.
Just before being stoned to death for his faith in Christ, Stephen (a beloved disciple of the Lord Jesus, who was full of grace, truth, faith, hope, power, wisdom, and filled with the Holy Ghost), was falsely accused by various groups of religious legalists of sedition and blasphemy, and hauled before the Jewish court; the Sanhedrin.
He laid before them God's amazing plan of redemption, both for Israel and for the rest of the world, through Jesus Christ their Messiah and King.
Stephen was slowly unfolding God's redemption plan in order to bring them to repentance for the terrible travesty that had recently been carried out: the execution of their Messiah King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
After praying that He will glorify the Father through His finished work on Calvary, Jesus intercedes for His disciples, whom the Father gave Him out of this world, for these men were to be God's chosen instruments.
Jesus not only gave them His Word, but He left His Word with them.
And so Christ prays for their protection and sanctification so that their future ministry would be effective, for having given them the Word of Truth through His earthly ministry, they were to be the ones that would spread abroad the gospel of God to a world that remained dead in their trespasses and sins: for God loved the world so much that He gave Jesus to be the propitiation for the sin of the whole world.
He prayed that they would be set apart from the world as He sent them into the uttermost parts of the earth to proclaim redemption to all; a salvation which they themselves had received through Jesus.
On that holy night preceding His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus not only prayed for His chosen apostles who would lay the foundation of all Church doctrine, but for all who would believe on Christ's sacrificial work through their word.
These were the men, along with the apostle Paul, Christ's chosen vessel to the Gentiles, who received direct revelation of the inspired Word of truth from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
As God's only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus is the perfect radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His Person.
Although He was fully God, the Lord Jesus did not speak or act under His own authority, but only as instructed by His Heavenly Father.
As the Cross loomed ever closer, Jesus was able to pray in spirit and truth: The words which You gave Me I have given to them. They had heard His gracious words, observed His tender acts of mercy, witnessed His supernatural signs, and had themselves been empowered by Jesus to also carry out the wondrous works of God.
And as the nature and character of God was increasingly unveiled, Christ's dearly beloved yet bewildered disciples finally confessed Jesus, as the promised Messiah, the Son of the living God.
His work on earth was complete and Jesus was able to say to the Father: The hour has come.
We are all God's gift to His Son, for we too have been bought with a price; the precious blood of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
When we trusted Jesus as Saviour we were placed in HIM.
We became part of a new creation and were given a new baby life in Christ, for we died to the old life in Adam and became alive in Jesus Christ our Lord.
We were are bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ Jesus our Lord, and the life we now live in the flesh is His life, for He is our Shepherd and we are the sheep of His pasture.
One of the fundamentals of our faith is that the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God in every way and fully equal with the Father.
Many people consider that Jesus never claimed to be God or professed equality with the Father, and yet when the Lord Jesus declared, Before Abraham was, I AM, He was making the most blatant and incontrovertible declaration of His Deity, claiming equal status with YHWH of the Old Testament, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.
The accusation of blasphemy made by the Jews, where they took up stones to execute Him, was because they refused believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Son of God, begotten not created, and of one being with the Father.
They refused to believe that Jesus was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
When Jesus declared, Before Abraham was, I AM, (which in the Greek language is EGO EIMI), His claim was not only pre-existence to the greatest prophet and patriarch of the Jews and father of the Jewish nation, but ALSO He was claiming to be nothing less that the great God of the universe.
Jesus was claiming to be the 'I AM' of the Scriptures Who led the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and Who spoke with Moses in the burning bush, declaring, I AM that I AM.
As Jesus Himself tells us: I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
He had heard that the church at Colossae had bought into some heretical teaching that appeared to diminish the deity and preeminence of the Lord Jesus, and so he wrote to them to inform them of the centrality of Christ - in Whom is hidden all the wisdom of God and the mysteries of God.
He pointed out that if the doctrinal theology they had been taught was true - that we are positioned in Christ, identified with HIm, part of a new creation in Christ, raised up with Christ Jesus, and seated with Him in heavenly places, then we need to keep on seeking after heavenly things and not yearn after earthly things - to set our hearts on things above, where Christ is - i.e.
We did not have to do anything extra for we were placed into Christ from the very moment we trusted in Jesus, and when we are 'born from above' we are baptised into the Body of believers.We not only died with Christ and were buried with Him, but we rose with Him into newness of life and became a new creation in Christ.
When Christ rose from the dead, we were in Him and so we were raised into newness of life in Christ, and because we trust in the Lord as our Saviour, we are forever united with Him.May we never forget that there is a Man in heavenly places - Jesus Christ the righteous Who is presently seated at the right hand of God the Father and because we are in Christ, we are therefore seated with Him, today, in heavenly places.
Israel was judged through the Assyrian and Babylonian dispersions and sin was judged at the Cross of Calvary, when the wrath of God fell on the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute for sin.
It was as John's misty eyes began to clear that he looked and saw Jesus the Messiah before him.
But in his vision of the future, John witnessed the opening moments of the coming Day of the Lord, which will start with 7 terrible years of tribulation and will conclude with 1000 years of peace and prosperity, when the earth will be filled with the glory of God and Christ Jesus will rule as King of kings and Lord of lords.
We are not required to carry out the law of Moses - for we are under the law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.
However, there are many instructions Church age believers have been given, if we are to honour the Lord, to walk in spirit and truth, to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and to mature in the Christian faith.
And we, who have been saved by grace through faith in this Church dispensation, have received equally precious and unfailing promises - which are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Nevertheless, the warning that was given to Israel needs to be heeded by Christians today, for many are being led astray by a false gospel which is taught by deceptive teachers, about another Jesus.
God Himself is the perfect example of holiness, which is personified in Jesus Christ Who is our divine pattern.
But now that we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, we are children of the light who are to have no part in ungodly behaviour, for to do so not only dishonours the name of the Lord Jesus but it also shipwrecks our Christian testimony.
At His baptism, the Lord Jesus was endowed with the Holy Spirit when the Spirit of God descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, after which Jesus, Who had been filled with the Holy Spirit, was led away from the Jordan River into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days and was tempted of Satan; and triumphed.
At the beginning of His ministry, we discover the Lord Jesus to be both supported by the Spirit and led by Him, but after passing the testings in the wilderness, we discover the Lord Jesus was further empowered by the Holy Spirit for we read: He returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect example of a Man Who walked in spirit and truth.
Jesus is the ideal blueprint of a life submitted to the Holy Spirit; a life that is sanctioned by the Spirit of God.
Jesus is the representative Man Who demonstrates to you and to me how we should live our lives, for His was a life that was attentive to the Holy Spirit and willingly obeyed God's Word.
Whatsoever the Lord Jesus said and did was done to the praise and glory of God.
And so empowered, filled, led, and supported by the Holy Spirit, we discover Jesus to be the only Man Who, from the beginning to the end of His life, freely chose to walk in spirit and truth and freely chose to fully submit to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We see the Lord Jesus at the start of His ministry returning to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district, as He set out on His long, three year trek to the Cross where, as the sin-substitute for the whole world, He would pay the price for your sin and mine so that whosoever believes on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
The Lord Jesus is the express image of the invisible God, and during His earthly ministry had been revealing the 'I AM' of the Old Testament as the Good Shepherd, the Door of the sheepfold, the Light of the world, the Bread of life, the living Water, the Resurrection, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (abundant life, eternal life), for in Him was life and His life is the light of all mankind.
Jesus had glorified the Father in the Person of the Son.
Gently and patiently, He had fully declared the beautiful attributes and gracious character of Almighty God in the face of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of the Father, the Word made flesh Who was full of grace and truth.
The Father had given this little band of men (chosen before the foundation of the world), to the Lord Jesus as a gift, through the purchase of His own precious blood.
And despite their many faults and failings both past and future, the Lord Jesus was able to say: They have kept Your Word, and have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You.
The Lord Jesus is the unique and perfect representation of our Heavenly Father and in these closing moments before His sacrifice death on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection three days later, they had come to an understanding that Jesus Christ was the express image of the living God: For He only did those things that He heard from the Father; for I and the Father are ONE.
Although He was fully God, the Lord Jesus Christ lived His life as fully man.
It took over three years of patient instruction in the wonderful works of God, but finally the Lord Jesus was able to testify to the Father: Now they know and understand that all the things You have given to Me are from You. The Lord Jesus is indeed the express image of the invisible God and to Him is ascribed all the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for everything that is in the heavens and the earth is His: Yours is the dominion, O LORD our God, and You have exalted Christ Jesus our Lord as Head over all.
As Christians, we are dead to sin and alive to Christ, and Paul encourages all believers to take this important truth to heart and reckon it to be so: Reckon yourselves to be dead to sin and reckon yourselves to be alive to God in Christ Jesus.This instruction from Paul is based on the faithful, unchanging, and unalterable Word of God.
Well, although Christians are not under the 'Mosaic Law' per se, we are certainly under 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' which James calls: The royal law according to the Scripture, and there are many instructions that believers in the Church age are given on many of the issues that are addressed in the Law of Moses e.g.
The importance of loving our neighbour as ourselves is a principle that both the born-again believer and the unsaved man recognise as coming from the lips of Jesus, and is diametrically opposite to the reaction of the natural man in this fallen world.
In Romans 14, Paul touches on an important biblical principle of living in the liberty we have in the Christ Jesus while addressing our attitude towards fellow believers whose viewpoints may differ from our own.
He had just blessed the little children and was indignant when His short-sighted disciples tried to discourage them from coming to Jesus.
As they accompanied Him to that pivotal point in history, where the price for sin would be paid once and for all, Jesus told them for the last time, that He was to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, who would condemn Him to death, deliver Him to the Gentiles, mock Him, spit on Him, flog Him, and finally kill Him - but He also reassured them that He would rise from the dead after three days.
Jesus warned them that persecution would stalk their earthly path as well, yet these short-sighted men preferred to squabble over their own position in Christ's coming Kingdom, rather than recognise the significance of this epic walk to Jerusalem, or that they were participants in the greatest event in the history of human-kind, as they accompanied the Lamb of God to Calvary - where He was to pay the price for the sin of the world.
It was in the midst of all this that Jesus and His disciples came to Jericho.
We are not told when Jesus entered this city, who He saw, what He said or what He did there, but we are told that a blind beggar, called Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus), was sitting by the side of the road.
By the time Jesus left the city, large crowds had gathered around Him, and there must have been some considerable commotion.
As soon as he heard it was Jesus the Nazarene, he immediately began to cry out with a loud voice, Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!
No doubt he had heard how Jesus healed the lame, cured the deaf, cast out demons, and did many other signs and wonders, and Bartimaeus was not going to let this opportunity slip by, and so we read that ignoring the rebukes of the crowd, he kept shouting out for mercy.
And Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him here.' So they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take courage, stand up!
He had heard about Jesus and cried out to Him, and Jesus responded to the call.
It was not the loudness of his cry that caused Jesus to call for him, for He can hear the faintest sigh from any trusting heart that cries out to Him.
There is not a single little child that Jesus will fail to bless and there is not a single, blind beggarman that fails to touch His heart of compassion.
They quickly changed their tune from rebuking him to reassuring him, when Jesus said, call him here. They were more excited at the anticipated healing miracle they were about to witness, than a sudden surge of brotherly love for this noisy beggarman, who was causing such a commotion at the roadside.
Why did Jesus find it necessary to go to Jericho on His way to Jerusalem?
But when Jesus left that city, there was a beggarman whose life would never be the same again.
For when Bartimaeus was asked by Jesus, What do you want Me to do for you?
Go your way, Jesus told him, Your faith has healed you. And from that point, Bartimaeus could see. He was made whole and began to follow the Lord along the road.
But he was a changed man who had trusted in Jesus of Nazareth - the Son of David - the Son of God.
And I have no doubt that for the rest of his life, Bartimaeus told others of the wonderful things that Jesus did for him.
We should take every opportunity in the brief time we have left on earth, to proclaim the glories of the Lord and tell others all the things that JESUS has done for US.
God in His grace sent Jesus to be our Saviour, and HIS death was the single payment God required to pay the price for the sin of the whole world, such that whosoever believes on HIM would not perish but have everlasting life.
There is NO condemnation to those that are IN Christ Jesus. We are reminded that we do not have to live in fear of not being good enough.
Praise God that we can live in hope and joy, knowing that our righteousness comes not from meritorious works we do, or works of the Law we keep, but from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John had been appointed by God, to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus: Repent, was his resounding cry, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Isaiah had prophesied of John's ministry many centuries earlier, and later Jesus was to identify His older cousin as the greatest prophet who ever lived!
John had been sent ahead of the Lord Jesus to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, teaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins - but there were many pretenders among the crowd who came out to hear him.
Before they could accept Jesus as their Messiah, the entire nation was to first have to turn away from their rebellious ways and idolatrous practices, repent of their sins, and return to the Lord their God.
And we are exhorted to pray in the wonderful name of Jesus, for He is the one and only Mediator between God and man - He is the only arbitrator between man and God.
Praise God that the rest of the book of Romans gives us clear guidelines on how to be saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, the one and only Saviour Whose sacrificial death paid the full price for our sin, and Whose glorious Resurrection imparted to us His resurrected life, making us part of an entirely new creation, children of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, by faith in Him.
John was one who gazed on Him in wonder and worshipped at the feet of Jesus Christ, his Lord and his God.
John spent over three years of his life with Jesus, listening intently to His gracious words, astonished by His amazing truth, watching Him attentively as He fulfilled the prophetic Scriptures, and beholding His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John saw His glory, the glory as of the eternal God shining in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The sum total of the eternal, omnipotent, infinite glory of God was reflected in Jesus Christ.
The combined attributes of the living God were reflected in the human person of the only begotten of the Father, the God-Man, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Salvation (grace) came through the only begotten Son of the Father, the unique God-Man, Christ Jesus the righteous: For by grace are You saved, through faith in HIM and not of works, lest anyone should boast.
He is the eternal Creator of the world Who is co-equal with the Father, and the Bible introduces Him as Jesus, the Word made flesh, the One from Whom emanates eternal light and life.
Jesus came to die for the sin of the whole world so that whosoever would believe on His name would not perish, but have the life of all living things.
The unbeliever needs to know Him as Saviour, by trusting in His sacrificial death as the one and only substitute for their sin, but the saved man or woman needs to know Jesus personally and intimately.
Any one of us who says that we are in fellowship with the Father while walking in darkness and sin is a liar who is not walking in spirit and truth: BUT if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
We can never achieve sinless perfection as some like to teach, but can choose to live in the light by keeping a short rein on sin, dying to self, living for Christ, submitting to God, resisting the devil, and flying to our Heavenly Father to receive His forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Mediator.
Yes, it is through the shed blood of Jesus, our Saviour, that we were cleansed at our salvation and brought into the light, and it is as sinners saved by grace, that we need to be continually cleansed of any post-salvation sin as we travel through this life.
When a sinner who has been saved by grace, chooses to live in the light in the same way that God is in the light, he has made a wise decision, for he will not only enjoy blessed fellowship with His Christian brothers and sisters who are also living in God’s light, but will enjoy unbroken fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, and sweet communion with the great Father of light and life and hope and love.
This positive declaration of Jesus' Messiah-hood is recorded in each of the Gospels.
In Luke, the Lord Jesus is acknowledged as the Christ of God, while John's Gospel records Peter as saying: We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God. Matthew expands Mark's brief proclamation to read: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, but this sacred declaration, when Jesus' disciples recognised and confessed Him as God's anointed Saviour, seems to be a pivotal point in each of the four Gospels.
It appears that this God-directed declaration of Simon Peter, was the trigger whereby Jesus began to explain to His disciples what His mission truly was.
Jesus was the anointed Messiah-King of Israel Whose coming had been prophesied throughout Old Testament Scripture, but He had not come to set up His Messianic Kingdom at that time. First, He had to subdue all principalities and powers in the heavenly realm, and to offer Himself up as the ransom price for the sin of the whole world, before He could usher in the kingdom of heaven on earth.
Jesus did come as the conquering hero of their expectation at that time. First, He must suffer many things.
Before He could bring in the promised kingdom and sit on the throne of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, must die and after three days rise again from the dead, in order to fulfil ALL Scripture.
Because of Israel's rejection of their Messiah King, Christ's kingdom had to be postponed for a season but the plans and purposes of God will one day come to fruition when Israel, who have been spiritually blinded for many centuries, will recognise Jesus as their Messiah-King and will once again cry out in FAITH, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
We are born of His Spirit, washed in His blood, and are being transformed, day after day, into the beautiful image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus, as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of Him.
Can there ever be a heart that truly, honestly, and carefully reflects upon Lord Jesus Christ, that does not cover their face with a mantle and recognise they are treading on holy ground?
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus. This is the challenge that every one of us is given.
Consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
His objective is to provide the fullest, final, and unparalleled revelation of the Son of God, Who is God the Son - Who came in the person, power, and performance of Jesus.
As God's blood-bought children we are to, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
It is Christian men and women, who are set apart by a heavenly calling, and challenged to consider JESUS.
It is God's blood-bought children that are instructed to think about, meditate on and consider the glorious qualities, the gracious vocation, and the eternal office of Jesus Christ - the holy Apostle of our calling, Who was sent from on high to be our Kinsman-Redeemer.
Jesus Christ is the Messenger Who came from God to be identified with man and become one with us.
Jesus Christ is the Message God sent to us, so that we could be partakers of a heavenly calling.
Jesus Christ is our righteous Advocate with the Father.
Jesus Christ is God the Son, Who set aside His heavenly glory to come to earth as a Man - yet without sin.
You and I are instructed to take heed of every aspect of Jesus Christ, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, for He was sent forth from on high as the One Who would reveal the Father to a lost and dying race.
He is JESUS, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Whom we are instructed to CONSIDER.
May we, who are partakers of the heavenly calling, reverently and rejoicingly consider our Lord Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us.
Let us therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider JESUS, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession - Who is interceding for us day and night, for to do so will cause us to step onto holy ground, as we consider Him Who surpasses our human understanding.
While this promise was given to Moses and Israel, He has given us equally precious promises which are ours through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
However much the Lord unveiled His attributes, character, holiness, and plan of salvation in days gone by, we who live in this dispensation of the grace of God have been given the fullest and most complete revelation of the Triune God through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son.
There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus - God's wrath fell on Him at Calvary in place of us, and we are no longer under the wrath of God, but have received the citizenship of heaven, by faith.
May we continuously rejoice in the Lord, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks; for the glory of God the Father and Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent.
Paul was a man who encouraged believers to follow his own example of trust in God... in a life wholly consecrated to Jesus Christ - Him crucified and risen.
Like Paul, Timothy lived godly in Christ Jesus, having a desire to see believers grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise God, that His grace was not only sufficient for Paul and Timothy - but His grace continues to be sufficient for you and for me and for all who are seeking to live godly in Christ Jesus... as we seek to walk in Spirit and truth and live with one another in the bond of peace.
Like the unbeliever who foolishly denies the existence of God, these Galatian Christians had no excuse for their departure from the glorious gospel of grace, for it had been clearly laid out for them by Paul who, in turn, had received direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Himself.
Paul, like all the apostles of Christ, proclaimed that salvation is by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man.
And the final triumphant cry: IT IS FINISHED, was announced by the Lord Jesus Himself before He gave up His spirit into the safe-keeping of the Father.
To do so, renders works of the Law as the means for living godly in Christ Jesus instead our new life in Him.
It is the new life in Christ that enables us to live godly in Christ Jesus: Not I, by keeping works of the Law, but Christ.
May we share with them the good news of Jesus Christ and, day by day, point them in the direction of godly conduct, wise choices and appropriate accountability, praying always that when they are old that they will not depart from the way of righteousness.
Though made in the image of God we, like the Athenians, have to choose whether to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh and only begotten Son of God.
For though we are all made in the image and likeness of God through Adam, it is only by the shed blood of Christ Jesus our Saviour, that our sins are washed away.
And all we need to do to have our sins washed away is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we trusted Jesus as Saviour we became children of God, entering into eternal union with Christ, a relationship that can never be broken.
Having been born into God's family through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we enjoy a union with Him that can never be broken.
Only those who through the Spirit of God have been born again into this beautiful, eternal union with the Lord Jesus, can enjoy sweet fellowship with our heavenly Father.
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all – but no true fellowship with the Father is possible when we allow the shadowy darkness of sin to cross the threshold of our heart.Union with the Lord Jesus can never be broken but fellowship with the Father can be broken when we allow sin to snatch control of our lives or when we choose to live in carnality – which reflects the values of the world and not the truth of God.
We have an eternal, unbreakable union with the Lord Jesus, for we have been eternally accepted in the Beloved by grace through faith – but sweet fellowship with Him can be broken and our life can dishonour His name – for if we choose to walk in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.Holy living is not simply a spotless exterior but an inner mind that is clean, and a heart that is broken before the Lord; a spirit that rejoices in the truth; a soul that delights itself in the Lord.
It was a revelation that started at the door of Eden, and a truth that culminated with the coming of Christ and the revelation of Jesus, the Son of God.
The Lord first spoke to man when He walked with him in the cool of the evening, and His final revelation to us is articulated through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word.
He is the same God Who loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son into the world - to make Himself known to us, through Jesus Christ the righteous Man.
So, when times are hard, and we are tempted to doubt His Word of truth - how important to recollect Who He is and how He lifted us up from life's miry pit, through the perfect Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As Church age believers, we rejoice that Jesus is our Saviour Who redeemed us from the irreversible penalty of sin and its enslaving power over us, by His amazing grace.
Because every man falls short of the glory of God and His perfect righteousness, Christ Jesus came to fulfil the Law on behalf of fallen man so that whosoever believes on Him will not remain under condemnation and perish but will receive abundant, everlasting life.
The book of Hebrews was written in the early days of Christianity to teach Jews that Jesus Christ was the One about Whom their Scriptures spoke.
Hebrews was written to bring believers into a deeper understanding of God's unfolding plan of redemption and into a realisation that Jesus was God's prophet (like Moses), God's King (like David), and God's High Priest after the heavenly order of Melchizedek (and not after the earthly order of Levi and Aaron).
And so God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, into the world, clothed in human flesh to live a perfect life and die the sacrificial death that would satisfy God's wrath against the sin of fallen humanity and guarantee eternal life to all who would believe.
The Lord Jesus was to be the ultimate and final King of kings Who would sit on David's throne, but this would only happen in God's timing and would be carried out to fulfil God's perfect plan and purpose for the redemption of the whole world.
This promised offspring was to be born into the human race as God's final Prophet and Priest, and He was to be crowned King of Israel by His people - and the Lord Jesus was also to be Saviour of the whole world.
Let us never take our salvation for granted, and let us never treat as insignificant our eternal position in Christ, our future inheritance, the forgiveness of sins, and everlasting life - for what God has said He will fulfil - not because of who we are but for the honour of His holy name and to the glory of Jesus Christ - our God and Saviour.
Never should we forget Who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
The book of Hebrews is an epistle that helps to remind us that Jesus is the incarnate God Who had no option but to be born into the human race and become a Man, in order to redeem humanity.
And it was for this reason that Jesus became the Pioneer and Originator of a new and perfect Creation.
Jesus was made like unto us in every way.
Jesus was sinless.
Jesus was not born dead in trespasses and sin like we are, for He did not have a sin nature.
But Jesus did not fear death, nor was He condemned to die like us, for no sin was found in Him.
Jesus was not under the curse of the Law like the rest of fallen humanity.
Jesus was not a slave to sin, nor was He enslaved by Satan - like we are.
Jesus was sinless and did not deserve to die.
Jesus went through ALL this so that He might free you and me... and all those who, through fear of death, are subject to slavery throughout life.
NEVER should we forget Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us.
His death became our death and His resurrected life becomes our eternal life when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation.
Repeatedly, Jesus had told his disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things: that He would be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and that He would be handed over to the Gentiles and delivered into the hands of sinful men.
And for three years, Jesus had told them that He was Stone which the builders rejected Who would become the Chief Cornerstone; that in Him was Life, and that He was the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, and that after three days the destroyed temple of His human body would be raised it up once again into an immortal Body.
We are given no indication why Nicodemus visited the Lord Jesus at night.
It could have been that he wanted to engage in uninterrupted conversation, knowing Jesus was surrounded by huge crowds as he taught in the Temple grounds, for we read that on Christ's visit to Jerusalem during that Passover season: Many people believed in Him because they saw the signs that He was doing.
Jesus Himself would later disclose: I am the Way and the Truth and the Life - no man comes to the Father but by ME. And there is no one that has a heart that longs to know the truth that will not discover Jesus, and be shown the way to eternal life.
How true of so many today, who hear the gospel of the grace of God but can see no further than the good works Jesus did and the moral teachings Jesus taught.
Nicodemus came to speak to Jesus on an equal basis as one learned Rabbi to another, but he was to be dumbfounded by the Lord, for He looked into the inner recesses of this man's heart and began to answer the hidden question that disturbed his inner being: What must I do to be saved?
He would find out that all that needed to happen was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be spiritually born from above, for as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the perfect Son of Man; the eternal Son of God, be lifted up so that Nicodemus, together with all who trust in Christ's finished work at Calvary, might be saved.
Let us, like Daniel, come to the Lord with earnest pleadings for ourselves and for the Body of Christ, that she may ready herself for the soon return of the Lord Jesus Who is coming soon to take us to be with Himself.
However, the truth that the Lord Jesus was God incarnate, had yet to penetrate the heart of Philip and the other disciples.
The invisible, everlasting God, Who is both spirit and truth, was manifest in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and yet, Philip requested a literal sighting of the physical person of God in order to satisfy His short-sighted, myopic understanding.
Let us see the Father, he insisted, and then we will believe Your words, causing Jesus to respond, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?
Jesus is the true representation of the immortal God in every aspect of His character and will.
Philip had yet to understand that Jesus was the Word of God, made flesh, Who was with God in the beginning.
He had shown Himself to Abraham and to Moses, to Isaiah, and others, and yet Philip had not understood all that the Lord Jesus Christ had been teaching them during His sojourn on earth.I and the Father are One, He had told them.
The Lord Jesus perfectly reveals the Father today, as He did when He walked along the shore of Galilee... for Jesus is the very image of the invisible God and in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The Word was made flesh and the incarnate God, in the person of the lovely Lord Jesus, had been living with His disciples for over three years.
In this simple, yet profound statement, Jesus was declaring His deity, and this wonderful truth is as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago... that whoever has seen the Lord Jesus Christ has seen the Father – whoever has seen Me has seen God.But how can Christ’s words ring true for us who live centuries after His astonishing announcement was first uttered? Well, in one simple word – 'believe'.
No man comes to the Father except through Him, and Jesus said, I and My Father are One.In these last days, God has spoken to us in His Son Whom He appointed heir of all things and through Whom also He made the world... for Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of His nature, and He upholds all things by the Word of His power.
Let us look deeply into the lovely face of the Lord Jesus if we would desire to say, Show us the Father.
For Jesus clearly told us, I and the Father are One.
But God's Word is founded on the one and only Foundation that can never be shaken; the single, steadfast truth of God's written Word, which is indistinguishable from the living, incarnate Word of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Each of us are to lay aside the deceit and hypocrisy of this fallen world and grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. Each of us are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and have a unique part to play, as the Lord Jesus Christ builds His Church and constructs His holy habitation.
We are a peculiar people and a royal priesthood who are ordained to offer spiritual sacrifice and service to the Lord; prayers and praises acceptable to God, THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord.
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, was Peter's own beautiful confession, so many years before, and it is upon Jesus, the Christ of God that His holy Temple is being built.
Praise God for Jesus, the precious Cornerstone, the foundation Stone laid in Zion Who died for our sins and rose again, according to the Scriptures.
How precious are the trusting hearts of little children, and how much we can learn from their innocent example, of the need to develop a total trust in God, and show pure delight in the Lord Jesus Christ, for this blesses the heart of God and honours His holy name.
In this passage, some children were brought to the Lord Jesus by their parents, so that He would put His hands on them and pray for them and bless them.
However, this angered Jesus greatly, and we read that He said, Leave the children alone, and don’t try to stop them from coming to Me, because the kingdom of heaven is made up of little ones like these.
It is interesting that this lovely verse, in which Jesus blesses the little children who are brought to Him by their parents, comes immediately after an important discourse on the honourable institution of marriage, which God Himself ordained in the beginning.
Jesus also spoke about the tragedy of divorce, which started among the Jews during the times of Moses, because of the hardness of men's hearts.
The Bible exhorts parents to instruct their children in the things of God, to train them in the way they should go and to teach them the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give them the wisdom that leads to salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Lord Jesus never swept aside these little ones that were brought to Him for His blessing.
Rather, He stretched out His hands of love and blessing to them, knowing their innocent little hearts reflected back the deep love He had for them... a godly love that the Lord Jesus has reserved for all His own.
Jesus knew that while the Jews would bay for His blood, it would be the children in the temple that would cry, Hosanna to the Son of David.
The disciples would have roughly pushed these little ones aside for more worthy personages, but Jesus welcomed them all with open arms and great rejoicing, knowing their trusting hearts were ever open towards Him.
These disciples had to learn that it would be better for them to have a millstone put around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea, than to offend one of these little ones who believe in Jesus. They had to learn that whosoever will, may come.
Let us in the power of His Holy Spirit, seek to develop that childlike disposition that is birthed from simple trust in His faithful Word, for both here on earth and in His eternal kingdom, the life that reflects the Lord Jesus is the child of God that gives glory to the Father.
It identified Jesus as preeminent among prophets, priests, kings, and the entire angelic realm.
It explains that Jesus is the Mediator of a New and better Covenant, and that His service, sacrifice, mission, and ministry surpassed everything that had gone before.
Yes, Jesus is the preeminent Person Who has been appointed Heir of all things and through Whom, God also made the world.
It identified the Man, Christ Jesus as God's anointed King and His appointed Judge.
It admonishes us all to look to Jesus, trust His Word, and hold Him in the highest esteem, while giving a series of warnings against reverting back to the pre-Cross sacrificial system given to Israel - for Christ, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for us - not with the old leaven of the Mosaic Law, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
We justly deserve to be punished for our sin with the consuming fires of God's holy wrath, but Jesus took the punishment that we deserve and God's righteous judgement was poured out upon His head in full measure, instead of ours.
Jesus is the Mediator of the New and better Covenant of which we have been made ministers by faith in Him, and today He is acting as our intercessory High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.
Many people find it very difficult to accept that the Lord Jesus is equal in all aspect of deity with the Father, while remaining the unique Son of God and second Person of the Trinity.
Many refuse to look to the Lord Jesus as the second member of the eternal Trinity Who is co-equal and co-eternal with both the Father and the Holy Ghost, because they like to say that nowhere in the Bible does Jesus claim to be equal with God.
Many do not believe that Jesus is fully God because they are unwilling to come to Him so that they might have life and have it more abundantly, by faith.
Jesus came into this world as Emmanuel; God with us; the Word made flesh; to live on earth in the one and only way that man was created to live: in total dependence upon God.
Although He was fully God, the Lord Jesus lived His life as man was originally designed to live before the fall: in spirit, in truth, in total dependence upon God, and in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Men were unwilling to come to Jesus for salvation and life eternal during His sojourn on earth, 2000 years ago, And men continue to be unwilling to come to Christ so that they may have life.
The Scripture from start to finish is a witness and a testimony that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, manifest in the flesh as the perfect Son of Man, for these are they which testify to the truth of His claims, and in Whom are the words of eternal life.
But sadly, the majority of the world today have the same attitude that was discovered in the unbelieving generation of Christ's earthly walk; they are unwilling to come to Jesus so that they may have life.
But like the Sadducees and the Herodians, the Pharisees were also a sect of Judaism that was at enmity with Christ and which became increasingly hostile towards the Lord Jesus throughout His ministry.
John identified them as a brood of vipers, during his ministry, while Jesus would pronounce severe condemnation on their pride and hypocrisy, as the Cross loomed every closer.
Indeed, this man, who became a 'closet' follower of the Lord Jesus, was one of the two men who placed the dead body of our Saviour in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea, following His cruel death on a Roman cross at the instigation of this ruling class of the Jews.
Nicodemus was a highly regarded teacher of the Law whom we discover came to Jesus under cover of darkness.
Whatever his motive for seeking out the Lord Jesus, Nicodemus represents a man with a teachable spirit who was willing to approach the Lord Jesus, seeking honest answers to his questioning heart, despite the animosity that was growing between the Pharisees and Christ Himself.
Only a short time before, Jesus is seen at the start of His ministry in the Temple of God.
Zeal for the House of God consumed the Lord Jesus, and in His righteous anger He used a whip of cords to drive out the dishonest money-changers and those that sold animals to their poverty-stricken countrymen (which were to be sacrificed to the Lord) at inflated prices: Do not make My Father's house into a house of merchandise, was Christ's scathing command to those that bought and sold in the Temple court.
Nicodemus was introduced in stark contrast with the other religious leaders, and whatever the reason that this ruler of the Jews came to see Him at night, the Lord Jesus recognised a man who was earnestly seeking the truth.
God commissioned the teaching of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, to the apostle Paul, and we do well to take note of his sober warning.
As we seek to grow in grace and live godly in Christ Jesus, let us choose to adopt an attitude in stark contrast with the foolish, fretful, disobedient, and rebellious ways of the world, and discover the unfathomable value of that little word BUT.
The actions and attitude of this man towards his fellow believers as well as strangers that crossed his path, reflected the lovely Lord Jesus, causing John to write to this brother in Christ with these words: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
All those that are blood-bought children of God and who are walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus can be said to be walking in the truth of His Word – for those that are born again and living in fellowship with the Lord are those that are living their life in through their new, born-again spirit (their new life in Christ), and not living as carnal believers who continue to live their Christian lives under the influence of the old sin nature.
But there is only one truth and His name is Jesus: I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Nothing is more thrilling for a Christian parent, or a believer who has been influential in pointing one younger in the faith to the truth of the gospel, than to see them living according to the truth, walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus, living in submission to the Holy Spirit's guiding hand, living under the influence of the new man in Christ (and not the old sin nature), and reflecting the grace, truth, love, and humility that flows to them from their Saviour.
There should be a deep cleansing of the inner heart, a separation from the world, and a positive choice to single-mindedly keep Jesus Christ as our singular focus.
But this can only happen when our hearts are purified before Him, our lives consecrated to Him, and we have separated ourselves from the world - with our conscience washed, our sins confessed, and our mind looking to Jesus, the Author, and Finisher of our faith.
It is in Christ Jesus that all the fullness of Deity resides in a human body, and it is by Him that we who believe, have been made a new creation in Christ and are complete in Him.
It is Christ Jesus our Lord Who is the Head over all things, and He alone has legitimate rule and authority over all that is seen and unseen, both in the spiritual and the physical realms, in both human and angelic spheres.
May we run the race that is set before us in spirit and truth, looking to Jesus and abiding in Him, for He is our strength and our salvation.
Earlier in the chapter, we read about the chain of events that brought the baby Jesus to the Temple, at the very time that Simeon was guided by the Spirit to enter the courtyard.
Having been born in Bethlehem, eight days earlier, and worshipped by a little group of shepherds, the baby Jesus was brought to the Temple complex to be circumcised.
What a joy it must have been for that godly man to see the consolation of Israel and take the baby Jesus in his arms, bless the Lord and pray: Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.
Simeon was privileged to see the baby Jesus and hold Him in his arms, but how blessed are we to have the Holy Spirit of Christ dwelling in our hearts.
Paul was the great apostle to the Gentiles whom Jesus called personally to be His minister, but his prayer request to the Colossians showed a humble spirit and identifies the ever-present need to keep praying for pastors, teachers, and ministers of the gospel, both at home and abroad.
Many months if not years earlier, these pious people had blasphemed the Holy Spirit by accusing the Lord Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, and from that time forward He only taught in parables, for Jesus knew that He would be rejected by His own people as prophesied in Old Testament Scriptures.
But Jesus was the sinless Lamb of God and they could find no fault in Him.
Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, the Horn of Salvation, the Prophet like unto Moses, the Bread of Life, and the Living Water.
Jesus was the Stone which the builders rejected Who would become the Chief Cornerstone.
In the midst of an aggressive onslaught from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, the Lord Jesus began to tell the people the parable of the vine-grower.
This parable identified the Pharisees, chief priests, scribes, and religious elders as the wicked tenants of the vineyard, who would not only kill and mistreat the Vine-grower's servants (the prophets of old) but would also kill the Vine-growers beloved Son and heir (the Lord Jesus Christ) in order to steal His inheritance.
Jesus explained to the people listening, that the Owner of the vineyard would come and destroy the evil tenants and give the vineyard to others.
But as we read in Luke 20: Jesus looked at them and asked a very poignant question, 'What, then, is this that is written: THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE?'
Jesus came as Israel's King and God's long-promised Messiah, but as prophesied of old, He was despised and rejected by those He came to save.
In this verse, Jesus quotes Psalm 118 verse 22, making it clear to all His readers that HE is the Stone about Whom David prophesied.
The Stone that was rejected 2000 years ago is the Lord Jesus, but today, we who believe know Him to be the most important Foundation Stone on which our entire faith is founded.
Back in the time of Moses, Jesus was the Rock from which water flowed, and throughout the Old Testament there are many references to the ROCK on which our faith is founded.
Hebrews reminds us that Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and in Ephesians, the apostle Paul explains that the Christian Church, which is the Household of God, is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Cornerstone.
However, even John did not recognise Jesus as nation's King and Messiah until at His baptism, when the heavens opened and the voice of God declared, THIS is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.
The gospels indicate that as soon as John was taken into custody, the ministry of the Lord Jesus began.
Jesus continued the prophetic call to Israel to repent saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
However, the book of Acts sheds additional light on the ministries of John and Jesus, which appear to have had some considerable overlap.
Indeed, we read that when choosing a man to replace Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord Jesus, the replacement of Judas had to be a man that had accompanied them, all the time that Jesus went in and out among them - beginning from the baptism of John.
It appears that Jesus must have been one that followed after John for some time, until that terrible day when he was arrested and taken into custody by the wicked king Herod, before being beheaded... at the whim of Herod's seductive step-daughter.
We have a tiny glimpse into the silent years of Jesus Christ's childhood, His youth, and His carpentry apprentice.
No doubt, John knew all about his cousin's supernatural birth to Mary and Joseph (Jesus' adoptive father) and no doubt he was well-aware of his own miraculous conception to the aged Elizabeth and Zacharias.
Indeed, Jesus proclaimed that there was no greater prophet born to woman than John, His unassuming and faithful forerunner.
Jesus humbly walked in the shadow of John's ministry until that day when John was taken into custody.
It was following the removal of the very man that prepared the way of the Lord, that Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God.
It appears to be God's will that Christ did not begin His ministry in earnest until John was removed from the scene... for like each one of us... Jesus had to learn humility and obedience by the things that He suffered - and no doubt, the unjust arrest and cruel execution of His faithful forerunner must have caused our Saviour much heartache.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.
Let us emulate Paul's passion and his powerful prayer as we also bow our knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and let us also intercede for our brothers and sisters in Christ, that each may receive a super-abundant outpouring of multiplied blessings which cascade from God's own divine riches and infinite kindness into their inner soul.
For ten days, the disciples had been without the Lord Jesus since His Ascension into heaven, following His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection from the dead.
During those exciting weeks that followed, Jesus presented Himself alive to many of His disciples and gave them numerous convincing proofs, as well as speaking to them of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
The resurrected Lord Jesus appeared to Peter, James, the eleven apostles, and many others, and on one occasion He even appeared to as many as 500 people at the same time.
Prior to His death, the Lord Jesus had explained a little about this promise.
John the Baptist was the first to testify that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit, and on that last meeting before His Ascension, the Lord explained that this baptism of the Holy Spirit was not many days away.
Humankind is a race of guilty sinners, but God in His love and grace gave His only begotten Son to be born as 'Jesus' Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.
Jesus was born under the Law, lived a sinless life under the Law, and by His life and death met every single demand of God's holy Law.
Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil its righteous requirements.
Jesus was the one and only Man who met the legal demands of God's Law, fully satisfying its righteous requirements on our behalf.
NO, Jesus did not come to abolish the Law; Jesus came to fulfil the Law.
Jesus willingly chose to pay the enormous price of sin for you and for me so that all who believe in Him are no longer under the curse of the Law, but under God's gift of grace.
Jesus knew this when He spoke these words: For the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.
As we meditate on the words of Jesus, let us seek to live as unto the Lord, never forgetting that it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man or woman, but what proceeds out of the mouth that defiles them.
This verse is written to the one that has already been justified, made righteous through believing on that the Lord Jesus Christ Who died on the Cross as their own sin substitute, for His death paid the price for all sin.
The promise of God is that everyone that is justified will unquestionably be glorified, when the Lord Jesus comes in the clouds to receive His Body and Bride unto Himself and take all believers home to His Father's mansions in heaven.
Both are promised to the person who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sanctification is a lifelong process that the Holy Spirit carries out in the one that is justified in order to conform us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus loves us so much that He died for our sin and gave us a new life that He longs will be conformed into His image and likeness.
But in His great love for all His children, the Lord continues to plead with every one of His born-again children to yield to the call of his voice and live godly in Christ Jesus: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
One day all believers will be taken to be with the Lord Jesus, whether or not they submitted to the sanctifying work of the Spirit in their daily lives.
Early in His sermon, Jesus called His followers to love their enemies and pray for those who mistreat or persecute them.
Jesus also warned against sanctimonious and self-righteous praying that was practised by the religious leaders of the day.
Jesus wanted His followers to understand that prayer is a cry to the Father-heart of God from His dependent children, and told us, When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father Who is in secret, and your Father Who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
And in this verse, Jesus expands His lessons on prayer and how to pray aright.
Our seeking is designed by God to enable us to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Hebrews provided Jewish Christians in the early Church a brilliant understanding that Israel's Old Covenant had been superseded by a New and better Covenant, cut at Calvary through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus.
But in these last days, His Word of truth has been given directly through Jesus, the God-Man and only begotten Son of His love.
Jesus is not only God's sacrificial Lamb, but the Father's beloved Son.
Despite the enormously high regard Israel had for Moses, and in spite of the deep respect they felt for the archangel Michael and the angelic hosts of heaven, the writer of Hebrews wanted to impress his readers that Jesus is superior to Moses, greater than all angels, and the final authority to come to man, from God, for Christ was faithful over His own Father's house as a Son.
Moses may have presided over a dim shadow of God's House through the erection of the Tabernacle and the institution of the Aaronic priesthood, but Jesus presides over the entire Household and expansive universe as a Son.
We are the living stones who are being built up, day by day, into the spiritual Temple of God, and today Jesus Christ is continuing to build His Church, for we are the Body of Christ: And the gates of hell will not prevail against us.
After His Resurrection, many of these same Jewish hearers would realise the serious mistake of rejecting their Messiah and repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Jesus knew the futility of these answers, for these men of God testified of HIM Who alone has the words of eternal life.
He identified Jesus as the Anointed of God, about Whom the prophets spoke.
No doubt, the Holy Spirit had been convicting the heart of this rough fisherman of sin, righteousness, and judgement, but Peter exercised His freewill to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, for when he delivered his earth-shattering reply, Jesus said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven.
Peter was blessed by God and given a new name, because unlike the multitudes who followed Jesus for their own personal reasons, his heart had been opened by the promptings of the Spirit Who gave him wisdom, an understanding heart, and a willingness to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as his God and Saviour.
He had read the words of Isaiah, who proclaimed their Messiah would be led as a lamb to the slaughter, and he watched as Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb of God, on the Cross of Calvary as the redemption price for the sin of the world.
Jesus is the eternal God and perfect Man, and He is the only Member of the Godhead and only Member of the Human race Who has the strength and wisdom, power and knowledge, authority and intelligence, and the sinless perfection to open the redemption Scroll.
In chapter 5, we find that Peter's powerful preaching and the healing miracles performed in the name of Jesus, caused the apostles to be held in such high esteem, that, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried sick people into the streets and laid them on mattresses, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.
In those early days of the Christian Church, Gentiles had to give up their pagan practices, and Jews had to transition from being under the restrictive 'Law of Moses' to the liberating 'Law of the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus'.
As born-again believers, Christians are not appointed to God's wrath, because Jesus paid the price for us with His blood on the Cross.
And this offer of salvation and the escape from God's wrath, is open to all: For it is not God's will that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance, In other words, any unbeliever who changes their mind about the Lord Jesus Christ, believes on Him, and receives His free gift of salvation, will not perish but be saved and receive everlasting life.
May we not only know and appropriate all that is ours in Christ Jesus as recorded in those first few chapters of Ephesians and other beautiful passages, but may we also bow our knees in prayer that the one new man in Christ may appropriate all that is ours in Him.
This was done in grateful remembrance of the rock that was smitten in the wilderness, and from which streamed life-giving water into the dusty desert for the thirsty Israelites, but it also pointed forward to the Rock of our Salvation and the Living Water that streams from our Saviour's healing side, bringing spiritual life, spiritual health, and spiritual healing to all who drink, for Jesus is the living water.
And so it was that on that great day of the feast, the climatic 8th day, that Jesus stood and cried out with a loud voice, saying: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
John knew that shortly before Christ's crucifixion, the Lord Jesus reminded them that He is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life, and that the Holy Spirit of truth Who indwells all believers, has promised to guide us into all truth.
The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, for as we read: If the Lord should mark our iniquities, who could stand?
But there is true forgiveness; eternal forgiveness with our Father, through Jesus Christ the Son, that the Lord may be worshipped and glorified for ever and ever.
The Lord Jesus was the bread of life, the hidden manna that had been sent from heaven.
Years and years after this 'last supper', we too have the privilege of heeding Jesus' words when we take communion together, in remembrance of Him: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
The blessings these faithful folk in Hebrews 11 are to enjoy, are still future, for their blessings are to flow to them through the Person of JESUS, His Office and His Ministry, His death on the Cross, His resurrected life, and His victory over Satan, sin, death, and hell.
His faithfulness lasts from one generation to another and His promises are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord, both for this cloud of faithful witnesses and for every member of the Body of Christ, the Church.
Three times during His ministry, the Lord Jesus said His hour had not yet come.
It happened after Mary had anointed Christ's feet with oil in preparation for His fast approaching sacrificial death, and it happened after Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey in fulfilment of prophecy as the crowds who followed Him cheered.
It was also after the Jewish leaders had started plotting to kill Jesus.
And finally, the time arrived when Jesus announced to His disciples: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
It happened at the point when some devout Greeks approached the disciples, asking to see Jesus.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him: Sir, we want to see Jesus. I wonder if they chose to approach Philip because he was a Jewish disciple with a Hellenistic name.
And once again, at this critical time of His ministry when the hour for Him to be glorified had finally arrived, we find Greeks desiring to speak with Jesus.
Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel in fulfilment of prophecy.
The Greeks seek after wisdom, and although we do not know why these men asked to see Jesus, it is likely that they heard about His amazing teaching and were seeking after greater wisdom and knowledge, which was so prized by the Gentiles.
Jesus did not come to Israel as a mighty conquering hero to defeat the great Roman empire, as the Jews expected.
And did these Greeks hope to elevate Jesus as a wise and knowledgeable teacher and a learned philosopher?
We don't know, because no further mention is made of these Gentiles, except that: Jesus answered the disciples, saying, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.'
Before Jesus could be crowned as Israel's Messiah or be admired by the Gentiles for His great wisdom, He had to pay the price for the sin of the world.
The Lord Jesus had to become like a little grain of wheat that remains barren and fruitless unless it falls into the ground and dies.
The hour those Greek believers asked to see Jesus was the very hour for the Son of Man to be glorified.
The hour those Gentiles came to see Jesus seemed to be the climatic watershed that caused our Lord to know that the hour had come when He would led as a lamb to the slaughter and given into the hands of wicked men to fulfil God's perfect plan of redemption.
The Lord Jesus used the feeding of the 5000, in John chapter 6, to teach the powerful truth about God's plan of salvation for mankind, to clarify His heavenly origin and Messianic claim, to correct some flawed beliefs that had developed in Israel, and to announce some very precious promises for all who would believe in Him.
Jesus graciously fed a great multitude of hungry people with 5 small barley loaves and 2 tiny fishes, but the truth He wanted them to know was far deeper.
Jesus first compared Himself to bread by calling Himself the Living Bread, but continued by making the astonishing statement that He came down to earth from heaven.
However, the crowd were spiritually myopic and could only compare the food that Jesus provided with the manna the Israelites ate in the wilderness in Moses' day.
The Israelites in the wilderness had a daily meal for 40 years, but Jesus had only supplied a single meal.
In this passage, Jesus already knew that He would be rejected by Israel as prophesied in Scripture, and He was starting to hint at the coming Cross of Calvary, where He would offer His life as the ransom price for the sin of the world.
During this lengthy and comprehensive discourse, the Lord Jesus mentioned that He had come down from heaven seven times.
The Bread of God that came down from heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ.
A significant part of Paul's epistles are either encouraging us to live godly lives, explaining what is expected in our Christian walk, giving examples of how to live to the glory of God, or enabling us to grow in grace through faith in the glorious gospel of Christ - where JESUS is the centre of our life and our conversation is heavenly.
Paul exhorts us to press on - looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ: Who will change our fallen, dying body, into a glorious, eternal, immortal, resurrected, body..
He will change our mortal frame, where the life is in the blood, into a body like that of Jesus Christ, where life comes by means of the Spirit of God; for we are no longer part of the old, fallen, condemned, dying creation, but members of a new, eternal, and better creation in Christ - where He Himself is our life.
None of us will be fully sanctified until we meet Jesus - through death or at the Rapture.
This was not how God originally planned their relationship, but sin corrupted God's perfect creation and only the perfect sacrifice for sin, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, would be sufficient to wash away its stain.
They testified to the truth that Paul's imprisonment and all the problems that this had caused to him and others, was a wonderful tribute to the Lord Jesus and evidence of God's faithfulness towards his servant, for many in the palace guard and elsewhere had come to faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
Those forty blissful days that followed the Resurrection must have been wonderful for Christ's disciples, because the sorrow and anguish they felt when they thought the Saviour was dead and buried (following the gruelling time of His arrest, trial, and crucifixion), must have blossomed into a time to ecstatic gladness and joy as Jesus presented Himself to them alive and gave everyone His gracious reassurance that even the terrible act of denial cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
How joyful they were as they witnessed the many convincing proofs of His supernatural power during that period of forty days, as Jesus spoke to them concerning the kingdom of God.
And then came the moment that Jesus gathered them all together to give them His final important commands, before returning to His Father in heaven and leaving them to continue His important mission of reconciliation to a lost and dying world.
They were not to depart from Jerusalem or return to Galilee, but were to wait in the holy city for the promise from the Father, because Jesus told them that they were to be baptised with the Holy Spirit in a few days.
Only hours before His crucifixion, Jesus had let them know that there were many things that He wanted to tell them but they were not able to bear it at that time.
Christ's death was in payment for the sin of the whole world: For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life, and this is God's free gift of grace.
At the very start of His ministry, the Lord Jesus was an invited guest at a wedding feast and was accompanied by both His disciples and His mother.
Jesus was the named wedding guest, for the name of JESUS alone holds supremacy in the writings of Scripture - it is at the name of JESUS alone that every knee will one day bow.
Throughout His life, Jesus increasingly found favour with God and man.
During His early life, Jesus submitted to His earthly parents in humble obedience, but at the start of His God-appointed ministry to a lost and dying world, Jesus had to make it plain to all people that His divine mission was not to be influenced by the whims or the demands of fallen man, including His own dear mother who was equally in need of His redemptive blood as you and me.
But Jesus had to remind her that He was about His Heavenly Father's business, Who alone would dictate the hour that all things were to be accomplished.
When His hour finally would arrive, the heart of His mother would indeed be pierced with a sword as prophesied by the aged Simeon, but in the meantime, Jesus would do only those things that he heard from His Heavenly Father.
A spirit of humility is pleasing to the Father, for it is the spirit that is so representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In like manner, those that meekly take up their cross, in the power of the Spirit, and humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, will grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus so that at the proper time, God will raise them up in to newness of life.
It is because of what the Lord Jesus did at His incarnation and as the Word of God made flesh, that we have the right to draw near to God and be called His sons and daughters.
He came to fulfil the righteous requirement of God's Law so that we would not remain under condemnation but be raised up into newness of eternal life.It is with a heart of humility, a spirit of purity, an unblemished conscience, and in full assurance of our hope in Christ, that we have confidence in this glorious invitation to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.We have been purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who was slain from the foundation of the world.
And by virtue of His finished work and unchanging Word, we are fully persuaded that we are accepted in the Beloved and that God Who started a good work in us, will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.
The man or woman that has been cleansed from sin, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus, is encouraged to draw ever closer to the Lord with fervent faith because they are a new creation in Christ whose heart has been made free from the sense of sin and whose body is washed with clean water.
The former portrays Solomon as a type of Christ pursuing His Gentile Bride (the other sheep He has from a different sheepfold), while the latter pictures Jesus as the absent Shepherd of Israel Who will one day return to the faithful little remnant of the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
There are reminders for the Church that despite His long absence, the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd of the sheep, is coming soon to take us to be with Himself and we should yearn for His return as passionately as the Shulamite woman desires her shepherd.
There are also reminders for Israel to turn from their idolatry, repent of their past sins, and trust in God and Jesus Christ, the true Shepherd of Israel Whom He has sent.
The compulsory Sin Offering pictures the Lord Jesus as the obedient and dutiful Son Who was given by the Father to be judged for our sin, to take the punishment for our sin, and Who was 'made sin' for us.
May God give each one of us the opportunity to tell others that Jesus died for our sin, was buried and rose again from the dead, and that all who believe on His name, will be rescued from the wrath to come, as lawlessness engulfs the earth in the coming time of Great Tribulation.
Then, Jesus will return to earth as King of kings in power and great glory to sit on the throne of His father, David, set up His Millennial Kingdom on earth, and rule the nations with righteousness, justice, and peace.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When Jesus summoned the crowd to come and listen to Him and made His astonishing demand... that anyone who wanted to follow Him was to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him... we find that this requirement was recorded immediately after Peter had pronounced his divine revelation from God.
It is in this context that we read: And Jesus summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.' If anyone wants to be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, he must die to his own desires and personal wishes, and live for Christ alone - even though this may be very difficult.
Peter's protest, which attempted to save Jesus from being handed over to the Gentile nations and crucified to pay the price for the sin of the world, may have been born out of deep love for his Master, but ignorant of God's perfect plan of redemption.
However, it was to trigger a sharp rebuke from Jesus, which laid the foundation for Christ to tell all His followers the enormous price of true discipleship in this passage: If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
The price for our salvation was paid at Calvary through the shed blood of Christ, such that whosoever BELIEVES on the Lord Jesus Christ is saved by God's grace, because of their faith.
The conditions for true discipleship are hard, and Jesus made clear what was involved.
The second Member of the Trinity is the eternal Son of God Who was born into the human race as Jesus; the perfect Man Who alone had the authority and the credentials to become the only acceptable sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.
Jesus is the God-Man, Who by God's grace, tasted death for every member of the human race so that by faith in His sacrificial death for the forgiveness of sin and His glorious Resurrection for life everlasting, we might be redeemed and adopted into the family of God and become part of the Body of Christ.
We are placed into the Body of Christ, clothed in His righteousness, accepted by God because of Jesus, and brought into eternal union with Him.
From the moment of salvation on, we are also going through a continuous process of sanctification as, day by day, we are being made more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ: we are being 'Practically or Progressively Sanctified'.
Jesus is the One Who sanctified us, and those who trust in Him are those who are 'Positionally Sanctified'.
And all of us, with unveiled faces, are reflecting like bright mirrors the glory of the Lord, and we are all being transformed into the same likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This has nothing to do with our own abilities or merit, but comes only from the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Who lives in each one, because He was prepared to be made sin for us.
Jesus is the Son of God Who became the Son of Man.
It is Jesus Who sanctifies and we whom He is sanctifying have all one Father; and for this reason He is not ashamed to speak of us as His brothers.
The death, burial, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the mainspring upon which our salvation rests, and the Holy Spirit Himself inspired holy men of God to record in advance the saving message of grace, upon which our salvation rests: That Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day - according to the Scriptures.
And yet, every aspect of this three-fold witness of the death, burial, and Resurrection of the incarnate God, the Man Christ Jesus, has been under attack from the very beginning.
It was this plain, uncomplicated message that Paul preached to the Corinthian Christians, who received it by faith and were saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the God-Man, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Let us hold fast to the uncomplicated truth: That God the Son, in the Person of Jesus Christ, died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scripture, to Whom be all praise and glory for ever and ever.
The Law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and Bible prophecy is a signpost that points us to Jesus.
It was through the Cross that Christ finished the transgression of His people, Israel, and made an end to sin, not only for the remnant of His people who will one day look upon Him Whom they pierced, but for all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ as they sin-substitute and trust in Him as their resurrected Saviour.
Daniel's 70 'weeks' may be considered to be the backbone of prophecy by students of Biblical prophecy, but Jesus is at its centre and its circumference, for He the Alpha and Omega of prophecy, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, for ever and ever amen.
It is the Lord Jesus Who bestowed LIFE on all who trust Him as Saviour, abundant life, eternal life.
What confident assurance we have as believers, that death is not a terror to be feared, but the open door of eternal bliss into the joys of our heavenly home with our Saviour Jesus Christ.
And when we are turned towards the Lord, we discover that we are resting on a sure foundation.When the thoughts of our mind and the ponderings of our heart have the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as the focal point, they will indeed be pleasing to the Lord, for we are instructed to keep the eyes of our hearts on Jesus Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
And although it is also unattainable in our own strength, God, in His grace, has caused it to become attainable to all who are 'in Christ' – for Jesus chose to die in our place and become a curse for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Just as Moses was the arbitrator used by God to mediate between Himself and His people in the giving of the first covenant, it was Jesus, His dearly beloved Son, Who would become the Mediator of the New Covenant.
And yet, that same impossible standard was fulfilled in every detail by the one and only perfect Man – the Man Christ Jesus.
Sin could only be covered until the perfect, human sacrifice... in the Person and work of Jesus Christ came to pay the full and finished price for sin, when He cut the New Covenant in His blood - a covenant that will be ratified when Israel finally acknowledges Jesus as Lord.
The bloody sacrifice that Abel offered to the Lord to cover his own sins when he killed the firstling of his flock, was acceptable to God, for Able was a man of faith who trusted God’s promise of a coming Saviour... by sacrificing a lamb on an altar as a covering for his sin.But the sacrifice of Christ is infinitely superior to that of Abel, for Jesus offered His own blood which paid the price for the sin of the whole world, including your sins and mine.
And it is by faith that we too have been saved by grace - and like all the fathers of faith, our faith in Christ is credited to us as righteousness.Praise God that we are sprinkled with the blood of a New and better Covenant – the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the one and only Mediator between God and man – and God is satisfied with us - IN Christ.
Mary lingered such a long time at the side of the cold, empty tomb, that she was almost unable to recognise the resurrected Lord Jesus, standing before her in the garden of Gethsemane.
And as they dejectedly trudged along the dusty road to Emmaus trying to come to terms with the events of the day, they almost failed to recognise that Jesus was there.
Jesus had been teaching His followers for some time that He would be betrayed by a friend, handed over to the Gentiles by the chief priests and scribes, and be crucified.
The defeated attitude of the disciples and the distress of His other followers, prevented their physical eyes from recognising Jesus.
The experience of these followers of Christ is too often repeated in our own lives, despite the clear teaching of Scripture that God is in control and that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
May we become increasingly aware that the greatest tragedies can be turned into the most magnificent triumphs if we will but let Jesus into our pain.
May we be prepared to let the Lord Jesus turn our biggest stumbling blocks into beautiful springboards and our great difficulties into unspeakable delights, when we trust in the Lord with ALL our heart and do not lean upon our own understanding or imaginations.
It tells of the practical benefits we gain, the way to live godly in Christ Jesus, the place of the Law in our lives, and how the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the Law of sin and death.
Perhaps this chapter is the pinnacle of Paul's epistle, for we discover there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, and what the Law was unable to do for sinners has been done for us, through Christ's sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection.
We rejoice to know that the mind-set of those walking in spirit and truth is life and peace, through the power of the indwelling Spirit, and that by His grace we have been made alive, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
The simple truth is that we who were once dead in our sins and at enmity with God, have been made alive by faith in Christ Jesus, brought near to the Father, adopted as His children, and indwelled by His Spirit: And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, that same Holy Spirit will also give life to our mortal bodies, through the Spirit who dwells within each of us.
THIRD: We will be GLORIFIED at the resurrection/Rapture of the Church, when the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead and who dwells in our mortal bodies will also give life to our body through His Holy Spirit.
We were POSITIONALLY GLOROFIED at salvation but will be FULLY and FINALLY GLORIFIED when we go to be with Jesus and receive an immortal body, like unto His glorious, resurrected, eternal body.
Never let us become complacent about the incredibly great salvation; spirit, soul, and mortal body, which is ours by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
While the focus of the Gospels is the Lord Jesus, it is the Holy Spirit Who is the central character in the book of Acts.
Before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus had told His disciples that His Father would send the Holy Spirit, to be with them and to take up permanent residence within their bodies.
And Jesus explained: Unless I go, the Helper (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you.
Jesus had explained that He would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to them AFTER He left them.
And moments before He ascended into heaven, Jesus commanded His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit, promised by the Father.
How blessed we are to be recipients of the astonishing ministry of the Holy Spirit and beneficiaries of the mysteries that are ours in Christ Jesus, by grace through faith in Him.
Many of these early Christians had great difficultly in identifying Jesus in His high priestly role, because He was not from the priestly line of Levi and Aaron.
The Lord Jesus was from the royal line of Judah and the house of David.
How could Jesus be both a King AND High Priest when priests and kings descended from two distinct ancestral lines of Jacob?
In Israel, a king could never be a priest nor could a priest become king, and these believers had to be taught that Jesus was their great High Priest AND Israel's King, from the house and lineage of David.
The writer to the Hebrews took great pains to show that Jesus was God's final revelation to man.
He explained that Jesus was superior to Aaron and Levi, just as He is greater than David and Solomon, for He could boldly pronounce, before Abraham was I AM.
And Scripture dictates that the Lord JESUS is to be a King-Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
In many other ways, Melchizedek is identified as a type of the Lord Jesus.
Melchizedek, perhaps more than anything else in the book of Hebrews, was a key in helping the Jews understand the significance of Jesus, and accepting Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Coming to an understanding of Melchizedek, must have been one of the greatest confirmation to Israel that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah and Son of God.
Jesus came to fulfil the Law, and the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth, was the historical marker that changed the priesthood and displaced the Law of Moses by ending the Dispensation of Law, and beginning the Dispensation of the Grace of God.
Just as Christ's reign on the throne of David will be an everlasting kingdom, which will stretch into the eternal ages to come, so Jesus is God's great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, Who is seated on His Father's throne, acting as Mediator between God and Christ's Body, pleading our case and interceding for us unceasingly.
Peter begins his first epistle with a most glorious doxology, praising God and exalting His holy name: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he writes Who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And his wonder, excitement, and joy in the Lord is not diminished at the end of his letter, for we find him continuing to rejoice in the God of his salvation and lifting up the name of the Lord: To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
And our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who suffered and died on our account, gave us the perfect example of how to live the Christian life to the glory of God.
Suffering for the sake of Christ is the inevitable consequence of trusting the Lord Jesus for our redemption, but Peter reminds us that if we stand firm in our faith, relying on the Lord and proclaiming His name, we can resist the devil.
Let us also give thanks for the great gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, for He and He alone is the One Who makes our relationship with God possible.
From writings of the past, we understand that the Lord desires mercy from His children and not sacrifice, and this picture of the Burnt Offering shows that the Lord yearns that His children grow in grace and gain a deeper, more intimate knowledge of the Father, and of Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
The Lord Jesus not only offered Himself as the compulsory Sin-Offering to take away the sin of the world, but He gave Himself as the voluntary Burnt Offering.
It was the Lord Jesus Himself, Who had delivered to Paul the simple, saving message of salvation, which he outlines in the simplest terms in the first few verses of this passage.
The gospel message was given to Paul by divine revelation: That Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and rose again, and Paul reminds us that we received our salvation as a free gift of grace, through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The gospel message of saving grace is the most important information that we will ever hear and it is most vital message that we need to share with a lost and dying world, for Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and then to live His life through them - by grace through believing that: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures.
But to us who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus and who continue to 'be being saved' through the wonderful, sanctification process of the indwelling Holy Spirit conforming us day by day into the likeness of Christ Jesus our Lord, the message of the Cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God, to Whom be all praise and glory for ever and ever amen.
At the time of the Lord Jesus, when Israel once again failed to repent of their sin and rejected their Messiah, God used the Church (which is Christ's Body) to go into all the world and tell forth the good news of the gospel of grace to the unsaved.
The day is coming when every knee will bow before our Heavenly Creator and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Those that believe will kneel before Him out of love and gratitude for their gracious Redeemer Who died and rose again, while the unsaved will be forced to bend the knee before their great and awe-inspiring Judge – the Man, Christ Jesus, at the terrible Great White Judgement Throne of God.
Only a few days earlier, Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, where He was hailed as the Messiah Who had come in the name of the Lord, as palm branches were strewn in His path.
He then told them that Jesus Who was crucified was not there, but risen from the dead.
Tell His disciples that JESUS is alive and has risen from the dead and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee.
It was not a holy angel, but a few excitable women who were to instruct the disciples to go to Galilee, that Jesus was going to go ahead of them, and they would see Him there.
The disciples obeyed these instructions and later they remembered that Jesus had informed them of all these things prior to His death, burial, and Resurrection.
Like the weeping women and the distraught disciples, we too are prone to look at life's difficulties instead of looking to JESUS.
Jesus explained this to Nicodemus: That which is born of the flesh is fallen flesh and remains fallen, but that which is born of the Holy Spirit is holy. It is reborn with a regenerated and renewed spirit.
Spiritual renewal takes place the moment faith is placed in the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on Calvary's Cross.
While 'positional' regeneration takes place at the moment of salvation, regeneration is also an ongoing process in the life of all believers, as they are transformed and restored and renewed, day by day, into the likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ.
The new birth is the glorious fact of regeneration and spiritual renewal by the Holy Spirit when a lost sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
But it is also a wonderful truth that by God's amazing grace and deep compassion for the fallen race man, who was made in His own image and likeness, that: The Lord Jesus saved us, not on the basis of good deeds, moral acts, noble exploits or righteous endeavours, which we have done to display our virtue and goodness before God, but according to His incredible mercy, by the washing of regeneration and spiritual renewing by the Holy Spirit.
Israel will become the head of the nations and not the tail, and Judah will enjoy deliverance and salvation because Jesus, the 'Branch of Righteousness', their righteous Messiah and King of kings, will sit on David's throne in the holy city of Jerusalem and rule the entire world in righteousness and peace.
And Jesus, the personification of righteousness and Messiah of Israel, will sit on the throne of His father David, ruling the world with justice and peace.
In that day, yet future, Jerusalem will be called 'the LORD is our Righteousness', because Jesus will be King of kings, and God's chosen people will once again reflect His beauty in their hearts and minds.
John understood that the Lord Jesus had come to earth through the tribe of Judah and from the root and the lineage of David.
It was for ALL our sakes that Christ Jesus came into the world as the LAMB of GOD Who has taken away the sin of the world and He is seated in heavenly places, waiting to break the seal on that supernatural scroll which He holds in His glorified, nail-pierced hands, for your sake and for mine.
Imagine the overwhelming joy and reverential fear that overtook this disciple of Christ as he began to comprehend that the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Man, Christ Jesus, whom he had loved so dearly in His earthly ministry was in fact that almighty LION of the tribe of Judah Who stood before him.
JESUS was the sacrificial LAMB of God, slain from the foundation of the world Who was willingly sacrificed, on our behalf, to take away the sin of the world.
The Lord Jesus was sent by God to be the suffering Servant for the sin of mankind, and throughout His earthly life He became the perfect example of dignity, greatness, humility, and gracious service.
Imagine the scene: Jesus knew that the hour of His death had arrived when He would be despised and rejected of men, betrayed, denied, and deserted by His closest friends.
Jesus had just shocked them with the sickening disclosure that one among them was going to betray Him, when an argument broke out amongst themselves.
And so it was that the Lord Jesus Himself quietly got up from the table and proceeded to carry out this menial task to the utter astonishment and shamefaced mortification of everyone present, demonstrating the perfect example of dignity, greatness, humility, grace, and service to others.
Having just hosted this unique Passover supper, and demonstrated a godly greatness in service that is unsurpassed in the history of mankind, Jesus used His disciples dispute to teach them, and us, a most important lesson, by asking them a rhetorical question: Who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves?
Jesus was the eternal Son Who was given by the Father to redeem humanity.
Jesus was also the lowly child Who was born to save His people from their sins.
Jesus was One Who was eternally begotten of the Father, and yet He graciously laid aside His glory to become the Servant of all, by willingly giving His life as a living sacrifice as an example of perfect humanity.
Jesus did all this and more so that He could die on the Cross as the ransom price for the sin of the world.
Paul is clarifying the gospel of Christ to the brethren in the Corinthian church and in so doing, is giving the most comprehensive statement of the good news that our salvation is secured by believing on the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so he delivered a challenge to everyone in Corinth to examine their salvation - to examine what they believed about the Lord Jesus, and that same challenge needs to be extended to all who profess to be saved in this age and generation.
Paul is saying that you are saved if you have believed every aspect of the gospel of grace that he himself taught; which included the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul was called to preach the glorious gospel of the blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and raised again on the third day, according to the Scriptures.
May we seek to be spirit-filled witnesses who die daily to self and walk godly in Christ Jesus, as led by the Holy Spirit of power and to the glory of God.
The baptism of the Lord Jesus is a beautiful picture of the Trinity working in harmony, and this verse is a glorious illustration of the Godhead meeting in unity.
Jesus was praying to His Father when God pulled back the curtain from His holy, hidden presence and rejoiced over Him with these words of blessed assurance and hallowed grace.
This is Jesus our Saviour Who died on the Cross to pay the price for your sins and mine.
They teach us not to lust after the things of this world, but to seek the things of God and His righteousness, to keep our eyes upon the Lord Jesus, to get our priorities in order, to live by faith in Jesus Christ, and simply trust Him to fulfil all our needs.
Just before He was taken from His disciples, the Lord Jesus prayed the most beautiful and profound prayer that the mortal ear has ever witnessed.
Now that the hour of His crucifixion had arrived, Jesus prayed to the Father for the disciples He loved so dearly, that they would be sanctified in the truth, set apart, and made holy unto Him. Jesus prayed that they would be a consecrated, hallowed people for Himself: Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.
Progressive sanctification is a lifelong process for the believer, as we continue to grow in grace, mature in the faith, and become gradually conformed into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus.Positional sanctification happened in the past (the moment we were saved) and progressive sanctification continues in the present, but our full, final, and perfected sanctification will only be completed in the future, when we go to be with the Lord.
But every believer is also going through a process of practical sanctification, for it is also a maturing in the faith as, day by day, we are being progressively conformed into the lovely image of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.It is through the Word of God that we are sanctified: Sanctify them in the truth, Jesus prayed, Your Word is truth.
As an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God, Paul set out the pure doctrine of Christianity in both his 'church' epistles, and the letters he sent personally to Timothy and Titus who were his true 'children in the faith'.
The Spirit of God comes to permanently dwell in the body of someone who believes that Jesus died for their sin, was buried, and rose again, according to the Scripture.
The same Spirit Who indwells us at the point of salvation and empowers us throughout our life, will enable us to guard the precious treasure that has been entrusted to us, as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
While David is a lovely example of a man that honoured the Lord and desired that his prayers be counted as sweet-smelling perfume ascending to the Lord each evening, there is no more beautiful example of a living sacrifice, that was holy and acceptable unto the Lord than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus was set forth as incense-offering to the Lord.
Early each morning, Jesus would come to His Father in prayer, and at the close of the day, His greatest joy and delight was to rest in the presence of His Father and enjoy sweet commune with Him.
Although He was fully God, Jesus lived His life as fully man, to set us the perfect example of how God wants all of His children to live.
As incarnate God, Jesus laid aside His glory and power to live His entire life in the way that God desires every man and woman born from above to conduct their lives.
The Lord Jesus demonstrated that we too can be set forth as incense before Him, if we too live, work, worship, and pray into the will of the Father, through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
We read in both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, that after Jesus had celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples, they all sang a hymn before leaving to go to the Mount of Olives.
It is astonishing to realise that during the Passover meal, the Last Supper which He shared with His disciples the night before the crucifixion, that the Lord Jesus and His apostles must have rehearsed these well-loved verses together before they left for Gethsemane and the Crosss of Calvary.
How amazing to realise that we who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are members of His Body and have been born again into the family of God.
We are blessed to know that we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ. We have been born again into the heavenly family of God, as part of a new and better creation with a perfect Federal Head - we are members of the New Man, Christ Jesus.
But we should never forget everything we used to be before we were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.
And because of the great love with which He loved us, He sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sin: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
But have you considered that it was only by God's amazing grace that he permitted one fallen man to dictate the destiny of all humanity so that ONE PERFECT MAN - the Man Christ Jesus - could determine the redemption of ALL - for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
BUT, because sin entered the world by one man's sin, God could offer His gracious plan of redemption to ALL through the perfect life of ONE MAN - our Saviour Jesus Christ.
But faith must have an object... and the object of our faith is Jesus Christ.
It is our faith in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus that gains victory over the world.
It is trusting in the death, burial, and Resurrection of Christ Jesus our Saviour for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting, that overcomes the world.
Indeed, Jesus Himself said, these things I have spoken unto you, that in Me, ye might have peace.
Jesus lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death, and all who trust in Him are identified with HIM and His victory.
Because the Lord Jesus has overcome the world, all who trust in His name have also overcome the world... by association with HIM.
Jesus Christ is God's full and final revelation to man, and Hebrews lays enormous emphasis on the superiority of Christ in every aspect of His being.
Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
God's plan of salvation was only offered to the fallen race of mankind, and God Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ became our Kinsman-Redeemer so that we might be redeemed through His precious blood.
In quoting Psalm 45, we discover that it is the heavenly throne of JESUS that has been established.
It is the eternal sovereignty of JESUS that is being proclaimed.
The unique sceptre of righteousness is held in the hands of JESUS, and the eternal kingdom of JESUS will one day be set up, when Christ is all in all.
And so, through the authority of the God-breathed Scriptures, we hear through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that angels are messengers in the service of their creator God: But of the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, God says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of Your kingdom.'
It was only after all the people had been baptised that finally Jesus came to the banks of the Jordan to be baptised of John, the final prophet and priest of Israel and forerunner of the Messiah.
Jesus had come to fulfil all the righteous requirements of the Law that were demanded for the role of God's High Priest.
Having been baptised in the Jordan, we read that the Lord Jesus was praying to His Heavenly Father, as was His custom.
Jesus walked through this earthly path before us, and He grew weary and worn.
He was tempted and tried like we are, yet without sin, and Jesus was also required to suffer deep pain in the fires of earthly affliction and false accusations.
Jesus knew what it was to be misunderstood by friends and enemies alike, but He pressed on for the joy that was set before Him, enduring the Cross and despising the shame.
They were men and women who trusted the Lord despite the terrible circumstances many of them had to face, but as we move into Chapter 12, that great cloud of witnesses is replaced by one wonderful Witness - the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the supreme Witness, for He is the Son of the Most High through Whom Almighty God now speaks.
Jesus is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Centre and Circumference - the Author and Finisher of all that we are.
Jesus is the anointed of God, and it was to Jesus that the Father directed our attention when His voice thundered on the holy mount, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased, Hear HIM – listen to HIM - look to Him.
We are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Saviour of our soul and Perfecter of our faith.
It is also Jesus to Whom the indwelling Spirit of God directs our gaze, and it is Jesus Who demands our worship and praise, our adoration and grateful thanks – for just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that all who looked upon that bronze serpent would live, so Jesus Christ, our blessed Saviour, was lifted up on the Cross of Calvary so that all who look to Him would be saved by grace through faith and have forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.In this passage, we are exhorted to look away from all things that hinder or halt our spiritual growth and to turn our gaze trustingly, intently, and purposefully toward the lovely Lord Jesus.
Jesus was a Man Who knew that the crown of glory would not be gained without the cruel Cross.Let us fix our gaze unswervingly upon the Lord Jesus, our Prince and Leader in the faith, and the Author and Finisher of our faith.
For the overwhelming joy which lay before Him, the Lord Jesus patiently endured the Cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards returned to heaven where He sat down on His Father's throne.
The day is fast approaching when the trumpet will sound and the Lord Jesus will come in the clouds to take us to be with Himself forever – but until that day, let us keep on looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith – Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is seated today at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus warned that while on earth we would suffer tribulation and be hated of all men because of Him.
But how easy it is when we are beset by difficulties and dangers to forget the precious promises that are ours in Christ Jesus, yet how important it is to appropriate ALL that is ours in Him.
Once we are born again, we are no longer under the Law of sin and death, but under the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.
It is easy to look away from the Lord towards the blackening storm-clouds of life and the tumultuous waves of discontent, that are designed to shipwreck our testimony and set us adrift from the Anchor of our soul, but James encourages us to keep our eyes on Jesus, and reminds us in this verse: The one who looks intently at the perfect law of liberty (which is already ours in Christ) and abides by it, will be blessed in what he does.
For thirty years, the Lord Jesus was being prepared for His sacrificial act in God's redemptive plan.
John announced Jesus' arrival and pointed people to Him.
the Lord Jesus).
JESUS took upon Himself our sins at the Cross so that by faith in Him we can 'die to sin' or 'give up' the sinful life and have it replaced with a righteous life; a life that identifies with Christ.
John gave his prophecy at the start of Christ's ministry, but moments before His ascension into heaven, Jesus informed his disciples that the baptism of the Spirit would happen a few days later: John baptised with water, Jesus told them, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. Indeed, on that first day of Pentecost, the believers who were all together in one place were not only baptised by the Spirit but were also filled with the Spirit and endowed with the spiritual gift of 'tongues'.
However, when John baptised Jesus in the River Jordan, at the start of His earthly ministry, His baptism had nothing to do with repentance, for Jesus was the sinless Son of God.
It was also a sign to John that the Lord Jesus was the holy Lamb of God for he had been told, The One on Whom you see the Spirit descending and resting, He is the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit.
The one who aligns their heart's desire to God's desire, develops the mind of Christ, as the Holy Spirit teaches and trains and takes time to conform His child, day by day, into the very likeness of the Lord Jesus.
The desire and delight of the Lord Jesus was always, to do the will of His Father, and to glorify Him on earth.
But God is also a God of justice and Israel's apostasy had to be punished, which was why they were sent into Babylonian captivity during the reign of Jeconiah the king and scattered to the far corners of the earth, following the crucifixion of their Messiah King - the Lord Jesus Christ.
But Jesus is the King of Righteousness... and the work of righteousness which He carried out on the Cross of Calvary, brings peace with God to all who believe in His name.
May we, the Body of Christ, rest in His peace in this hostile, violent world, and look up and lift up our heads as our redemption draws nigh when Jesus comes in the clouds to Rapture His Bride and take us into heaven to be with Him.
And the day is fast approaching when the Lord Jesus... the rejected King of Israel, will return to earth with all His saints (us - His Bride - the Body of Christ).
This false spirituality presents an unbiblical representation of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The importance and authority of every class of angelic being is totally eclipsed by the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal and only begotten Son of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ, eternal Son of God and Sovereign Creator of the universe, became the sinless Son of Man in order to qualify Himself to become our Kinsman-Redeemer.
The Lord Jesus Christ is far superior to the angels that He created.
They are called a great cloud of witnesses, and indeed their lives demonstrate a trust in God that stands as a wonderful testimony to the faithfulness of God in their lives, and a great encouragement for us to run the race that lies before us, and press on for the high call of God as we look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith Who endured the Cross for our sake: Therefore, we are exhorted, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
It is not so much that these Old Covenant saints are spectators of our progress through life, but their lives bore witness of their faith in God and trust in His Word - a faith that we are to emulate as we press on in our Christian walk.Life is a race which has a finishing line, and we are exhorted to set the eyes of our hearts and the determination of our spirits on to the goal of our calling – and that goal is a Person, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
How important that we shed anything and everything that inhibits our progress and pursue the Lord Jesus, unfalteringly and unflaggingly.
Knowing that we too are following in the footsteps of such a great a cloud of witnesses, let us endeavour to lay aside every weight that hinders our personal Christian life so that we do not fall into the sin of unbelief which can so easily beset us in the race of life – and let us run with patient endurance the race that is set before us, looking to JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
He breathes His sanctifying-life into the one that trusts Him as their Saviour, their Jesus, their Lord, and their God.
When a woman caught in adultery was brought to the Lord Jesus, He exposed the darkness lurking in the sinful hearts of all the men, elders, Scribes, and Pharisees who were accusing her.
A little later that day we read that, Jesus spoke to the Scribes and Pharisees... and said to them, 'I am the Light of the world.
Jesus is able to shine that pure light of truth into the hearts and consciences of everyman who believes on Him.
Jesus was able to expose the hypocritical sin that was lurking within every man, elder, Scribe, and Pharisee that stood before Him that day.
Jesus was offering these hard-hearted men the light that comes from God's presence - the light that produces eternal life - but they resisted His invitation, and remained dead in their sins.
The Lord Jesus was the Light about Whom David wrote, for He is our Lord, our Light, and our Salvation.
Light was very prominent in all of Israel's feast days and festivals, and Jesus revealed Himself as the Light of the World, during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus is the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and He is also the only Light.
Jesus is the one and only true Light from above that shines His saving light and life into the hearts of all who believe in Him - for salvation is found in no other name, but the wonderful name of JESUS.
This verse is important as it tells us that the only way to remove fallen man from the demands of the Law is through death - the only thing that can remove you and me from the curse of the Law is through the death of ANOTHER - the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Romans 8, we are given a clue as to how the death of Another (the death of the Lord Jesus), is able to break the binding relationship we all have with sin, the Law, and its dominion over us.
But by grace through faith, our old man, our old sin nature is nailed to the Cross with Jesus, and our relationship with sin is rendered null and void.
Because of what Christ has done to save us from the PENALTY of sin (the wages of sin is death) and the POWER the Law used to have over us, we are also to consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Because Jesus did not sin at all, He did not have to die for His sin, but He CHOSE to die to pay the price for your sin, for my sin, and for the sin of the whole world.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved from the penalty and power of sin, death, the Law, and Satan.
In context, this is a passage that is contrasting the Old Testament Law of Moses with the New Covenant Law of Christ - for in bearing one another's burdens we are, in fact, fulfilling the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus: Bear one another's burdens, we are instructed in the previous verse, and thereby fulfil the law of Christ.
He confirms that His ministry is according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, by faith... before addressing Timothy as, my dearly beloved son.
This second letter to Timothy, was the last of Paul's epistles to be written... and as he penned the words, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord, I am sure that Paul's heart was filled with a mixture of joy and concern for this young man to whom the gospel of the grace of God was to be entrusted, after his death.
And so he added the word mercy to his usual greeting of grace and peace writing, To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
May God pour out His grace, mercy, and peace on all His children, until the day of Christ Jesus our Lord, and may we all follow the example of Paul in his ceaseless prayer-life, for all who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ.
Jesus delivered this pleading invitation to the nation of Israel to come and drink of the Living Water.
It was on the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, only months before His death, that Jesus made this astonishing announcement as He stood and cried out with a loud voice: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
And it was as the nation once again rejoiced with joy in remembrance of God's promise that He is the Rock of their salvation from Whom flows the water of life, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel about Whom they were singing, stood up and cried with a loud voice: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
It was amidst all the celebration, as they looked back on God's faithfulness and forward to the future fulfilment of His Promise, that Jesus delivered this pleading invitation to the nation of Israel to come and drink of the Living Water.
For three years, the Lord Jesus presented Himself to the lost sheep of the house of Israel as their promised Messiah.
He was the Saviour Whom prophets foretold would save His people from their sins, and long after Jesus explained to Nicodemus that a man must be born again to receive eternal life, we discover a lawyer who was an expert in the Law of Moses, who also came to the Lord Jesus to a seek an alternative way of salvation by asking the question, Teacher, what must I DO to INHERIT eternal life?
It appears that this question was designed to demonstrate his own perfect righteousness before the admiring crowd, for we read that he asked this question to test the Lord Jesus rather than humbly recognising his sinful state, his lost status, and his desperate need for salvation.
This student of the Mosaic Law approached Jesus under the assumption that eternal life is gained by carrying out works of the Law and that getting into heaven requires a person to do something in order to obtain everlasting life.
which is answered with the words: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
His question was not what must I do to INHERIT eternal life, but what must I do to be SAVED, and the answer which was give to Nicodemus many years before was once again repeated: BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
The Colossian Christians exemplified a little group of believers who were walking in spirit and truth and who had brought forth the spiritual fruit of faith, hope, and love in abundance, and Paul rejoiced to hear that individually and collectively they were growing in grace and in a knowledge of their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The faith of this little church had spread far and wide, and their heartfelt love for the Lord Jesus and for each other was similarly known to Paul.
Their hope was built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection.
But although that day will be translated into the Millennial rule of Christ and the eternal ages to come, as with all God’s signs to Israel, the true meaning of God’s rest was to be personified in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
is Christ's promise to all: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls - for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.Israel’s Sabbath rest, just like their Law, their Tabernacle, their Priesthood, and their sacrifices, was to be a sign that pointed to Jesus.
Rest is only found in Jesus for He is our living Rest - our promised Rest - our eternal Rest - our Sabbath Rest.
The Sabbath was to be the special sign that set Israel apart from the nations; a sign that they were a sanctified people – a sign that was endorsed by God Himself Who thundered: I AM Jehovah Maccaddeshem – the Lord Who Sanctifies you. A sanctified vessel is set apart from all other vessels for a special purpose and the sanctified nation of Israel was also different and distinct from all other peoples of the world.Israel’s Sabbaths and Israel’s Feasts, Israel’s Oracles, and Israel’s Scriptures all point to Israel’s coming Messiah, and all find their full and final fulfilment in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as we come to Him, we discover that it was for the Church that Jesus prayed when He said, For their sakes, I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
It is JESUS Who was, and is, and is to be the ultimate Sabbath Rest for ALL the people of God.Praise God that our Sabbath Rest is found in Jesus and not in the keeping of the Law.
Praise God that the day is coming when Israel will recognise the Lord Jesus as their own Sabbath Rest.
Praise God that Jesus is both sanctified by God and the Sanctifier of our souls.
Praise God that Jesus is both Son of God and Son of Man, to Whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given and Who is the only One Who can truly say, I AM Jehovah Maccaddeshem – the Lord Who sanctifies you.
It was when His parents brought the infant Jesus to the Temple to carry out the custom of the Law, that Simeon saw the 'consolation of Israel' for Whom he had waited with inextinguishable enthusiasm.
Taking the baby Jesus in his arms, Simeon rejoiced in his heart, blessed the Lord, and was moved to utter a magnificent psalm of praise, extolling God for His faithfulness in keeping His promise to Israel.
Because of his faith, God in His grace allowed Simeon to see the long-expected Jesus; the long-awaited Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.
Jesus gave His disciples an in-depth teaching session on the Mount of Olives, two days before He was crucified.
No doubt, they were all anticipating places of honour in the coming kingdom, but Jesus needed to prepare them for events in the near future, as well as giving signs to identify the end of the age.
Jesus also described the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, being set up in the Holy Place.
And Jesus then concluded His teaching on the end times, with a number of parables illustrating the things about which He had just taught.
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus had informed them that He must suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes.
It was while they abode in Galilee, that Jesus said to them: The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of wicked men, and on their way to Jerusalem He again told them: Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and The Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death... and will hand Him over to the Gentiles.
It was after Jesus had reminded His disciples about His coming passion that we read about the religious leaders: And they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him.
Jesus knows the end from the beginning.
Their scheme was to have Jesus quietly removed and disposed of, following the festivities so that their nefarious deed would remain hidden from the general public.
God is not mocked, and their evil conspiracy to kill Jesus was brought into full view, because Judas went to betray the Lord Jesus, earlier than they had planned.
The evil plot to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him secretly did not take our Lord by surprise, and Psalm 44 asks the rhetorical question: Would not God discover this?
May the words that we speak, the meditations of our hearts, and the thoughts of our minds, be always acceptable to our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.
We all know and love the Christmas story of Mary, Joseph, and the birth of baby Jesus in the little town of Bethlehem.
We love to sing of the angels and the shepherds, who saw Jesus lying in a manger of hay, and wrapped by his mother in swaddling clothes.
Jesus was born when certain identifiable, historical characters were in positions of great power and authority.
The Holy Spirit wanted to anchor the birth of Jesus at this particular point in time to a particular town in Judea, during the rulership of Caesar Augustus, when Quirinius was governing Syria.
Whether they remembered the prophecy or whether they wanted to get away from the disapproving comments of her unusual conception is unclear, but Mary needed to be in Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus, and so we read, Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David in order to be registered along with Mary, his espoused wife, who was great with child.
The Bible tells us that the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps, and this is what took place in the life of Caesar Augustus, when he decreed that all the world should be taxed, which caused Joseph and Mary to travel to their ancestral cities at the time that prophecy was to be fulfilled and Jesus was to be born.
The Galatian Christians were being targeted by legalistic Jews who were not only spreading a fabricated gospel, a distorted doctrine, and a false Christ to Christians, but were deliberately seeking to discredit Paul and the unique ministry and mission to which he had been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
We are called to be saved by grace through faith but we are also to live by grace through faith as we apply the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus in our everyday lives.
If Paul, in these early days of the Church, was so viciously attacked by these legalistic, Pharisaic teachers who deliberately tied up heavy legalistic burdens on men's shoulders in order to entrap them, manipulate them, enslave them, and place them back under the curse of the Law... how much more do we, in these closing days of Christendom, need to be equally vigilant in our defence of the glorious gospel of God - for Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day so that by faith in His sacrificial work on the Cross and glorious Resurrection, we have been freed from the curse of the Law - which is death - and have been born anew where we walk in spirit and truth under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
And both the Father and the Holy Sprit were heavenly witnesses of Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan (an act which they carried out together, in order to fulfil all righteousness).
These religious leaders missed the many clues that identified Jesus as their Messiah and King.
Jesus died once and for all as the sacrifice for man's sin, and rose as living proof of His claims to be Israel's Messiah and Saviour of the world.
Indeed, Jesus had commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised.
Although over 500 people rejoiced to meet their risen Saviour, only 120 were to be found in the right place at the right time when the fledgling Church was birthed, and those present were all baptised with the Holy Spirit, as promised by the Lord Jesus Himself at His Ascension.
It was John the Baptist who first prophesied this momentous event when he explained that the Lord Jesus Himself would one day baptise His people with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Jesus Himself, in the hours before the Cross, had instructed His disciples to wait in a special place for a unique event when God the Father would send God the Holy Spirit to them, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
And so Jesus promised them: The Holy Spirit will be in you and will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
And it will remain relevant in the eternal ages to come, for every man and woman who has ever trusted in the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the World.
But by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus, every single sin, past, present, and future, has already been removed as far as the east is from the west.
If God has done this marvellous deed and separated us forever from our sin, should we not accept as fact that there is now NO condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus and not keep trying to win His favour?
What a wonderful example of God’s loving-kindness and gracious patience towards His people is discovered in the pages of Isaiah, and what graphic details are painted of Jesus, the suffering Servant, Who was despised and rejected of men.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and was smitten of God for our sakes – so that by grace through faith in His selfless, sacrificial work on Calvary’s Cross, we might be forgiven of our sin, brought back into fellowship with God, clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness, receive access to the throne of grace, and be endowed with the riches of God’s abundant blessings towards us – in Christ Jesus our Lord.
No wonder that, without exception, those of us who are His blood-bought children rejoice to sing forth His praises - not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving ourselves up into His services and by walking before Him all the days of our life, in holiness and righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord, our God and Saviour.
What joy to know that collectively, the Body of Christ will be used to display the immeasurable riches of God's grace towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ Jesus died for us.
It was through Shem that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel were born - and JESUS, the Hope of ALL nations and Saviour of the world, was Shem's descendant.
It was by God's grace that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and it is by grace that the truth is written for our learning in Scripture.
And every person that has sprung from Shem, Ham, and Japheth, has the opportunity to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved by God's grace through faith in Him.
In chapter 3 of his epistle to the Galatians, Paul explains the deeper meaning of this wonderful promise that would find its perfect fulfilment in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus was the 'Seed of the woman' promised to Eve in the garden Who would crush the serpent's head.
Jesus was also the Seed about Whom the Lord spoke when He said to Abraham, through your Seed all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Jesus, the Seed of Abraham, was the sinless Son of God Who came to earth as the perfect Son of Man and Who willingly gave His life to pay the price for the sin of the world so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
And as Isaac carried the wood on his shoulders to the place of sacrifice and submitted himself to his father's will, he gave us an incredible picture of the journey taken by God the Father and Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, as He walked to Mount Calvary carrying the wooden cross on his shoulder to fulfil His Father's will.
These promises come from the mouth of the same holy God and are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Individual eulogies can escalate into a cacophony of joyful celebration and lyrical language, when brothers and sisters unite together to lift up the wonderful name of Jesus, resulting in a beautiful explosion of adoration for our God and Saviour - for by faith in the lovely name of Jesus we have been saved and at the name of the Almighty Lord, Jesus Christ - Creator of heaven and earth - every knee will bow.
The doorway of this day of grace has been standing open for 2000 years for whosoever will repent of their sins, turn to the Lord, and be saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Like all the Gospel writers, Mark introduces us to Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God and prophesied Saviour of the world. Mark's specific focus is upon the humanity of Jesus as servant of all, and the divinely appointed name of Jesus which is specifically linked with His humanity and which means God is Salvation.
The personal name 'Jesus' was given to Him at the time of His birth, for He shall save His people from their sins and redeem a lost world by means of His sinless life and substitutionary death.
And although the Lord Jesus was the eternal Son of God and equal in honour and glory with the Father, Mark announces the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ from the human perspective, tracing the gospel of Jesus from His lowly birth to His glorious Resurrection and Ascension into heaven.
While Matthew wrote to identify Jesus as the Jewish messiah and King of Israel, John's principal desire was to emphasise the deity of the eternal Son of God, and Luke's aim was to bring out the empathetic ministry of the lowly Son of Man.
The gospel of Jesus Christ continues today and will extend into the eternal ages to come, and Mark simply records the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. From the beginning, Jesus was the prophesied Seed of the woman and promised Saviour Who came at the appointed time to tabernacle in the world with His creation.
Mark tells of Jesus' historical beginning, when the eternal, uncreated God stripped Himself of the glory He had with the Father and stepped into time, by taking upon Himself mortal flesh and becoming a man.
And throughout His life, the Lord Jesus demonstrated the only way that humanity can live in fellowship with a holy God, by saying and doing those things that He heard from the Father, by abiding in the Father, living in total dependence upon Him, and walking in complete obedience to the Father's will.
The gospel of Jesus Christ continues to this day, and we who have trusted in Him as Saviour have been made ministers of this good news.
Let us tell abroad the glorious truth of the gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ Who gave His life as a ransom for many.
If the Bible foretold of the first coming of Christ with such astonishing accuracy, should we not anticipate with certainty the soon return of the Lord Jesus to complete His promises to His people, Israel, at the end of the coming prophesied 'time of Jacob's trouble'?
And should we not prepare our hearts for the any day return of Christ Jesus for the Church?
As Jesus prepared His disciples for the fast approaching crucifixion, He was also preparing them for the difficult future they must all face: a world of hatred against God and themselves, and a world where the physical presence of their master is absent.
The Lord Jesus knew that these men whom He loved so dearly would be easy prey to the enemy who, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour.
Jesus had just told them that they were His friends whom He loved so dearly and for whom He was about to lay down His life.
We should crave the milk of the Word so that we may grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and we should meditate upon the meat of the Word so that we may walk in spirit and truth and live in submission to the guiding of the Spirit.
When our eyes are open and earnestly looking to Jesus, they are not searching out the things of this world.
No matter what ceases from view and no matter what is blotted out from our memories, the exceeding riches of God’s amazing grace in His kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus our Lord, will stand firm as an everlasting memorial of God’s astonishing grace and His unconditional love.Our elevated position, our heavenly possession, and our redeemed person, are trophies of the incredible kindness that God has shown to each of His blood-bought children, in saving us by grace through faith in the sacrificial offering of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross.
Our very lives will stand as a sure testimony of God’s great goodness, and we will remain a never-ending tribute of God’s grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus: So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ.
No matter what is taken away or what additional joys are bestowed upon us all, our great salvation will stand firm as the singular, timeless testimonial of the divine goodness of our God towards us, and we will become a perpetual demonstration of the incomparable and exceeding riches of God’s amazing grace which has been expressed in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May the beauty of Jesus be seen in all we say and do so that we become a reflection of God's glory for His praise, and may we be prepared to display His glory throughout the eternal ages - for He alone is worthy of all honour and glory - throughout time and into eternity.
Knowing that the hour of His passion was fast approaching, when the Son of Man would be lifted up on the Cross for the sin of the world, Jesus crossed the Jorden as He prepared to set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem.
And many thousands of years later, there is a blind beggar-man in that same city, who also needs to regain his sight; and Jesus takes compassion on him.
However, a new Jericho had been built by Herod, and on His final journey before His sacrificial death, Jesus and His disciples: Went through Jericho.
No doubt news of Christ's healing power and his Messianic claims, had reached the ears of this blind beggar in Jericho, and when he realised that among the bustling crowd leaving the city was Jesus, the famous Prophet about Whom everyone was speaking, he started to cry out: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!
And he kept shouting loudly: HAVE MERCY ON ME, JESUS, SON OF DAVID!
Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover, where He would be sacrificed as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, and this account of the healing of blind Bartimaeus is the last recorded healing miracle in Mark.
At the start of His ministry, Jesus had taught His disciples the importance of the prolonged persistent prayer of faith.
Jesus instructed many people: Go in peace, your faith has made you whole, and told others: According to your faith be it unto you.
But this blind, Jewish man chose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and was determined, if at all possible, to meet with Him.
What a joy it must have been for Bartimaeus when Jesus stopped His journey and told the crowd to: Call him here.
What anticipation must have rippled through the thronging crowd who were following Him and heard Jesus ask the beggar: What do you want Me to do for you?
Jesus didn't need to ask the beggar about the desire of his heart; He knew.
When men and women approached Jesus for healing, we see much evidence that is not simply a need for physical healing that concerns the Lord, but a spiritual awakening.
And this should be our concern as well when we are praying for healing, for ourselves or someone else, that not only bodily health is restored, but that the spiritual needs are also met and spiritual eyes are opened to see JESUS as Lord.
And in both letters to the Thessalonians, Paul makes a special request that intercessions be made for him and his ministry team, to penetrate through the ungodliness in this pagan city with the good news of the gospel of Christ Jesus: Finally, brethren, he writes in chapter 3, pray for us that the Word of the Lord will spread rapidly and that God would be glorified, just as it did also with you.
Paul wanted his readers in Thessalonica to pray earnestly that his ministry in Corinth would spread quickly and not be hindered, that it would bring forth much fruit, and that the Lord Jesus would be glorified.
And surely, as we read Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, it should become the desire of our heart to pray in a similar manner, that the Word of the Lord would spread rapidly through the individuals and ministries for whom we pray, and that just as the Lord Jesus was exalted when Paul and his team were ministering in Thessalonica, He would be glorified through the people, ministers, and ministries that God has placed on our heart.
And as we earnestly offer prayers and intercessions in our generation, we trust that the gospel of grace would spread quickly and not be hindered, that there would be much fruit, and that our Father in heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified.
2) Something may be completely legal and lawful, but should be avoided if it causes us personally to become addicted to it, or we allow it to affect our relationship with the Lord Jesus or another Christian brother or sister e.g.
It describes two shepherds - Jesus as the true Shepherd of Israel Who was betrayed for the price of a slave (30 pieces of silver) - and here in this verse, we read about the coming worthless shepherd who abandons the flock of God and justly deserves condemnation.
His name is Jesus, and He came to His own, created world in His Father's name and was not accepted by His own people... and yet there is coming a false and idle shepherd who will come in another name, pretending that he is the Messiah, and he will be accepted - how tragic.
And how wonderful that the Antichrist will be so easily defeated, by the breath of Jesus' mouth.
Let us not fix our eyes on the Antichrist, but on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, our blessed Saviour, the true and faithful Shepherd of His sheep.
We are charged to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and we are counselled to believe on the One Whom God sent into the world to be the propitiation for our sins.
The Gospel of John was written for one express purpose: That you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
The reason that John's Gospel was written was to authenticate the claim that Jesus was that anointed Son of God and Saviour of the world, and that all who believe on His name would not perish but have everlasting life.
And then right at the end of his Gospel, John explains the reason why he chose these particular sayings, signs and situations: These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
John also makes it very clear that He wrote his Gospel as a witness to the world that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in His name, the lost will be saved, sin will be forgiven, and eternal life will become the everlasting possession through time and into eternity, of all who believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God.
May we become so one with our Saviour that like Paul, we consider it pure joy whenever we are called upon by God to face one of life's many trials, terrors, or tribulations, knowing He will use everything, however difficult and distressing, for our eternal good and for the furtherance of the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus our Saviour.
In those final hours just prior to His crucifixion on a cruel Roman cross, the Lord Jesus was with those that were his dearest and closest friends.
It is only as we experience a deepening love for Jesus and all that He has done for us, that we can begin to allow His love to flow into us and through us to others.
And then, in His power and strength, we too may lay down our lives in service to Him as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, in Jesus' name.
It was only days before His cruel crucifixion, and Jesus knew that His time was near.
It was as this final Passover approached, that we find Jesus washing His disciples' feet in the upper room, breaking bread, which represented His body, and sharing the cup of redemption, which symbolised His blood shed for the sin of the whole world.
In this passage we read: Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near, and it was around this time that Jesus saw a great multitude following Him, and He was filled with compassion and purposed to feed them with bread and fish.
And so we read: Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near, THEREFORE Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, 'Where can we possibly buy bread, so that these people may eat?' This He was saying to test Philip, for Jesus Himself knew what He was intending to do.
Jesus asked His disciples a question – to test them.
But as we read these verses, it appears that this third Feast of the Passover was also some sort of 'trigger point' for Jesus: Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near, THEREFORE…..
But let us never forget WHO Jesus is and WHAT He has done for us.
He calls them, and us, to consider the Person and Work of Jesus and warns against neglecting the gospel of grace, hardening our heart, reverting to spiritual infancy, falling away from the truth, or treating the wonderful birthright we have in Christ, with disdain.
Let us rejoice that the life-giving power of the Spirit through union with Christ Jesus, has set us free from the power of sin and death.
Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel as their long-awaited Messiah.
Israel, as God's firstborn, adopted son, had to turn back to the God of their forefathers and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - His only begotten Son and anointed King, Who would become the 'firstborn' from the dead and Saviour of the world.
They knew that Jesus came from God, yet refused to come to Christ and acknowledge His message, His mission, and His ministry.
Jesus told them that on the day of judgment, people will have to account for every careless word they speak.
But no-one who believes that Jesus died for their sin, was buried, and rose again the third day could ever commit this unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was the sinless Son of the Blessed One, and when falsely accused by the religious court of the Jews (which had been unconstitutionally convened in the middle of the night in order to falsely accuse the Lord and condemn Him to death), He remained silent.
We read: Jesus kept silent and did not answer anything.
Jesus had no need to defend His innocence, for every member of the Sanhedrin knew that he was a Man sent from God.
And yet at His illegal trial when these Jewish leaders plotted to kill the Prince of life, Jesus kept silent.
The high priest's questions to the Lord had been designed to trap and condemn Him, but Jesus maintained an impressive silence and did not answer, which both confounded and angered him.
And we discover in the construction of this verse of Scripture that the high priest kept on asking Jesus the same question over and over again: Are You the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?
This question from the high priest was irrelevant for Jesus had openly demonstrated His Messianic qualification by means of His many signs and wonders and His claims to deity were equally blatant - for Who but God can forgive sins?
But finally and with great composure Christ broke His silence and made the most unequivocal admission of His deity, by answering the high priest's interrogation with the words: I AM. Jesus broke His silence with the very name of God that had first been given to Moses so many centuries before: I AM. Jesus broke His dignified silence with an undisguised claim to Deity: I AM, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.
But underpinning all his comparisons of a holy God with sinful man, and shining through all his contrasts of the eternal Creator with the fallen race of men, is a prayer that God has seen fit to answer through the life, death, and Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
May the grace and favour of God continue to rest upon us, and may the beauty of the Lord Jesus be seen in us and through us as we submit to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit in our life, to His praise and glory.
Peter was getting older, and knew that the time was fast approaching when he would have to stretch out his hands and have someone else dress him and take him where he didn’t want to go, just as Jesus had told him on the shores of the Galilee, so many years before.
They occurred during the times of: 1) Moses and Joshua. 2) Elijah and Elisha. 3) Jesus and His apostles. 4) The future time of Jacob's Trouble.
Jesus Himself referred to this man, who was a commander in the Syrian army when He was met with hostile unbelief in His hometown of Nazareth: There were many lepers in Israel, in the time of Elisha the prophet, the Lord Jesus reminded the unbelieving Jews, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.
The disciples had been with Jesus constantly for three years.
They had heard his authoritative teachings, been given great revelation about the Son of Man Who was in their midst, and heard the voice of God proclaim, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased, They had witnessed the Lord Jesus perform many mighty miracles that clearly authenticated His Messianic claims, and they themselves had been endowed with power from on high to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Jesus had just been transfigured before Peter, James, and John who glimpsed the glory of His heavenly majesty, and yet as Jesus returned to the remaining nine disciples, He was approached by the father of a boy with epilepsy who was distraught because Christ's disciples had tried, and failed, to cast out the demon from his son.
Jesus responded with a strong rebuke that demonstrated an element of righteous frustration with His own disciples, by saying: You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you?
Jesus had known for some time that the Jewish leaders had rejected Him when they accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub.
Despite walking with Jesus for years, seeing Him perform many mighty miracles, proclaiming Him to be 'the Messiah - the Son of the living God', and being endowed with miraculous power themselves, Jesus scolded His disciples for their weak faith.
It was not the amount of faith that was lacking but trusting in the object of their faith - which is Jesus.
Because of their lack of faith in Jesus, none of His disciples could cast out the demon. Due to their lack of faith in Christ, He could not or would not work the works of God through them.
This would also include the hosts of angels, like the heavenly chorus who said on Bethlehem's hillside, Glory to God the highest, at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we too can confidently trust Him to keep all the promises he has made to the Church as well - all of which are 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul's divinely appointed apostleship was also being challenged, and for two whole chapters, Paul carefully defends both his apostolic calling and the gospel of grace which he received directly and by divine revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
And so, in the strongest language that is used in any of his epistles, we hear Paul's blistering comment: You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
By grace through faith in Him, Ruth became one of the most exquisite 'types' of the Church we discover in the pages of Scripture, and found herself elevated to be grandmother to the great king David and a descendent of the Messiah of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Boaz, her own kinsman-redeemer was to become a glorious 'type' of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, Jesus is the Kinsman-Redeemer of His own beloved Bride, the Church which is His Body, for we were bought with a price, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus died to free us from our own slavery to sin, returning us into glorious fellowship with our Creator God.
We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, and were predestined unto adoption of sons by Jesus Christ Himself.
Let us worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness and bow down in awe and wonder before our glorious, thrice holy God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Who loved us so much that He sent the Lord Jesus to die in our place.
In other passages in the Bible we know that Christ died FOR our sins, but in this passage in Romans we know that Christ also died UNTO sin. In the first instance, Christ died to pay the price of our sin, and the price that Jesus paid for our sin was His death.
This massacre took place immediately following the birth of the Lord Jesus, after had He escaped into the land of Egypt.
Just as the women of Ramah were surrounded by promises of hope from the Lord, so too the women of Bethlehem were surrounded by the Hope of all Nations, Jesus Christ – the incarnate Word, Whom the wicked king Herod sought to destroy.
Jesus is the root of Jesse and He is the Son of Israel.
Being baptised into the Body of Christ, sealed by the Spirit of God, and having Him take up permanent residence in our mortal body, are some of the wonderful ministries that take place the moment a sinner believes in Christ and trusts the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation.
It means living godly in Christ Jesus as we obey His Word and maintain fellowship with the Father through the regular confession of our sin: For if we confess our sin God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We are to confess our wrongdoing directly to our Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ our heavenly Mediator.
To be filled with the Spirit, we need to walk by the Spirit, so we will not gratify the desires of the flesh: If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with Him, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.
In the New Testament, we find Jesus condemning the hypocritical Pharisees for their ill-treatment of widow-women and their indifference to their physical needs.
Mary Magdalene had come early in the morning to anoint the dead body of Jesus with spices, and finding that the stone was rolled away, immediately ran to tell the disciples.
One special thing he noticed was that the wrapping that had been on Jesus' head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself.
Perhaps he simply believed Mary's report of the empty tomb; maybe he believed that Jesus was somehow alive (only a few days earlier he has recently seen Lazarus brought back to life, and maybe he really did believe that the Lord Jesus had indeed been resurrected from the dead, the first-fruit from the grave as Jesus had already taught them).
But there are some doubts that John believed that Jesus had risen from the dead.
He did not suggest that Jesus was alive to his fellow disciple or the grieving Mary, who stood weeping outside the tomb.
In His final weeks before the crucifixion, Jesus had told his followers on a number of occasions that He would be betrayed and handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, who would condemn him to death and then hand him over to the Gentiles.
Unbelief, doubt, indecision, or uncertainty would not have been so strange, for some of Jesus' 11 disciples even doubted when they saw the risen Lord.
There was no outward appearance of rejoicing, but it does appear that a mixture of doubt and wonderment filled the heart of this young apostle whom Jesus loved because we read that he saw and believed once he had seen the grave clothes neatly lying there.
It is apparent that John understood the significance of what he saw, but perhaps he needed time to reflect on all that Jesus had taught them over the previous three years and allow the astonishing happenings of the previous 24 hours to sink in.
The people that were present during the life, ministry, death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus belong to a unique generation because their life spanned the closing years of the pre-Cross dispensation of the Law (when Christ offered the kingdom to Israel, who rejected it), and the post-Resurrection dispensation of grace (where salvation is a free gift of God's grace, to all who will believe in Christ's death, burial and Resurrection for the forgiveness of our sin).
And John's Gospel was written: So that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
We may not have had the opportunity to hear Christ's teaching, see His miraculous signs and wonders, visit the empty tomb, or meet with Jesus during his post-Resurrection ministry, but we are blessed beyond compare, for we have the Word of God which is living, active, and able to give us all that we need.
And we have a very special blessing, for Jesus Himself said, Blessed are those that have NOT seen me and yet have believed.
The damning truth of man's sinful nature is the foundation upon which the rest of Romans is laid - and from this point on, Paul lays out the most comprehensive treatise of God's amazing plan of redemption - through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In laying out man's desperate need of salvation, Paul is able to start the next section which gives hope to all... for though the wages of sin is death, nevertheless, the gift of God is eternal life THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.
Let us celebrate the wonderful truth of God's amazing gift of salvation which is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ - not of works, lest any man should boast.
He reminded them how he boldly taught the good news of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and ascended into glory... despite the intense hostility his message received and the negativity that he personally received from so many.
He reminded them how he had received the gospel which he preached to them and from Whom he had received the message... for Paul neither received it from man, nor was he taught it, but he received it through a revelation of the glorified Jesus Christ, Himself.
Paul's exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit. His message had been given to him by direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul had been intercepted on the road to Damascus by the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus, and he spent time in the desert, being taught by the Spirit of Christ Himself.
What an amazing privilege it is to be a new creation in Christ; forgiven of our sin, loved by the Lord, accepted in the Beloved, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus.
Only days before Christ's spectacular transfiguration, where the majesty of His holiness and the brightness of His glory shone out from the Lord Jesus on that holy mount, we discover Him telling His followers that a day was fast approaching when He would come in His Father's glory to set up His promised kingdom.
It was while the Lord Jesus was speaking with Moses and Elijah, who were conversing with Him about His fast approaching sacrificial death at Calvary and His own 'exodus' from this life into His resurrected glory, that: Suddenly a bright cloud covered them.
But for us in this Church age, we are looking for the day when Jesus will come for us in the clouds: The trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise first and then we that are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to be with Lord forever.
NOW in Christ Jesus, we who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Let us live our lives as unto to Lord, for He alone is worthy of our praise and thanks.
Our lives are to become official letters of recommendations from God to those that do not know the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
It is the indwelling Holy Spirit who writes the character of the Lord Jesus Christ into the inner beings and character of all believers who willingly submit to His leading.
We who have been bought with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus need to pay attention to His voice and listen to His words.
Remember He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and giver of all comforts.
The wonderful result of this is that we in turn may be able to comfort others who are also in any kind of affliction, with the same wonderful comfort that we have received from our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
At the appointed time, He sent the Lord Jesus to His people, as He promised, Who for three years called them to repent of their sins and turn to Him for salvation.
Jesus was Israel's Good Shepherd of the sheep.
John the Baptist had identified Jesus as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, and the mighty signs and wonders He did, authenticated His Messianic claims, and should have produced fruit worthy of repentance.
For three years, Jesus had been calling His people to turn from their sinful ways and bring forth the fruit of righteousness which was consistent with a repentant heart that mourned over sin.
Jesus was identified as the hard-working husbandman Who tended the fig tree for the three years of His earthly ministry, giving it sufficient time to produce good fruit.
The nation of Israel will one day recognise their sin and mourn over it, when they see Jesus, Whom they pierced, coming in the clouds of glory.
The truths that Jeremiah shared about the New Covenant are thrilling to both Israel and the Church, and we who believe in Christ for salvation know that this covenant was cut at Calvary, through the shed blood of Christ and will be fully and finally ratified when Jesus returns as King of Israel to set up His Millennial kingdom on earth.
Praise God that we know that the righteous branch of David is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who is God the Son.
In this beautiful passage, Jeremiah points to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
We who have trusted Christ for salvation and have had the Gospel revealed to us, the indwelling Holy Spirit to govern our lives, and the living Word to guide us into all truth, have already recognised that Jesus Christ alone is the fulfilment of Jeremiah's prophecy.
Our eyes are already opened to the truth that Jesus is the righteous Branch of David Who will exercise justice and righteousness on the earth.
But a day is coming when the whole house of Israel and Judah; the united Kingdom of Israel, will collectively respond to the clarion call to repent, for the kingdom of heaven will once again be at hand, and Israel as a nation will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation and cry out in unison: Blessed is HE WHO comes in the name of the Lord.
On that day and at that time Jesus, the righteous Branch of David, will set His feet on the Mount of Olives and establish His kingdom of justice, righteousness, and peace on earth, for men of goodwill.
God purposed that through the intervention of the Son, all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, and so He sent Jesus to bring about peace with men, who were dead in their trespasses and sins.
It was Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, Who knocked down the middle wall of partition between God and man.
Jesus promised to give us the peace of God to guard our hearts - a peace that brings comfort and rest, refreshment, and hope - a perfect inner peace that transcends humanity's comprehension - both now and forevermore.
Jesus told His disciples: The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.
He told them this just after He had been approached by a rich young ruler who asked the Lord Jesus this important question: Good teacher, what must I DO to inherit the kingdom of God?
The young man knew the Scriptures and recognised that Jesus was a good man.
But Jesus (Who is the perfect Son of God and sinless Son of Man) pointed out there are none that are good except God: Why do you call me good?
Jesus asked him!
He wanted reassurance - or perhaps he expected Jesus to confirm him blameless in front of the people that were present and so he asked the question: What must I DO to inherit the kingdom of God?
Jesus actually answered his question of what must I DO, because the only way to enter the kingdom is to live a perfect, sinless, holy life.
Naturally, this rich young man was distressed by Christ's reply, because Jewish mindset of his day believed that wealth denoted favour with God, and yet the Lord Jesus could see into his proud heart and saw that love for his possessions was greater than love for God: Go and sell all you have and give it all to the poor, was Christ's answer, because this young man had great earthly possessions that meant more to him than his relationship with God.
Jesus came to earth to offer the kingdom to Israel.
They also had to understand that Jesus was the Messiah, promised of old, Who would redeem them by grace through faith in Him: You believe in God, He challenged them, believe also in Me, for Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.
As Jesus prepared to leave His disciples, He told them that they would proclaim the good news of the gospel of Christ throughout the world.
We can trace the spread of the Christian message from the inception of the Church at Pentecost, as men of Israel, proselytes, and believers from further afield, (like the Ethiopian eunuch and Cornelius - the Gentile centurion) placed their trust in Jesus Christ, were baptised into His mystical Body, and were in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God.
With the sudden increase of followers of Jesus, the Nazarene from Galilee, the attempts to halt the advance of the gospel became increasingly frenetic.
It is under these circumstances that Saul - the oppressor of Christians, became Paul - the devoted bond-slave of Jesus Christ.
It was as he was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, that he was halted in his tracks and his heart and life was arrested by the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was from that day that Saul, who was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, became Paul, the devoted servant of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
The Lord Jesus knew the deep distress they were facing and the shocking persecution that they were going through, and His letter must have given them much comfort and encouragement - enabling them to hold fast to their faith during this time of extreme oppression.
Eternal life is a free gift to EVERYONE who believes in Jesus for salvation... and cannot be earned or maintained by good works.
Jesus is the One Who has overcome.
In his first epistle, John outlines the qualifications for an overcomer, he who overcomes the world, is he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
All who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ will certainly receive eternal life.
May we be those who are faithful to our calling and heed the words of Jesus, Be faithful until death, and I will give you the Crown-of-Life.
May we be willing servants who are quick to confess our sins; faithful to obey His commands; obedient to trust His word, walk in spirit and truth, and day by day continue to look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith.
There are many hidden truths that were revealed to Paul by the Lord Jesus which had been concealed for ages and generations, but which have been revealed to us through the anointed ministry of Christ's appointed apostle.
In this verse, Paul gives a potted history of the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, covering the foundational doctrines upon which our eternal salvation rests.
Jesus was the eternal Word of God Who laid aside His glory and took upon Himself mortal flesh.
The mystery of godliness, where the resurrected life of Christ is manifested in the life of godly leaders and spiritual believers, will always stand secure on the glorious truths of the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of Jesus Christ.
John knew the importance of holding fast to the truth, for he had walked with Jesus Who was full of grace and truth.
John had been filled with the Spirit of truth and was present when the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed: You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
Let us remember the words of Jesus: If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
God does not seek to change our old sin nature, but purposes to transform our new life in Christ into His likeness, as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The book of Romans lays out the clear path of condemnation and destruction that foolish and rebellious men choose to pursue, when they refuse to acknowledge the truth, but praise God that Paul also goes into great detail on how to be saved by grace through faith in Christ and details the many privileges that are ours in the Lord Jesus, our God and our Saviour.
And despite his prophecies of doom and destruction, Zephaniah concludes his inspired writings with a promise of the restoration of Gentile nations, the reinstatement of Israel as His chosen inheritance, the redemption of His people, Israel, and the return of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as God of gods, King of kings, and Lord of the eternal ruler of heaven and earth.
May we never forget that we were bought with a price and have been brought into a binding relationship with our heavenly Father, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Melchizedek was the man who met with Abraham and blessed him, offering him bread and wine, and he is a beautiful foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
It was the place that Abraham called 'Jehovah Jireh' which means 'on the Mount of the Lord it will be provided.' Again, Abraham presents a beautiful foreshadowing of God the Father, offering up His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on Calvary.
Jerusalem was the location where the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross for the sin of the whole world, and Jerusalem was the place where the veil of the Temple was torn in two, opening up the way for sinful man to be declared righteous before God, through faith.
This is the city in which Jesus rose from the dead in power and great glory, and ascended into heaven where He is seated on His Father's throne, waiting for the day when He will return in power and great glory to set up His earthly kingdom for 1000 years.
Yes, Jerusalem and its inhabitants are close to the heart of God, and we read in verses 5-6 that the Lord Himself will establish the inhabitants of Jerusalem and those that live within her walls, when Jesus returns as the King of Peace and Righteousness to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
While 'you' could loosely refer to Jerusalem (all my springs of joys are in you - Jerusalem), this is a clear reference to JESUS, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the promised Messiah, the Saviour of the World.
And so it is more correctly interpreted: 'All my springs of joys are in YOU, JESUS, my Lord and my God.
This will most certainly be the joyful sound that rings round the streets of Jerusalem: 'ALL our springs are in JESUS, our Saviour,' will be the cry of the inhabitants of Zion.
It was Jesus who first called His disciples to abide in Me, and I in you.
John gives the instruction to abide in Christ and rest our soul in Him so that when the Lord Jesus appears in the clouds to take us to be with Himself, we may have trusting confidence in His many precious promises and not shrink away from Him in shame, at His return.
They will not have the joy of receiving commendation from the Lord Jesus, Himself.
Indeed, in this 'Sermon on the Plateau', Jesus is not only speaking to His disciples, but also to the disinterested multitudes and hypocritical Pharisees that only followed Him for physical healing, self-help, or destructive criticism.
Christ's discourse, is a stern message to anyone who would become His disciple, for everyone who would be Christ's disciple must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow the Lord Jesus.
Though believers may face poverty, hunger, weeping, and rejection, Jesus qualifies this - for the poor in spirit who recognise their need of Christ are blessed and will have a part in His kingdom.
When Jesus instructed, whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other cheek also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either, He did not simply say it with His lips... the Lord Jesus lived it throughout His earthly life as an example of how we should live in this crooked and perverse world - for Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death - even death on a Cross.
His plans and purposes give us hope: an assured hope; a glorious hope; a blessed hope in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is Scripture that gives us the encouragement to press on for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus our Lord so that through patient endurance we might have hope in Him, for Jesus is our blessed Hope; Jesus is our only hope for today and for the future.
It is Jesus upon Whom our hope is founded, and God's precious promises are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have a hope that is founded on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His perfect righteousness, praise His holy name.
Paul knew that we could only respond to that little word 'IF' in a positive manner, for ALL believers have found encouragement in Christ, ALL have known the consolation of God's love, ALL have benefitted from the fellowship of the Spirit which is in Christ Jesus, and ALL have access to God's grace and mercy, His affection and love, and the compassion, joy, and hope which we share in our heavenly Bridegroom.
What a beautiful picture of our own, heavenly Man, the last Adam, the second Man, our dear Lord Jesus Christ, for we are one with Him, united with Him, a very member of His Body, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.
Let every Christian man and woman who loves the Lord follow the godly example of these two women, and let us play our part in educating a new generation in the things of God, in Jesus' name who died for us all.
When we are faced with a 'worry' let us simply claim His promises of provision, His support, and sufficiency, for all His promises are 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Indeed, Jesus reminded us, My Father is still working, and I am working as well.
And we praise God that His work of redemption was finished at Calvary, when Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Tetelestai!
CHRIST JESUS is the full and final Sabbath rest Who will one day bring ALL things back under God's righteous jurisdiction.
We who are saved by grace through faith have already trusted in Christ for salvation, and in so doing have not only found our rest in Him already, but as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, there remains a Sabbath rest for ALL the people of God, an eternal Sabbath rest in the ages to come that is ours by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
God moves in mysterious ways to perform His mighty deeds and fulfil His plans and purposes for the redemption of mankind, and this is clearly seen in the life of Jesus.
God took every obstacle that appeared to cast a shadow over the coming of the Lord Jesus as an opportunity to demonstrate His great wisdom and mighty power.
Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem to fulfil Biblical prophecy, and so Israel's Roman overlords were moved, by God, to take a census of the population and commanded all the men under Roman rule, to return to their ancestral city and register for the crippling taxes being imposed on Israel and other subdued nations.
Jesus was born into a poor family who were despised and ridiculed, so He could identify with those that were broken and sad, weak and alone.
Who could have been a more passionate hater of Jesus of Nazareth than this exemplary Pharisee?
Yet he became Christ's most ardent admirer, worshipping the Lord Jesus in grateful reverence and submitting to the Nazarene as His bond-servant.
They were members of the Church, and in persecuting believers he was also persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ.
But as he approached the city of Damascus, Christ Himself halted Paul's journey and arrested his attention with a compelling question, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? The proud, Saul of Tarsus not only heard the piercing question from the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus, but he also saw a great and piercing light from heaven, which blinded his eyes and caused him to ask that all-important question, Who art Thou Lord?
When he was challenged by Christ on his journey through life, Saul asked the right question, Who are You, Lord? Saul had believed that Jesus the Nazarene was long dead and buried.
This encounter was to be the single most significant event that changed the history of the Christian church. I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting, was the staggering reply he heard from the heavenly vision.
I am Jesus, and when you persecute my children, you are persecuting ME.
Let us, like Paul, be ardent admirers and reverent worshippers of the Lord Jesus, and let us soak all we do for the Lord in humble prayer, as we listen to His guiding voice in our hearts, praying, Thy will not mine be done.
Jesus, Himself told the parable of the rich man who excluded God from plans as he tore down his barn to build bigger barns, and was rebuked by God: You fool!
Although there is no sin that cannot be cleansed by the efficacious blood of Jesus and despite being positioned in Christ, accepted in the Beloved, enclosed in the everlasting arms of our God and Saviour, and standing on a Foundation that can never fail, we must nevertheless heed the warning in this verse, lest like Israel we fall into complacent unbelief.
Although there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, and although there is no sin that cannot be forgiven, we must be acutely aware that any one of us may be tempted to fall into sin - and should we become over-confident in our spiritual walk, the danger of falling into sin is significantly increased.
Despite Israel's rejection of their Messiah-King, Paul is giving full assurance that God's gracious offer of salvation by grace through faith in Christ finished work, is wide open to both Jew and Gentiles alike and he gave the assurance to both Israel and the nations: If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Because of their religious bias and flawed perception they did not understand that Jesus is Lord of all and the God of Israel.
Nevertheless, Paul promised that if they were able to confess Jesus as the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and if they believed in their heart that the Messiah was raised from the dead, they would indeed be saved.
There are not two steps to salvation as some like to suggest (confessing Jesus is Lord + believing in Christ for salvation) but simply two sides of the same justification coin.
Only a born-again believer can confess Jesus is Lord: For no man speaking in the Spirit of God can say, 'Jesus is anathema'; and no man can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except in the Holy Spirit.
And once that hidden heart decision to trust in Christ for salvation is met, the man or woman is immediately born from above by the power of the Holy Spirit and is freely able to confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, for as the apostle John reminds us: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and the Spirit of God abides in him.
But God in His long-suffering, loving-kindness, and great mercy, has extended the period of His gracious forgiveness to include you, and to include me, and to include all who will turn from their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, Who alone deserves our eternal praise and worship.
James, the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, had a ministry to Jewish believers in Christ in the early Church, and this epistle is addressed to Christians from the 12 tribes of Israel who are dispersed throughout the world.
Yes, these are pretty tough words indeed for any believer to receive, but we must remember that God admonishes those He loves, and in the next verse the same Holy Spirit Who dwells within each one of us, is seen yearning jealously over us, for His desire is to make all believers more and more like the lovely Lord Jesus.
To fulfil Bible prophecy, Jesus was born into a Jewish family in the kingly line of David.
When the time was right, Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, started to present Himself to Israel as their Messiah and King.
A prophet is not honoured in his own town and despite the supernatural power He demonstrated over nature, death, sickness, and the demonic forces, Jesus was certainly not shown respect in His home town nor by his siblings, for we read: They did not believe on Him.
The challenges Jesus received to His Messianic claims, the accusations of blasphemy from the leaders of the Jews, the controversies that stemmed from His Sabbath-day healings, and His authoritative claim to David's throne, all combined to cause His family to come and speak with Him: Someone said to Him, 'Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.'
We are not told the reason for their visit on this occasion, but Mark gives us a very convincing clue in a parallel passage, where we read: When those who belonged to Him (His brethren) heard what Jesus was saying, they came to take Him by force, for they kept saying, 'He is out of His mind, He is beside Himself, He is deranged!'
And so we read that Jesus answered the one who was telling Him that His mother and brothers were there, by saying, Who is My mother and who are My brothers? and then He answered His own, rhetorical question, Whoever does the will of My Father Who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.
Whatever the reason for the visit of His mother and brothers, Jesus wanted to make it clear that family relationships, genealogical ties, human heritage, privileged parentage, or godly ancestry, provides no birthright for salvation.
Believing on the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ must be a personal decision, for there are no special favours given to anyone and nothing that can alter or influence God's criteria for salvation.
For instance; the Son directs our prayers and worship to the Father, and the Father honours the Son, while the Spirit points us to Jesus Who is the only Person in the Godhead Who became flesh and blood and suffered for the sin of mankind.
In so doing, Jesus earned credentials to become the one and only Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.
Paul explains: The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
Jesus came to earth to comfort the sorrowing and console those that mourn for their sin.
Jesus came to earth as our holy Comforter, but following His Ascension into heaven, where He acts as the Churches Mediator and great High Priest, He asked the Father to send another Comforter to the Church, to be with us forever.
Just as Jesus communed with the Father, so too the Church was to enjoy fellowship with Him.
Jesus had told them: You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea AND Samaria, AND to the farthest part of the earth, but these instructions were ignored.
The death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, are the critical elements of salvation.
Nothing but faith in the Person and Work of Jesus is sufficient to reconcile us back to God and save us from our sin.
Jesus was born into the race that He, Himself, created, in order to pay the price for our sin - a price we could never pay.
As well as being saved by Christ's death we are also identified with His death: I have been crucified with Christ, Paul writes. My old, fleshly self was crucified with Jesus when He died on the Cross.
My old sin nature, which my Bible calls my 'old man' was crucified with Jesus.
My death in Christ means that the old ME, the old SELF, the old SIN NATURE - the OLD MAN, died in Christ at Calvary when Jesus died on the Cross.
Paul writes at length of the glorious exchange that occurs in all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
While the first man, Adam, became a living soul, the last Adam, Jesus Christ, became a life-giving spirit.
That old sin nature will remain in bitter rivalry with my new life in Christ which must grow in grace and mature in the knowledge of Jesus.
It 'lusts' against the new life which, through re-creation, is dead to the world and dead to the law, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
We read: Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.' At the same time, the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God, will fall on their faces and worship the Lord their God saying, 'We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.' These loud and joyful voices are announcing that the long-awaited reign of the Lord Jesus Christ over the world is on the horizon.
They will cry out in unison, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. Then, Jesus will return to earth in power and great glory, as Israel's King and Saviour of the world to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
Jesus is the Stone, cut without hands, Who will break in pieces all earthly kingdoms, in readiness for His Millennial rule on earth, when He returns to set up His kingdom as King of kings and Lord of lords.
He walked with Jesus along the way and witnessed Christ's powerful prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.
He was both astonished and bewildered when Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, girded Himself with a towel and began to wash His disciple's dirty feet - but Peter was also an eyewitness to Christ's heavenly majesty on the Mount of Transfiguration.
With the passage of time, Peter came to recognise that Jesus is the omnipotent God Who is One with the Father, Who supplies strength for the daily needs of His blood-bought children.
Peter witnessed, with his own eyes, the glory and majesty of the Son of God: For we did not follow cleverly devised tales, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, he wrote, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
Peter taught the good news of the gospel of grace and the glorious message of salvation by grace though faith in Christ, and made clear to us the power of the Cross and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ Whose sacrifice of Himself at Calvary and glorious Resurrection is the single thing that is worth living for - and the one thing worth dying for.
It is early in this letter that he brings to his reader's memory, the value, majesty, meaning, and importance of God's holy Word by reminding his fellow believers that HE - PETER, actually witnessed, with his own eyes, the glorious majesty of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
It was his life's mission to go into all the world and tell everyone that this same Jesus will return one day in power and great glory, to set up His everlasting kingdom - and so he writes: For we did not follow cleverly devised tales, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace Who is today sitting on the right hand of the Father, awaiting the day when He will return to take up His place as King of kings and Lord of lords (at the end of the Great Tribulation period).
There is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus; let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.
Only our Saviour Jesus Christ can pay the penalty of the Law on our behalf, and break forever the contractual power the Law exercises over our old fallen nature.
He does this so that we may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, we may have life in His name.
Born in Bethlehem, teaching and healing the people as He proclaimed His Messianic role before being crucified at Calvary, raised back to life and appearing to many in His resurrection body of flesh and bone, Jesus was indeed the only begotten Son of the Father.
Because He is the image and likeness of God, Jesus (the one and only unique God-Man) is the possessor of God's very character and essence, full of grace and truth.
Yet a few verses later, Jesus warned us that unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven - for the righteousness that they sought was self-righteousness and not Christ's righteousness.
Paul reminds us that even if we were to keep every letter of the law like the Jewish leaders that Jesus mentioned, we would still never achieve righteousness, for we are all born with an inherent sin nature, and there is none good, no not even one.
We were imputed with a sin nature through Adam, and the only One that is righteous is the Lord Jesus.
But to those that believe, Christ Jesus IS our righteousness, and His righteousness comes to us from God on the basis of faith.
Our hunger and thirst should be for Him - for Christ - that we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for as we yield our lives to the Holy Spirit He will conform us to become more and more like Christ.
Paul knew that they had received sound teaching which should result in them growing in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus, but instead they were manifesting jealously and strife amongst themselves and displaying the ungodly behaviours of unsaved pagans rather than spirit-filled believers.
However, the majority of theologians correctly identify this section as a Messianic psalm, for the Lord Jesus is the only One Who truly dwells in the shelter of the Most High.
In many respects, the Lord Jesus is the only Man Who can legitimately claim God as His refuge and fortress; His God in Whom He trusted implicitly.
The Lord Jesus is the one and the only Person Who could honestly claim God as His refuge and fortress, and He did this on our account because He went to the Cross for us, in obedience to His Father's will.
Jesus is the only One who can legitimately confess that the Lord is My God, in Whom I place my trust, and Who will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and the deadly pestilence.
Throughout His life, the Lord Jesus was hidden under the shadow of His Father's wings, in Whom He sought refuge.
Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus maintained ongoing and never-failing fellowship with His Father.
Throughout His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus was ready and willing to say: Thy Will, not Mine be done. He was able to trust the Lord with every circumstance of His life, for His undivided hope was in God.
Jesus was free from every fear because His trust was in God.
In the power of the Almighty, Jesus fulfilled all righteousness and became qualified to become the perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sake of mankind.
Although the Lord Jesus was fully God, He lived His entire life as a Man.
Although the Lord Jesus was the eternal God, He lived His life as a perfect Man, setting an example to every member of the human race, showing every child of God how our Heavenly Father expects each one of us to live.
We are moving nearer to the end of this life's dark night, where we will throw off this tent of flesh and be clothed in our new, glorified, resurrection bodies - and so we shall ever be with the Lord Jesus, for the rest of time and throughout all eternity.Do this!
However, Paul goes on to reveal the glorious hope of salvation for all who believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He details our ongoing sanctification, as we mature in the faith, grow in grace and learn more of Jesus.
And he speaks of the ultimate end of this mortal toil - our glorification when we go to be with JESUS.
Those in the early Church were exhorted to get ready for the return of the Lord Jesus.
Every day that passes is one day closer to the day when the trumpet will sound, the dead in Christ will be raised from their graves in incorruptible bodies, and we who are alive and remain will be caught up, together with them, into the clouds... to meet JESUS in the air.
How wonderful to be reminded that Jesus is coming back SOON.
Jesus Himself said, It is the Scriptures that testify about Me, and I have the words of eternal life.
As the living Word of God, Jesus is the embodiment of the eternal God, through Whom all things were made.
Jesus was the Prophet about Whom Moses prophesied, and he was the Daysman for Whom Job yearned.
Jesus was the Logos; the Word made flesh; the Lamb of God and man's sinless, Kinsman-Redeemer.
To reject the Lord Jesus is to reject the very Word of the Father - for He is the image of the invisible God through Whom the Father was speaking.
Jesus was appointed as heir of all things, and it was through Him that the world was created.
The Word I have spoken is what will judge him at the last day... for the Word that Jesus spoke was the very Word of Almighty God.
These foolish men were blinded to the truth of God and deaf to His Word, for the Lord Jesus was Almighty God, manifest in human flesh.
The Lord Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, in fulfilment of holy Scripture.
However, when the Lord Jesus returns to set up the kingdom of God on earth, He will return as Judge.
He is the Man Whom God has appointed to judge the world with justice, for God has set a day when the Man, Christ Jesus, will judge the world righteously.
As faith begins to fail so fear starts to overtake the soul, and the prospect of life without Jesus plummeted His disciples into utter despair.
But the time was at hand when Jesus was to leave them and God would send the Holy Spirit to take His place.
But for the one that has trusted Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and who has been covered in His own righteousness, the promises are overwhelmingly wonderful - for He will glorify the Lord Jesus in a way that the world cannot understand and He will take the things that the Father has entrusted to Christ - and disclose them to us!
Jesus is the Revelation of the Father!
Jesus is the exact image of the invisible God Who is Creator of heaven and earth.
But Jesus is also the perfect Man Who fulfilled all righteousness through His perfect life - and having become the federal Head of a new creation, He has been given all things from the Father.
All that the Father has, belongs to the Lord Jesus.
The personification of godly wisdom is discovered in one Man alone: the Man Christ Jesus, for He is incarnate wisdom.
The Lord Jesus is wisdom manifest in human flesh, and He is the living example of a life that is walking in spirit and truth.
Jesus is not only the image of the invisible God, but He is also the perfect representation of the way that godly men and women should live.
And may we all with our action and attitude reflect the same resounding reply, which was identified by James in his singular epistle so that by God's grace we reflect the beauty and wisdom of the Lord Jesus, both by our good behaviour and through the gentleness of spirit, which alone comes from the Lord Himself.
Thank God that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to be our Redeemer, and thank God that He has chosen us for salvation simply because we trusted in Christ's finished work on our behalf.
Many believers think that our Christian life should be problem-free and devoid of trials, and yet Jesus warned that in this world we will have tribulation, while Paul also reminds us that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
Christ Jesus was the first fruit from the dead, and His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection broke forever the power of sin, death, hell, and the law, in the lives of all who would trust in the only begotten Son of God.
Thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He alone paid the full price of sin and thus broke the power of death in our lives and clothed us forever in His perfect righteousness: The wages of sin is death, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS.
John's was a baptism of repentance specifically targeted at Israel, because Jesus their King was in their midst and they were to turn from their sins.
The baptism of fire - a baptism of judgement - was reserved for those that would not turn from their sins and accept Christ, but those that accepted the Lord Jesus as their Messiah were to be baptised with the Holy Spirit one day in the future.
And now, Jesus reiterated the wonderful promised baptism of the Holy Spirit, forty days after His Resurrection: You will be baptised with the Holy Spirit, in just a few days, they were told.
And Paul tells us that from this point forward, it is the Holy Spirit Who baptises every new believer into the Body of Christ the moment they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The man before him was none less than the Angel of the Lord; a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself Who answered His servant, No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.
We are the Body of Christ and we have become a holy priesthood and ministers of reconciliation, and we are to offer ourselves to God as a spiritual sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It reminds us of the importance to carry out God's will for our life and the need to keep the eyes of our heart on Jesus.
Rather, as we meditate on these simple truths, we discover their significance is magnified and multiplied... for it is as we reflect upon these comforting words that we find in them the beloved face of Jesus, Who has become our own Good Shepherd.
Instead, he rejoiced that he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ, blessed to be able to fellowship in the suffering of the Lord, Whom he loved so dearly.
From morning to evening, he attempted to persuade them of the truth about Christ and explained that Jesus was the Prophet of whom Moses spoke, the King from the line of David, the High Priest of God after the order of Melchizedek.
And it was not only his Roman guards that benefitted from Paul's preaching of the kingdom of God and teachings concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
He used obstacles that were placed in his path as opportunities to testify to the gospel of God and to witness to the salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Our final glimpse of Paul in the very last verse of Acts shows him preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, and unhindered.
May we mirror Paul's passion for Jesus and preoccupation with the gospel, and say with him, That I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
He outlines the godly conduct that should be evident in the lives of all who are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Peter confessed as the Messiah of Israel and Son of the living God.
However, the means of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is found in the Word of God.
The answer as always is discovered in the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the personification of wisdom, for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God and He is the wisdom of God.
What amazement must have filled their hearts as trembling they entered inside and saw that young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting where the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ had been laid.
But imagine the thrill and anticipation that must have pounded their heart as they heard those words of encouragement for the very first time: You seek Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified.
Imagine the rush of thrilling anticipation and wonder, when they discovered that Jesus was not dead but alive.
Paul's apostolic ministry is an example for us all to emulate, and in this verse he explained the reason he had to undergo the different troubles and trials he listed; Paul was faithful to lift up the name of Jesus and preach the gospel of Christ, which is an offence to the world: For the word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The many precious privileges we have in Christ and the supernatural power of the indwelling Holy Spirit should embolden, rather than deter, our Christian testimony, which is why Paul exhorted Timothy in this verse: Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ... and do not be ashamed of me because I am His prisoner in chains.
Firstly, he was not to be ashamed of: The testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the glorious gospel of salvation by grace through our faith in Jesus.
May we never be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor shrink away from the blows and battering we receive for His name's sake.
What an amazing Bible study those two disciples received from the Lord Jesus on the road to Emmaus that day, when He opened their hearts to understand the Scriptures - truths to which their minds had previously been blinded.
Jesus made reference to the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, and how their hearts burned within them as He opened to them the Scriptures concerning Himself.
Did you not understand that Christ had to suffer these things in order to enter into His glory? And then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus explained to them ALL the things concerning Himself in ALL the Scriptures.
While the Lord Jesus walked on this earth, He was the One Who taught His disciples, but too often the eyes of their understanding were shrouded as to Who this Man from Nazareth truly was.
They admitted to Jesus that they were hoping that it was He, Who was going to redeem Israel.
The unsaved man does not understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned and during His time on earth it was the Lord Jesus who opened up Old Testament Scriptures to those who believed.
It was Jesus who provided His followers with an understanding heart, as He taught them the principles of the kingdom.
Today, it is the Holy Spirit Who opens the minds of the believers to the things of God, and unlocks the meaning of Scriptures - just as Jesus promised His disciples, during His final days on earth.
But just as He was about to return to the Father, leaving His disciples as His chosen witnesses on earth, Jesus Himself walked with them and started to open the eyes of their heart to Who He truly was.
Jesus began to unfold the books of Moses, all the prophetic teachings, and the meaning of the psalms, to these two of His faithful followers... and the veil that shrouded the minds, of these travellers on the road to Emmaus, was lifted, as Christ Himself opened to them ALL the Scriptures concerning Himself.
As we walk along the pathway of our life, we will not have the physical person of Jesus join us on our earthly walk, to open our understanding to the Scriptures - but we are no less privileged than these two disciples on the road to Emmaus, for He told us that it was better for all of us that He went to be with the Father, so that the indwelling Holy Spirit of truth would be sent to be our permanent Companion and daily Comforter - to be with us and abide in us, FOREVER.
Just as Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scripture so the Spirit of God will open our minds and guide us into all truth.
We do not know the identity of this chosen lady, but she was a woman who had loved and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for her salvation and had wisely taught this truth to her children, and John had no doubt ministered to her and rejoiced to see her and her family grow in a knowledge of the truth.
Yes, John knew that the heart of the gospel is love; that God loved the world so much that He gave His beloved Son to be our Redeemer, that God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, that nothing is able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, and that love is the fulfilment of the law.
And in his Gospel, John recorded Jesus' new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you.
And so John reminded her: Many deceivers have gone out into the world, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. John did not want her to lose what he and the other apostles had accomplished in her life.
In verse 8 he warns, For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.
However, Scripture is clear that Jesus is fully God yet he is also fully Man.
Not only are we to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation (our justification) but we are to keep on walking in the truth, and loving as Christ loved.
May we run the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Jesus instructed us to pray for those that persecute us, while Paul reminds us that when we are cursed - we are to bless those that curse us, and when we are hurt - we are to heal.
He is infinitely more significant than the angelic host, for He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high and all the angels of God worship Him. Christ Jesus is the eternal Son of God and omnipotent Creator of the universe.
And all who trust in Him for salvation may enter into His promised rest. Christ Jesus is the visible image of the invisible, triune God, and although in times past God spoke in various ways through Moses and the prophets, in these last days God has clearly spoken to man through His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things.
If the perfect Law taught that the wages of sin is death, how important to pay close attention to the gospel of the grace, where the gift of God is eternal lift through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How important that we do not drift away from the glorious gospel of grace: For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, after it was at the first spoken through the Lord Jesus Himself and confirmed to us by those His holy apostles?
What privilege to know that through His divine power, God has given every believer in Christ Jesus our Lord, all we need that pertain to life and godliness, and it is appropriated through a knowledge of Him.
In a passage that explains the realities of the New and better Covenant that God made with His people, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (when sin was once and forever put away by His own sacrificial death), we read that it is appointed for all men to die once, and after that comes the judgement.
After the Millennium, when there has been 1000 years of peace and prosperity and Jesus has ruled with a rod of iron, will be the Great White Thone of Judgement: And I saw a Great White Throne...........And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
But for the Church, which is Christ's Body, God's judgement on our sin is past, having been poured out on Jesus on the Cross, and our future heavenly judgement is where every Christian will be rewarded for the work which we did in our bodies, whether good or bad.
Death no longer has any hold on us, for we have received a new and eternal life in Christ. Our Lord Jesus shared our human frailty so that He could willingly give His life as a ransom for all who believe on His name.
As saints of God we should all be instant in prayer, constantly lifting our hearts and voice to the Lord in prayers of thanks and praise and intercession and requests, and laying them before the throne of God's grace in the name of JESUS - knowing that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
Similarly, the apostle Peter also rejoiced in God and gave glory to His name when he considered the amazing and over-abounding grace of God, and instructed believers: Grow in the grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who is worthy of all honour and glory, both now and to the day of eternity.
And here, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul concludes this section with the words: To Him be the glory in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, to all generations forever and ever, Amen.
Paul's spontaneous outburst of worship and praise in this passage, came after he had pronounced a truth that should rejoice the hearts of all God's children: Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, Amen.
God raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit; good deeds which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them.
May the truth of our salvation and the good works that we carry out through the power of Christ, bring everlasting glory to our Lord and Saviour in the same way that the Lord Jesus gave honour and glory to the Father during His sojourn on earth.
JESUS was fully GOD during His time of earth.
Identical in essence and purpose, Father and Son fulfilled their respective roles in the redemption of mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus.
We are to do His will and glorify His name, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of us evermore - so that in the ages to come we may show forth His glory in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, to all generations, forevermore.
If we trust in the person and work of Jesus, we are saved by faith in Him, and saved unto eternal life as a free gift of God's grace.
True discipleship is a recognition that without Him I can do nothing, but that I can do all things, not of myself, but through Jesus Christ who gives me the strength.
But because we are in the world and not part of this fallen world system we will be hated for no reason, just as they hated Jesus without any cause.
And so in this passage, Jesus is giving His twelve disciples a crash course in their future ministry.
No longer would they be under the Law, but under grace, for Christ's forthcoming death and Resurrection would set aside the Jewish, sacrificial system given to Israel through Moses, because Jesus, the Lamb of God, had come to be the full and final sacrificial offering for the sin of the whole world.
No longer would they proclaim that Jesus, the Son of the living God, was in their midst, and had come to fulfil all prophecy about the promised kingdom.
Soon Jesus would return to the Father to carry out His present, heavenly role as High Priest, interceding for His Church.
Jesus explained that the antagonism and hatred that Israel had against Himself had been prophesied of old.
And Jesus explained that Israel's rebellion against the Father and their hatred of His only begotten Son was a fulfilment of this prophecy: But they have done this to fulfil the word that is written in their Law, He told them, They hated Me without a cause.
But this was not a surprise to the Lord Who knows the end from the beginning, and Israel's rejection of Christ 2000 years ago has given us the opportunity of becoming sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
After this disturbing verse, where Jesus shows how hating Him without a cause was simply the fulfilment of the Word written in the Law, Jesus then tells them that after His Ascension, the Helper would come: And He will testify about Me, Jesus told them, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
He has fixed a day when He will judge the world righteously, and that judgment will be carried out by the Man, Christ Jesus, Whom God has destined and appointed for that task.
There are twenty-two astonishing Messianic prophesies in the book of Isaiah, and each one points to the Lord Jesus Christ as its glorious fulfilment, while hundreds more thread their way through the prophetic Scriptures.
The Word of the Lord is sure and every prophetic pronouncement in the Scriptures has or will reach its ultimate fulfilment in Christ, for God's Word is sure, His faithfulness is everlasting, His truth endures from one generation to the next, and His promises are 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus had already told His disciples that He was going to ask the Father to send them another Counsellor, a Helper just like Himself – the Spirit of truth Who would act as their Advocate and plead their case to the Father.
Here, the Lord Jesus expands this truth further by telling them that the Holy Spirit will be their great Teacher and teach them all things, and that He would also bring back to their remembrance all that Christ Himself had taught His faithful followers so that they in turn could teach others.
He will never leave you to face it alone but is there in the name of Jesus, to Whom all power and authority on heaven and on earth has been given.
The gospel Paul had taught these Christians at Galatia, had been received directly from Jesus Himself, but these legalisers attempted to discredit Paul’s apostleship and his message.
By returning to the Law of Moses, these Judaisers were turning away from the gospel of salvation, which comes as a free gift of grace from God to all who believe on the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The destructive and devastating doctrine the Galatians had started to embrace, was the fruit of a poisonous vine and not the truth received from the Lord Jesus.
2000 years ago, Israel were set aside for a season because they rejected Jesus the Nazarene, Who was attested by God through signs, miracles, and wonders, which God performed through Him.
The Church will continue their ministry of reconciliation, until the day they are taken out of the way, when Israel will once again be used to finish the work God He has prepared for them to do, and finally, they will welcome their Messiah - JESUS, King of kings and Lord of lords.
This final chapter of Zechariah, gives a detailed picture of a future day when the Lord Jesus will rescue His people Israel. Behold, the 'Day of the Lord' is coming, Zechariah writes, when your goods will be forcibly taken from you and divided in front of you... for I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem... Israel must first suffer punishment for their sin, before their night of weeping will turn into a glorious morning of joy.
They will call out for their Messiah and the Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth, a second time, to rescue His people once again, and set up His Millennial kingdom.
Well, there is a world of lost people out there... Jews and Gentiles alike, who will have to face the great and terrible Day of the Lord, if they do not turn from their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sin - through His sacrificial death.
If the only way to escape that terrible time to come is through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, should we not take every opportunity to tell our loved ones, our friends, our relatives, our neighbours, our work colleagues, and those we meet, the good news of the gospel of grace and the terrible consequences of rejecting God's offer of salvation?
It is God's final word to us about the Person and Work of Christ Jesus, His beloved Son Who completed His work on earth and today is seated on the right hand of the Father.
God the Father gave the content of Revelation to Jesus, Who relayed it to John through His angel.
When he turns to see the voice that is speaking with him, John sees Jesus.
For over 3 years he had been with Jesus, but the awesome vision that meets his eyes causes him to fall at His feet like a dead man.
Jesus had veiled His glory during His sojourn on earth, but He now stood clothed in glorious magnificence in the middle of 7 golden lampstands (which we are told later, represent 7 churches, the totality of the Christian Church).
As John lay prostrate in awesome wonder and reverential fear before the glorified Son of Man, the Lord Jesus revealed that the seven stars in His right hand, represented the angels of the 7 churches. Some consider that these seven stars speak of leaders, pastors, and representatives within the Christian Church, while others suggest that the literal meaning of angels or messengers is more likely.
Jesus is the Son Who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He graciously held the seven stars in His own right hand.
Surely there can be no more secure place for any of us, than to be held securely in the right hand of our precious Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is full of grace and truth, and John describes the pure words of grace and judgement that flowed from the lips of the Saviour as a sharp two-edged sword that proceeded from His mouth. During the early days of the Church, Israel were subdued under Roman authority.
Paul refers to the Scriptures as the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And during His earthy life, the Lord Jesus used this same 'sword' that John saw in this terrible vision, to silence Satan when He said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
We read: His face shone like the unclouded sun shining in its strength. John had captured a tiny glimpse of the majesty of Christ when the Lord was transfigured on the holy Mount, but as he lay prostrate on the floor before Jesus, His might, majesty, dominion, and power displayed the brilliance of His Person and, no doubt, gave the apostle an increased understanding of what it cost the Father to give His Son as the sacrifice for the sin of the whole world: God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Chapter one reminds us that Jesus, Who died for our sin, is the great resurrected Lord, the firstborn from the dead Who is now glorified.
As God's blood-bought children, we are not appointed to His wrath, and we will not be here when the resurrected, glorified Jesus judges the world in righteousness.
Let us treasure these verses in our hearts as we await the day when Jesus will come to take us to be with Himself: For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.
God is Spirit, and He is the immortal, invisible God, but we SEE God in the face of Jesus Christ our Saviour - not because of the virtuous things that we have done to purify our heart.
Jesus was the Word made flesh Who had come to earth.
They were to believe on God the Father... but also, they were to believe on the One Whom He had sent - the Lord Jesus Christ - for we are saved by grace through faith in HIM and not by works of the law.
In His sermon, Jesus was teaching the people of Israel about the coming Messianic kingdom.
through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord?
Indeed, we have already seen Him - in the face of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself had promised His chosen apostles that when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne in the kingdom of God, they too would be seated on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel, while prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and Zechariah linked this promised, earthly kingdom of peace and prosperity with a supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
It is not surprising that when Jesus told them that the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit would take place within a few days of His ascension into heaven, that the disciples eagerly asked Him the question: Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?
We will not stumble so quickly in our Christian walk, we will not start to doubt God's Word regarding our salvation, and we will not be tossed about by every changing wind of doctrine that seeks to place believers under condemnation when the Word of God clearly tells us that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Falsely accused, shockingly condemned to death, hated by humanity, mocked by the people, abhorred by the rulers, scorned by all, despised by those He loved, and rejected by those He came to save, Jesus hung upon the Cross.
And for three of the deepest and darkest hours of history, Jesus the beloved and anointed Son of God, hung on the Cross as our Kinsman-Redeemer, paying the price in full, for our sins.
Oh yes, Jesus endured the Cross, was made a curse for us, and felt the full flood of God's righteous wrath upon Him, for your sin and for mine too.
Praise God that we who trust in Jesus are the joyous recipients of this marvellous mystery that was kept hidden in ages past, but now has been revealed to us through the apostle Paul: According to His pleasure, which God purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together all things - IN CHRIST.
Peter trusted in Jesus as His Saviour, and even when Satan sought to sift Peter as wheat, the gates of hell could not prevail against this child of God, for Christ was praying for him.
It was this wonderful and eternally significant proclamation that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, and the Saviour of mankind upon which the Lord Jesus would build His Church – for His spilt blood was to seal the fate of Satan and destroy the evil power of death and hell that had snaked its icy fingers around the throat of every man and woman born into the human race.
For 2000 years, the Lord Jesus has been building His worldwide Church.
We are living stones who have put our faith in the confession that Peter once made, so many years ago: JESUS is the Messiah.
JESUS is the Christ, the anointed One.
JESUS is the Son of the living God.
And on this confession of faith, Jesus said, On this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
We read in this passage that when Jesus rose from the dead: He ascended into the heaven of heavens on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.
Every good expositor agrees that this verse is talking about the Lord Jesus, our great God and Saviour Who ascended into heaven after He rose victorious from the grave.
Jesus is the promised Seed of the woman, the coming Messiah of Old Testament times, and the incarnate Word of God Who was made Man and lived and died a sinless life, but He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven in triumphant power and great glory.
We read in this verse that Jesus led captivity captive.
Due to His death and glorious Resurrection, Jesus was the victor over sin, Satan, death, and hell.
Jesus broke all these evil chains asunder when He rose up from the grave.
This seems to be the case in Peter's life, when Jesus started to speak to His disciples with increasing urgency about His fast approaching departure.
Jesus had already been anointed for burial at Bethany and ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, as Scripture foretold.
Jesus had many more things to say to His disciples, but knew they were unable to bear them at this time, so instead of telling them plainly that He was to die, He answered: Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.
Simon did not understand Jesus was speaking about His death.
But Jesus had to walk the way of humiliation and rejection.
Jesus had to face death alone, but the day would come when Peter and all the apostles of Christ would follow in His footsteps - later.
Peter and all who believe on Him will suffer persecution, but Christ won the victory at Calvary, and there is laid up for Peter and all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ a Crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love Him.
Therefore, I make known to you, Paul explained, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus is accursed,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit.
We read that Paul thanked God for the grace of God which had been given to each one, and for their testimony of Christ - so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, and are eagerly awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he did have to address some problems within the congregation.
Paul knew that many false prophets had gone into the world and so he made it very clear to them that, no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus is accursed' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit.
Christ told us that when the Holy Spirit was sent, He would testify of Jesus and point us to Him.
While Jesus always points us to God the Father, the Spirit always promotes the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul was reinforcing this truth.
Warning bells should always ring when a minister is promoting themselves rather than pointing us to Jesus.
John the Baptist told us that Jesus must increase and we must decrease, and Paul was reinforcing this principle to the believers at Corinth when he insisted that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will denigrate the Lord Jesus.
And similarly, and no one can lift up the name of Jesus and confess, Jesus is Lord, except by the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Like the Corinthian Christians, we need to be awake, alert, and able to discern which men or women who are truly spiritual people, as opposed to the one that displays a false spirituality... with a magnetic personality that promotes self, rather than our God and Saviour - Jesus Christ.
Let us study to show ourselves approved unto Him and lift high the lovely Lord Jesus Christ, Who alone is worthy of all praise and worship.
They continued to make sacrificial offerings through the Levitical priesthood, even though Jesus was the full and final sacrificial offering, cutting the new covenant in His blood.
In the early days of the Church, many Jewish Christians who had trusted Christ as their Saviour, were being drawn back into Temple worship, Mosaic observances, and practicing, customs and traditions of the elders, even though they had been replaced when Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
As one reads through Hebrews, we see that the author systematically teaches that the old things have passed away and been replaced with the new, through the God-Man, Jesus Christ the righteous Who is a prophet greater than Moses, a High Priest greater than Aaron, and a King of kings greater than David.
At His first coming, Jesus came as God's Prophet.
But today, the Lord Jesus is acting as God's great High Priest Who ever lives to make intercession for all who are His children.
And now the hour had arrived for the God-Man, Jesus Christ the righteous, to finish the work the Father had prepared for Him to do before He departed His earthly abode and returned to His heavenly home.
And so it was that Jesus prayed His wonderful High Priestly prayer, and much of His petition to the Father was in connection with those He would leave behind in this God-hating, Christ-rejecting, sinful world which is in the control and clutches of satanic forces.
His faithful followers were to remain in the world and continue the work that Jesus Himself had begun; a ministry of reconciliation.
In these last days, may we be united together in the truth of God's Word and united together in the will and purpose of God's plan, so that by our word and witness, lost sinners might be saved by grace through faith in Christ, and Jesus Himself would be glorified.
We are further urged to be self-disciplined, self-controlled, sober, and stable in our walk with God which comes from a heart that is trusting the Lord, eyes that are looking to Jesus, and a life that is submitted to the Spirit and anchored on Christ, the Rock of our salvation.
We are to set our hope completely on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
We not only have confidence that Christ will come for His saints at the Rapture of the Church, but also we have an assurance in His Word, that the Lord Jesus will be revealed in glory.
But this truth must not be divorced from the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the anointed Messiah and promised Saviour Whose sacrificial death paid the price for our sins and Whose glorious Resurrection transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
We were born dead in trespasses and sins, separated from God and eternally damned, but by faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour, our sins were forgiven, all our past, present, and future sins, and we were cleansed from all unrighteousness.
And we even became entitled to call Him 'Abba, Father' by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, and nothing can break our union with our living Lord, but sin breaks fellowship with the Father.
The focus of this glorious passage of Scripture is the beloved Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the great grace that has been poured out on all who trust in His name.
Because of Christ's costly sacrifice of Himself in order to redeem the world, the Father has made the Lord Jesus Christ the fixed and final object of his love.
Should we not both joyously and humbly fix our eyes on Jesus?
Should we not, thankfully and in continuous wonder and praise, keep on fixing our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ? Should we not fall on our faces in submission to His guiding holy Spirit and cry out, Thy will not mine be done?
It not only tells how the Lord Jesus will right all wrongs and deal with the distressing evils of this world, but it also tells of the glorious Millennial Kingdom of Christ, and provides a tiny glimpse into the eternal ages to come, when all that was lost at the fall will have finally been restored to the Father through Jesus Christ, the God-Man.
It was to him that Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom when he was instructed, three times: Feed My sheep.
He was excited to discover that he would sit on a throne in Christ's kingdom and judge the 12 tribes of Israel, and Peter was the one who declared that his love for Jesus was immovable and unshakable, yet immediately denied Him three, terrible times.
It was only hours away from His crucifixion, when Jesus told them He was soon to go away and they could not follow Him.
Jesus had just delivered the most amazing discourse.
But at Pentecost, Peter and all who were waiting for the promised gift from God, received power from on high when the Spirit of God came to dwell within his mortal body, and like all who trust in JESUS, Peter found that His grace is sufficient, for His power is perfected in our weakness.
The peace we have WITH God through faith in Christ; the blessed hope we have in Jesus, when He comes to take us to be with Himself at the rapture; and the incomprehensible peace OF God that governs our hearts, when our minds are focussed on Him, will be unavailable to those who enter the great and terrible Day-of-the-Lord.
Sin in the sight of God is shocking, because the price that was paid for sin is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, which was shed on Calvary's cross.
NO, we are not appointed to wrath, but for obtaining full and free salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The ungodly actions and unbridled lust of such people was so gross that they even denied and disowned the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; challenging His right to rule, denying His eternal deity, discrediting His vicarious death, and rejecting His glorious Resurrection.
On a number of occasions, the disciples were challenged to give an answer for what they thought about Jesus Christ.
Early in His ministry, it was revealed to Peter by the Spirit of God, that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
It was in this increasing period of uncertainty when many followers left that the Lord Jesus asked the twelve, Will you also go away? Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is one and only road to righteousness, for He not only speaks the truth, but He is Truth and He has the words of eternal life.
A Star shall come forth from Jacob. This wicked man prophesied of Jesus, the bright, Morning Star Who would rise up from the nation of Israel, destroy all their enemies, and bring the wicked to naught.
May we take to heart the serious warnings that are issued by Peter, Jude, and the Lord Jesus Himself in His own warning in the letter to Pergamum: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.
I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly from house to house, Paul recalled, during the make-shift meeting on the sea-shore, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
During his years in Ephesus, Paul had taught many different Church-age doctrines, but the one highlighted here was 'repentance towards God' and 'faith in our Lord Jesus Christ'.
On closer examination, we find the meaning of 'repentance toward God' and 'faith in the Lord Jesus Christ' are interchangeable with one another, and co-dependent.
True, biblical repentance is towards God, and means to change one's mind about Jesus Who was sent by the Father to be the propitiation for our sin. 'Repentance to God' is turning away from sin TO Christ. 'Repentance' is ineffective unless one turns, in faith, to the Lord Christ for forgiveness.
In this verse, 'faith in the Lord Jesus Christ' pre-supposes 'repentance of sin towards God', but sadly many churches continue to insist there are two steps to salvation: 1) repent and 2) believing, when there are multiple passages that demonstrate that salvation is by GOD's grace, through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ.
She watched, with the other women, to see where the body of Jesus was laid.
Immediately Mary assumed someone had stolen the body of Jesus and she left the other women, and ran to the lodgings of the disciples to tell them of this heartbreaking happening.
So Mary ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, 'They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.'
But like the other disciples and the rest of the women, Mary had forgotten all that Jesus had told them - that He would be crucified and handed over to the Gentiles... that He would be mocked and mistreated, insulted and spat upon.
Jesus had tried to tell them that first He must endure the cross before He could wear the crown.
Mary may have had a problematic past, but she also had a great love for the Lord and her past sins did not disqualify her from being the first person, recorded in Scripture, to see the risen Lord Jesus Christ, in Person.
But even this woman preferred to be influenced by the circumstances that surrounded her, rather than believing all that the Scriptures said about Jesus and all that He had told them about His sacrificial death for the sins of the world and His glorious resurrection - on the third day.
Mary's love for Jesus is something about which we rejoice greatly.
Jesus had set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem because He knew that the hour of His death had almost arrived.
A large crowd was following Jesus as He and His disciples passed through Jericho, en route to Jerusalem.
When Jesus heard their cry He stopped, stood still, and called to them and asked, What do you want Me to do for you?
Jesus did not need them to tell Him of their need, He knows what we need before we ask Him, but the Lord wants us to admit our need to Him.
Maybe these men understood that here was the One Who would supply all they needed according to the riches of God's amazing grace, and Who would shine the light of the knowledge of God into their hungry hearts, guide their feet into the way of eternal peace, and open their eyes to see the truth of the knowledge of God: So Jesus had compassion on them and touched the eyes of His two countrymen, and restored their sight.
Not only did these two blind men realise their need of Jesus, but they were willing to ask Him for what they needed, and to keep on asking.
Maybe someone had told them about the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, Ask, and keep on asking and it will be given to you.
Not only did these men recognise their need and asked for what they needed, but they took advantage of the situation in which they found themselves; they did not allow Jesus to pass by without calling out to Him for mercy and grace.
Jesus was making His final journey into Jerusalem, the City of David, to fulfil all that the prophets had spoken about Him.
Here were two Jewish men who would cry out for mercy to 'Jesus, the Son of David' and feel the warmth of His merciful kindness.
There is no question that God knows the heart, and the Father must have sent His Son to meet the need of the two blind, Jewish men who had come to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Son of David, the King of Israel Who would save His people from their sin.
And we read that when Jesus healed them, they too followed Him.
I wonder if these same two Jewish men who received their sight would become two faithful witnesses to the truth, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that in Him are the words of eternal life.
Today is the dispensation of grace when all who believe on the Lord Jesus will be saved.
But a day is coming when God will finish the work He started through Israel, the scales will fall off many blinded, Jewish eyes, and Israel as a nation will cry out for their Messiah to save them, just as the two blind men in Jericho cried out to Jesus as He walked towards the Cross.
Indeed, there was a small remnant of Jewish believers during Christ's earthly ministry, and in the early days of the Church, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved - and today, during this Christian dispensation, there is still a small remnant of Jewish people whose eyes have been opened to the truth of the gospel of grace and who believe that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel and Son of the living God.
The apostle John was one of Christ's chosen disciples who walked with the Lord Jesus from the very beginning of His earthly ministry.
John was an eyewitness to the lovely life of Jesus Christ the righteous, and he saw and testified to the truth, that in Him was everlasting life, and love, and light, and hope.
The apostle John was one of those that was closest to Jesus throughout His earthly ministry.
He was one whose entire life was dedicated to presenting the Person and Work of Jesus the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world, for John knew that Jesus is the only Way to God, the only Truth that stands fast for ever and ever, the only Life that is eternal and abundant, and the only Light of the world in Whom is no darkness at all.
John was a man who knew the deep love that the Lord Jesus had for the children of men and who himself enjoyed sweet fellowship with Him for three precious years.
He longed that others would know and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that by believing in Him, we may have life in His name.
Yes, John desired that others would also engage in the same close communion with Jesus that he himself enjoyed, both during Christ's ministry on earth and during His current session, where He is seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high in heavenly glory.
John was there at the Cross when the Lord Jesus cried: Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
The apostle John was also among those present when the resurrected Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples in the upper room and proclaimed: It is I, be not afraid.
John had experienced wonderful fellowship and sweet communion with his Lord and he wanted all who trust in Christ for salvation to know the beautiful Person of Jesus and to experience the same sweet fellowship that he enjoyed.
But because of the Cross of Christ and the sacrifice of Himself on behalf of all people, God in His grace chose to make the Gentiles: Co-heirs, members of the same Body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus. It was through the Cross that the wall of separation was broken down and it was through the gospel message that we preach Christ crucified.
But this verse outlines a core truth that is contained in the message of the Cross: Which is that Gentiles are co-heirs, members of the same Body, and partners of the promise made to Christ Jesus our Lord, through the glorious gospel of grace.
We can live a life where our focus is on the good things of this life or we can keep the eyes of our heart focussed on the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect righteousness.
Let us treasure the things of the Lord, and unrelentingly pursue after righteousness and godliness, faith and love, perseverance and gentleness, humility of heart and joy in the Lord, for when our treasure is rooted and grounded in Jesus, then our heart will be anchored to the Rock of our eternal salvation.
What simple yet what profound words were uttered by Simon Peter in response to the question that Jesus asked His disciples: Whom do YOU say that I AM?
Whom do YOU say Jesus Christ is?
What think ye of Jesus of Nazareth?
There is of course only one correct answer, and every answer that conflicts with the truth of Who Jesus is - is the wrong answer.
What we believe about Jesus of Nazareth has eternal consequences in the lives of every man and woman born into the human race.
This is a non-negotiable, scriptural fact, and knowing God and trusting in the finished work of the true historical, scriptural Jesus Christ is life - eternal life - everlasting life - abundant life, for the Lord Jesus ALONE is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Cults, religionists, and unbelievers alike have their own perception of Who Jesus is, and without exception, every false gospel and cultish belief is rooted in a false understanding of Who the Lord Jesus Christ is.
The second person of the uncreated Godhead Who is equal in every respect with God, is the Lord Jesus Christ; the Son of God, given as Redeemer of the world, born of a virgin into the human race as fully Man, uniting the nature and characteristics of God with His human nature, yet without sin.
Through His atoning work on the Cross, He paid the price for the sin of every person in the world so that all - yes, ALL who believe - ALL who trust in Jesus as Redeemer have eternal life.
The question each of us must answer is: Whom do YOU say Jesus is?
Legalism had become so entrenched in Jewish culture that Jesus had to firmly reprimand the chief priests and Pharisees by saying, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was given for the benefit of man and not the other way around, which is why Jesus said, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
A great change took place in God's dealings with mankind after the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as Christ opened the Scriptures to His disciples following His Resurrection, so Peter and the apostles did the same for the men of Israel who did not recognise Jesus.
Once again, Peter was able to deliver more scriptural evidence that Jesus Whom they crucified, was their promised Messiah; the greatest Prophet of all time and the eternal King of Israel.
This quote from Moses was recognised by all-Israel as a Messianic passage, and when Peter opened their understanding to the truth of these words, many were horrified to discover that Jesus was the Prophet God raised up, about Whom Moses spoke.
Jesus was the Prophet Whom Moses predicted when he said the Lord would raise up a Prophet who would act as he did; as Israel's deliverer, leader, and judge.
Many who heard Peter's preaching understood that Jesus was that Prophet Who is greater than Moses, just as He is the King Who is greater than David, and the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek Who is greater than Aaron.
We, who deserve punishment, are justified, sanctified, and glorified, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, simply because we have trusted Him as our Saviour.
We are declared righteous because of our identity with Jesus.
And having just spread before us the most astonishing array of privileges that are ours through faith in Jesus Christ and which describes God's unfailing plan and purpose for us through the gospel of Christ, Paul finally asks the rhetorical question... If GOD is for us, WHO can be against us? And the resounding answer can only be - no-one! - no - one!!
The book of Galatians was written by the apostle Paul, who had been called and chosen to be God's apostle to the Gentiles. He was commissioned as an apostle by the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel he taught came to Paul by a revelation from the Lord Jesus Himself.
Peter's great sermon on the Day of Pentecost clearly spelled out the truth of the post-Resurrection gospel to the Jews: Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.
For God has resurrected this Jesus and we are all witnesses of this.
Because of the opposition to his teaching and ministry, it was necessary for Paul to not only defend the truth of the gospel that he taught and justify his own apostolic calling, but to clarify the true gospel of salvation that he taught; that every man, Jew and Gentile alike, is a guilty sinner who is under God's eternal condemnation, who can only be declared righteous by God through FAITH in Christ Jesus. And so Paul penned his epistle to the Galatians to vehemently condemn their false teaching and meticulously set out the one and only way to be saved - as a free gift of God's grace which is accessed by Jews and Gentiles alike - BY FAITH.
Sadly, while a remnant of converted Jews and two special witnesses will tell forth the truth that Jesus is the promised Messiah and eternal Son of the Father - others will believe the lie from the satanically inspired man-of-sin.
They will be shockingly deceived into thinking the Saviour has already arrived, believing his smooth sounding words - until a significant event takes place in the middle of the final 'week' (or 3 1/2 years into this 7-year period) when this evil imposter completes the abominable action described in this verse, in the middle of the week, he will go into the Temple of God and put a stop to the daily sacrifices. This counterfeit Christ will claim that he is God and will desecrate God's holy Temple with, what Jesus calls, the abomination that causes desolation.
And so it was through Jesus Christ, the eternal Son and perfect Man, that God spoke His full and final message to humanity.
Jesus was the first-born from the dead; uniquely resurrected with a glorified body, in Whom was eternal light and everlasting life for all who would believe on His name.
As such, Jesus became the federal head of a new creation of man, with the right and authority to represent everyone who would trust in Him for salvation.
Jesus was God's full and final message to mankind, and He authenticated His message through various signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts so that we might KNOW that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
From the beginning, Scripture spoke of God's redemptive plan for mankind, which could only be achieved in and through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
And having carried out God's plan of redemption and completed His redemptive work, Jesus was crowned with glory and honour.
As God's representative on earth the Lord Jesus will rule the world with equity and righteousness, and He will finally bring all things in subjection under His feet.
But in another way, the Lord Jesus was begotten at His incarnation, when He laid aside His glory and took upon Himself the form of a servant and became God with us - God incarnate - God in the flesh.
But in the truest and biblical sense, the Lord Jesus was begotten at His glorious Resurrection.
Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus was: Declared to be the powerful Son of God at His Resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.
No one can commit their heart and lives wholly to the Lord Jesus, serving and glorifying God in their inner man, if they are lusting after the things of this world.
And so we are encouraged by the Lord Jesus Himself to lay up eternal treasures in the heavenly realm, in preference to seeking after the trivial trinkets of this transient world.
Jesus Christ is not only our spiritual inheritance, but He is also our everlasting treasure and eternal reward.
Jesus is not only near in the Person and work of the Spirit in our lives, but His physical return in the clouds to take us to be with Himself at the Rapture, or resurrection of Church-age saints, is also nearer than when we first believed.
Both joy in the Lord and gentleness of heart are attitudes that should permeate the soul and spirit of the righteous, for we are called upon to: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, knowing that when we do so: The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, in a deepening knowledge of Jesus Christ, our gentle God and gracious Saviour.
Oh, the mystery of His spoken WORD, the power of His written WORD, the wonder of His living WORD, and the grace of the Incarnate WORD - our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his Gospel, Luke wrote down all that Jesus began to do and teach during his earthly ministry, describing His birth, life, death, burial, and rising from the dead.
He also described post-Resurrection appearances, when the Lord Jesus presented Himself alive to His followers by many convincing proofs for 40 days, during which time He taught about the kingdom of God and presented Himself as Israel's promised Messiah.
The good doctor continued his treatise in the book of Acts and in chapter 1, we find Christ's disciples waiting in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit, as Jesus had instructed them.
As His disciples watched the Lord Jesus ascend into heaven, He reminded them that soon they would be baptised with the Holy Spirit.
As they waited in Jerusalem for the promise of the Spirit, the 11 apostles were continually united in prayer along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and Christ's brothers.
During this waiting period, Peter assumed a leadership role and reminded his fellow apostles that only 11 of Christ's original 12 chosen men remained (for Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord Jesus, was already dead).
As a result, Peter stood up among the brethren, who numbered about 120, and set out his reasoning to those that were present: Brothers, he said, Scripture has to be fulfilled, (which was spoken by the Holy Spirit long ago, through the mouth of David) concerning Judas who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
No doubt Peter also remembered how Jesus had assured his 12 apostles that they would sit on 12 thrones in Christ's coming Messianic Kingdom: Judging the 12 tribes of Israel, as recorded in Luke 22, where we read: You will eat and drink at My table in My kingdom - and you will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
Peter clearly realised that if there were only 11 apostles, Christ's prophetic words could not be fulfilled and from his account in Acts 1, it appears that he and the other apostles expected the Lord Jesus to return very, very soon, to set up His Messianic Kingdom, for as Jesus was ready to ascend into heaven, Peter asked Jesus, Lord, is this the time when You will restore the kingdom to Israel?
Like all of Christ's other 11 apostles, the new apostle, must have accompanied Jesus throughout His earthly life, and also been an eyewitness of Christ's death and His Resurrection.
Jesus came to earth at God's appointed time to save His people, Israel, from their sins and set up God's kingdom on earth - but Israel rejected their Messiah, and the kingdom He came to set up had to be postponed until the nation of Israel repents of the communal sin of rejecting their Messiah.
He recognised that the new apostle needed to be a man who had not only been with them all from the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry, until the day when Jesus was taken up into heaven, but was also a man who would become the 12th witness, to testify to Christ's Resurrection: Therefore, Luke explains in this passage, he must be chosen from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John (from the start of John the Baptist's ministry) until the day Jesus was taken up from us.
The important position of apostle needs to be recognised and celebrated, for Scripture tells us that the Church was to be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the Cornerstone.
Peter and other apostles, who walked with Jesus from the beginning of John's baptism, were the men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to pen much of the New Testament, which would become the bedrock upon which our faith is founded, with Christ as the Cornerstone.
With the exception of Paul, who was later commissioned as an apostle by the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, only someone who meets these clearly defined Scriptural criteria, has the authority to be addressed as 'apostle'.
'The Day of the Lord' starts with the seven-year long Tribulation Period, and the return of Christ at the end of the seven years, and it stretches forward for a further 1000 years when Jesus, God's appointed King, will rule and reign on earth with a rod of iron.
After the resurrection of Church-age saints, those believers who are still living and remain on earth will be caught up into the clouds together with the resurrected saints, where we will all meet the Lord Jesus in the air.
What a comfort to hear Paul explain that God has not destined us for His wrath during the first part of the Day of the Lord, because we have obtained salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
But in this verse we find Paul contrasting Timothy with less-spiritual Christians, who seek after their own interests, and not those of Christ Jesus.
This is indeed a great commendation of Timothy, but what a sad testimony of those that placed their own interests above those of the Lord Jesus.
How quickly we can allow the cares and excitement of this world to drown out our concern for others, and cause us to leave our first love - the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul indirectly praised Timothy's gracious character, his godly disposition, and his Christ-like love, because he chose to send him to encourage the Christians in Philippi, in preference to others who, seek after their own interests, and not those of Christ Jesus.
The old apostle Peter knew that his time on earth was short, but felt it necessary to continue reminding believers of the truths of the Word of God and of the responsibility we all have to become increasingly established in the gospel of Christ so that we may grow in grace and become increasingly fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The truth that is contained in this section of Scripture is as vital for Christians in the 21st century as when it was first penned, for we have all obtained the same precious faith as did this old fisherman who walked with Jesus for three long years and who, like us, was saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Like us, it was by faith that the old apostle Peter obtained the righteousness of Christ Jesus, our God and Saviour Who died for us all.so that we might live for Him.
The victory that Christ won on the Cross is a victory that is imputed to every child of God at the moment of salvation, for we are told by the apostle John himself: The one who overcomes the world, is the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Though a defeated enemy, the wiles and strategies of Satan continue to be employed in the life of all who are God's blood-bought children in order to shipwreck their witness and render their work for the Lord on earth as wood, hay, and stubble: But be of good cheer, the Lord Jesus encouraged His little flock: Take courage for I have overcome the world.
Jesus has overcome sin, death, Satan, and the world system on our behalf, because we cannot overcome ourselves.
Jesus gained the victory on behalf of all who trust in the name of the only begotten Son of God for salvation, because we cannot overcome the world, the flesh, our sin nature, or the strategies of the evil one in our own strength.
Let us seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus our Lord, and let us praise God that in all things we overwhelmingly conquer by faith in Him Who loved us, and gave His life for us.
How easy it is to forget the glorious liberty we have in our God and the many precious promises, which are 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus, as we look at the difficulties that surround us instead of trusting His Word in all things.
Whether he was imprisoned for his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, travelling on his missionary journeys to far-flung places, or simply employed in his craft of tent-making, Paul's heart was ever open in intercessions and prayer towards his fellow believers.
We who were once dead in our trespasses and sins and estranged from God by sin, have been forgiven of our sins and brought near to His throne of grace, through faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
The Lord Jesus had just finished His ministry in the Galilee area and set His face to Jerusalem.
Jesus not only started to explain privately to His disciples about His mission and ministry (His death and Resurrection), but He also talked to the crowd about what it really means for a believer to become a true disciple of His.
And so we read that Jesus said to all, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
We are saved from our sins because we trusted Jesus as Saviour Who died on the Cross.
But to become a true disciple, we must take up our own cross daily, and follow the Lord Jesus.
Let us take these words spoken by Jesus to heart: If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
John and all of us who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ have a promised hope that can never fail, for Jesus (The Man Who is God and the God Who is Man) broke the power of Satan, sin, death, and hell, at the Cross, and although its final fulfilment is yet future, we can rejoice greatly knowing that the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome, and HE IS able to open the book.
Every aspect of their lives were regulated by the Mosaic Law, which was given by God to point His people to Jesus - their coming Messiah.
Jesus Himself expresses the importance of caring for the least of these, and showed godly concern for the outcasts of society, while James exhorts us to be doers of God's Word and not hearers only.
We are under the Law of love - the law of grace - the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus - and we are to love as Christ loved and consider the needs of others before our own.
May we become a reflection of the lovely Lord Jesus, and show Christlike compassion and mercy to all who are disadvantaged.
ot because of any imposed laws, but out of love for our fellow man and reverence for our God and Saviour - Jesus Christ our Lord.
But the Christian that presses on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, through devotion to Christ and the pursuit of godliness, will receive a crown that lasts forever.
Old things had to pass away and all things have to become new, with a new federal Head of a totally new creation - and the Lord Jesus Christ is the federal Head of the new creation.
And so, we see Jesus being made a little lower than the angels in order to be qualified as our Kinsman-Redeemer... for only a sinless Man would be qualified to be humanities Redeemer.
And so, we see Jesus suffering death on our account... but we also see Him having faith that He would be raised from the dead with honour and great glory.
Although Jesus is the eternal God, He set aside His heavenly glory so that He could live and die as a mortal Man, giving us an example of how we should live in this fallen world.
Jesus is the perfect example of perfect humanity, where man is totally dependent, in every way, on the all-powerful God.
Although Jesus was fully God, He was also fully Man.
And as perfect Man, He lived a perfect life and He died His sacrificial death - putting into practice the words of the Psalmist, I will put My trust in Him. In life and in death, Jesus demonstrated the trust that we too must place in our Heavenly Father.
Setting aside His heavenly glory, enabled the Lord Jesus to say of all who are saved by grace through faith in Him, Behold - I and the children which God hath given Me.
Jesus is a Man like no other member of the human race.
Jesus is the only Person Who could make the statement: Before Abraham was, I AM, for Christ is the heavenly Man Who was previously known by the Father and is eternally One with Him.
Yes, Jesus is the Word made flesh Who came to tabernacle amongst His own creation so that He could save His people from their sin, by faith in Him.
As God incarnate, the Lord Jesus is the only Man Who could ever claim to be the one Way to the Father, the singular Truth in a fallen world of lies and deception, and the one and only perfect Man Who was resurrected from the dead and in Whom is eternal Life.
For 4000 years, God prepared the way for His only begotten Son to be born into the world as the Propitiation for our sin and it was at the end of the dispensation of the Law (which Scripture refers to as 'the last days') that Jesus was sent from heaven to earth to fulfil His Father's plans and purpose for the race of man whom He had formed out of the dust of the earth in His own image and likeness.
Jesus Christ was the Seed to Whom this Abrahamic promise was made: Now to Abraham and his Seed (the Lord Jesus Christ) were the promises made.
The promise to Abraham, that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him, was to come about through his unique Seed, Christ Jesus our Lord, for it is through His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection that all the peoples on earth would be blessed, both Jew and Gentile.
Jesus Christ is the Seed to Whom this particular, staggering Abrahamic promise of world-wide blessing was made, for only the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man (Who is the single Seed of Abraham) is able to save His people Israel from their sins, to die for the sin of the whole Gentile world, and to unlock that precious promise that God made to His forefather: That all the families of the earth will be blessed.
It was to Abraham and his Seed, Christ Jesus our Lord: For God did not say, 'and to seeds, as of many - but as of One - and to thy SEED, which is Christ.'
This verse of Scripture is part of a passage that denounces a range of heretical teachings and lays out the criteria for living a high and holy life in Christ Jesus.
He denounces Asceticism and severe self-discipline as a means of gaining God's favour, rather than salvation being a free gift of God's grace by faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus.
Paul points out that when these or other false doctrines are added to Christianity or used as a substitute for the truth, they cause us to become inexcusably carnal, fleshly minded, and self-inflated without cause, because we are not holding fast to JESUS, the Head.
When Christians allow themselves to be sucked into unbiblical teachings, false doctrines, and humanistic philosophies, we become unfruitful and lose the heavenly reward that awaits all those that live a godly life in Christ Jesus.
But, when we are abiding in Christ, we are: Holding fast to the living Head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows. When we are walking in spirit and truth and holding fast to Christ Jesus our Lord we grow in grace with a growth which is from God.
Christ is the Head of the Body and we are all members of His Body, which means that JESUS is the One Who is building us together in Himself and knitting us together in His love.
May we never forget that Jesus Himself reminded us: I am the Vine.
Paul told Timothy not to be ashamed of the gospel nor to be afraid to testify about our Lord Jesus, adding: And don't be ashamed of ME, Christ's prisoner! Paul had been imprisoned many times for the sake of the gospel and considered it an honour to suffer for the sake of his Saviour, while relying on God's sufficient strength to bring him through victory: It was for this gospel I was appointed a herald, apostle, and teacher, Paul reminded Timothy, as he urged him to imitate his way.
No doubt, Timothy had often heard Paul's thrilling, life-changing experience on the road to Damascus, when he was apprehended by a vision of the risen, glorified Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul knew the Lord Jesus personally and was persuaded that He was able to guard ALL that had been entrusted to Him until that day when Christ comes to take us to be with Himself.
Every one of us can develop and maintain the same personal relationship with the Lord Jesus as we walk in spirit and truth, grow in grace, and mature in the faith.
When the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, He entered His new life - His heavenly ministry.
As the greatest oppressor of the early Christian Church, the apostle Paul was supernaturally changed on that road to Damascus, when Jesus made Himself known to him, and Paul repented of his past life and turned to the Lord for His great salvation.
And Paul became a new creation in Christ - old things were passed away in his life, and behold, all things became new, as he boldly began proclaiming Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
We are to live in sweet communion with the lovely Lord Jesus and only do those things that we hear from Him.
It was written to help them come to terms with the New and better Covenant, which was promised by the mouth of Jeremiah, cut through the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and will be fully and finally ratified when Jesus returns to set up His Millennial Kingdom on earth.
It contrasts God's initial revelation of Himself, through Moses at Sinai, with His full and final revelation of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son - through the Cross.
The Law causes the sinner to acknowledge his sinfulness and reach out to Jesus Christ, our perfect sacrifice - for whosoever believes on Him by accepting His gracious offer of salvation through faith, will be saved.
By the time the author has reached chapter 12, the need for faith rather than works has been clearly outlined and explained... and believers are exhorted to hope in Christ and to recognise that the terrors of the Law and the wrath of God, have been removed from all who believe, by faith, in the shed blood of Jesus Christ Who cleanses the heart and affords for us an eternal pardon from the God of the universe.
And throughout the Word of God, we discover that, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the power of God and the wisdom of God, to all who believe - and we are one with Him.
He hated with a passion the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He represented.
Paul's extraordinary conversion brought him face to face with the risen Christ, and he began to pray fervently and then started to preach enthusiastically: Proclaiming Jesus in the streets and in the synagogues.
As soon as Paul came to an understanding of Who Jesus was, he immediately began to preach the good news: Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, Jesus is the Saviour of the whole world, and Jesus is the one and only sacrifice for sin, for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of spiritually blind Israel during His First Coming.
And when the Lord Jesus opened this blind beggar's eyes, it was a picture of blind beggarly Israel whom the Lord desired to heal, for the kingdom of heaven was near.
Jesus is ready and willing to open the eyes of all who are blinded by the god of this world.
If the Lord Jesus were to ask YOU this question today: What do you want Me to do for you? I wonder what you would say…
Let us live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to Him, for we have the freedom to approach our God in confidence, knowing that He hears and answers all our needs and intercessions through faith in Christ Jesus.
Never let us forget that through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we have boldness and confident access to God. Day by day, let us know and apply this glorious truth in our situation in our life, and in the time we have left on this mortal realm.
How clearly the writer to the Hebrews reminds us to consistently and continuously keep our focus on Jesus, Who is the both the Apostle and the High Priest of our Christian faith and our heavenly calling.
He is the master-builder of the universe and while these others illustrious men were God's faithful servants, Christ Jesus is the Son of the most High God, and we are safe and secure in His care.
Today is the day that we should become more and more like Jesus Christ in thought, word, and deed.
Having taught kingdom principles and practices in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus set out to prove His power over sickness, diseases, demons, and death, with many mighty healings.
It is in this chapter, that the Lord Jesus demonstrated His power to heal the sick and forgive sin, and in so doing, authenticated His deity.
Having been rejected in Nazareth, Jesus had made Capernaum his home base.
Whether this was a long-term paralysis or something that happened during Christ's recent absence we are not told, but we are informed that these men had faith in Jesus because they brought their paralysed friend to Christ for healing.
It was when they brought the paralysed man to Jesus, that He saw their trust in Him and their faith in God, and responded to their call.
God knows the heart of man and can read our private thoughts, and Jesus was able to see that these men believed He had power from on high to heal their sick friend.
These caring men carried their immobile friend to Jesus on a bed as soon as he arrived back in Capernaum.
The healing of their friend's twisted, disabled body was what they expected, and their expectation was rewarded, for we read that when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic: Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.
Jesus saw the faith of his friends, but it was to the paralysed man that He offered a word of encouragement when He said: Take courage.
Both the paralysed man and his friends came to Jesus for healing, but received something much, much more.
They witnessed the incarnate Son of God exercise His power and authority to forgive sins, and no doubt came to a much deeper spiritual understanding of the significance of WHO the Lord Jesus was.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus increasingly demonstrated His power over sickness and diseases, demons and death, until that pivotal day in history when the sting of death was swallowed up in victory.
Jesus is the personification of love, and the message of the Cross is written in His blood.
Jesus took the punishment we deserve so that we might be imputed with His perfect righteousness.
God in His mercy stooped down to humanity so that the sacrificial death of the sinless Lord Jesus would pay the penalty for our sin through faith in Him.
God the Father treated the Lord Jesus like a condemned criminal, pouring the full force of His anger and wrath on the Son of His love, as He bore the accumulated sin of the whole world on His sinless shoulders.
Jesus was cursed on our account and paid the price for our sins.
Acting as our Kinsman-Redeemer, Jesus was made sin by becoming the full and final sacrificial sin-offering.
And yet His final words pleaded: Father forgive, and all that fallen man has to do to receive His forgiveness is to say: I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus identified with our sinfulness and shame so that we could be eternally identified with His magnificent glory and everlasting righteousness, simply by believing in the name of the only begotten Son of the most high God.
It will start when Jesus, the Lamb on the throne, will break the first seal on the seven-sealed scroll in heaven and, one by one, a series of terrible judgements will be sent to punish the Christ-rejecting, God-hating sinful world, as the wrath of God starts to be poured out over the earth.
He sent Jesus to be our Kinsman-Redeemer, to take the punishment we deserve, and to pay the penalty for our sin.
And on the Cross of Calvary 2000 years ago, the full force of the wrath of God was poured out in full, on Jesus.
Paul tells us that as Church age believers who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, we are not appointed to wrath, for Christ took the punishment for our sin and we have been declared righteous in God's sight and covered in His robe of righteousness.
And so, before the Tribulation period starts, Jesus will come in the clouds, to rapture all Church age believers into heaven.
Time is short, and as those who will escape the wrath to come, we should take every opportunity to urgently warn a world that is sinking deeper and deeper into sin, to pay attention to Scripture, to heed biblical warnings, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is NO other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
Jesus was a Man that went about doing good, but those who knew Him as a young lad in the little village of Nazareth, were unable to accept Him and His teachings.
It is said, 'familiarity breeds contempt', and the people of Nazareth were so biased against Jesus that He could not do many mighty miracles there, because of their unbelief.
The people of Nazareth had watched the young Jesus at play and probably employed his carpentry skills... to build a yoke of oxen, repair some broken furniture, fashion a wooden bowl, or decorate a special cabinet.
The majority of them were unable to divorce the negative bias they felt for Jesus from the gracious message of life and truth that He was proclaiming.
It was during one of His rare visits to Nazareth that Jesus attended the synagogue, one Sabbath day.
Many were astonished at His understanding of the Scriptures and questioned where Jesus had gained such wisdom.
These shortsighted neighbours of Jesus were unable to shake free from the weighty biases with which they had become entrenched.
They could not comprehend that Jesus was the eternal Son of the Father - the Word made flesh - the incarnate God.
These false teachers: Profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny the Lord Jesus, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
Then as now there were many gnostic teachers and religious cults that deny the deity of Christ and His equality with the Father, but the Bible makes it plain that the one who denies the Son denies the Father: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is the visible representation of the invisible God is not from God, but is exhibiting the spirit of antichrist.
There were many in Paul's day that professed to know God but their deeds denied Him, and there are an increasing number of people today that have a form of godliness while denying the Lord Jesus as the one true God, the only Saviour of mankind and the sole Mediator between God and man.
Christ had come into the world to carry out the will of His Father in heaven, and during the short span of time that Jesus lived on earth, He was called to deliver God's message of reconciliation to a world that was lost, dying, blinded, and doomed.
Jesus had to complete His lifework in spirit and in truth, only doing those things that He heard from His Father in heaven, and living day by day in complete submission to the indwelling Holy Spirit.
The fool has said in his heart that there is no God, and the scoffer has mocked the promise of His return, but the day is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ will return as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The Lord Jesus Christ will set up His world-wide kingdom on earth, when Israel will be the head of the nations and not the tail.
For the Lord Himself will be king over all the earth, and in that day Christ Jesus alone will be worshiped.
What joy it must have been to have been a member of the Ephesian congregation, and to read: I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints.
Practical godliness, a good understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a heart that continuously rejoices in the Lord no matter what struggles we may be facing, is a test of our wisdom: For the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.
The inexpressible depth of God's love towards condemned mankind was demonstrated when He sent the Lord Jesus to be our Saviour, Who took the punishment for our sin on Calvary's cross.
Having laid out the most comprehensive presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul finally reaches his joyful conclusion with the most astonishing promise and wonderful truth that is given to all who believe - that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord - nothing visible or invisible, nothing in the physical realm or the spiritual sphere, nothing in the heavens above, the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth can separate us from God's gracious and everlasting love.
Nothing past or present or future can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing created by God and nothing imagined by man has the power to remove His blood-bought children from God's inexpressible love and His eternally secure promises, which are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord - and I am persuaded too!
Not even those that are redeemed can separate themselves from His loving care, because Jesus Christ, Himself has secured our salvation forever, through His sacrifice on the cross.
Bad works and ungodly activities cannot negate the gift God has given us, through Jesus Christ His Son.
He cannot contradict His Word, which reminds us that nothing can separate us from Him - For I am convinced, Paul wrote, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul reminds us that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, and He is the One Who comforts us in all our affliction.
And a day is coming when every prophecy, as yet unfulfilled, will come to completion and Israel will be comforted in their homeland by Jesus, their Prince of Peace and promised King.
We have been given peace with God by our Lord Jesus Christ and are no longer estranged from Him through sin... for we have been redeemed with a price... the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
He points to the Lord Jesus as the perfect example of a life lived in gracious humility, godly self-sacrifice, and with a deep and genuine love for others; a life that was lived to the glory of God.
But it was not only the Lord Jesus Whom Paul used to demonstrate the gracious selflessness and sacrificial attitude that believers are exhorted to display towards their fellow man.
Paul named Timothy, Epaphroditus, and even himself as men that exhibited this same Christ-like attitude which should be the outflow of all who are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
He did this so that we could be forgiven of our sins and be showered with all the wonderful and eternal gifts that God in His grace has bestowed on all who believe on the name of Jesus.
The Lord Jesus partook of our earthly frame and was born as a flesh and blood member of the human race, so that by His DEATH, death would be conquered.
He was to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ which is freely given to all who trust in the Lord Jesus as Saviour (by grace, through faith in God's only begotten Son).
Like Paul and the believers in Rome, we too are the 'called' of Jesus Christ.
And packaged in our great salvation, is not only justification (when we first believed) but sanctification (as we grow in grace throughout our Christian life) and also glorification (when Jesus returns to take us to be with Himself in heaven).
Today, we are called of Jesus Christ to sanctification; to grow spiritually in the grace of God and to become mature believers who are rooted and grounded in Christ. This cannot be done in our own might or power, but only as we willingly submit to the guiding hand of the indwelling Spirit of God.
And so He perfected His plan of redemption before the foundation of the world, through the redeeming blood of His only begotten Son - the Lord Jesus Christ - the third member of the eternal Trinity.
He prayed earnestly for the Thessalonian believers: That the Lord may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
His desire for them and for us, is that all believers are found both blameless in their walk and holy in their conduct before God the Father on that glorious day when Christ Jesus returns to set up His kingdom on earth, with all of His holy ones.
Despite their obvious growth in the faith, Paul knew that all Christians, however mature they may be, must press on to the next level of faith, and so he encouraged them by writing: I pray that God the Father Himself and Jesus Christ our Lord would direct our way to visit you… and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you, so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
Jesus is the one Who heals the brokenhearted and Jesus is the one Who sets the captives free.
Jesus is the one who made the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the dead to rise into newness of life - for every attribute of the Almighty, Everlasting God, pointed towards the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, and perfect Man - The Lord our Healer.
I am the one Who heals your spirit - when you were justified, through initial faith in Jesus as Saviour - PAST salvation.
God's gradual unveiling of His perfect character throughout the pages of Scripture, progressively reveals His eternal plan of redemption, which is perfected and completed in the Lord Jesus.
It is only when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation that we are transferred from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
When we are born again by trusting in Jesus as the sin sacrifice for our sin, there are hundreds more blessings that become ours in Christ Jesus, and they are all YES and AMEN in Him.
And during His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus made it increasingly clear that there is no more important relationship in the life of a believer that our relationship with HIM.
And it was reported to Him, 'Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.' But Jesus answered and said to them, 'My mother and My brothers are these who hear the Word of God and do it.' Although Jesus clearly cared for His mother, even ensuring that she would be looked after as He hung on the cross, Christ's relationship with His Heavenly Father trumped every earthly connection.
Jesus came, first and foremost, to do the will of His Father Who loved us so much that He gave Jesus to pay the price for the sin of the world: So that whosoever believes on HIM would not perish but have everlasting life.
The Lord Jesus was not dishonouring the people in His earthly family, but was demonstrating that the only way to get close to God is to make Him the most important Person in our life.
In the same way that Christ's delight was to do the will of His Father, so we should be enamoured with the Lord Jesus, that no one is more important in our life than Him, and nothing is of greater significance than gaining a deeper knowledge of Him, obeying His Word, doing His will, and remaining faithful in the task He has given us to do.
As believers, we are all members of His heavenly family but this passage makes it clear that those closest to Jesus are the ones that hear His Word and do it: My mother and My brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it.
The Lord Jesus is the ultimate example of a Man Who walked by faith and not by sight.
Before being wonderfully saved on his journey to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus was breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus whom he vowed to hunt down and exterminate.
He was willing to admit that whatever things were at one time important to him had become insignificant and regarded as nothing... for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.
Paul was so immersed in the Lord Jesus, that he became a polished mirror of Christ's likeness.
It was the Lord Jesus Who was sent in answer to the prayers and prophecies of His people.
Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel two thousand years ago.
He came to save them from their sins and to restore them into fellowship with Himself, and although many rejected Him at His first coming, Jesus led many out of one sheepfold into another; Jew and Gentile together, becoming one new man in Christ during this special dispensation of the grace of God.
Jesus continues to be our great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant by which He brought us again from the dead.
He is the One Who brought us out of darkness into His glorious light, and Jesus is our wonderful chief Shepherd Who has promised us the unfading crown of glory on that wonderful day when He returns to take us to be with Himself.
He exposed the sinful desires of the leadership of Israel, which were to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ and claim His inheritance for themselves.
And the means through which Jesus did this was the use of a scathing parable that exposed their evil hearts and condemned them of their blasphemous intentions.
And there is a message of hope for all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour: that even when we are faithless He remains faithful, and that when we are weak and fail Him, He remains strong and His love and grace towards us is never changing.
The ultimate reality of God's plan for us, is that Christ Jesus is to be all, and He is to be all in all.
The psalmist is not referring to the specifics of the Mosaic Law in this verse, but to the undivided law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which has made us free from the law of sin and death.
And this will result in our growing in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Who is the crucified, resurrected, ascended, living Word of God, seated at the right hand of the Father.
The more we delight in the law of the Lord and take time to genuinely meditate upon the pure, written Word of God, the more we will grow in grace and continue to be transformed into the lovely likeness of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ - to Whom be all praise and glory.
The Word of God is true, His Word is eternal, and the Lord Jesus has given us the Word of the Father.
The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to conform us into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the more we become like Him, the more we will be hated by the world.
The subject of both dialogues is the gospel of the kingdom, and Jesus begins His discourse in Luke with four blessings for those who by faith follow Him, and four woes for those who reject Christ and His offer of salvation.
Jesus calls His disciples to love their enemies and to do good to those who hate them.
After these preliminary directives, the Lord Jesus sets about teaching the fundamental principles of sowing and reaping.
In this verse, Jesus beautifully expands the universal principle of: Give and it will be given unto you.
Love is displayed in selflessly giving to others and the ministry in which we are engaged should manifest the sacrificial grace, compassion, and kindness that Christ has shown towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for US.
With Jesus as our pattern of godly living and the model of divine love, should not we seek to imitate His goodness and grace?
Just as Moses was the one who was chosen as a prophet of the Lord to lead Israel and give them the Law, so Paul was chosen as apostle to the Gentiles to give deeper insight into the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
That the Lord Jesus was sent into the world to deliver Adam's fallen race from sin and death, and to offer ALL who would believe on Christ, God's free gift of salvation. Jesus came instructing us to deny ungodliness and to abstain from worldly desires.
It was John, the beloved disciple, who loved his Lord with a deep passion and who had walked with Jesus from the start of His three-year ministry, that was given this unique glimpse of the risen, ascended, glorified Son of Man.
John penned the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place, and Jesus sent and communicated this to His bond-servant, John, through an angel.
John had been one who had walked with Him by the way, listened to His teachings, seen the signs and miracles Jesus had performed, witnessed His tender-mercy and loving compassion, and had been empowered to carry out mighty signs and great wonders in His holy name.
And yet, the One Who stood before him was none other than Jesus of Nazareth, Who in His earthly walk was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
The unknowable God made Himself known to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man.
Jesus came to earth as the suffering Servant of God, so that He could save His people from their sins, by means of His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection.
And Jesus is returning to set up His kingdom as King of kings and Lord of lords.
But the most precious name for our Saviour is JESUS - the name above all names for he is the Son of Man, the Messiah of Israel, and Saviour of the world.
And Jesus is soon coming in the clouds of glory, as the Son of Man, to take us to be with Himself, for we are His Body and Bride and He is our Saviour and Lord.
There were many in Israel that did everything in their power to discredit the Lord Jesus and trap Him by asking leading questions so that they could accuse Him of blasphemy against God or insurrection against Rome.
Jesus had encountered the condemnatory accusations of pious people who were quick to accuse an adulteress of her sin while wallowing comfortably in their own sinfulness.
He had also been caused to rebuke His careless disciples who, when little children came to see Jesus and learn of Him, would have preferred to send them away.
And then, as Jesus was just preparing to journey to Jerusalem, He was intercepted by a man who ran to Him to seek an answer to a question that lay heavy on his heart.
Other Gospels identify him as a rich, young ruler, but the focus in Mark's Gospel was his eagerness to reach Jesus, for he came running to see the Lord before He set out on His journey.
Unlike those who wanted to trap and discredit Jesus, the nature of this question and the earnest enquiry on how to live by God's standard, seemed to be the motivating factor in this man's question to Jesus: Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
In His pre-Cross ministry, Jesus was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Following in the footsteps of John the Baptist and all Old Testament prophets, Christ's message to Israel was to repent and turn back to God - for Israel's promised kingdom was close at hand and Jesus was claiming to be their King.
Justification for Jew and Gentile alike is by faith. One must believe on God and the Lord Jesus Christ Whom He has sent, in order to be saved. Eternal life is not gained by doing something: What must I DO to be saved? Eternal life is gained by believing on someone: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
And so it was not his question on inheritance that immediately grabbed Christ's attention... for forgiveness of sins, eternal life and a heavenly inheritance is God's free gift to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their perfect Kinsman-Redeemer and substitute for sin.
Instead, Jesus questioned this young man's motive in referring to Him as GOOD, pointing out that God ALONE is good.
Jesus was indeed GOOD.
Jesus is the Good Master.
He is the Good Teacher, for Jesus is the incarnate God, made in the likeness of sinful flesh - yet without sin.
In questioning the rich young ruler, Jesus was not contradicting this man's comment, but seeking to identify his motive for correctly referring to Him as GOOD Master.
The Lord Jesus was testing this man who seemed to be so earnestly seeking the truth.
Jesus wanted to discover if the man was willing to confess Christ as the incarnate God, and be saved.
Would he confess, You are the Christ the Son of the living God? Did he call Jesus 'Good Teacher' for the correct reason?
The encounter with the Lord Jesus, when this young man ran to ask Him the momentous question which lay so heavily on his heart, did not immediately cause this earnest young man to confess this 'Good Teacher' as his Eternal God.
The eternal consequences of our sin are shocking, but by contrast the goodness and grace of God are exhibited in the sacrificial death of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and accessed by faith.
Jesus' death on the Cross was a sweet smelling savour to the Lord, and by His blood we have been redeemed by faith, made children of God, heirs of His righteousness, and joint-heirs with Christ.
As we mature in the faith and progress in our spiritual walk, we should reflect on the enormous sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ made for us on the Cross.
He knows that gratitude and rejoicing is no companion of dissatisfaction or murmuring, and so we are encouraged to give thanks in everything, even those difficult, daily circumstances, knowing that His grace is sufficient for those that are in Christ Jesus.
Let us glorify God by giving thanks in everything, for this is the will of God, for all who are in Christ Jesus.
His promises will never fail, for His Word cannot be broken, and Zechariah prophesied of the glorious salvation of a remnant of Israel and the future peace and prosperity they will enjoy in the City of God, when Jesus is King of Israel and Governor over the whole earth. Nevertheless, because of their sin, the Lord was angry with those that disobeyed Him.
Paul had been called and chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ to be His primary apostle to the Gentiles.
OR, we are justified by receiving salvation as a free gift from God, by faith in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When an unsaved man or woman seeks to be made right with God through keeping the Law, they have cut themselves off from the one and only way to be saved - as a free gift of God's grace - by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul opened his letter to the Colossians by telling them: I give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
In chapter 3, Paul exhorts the Colossians: Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
May we be so immersed in Christ Jesus our Lord that we are thus enabled to glory in the God of our salvation and to rejoice in the bright hope for the future.
As those present saw Christ Jesus hanging on that Roman cross for six long hours, they unknowingly witnessed some of the most precious promises of God being spoken and fulfilled, and they heard seven profound utterances from his lips, the consequences of which will continue to reverberate throughout the eternal ages to come.
Matthew and Mark record His heart-wrenching cry of Elí, Elí, lama sabachthani? - 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' For the first time, the eternal fellowship Jesus shared with God the Father and God the Spirit was shattered, and He uttered those most profound words of human terror.
This took place shortly before the Lord Jesus gave up the ghost.
John also records: It is finished, that great cry of victory when Satan, sin, death, and hell had been forever defeated, after Jesus had endured 3 hours of the most intense physical suffering, followed by three more hours of the most terrifying time, when He underwent spiritual separation from His Father and the Holy Spirit (i.e.
John also documents some of the most gracious, caring, and compassionate words from the Cross, when Jesus spoke to Mary, His human mother who must have been standing on Calvary's lonely hill outside the city gate, alongside the disciple He loved for those six, long, incredible hours.
Did she recall that time when Jesus told her that He must be about His Father's business, at the age of 12, or that marriage at Cana of Galilee when her firstborn Son turned water into wine?
And so, in the midst of His suffering, as He faced the full force of God's wrath by becoming the substitute for OUR wrongdoing and paying the penalty for OUR sin, Jesus knew there was one more special duty to perform, before He breathed His last.
And so, He looked at the dear woman who had been chosen to bear the Lord's Anointed, with tenderness and love, for she was standing by the Cross with her sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene: And when Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved standing there, He said to His mother, 'Woman, here is your son.' Then He said to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
As Jesus hung, dying on the Cross in excruciating pain, the tender-hearted provision He made for His mother is very meaningful.
We are to remember that God will never share His glory with another and no holy angel nor angelic messenger of the Lord, has ever accepted worship from men, as we are reminded by John in his Revelation of Jesus Christ - for He is the incarnate God Who alone is worthy of all worship and praise and honour and glory.
Let us shun any form of idolatry and every idolatrous behaviour... and let us keep our eyes fixed on the true and living God - Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour in Whom are the words of eternal life.
As God's adoptive children, we are called to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ - God's only begotten Son Who learned obedience by the things that He suffered.
If Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered... why should we expect to steer clear of problems of life and the chastening of the Holy Spirit?
During His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus described Himself as the Vine and explained that we are branches on that heavenly Vine.
We should not cave in, therefore, when faced with adverse circumstances, but should humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God... and learn obedience by the things that we suffer so that, day by day, we may be transformed into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus.
We have been brought into sweet fellowship with the Heavenly Father by grace through faith in our Saviour, Jesus Christ, but this can only be maintained and strengthened as we walk in the light.
How important therefore to seek to live godly in Christ Jesus and to keep a short rein on any sins we may commit.
Jesus lived a sinless life so that all who believe in Him might be forgiven of their sins and clothed in His righteousness, but it is only as we die to self, live to Christ, and walk in spirit and truth in the power of the Holy Ghost, that our life can be holy unto the Lord.
Our Lord comes alongside to bring us to the place of confessing and forsaking our sins before God so that sweet fellowship with the Father may be maintained, for if we sin we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins.
Jesus is not only our Saviour and Advocate, but He is also the Propitiation for our sins.
Jesus is the One Whose death freed us from the guilt of our sin.
Knowing that the Day of the Lord is fast approaching, and also knowing that our citizenship is reserved for us in heaven by grace through faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, Paul outlines what sort of life a believer should live.
Paul is exhorting all believers who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus to pray constantly, and this call to pray follows his instruction to rejoice always, for the heart that rejoices in the Lord is the one that will keep their eyes fixed on Jesus and their thoughts trained upon their Saviour.
The man or woman of prayer is one who desires to maintain close and intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
Preaching the Word is often to encourage and exhort the Body of Christ as we watch and wait for the any day return of the Lord Jesus for His Church – but it should always reflect Christ's gracious character.
He longs for both the unsaved to repent and turn away from their sin by looking to Jesus and trusting in Him, and desires those who are already justified, to grow in grace, live godly lives, and turn away from anything that might stunt their spiritual growth: God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
It is not God's will that any should perish but that all should come to a knowledge of the gospel of God and of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son.
Sadly, there are those who reject the truth of the gospel of Christ and will not acknowledge that there is only one God and one Mediator between God and man – the Man Christ Jesus.
Hebrews is the book that sets out to show that the Person and ministry of Lord Jesus is vastly superior to anything that has gone before.
To Israel were given the precious promises of God; all of which were to have their fulfilment in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son and Heir of all things.
Jesus is High Priest of an eternal priesthood; a royal priesthood that reconciles God to man: With the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
We see Isaac, the only son of promise, as a type of the Lord Jesus, the beloved Son Who was given as the sacrificial offering for the sin of the world and was willing to become a burnt offering; a sweet-smelling savour to the Lord.
We recognise much in the old order; the Mosaic Law, the Tabernacle, the sacrifices, the feasts, and the priesthood, as typifying Christ and pointing us to the Person, the ministry, and the finished work of Lord Jesus, which is vastly superior to anything that has gone before.
The Law could not forgive sin but it exposed the shocking truth that all have sinned and all fall short of God's perfect standard, which is only found in the Person and Work of Christ Jesus our Saviour, through Whom ALONE we can draw near to God.
Paul's longing to be with Jesus far surpassed his eagerness to remain in this mortal coil.
Paul was hard-pressed to know which of the two courses would bring the most glory to the Father - and although he longed to depart to be with the Lord Jesus, Whom he loved so dearly..
He wrote of the restoration of God's people to the land of Israel, the beautiful promise that He would write His laws on their hearts, and that one day, they would know the Lord directly, in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God.
We are to follow Jeremiah's example and hold fast to that which is good, looking to Jesus as we stand on the promises of God.
May we delight in the Lord our God, and rejoice that He is the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who made the heavens and the earth by His mighty power and outstretched arm.
It is a time of Great Tribulation when God's wrath will be poured out on a God-hating, Christ-rejecting, sinful world, with the purpose of bringing repentant Israel back to faith in God and to trust in Jesus Christ, their Messiah and King.
John proclaims the importance of the revelation of Jesus Christ within this book and makes proclamations about coming judgement, future rewards, God's offer of salvation, and the promise of forthcoming blessings for all who will COME.
What the Spirit and the Bride are offering is the opportunity to come to JESUS - to drink of the Living Water - to receive forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
JESUS is the Fountain of Life and Source of all life.
Jesus started to deliver the mysteries of the kingdom in parables - after the Jewish leaders had blasphemed the Holy Spirit by accusing Christ of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub.
This meant that the Scribes and Pharisees understood that Jesus was referencing them in a negative light in His some of His stories - and this parable, of the wealthy landowner and his murdered son, is one such story.
Jesus relates a little tale of a wealthy, but absentee landlord who decides to claim his rightful dues from his tenants.
The father and the son of the story representing God the Father and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent, while the tenants certainly symbolised the religious rulers.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus applied various Old Testament Scriptures to Himself, even identifying Himself as, the Stone which the builders rejected, Who has become the chief Cornerstone. That Stone is a stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence - such that all who believe on Him will not be disappointed.
Jesus was sent initially and ONLY to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to fulfil all the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.
Gabriel explained that she was to conceive in her womb and bear a Son, and she was instructed to call His name Jesus, for He was to save His people from their sin.
The Lord Jesus gained victory over death and hell through His own sacrifice on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection, but throughout His life He gave solemn warnings that an hour was coming when the tombs of all who were dead would hear His voice; some to the resurrection of life but others to the resurrection of condemnation.
And in a few short verses the Lord Jesus speaks of some, very different resurrections.
It is because of His perfect work on the Cross that Jesus received authority from His Father in heaven, to raise the dead and to give His resurrected life to all who would believe on His holy name.
And we know that this is eternal life: That they know God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. But those who rejected God's free gift of salvation will come forth from their earthly grave into the resurrection of condemnation.
Paul was Timothy's spiritual adviser and here we find him solemnly charging Timothy in the most sombre terms to contend earnestly for the faith, to boldly preach the Word of God, and to teach the gospel of grace that was given directly to Paul from the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
Paul added weight to his sombre charge by declaring that both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ were witnesses to these vital and all-encompassing instructions.
Christ Himself reminded us that it is hard for those that are rich to enter the kingdom of God, and argues of the futility of gaining the whole world at the expense of one's soul-life: No one can serve God and money at the same time, Jesus further informed us, and any wealth we may have in this life is a gift from the Lord to be used in His service.
The previous section presents us with a panoramic understanding of who we are in Christ and the tremendous privileges that are ours by faith in Him, but once we arrive at this section, he instructs us on the correct response all believers should have to the amazing grace bestowed on us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It should become our dear desire to live godly in Christ Jesus and lay aside the old, corrupted, sinful self, which functions in the lusts of worldly deceit.
Jesus was Servant of all and He went about doing good.
The Lord had just returned from the country of the Gadarenes, on the eastern side of the Galilee where he had cast a legion of demons out of a wild man whom they had tormented for some time, and Jesus restored him to a sound mind.
They saw Him being approached by Jarius, a ruler of the local synagogue, and Jesus agree to go and heal his daughter.
No doubt many of the chairs and tables, oxen-yokes, and wooden bowls Jesus had made, continued to be used in the homes of many of these local residents.
Mark informs us: When the Sabbath came, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue. The custom of the day was that any visiting preacher or rabbi would be invited to read the daily Scripture portion and deliver a message to the local inhabitants, and Jesus was afforded this opportunity.
No doubt, before He opened His mouth, many of the congregation were prejudiced against the Lord Jesus.
In their eyes Jesus was uneducated.
On hearing His message they did not question Jesus about His claims.
They could not recognise Jesus as their promised Messiah and would not accept that He was the 'Horn of their Salvation' Who had been born of the house of God's servant David, in fulfilment of prophecy.
The Lord Jesus had been sent by God to be their Kinsman-Redeemer.
Jesus was despised and rejected when He came to earth as the sacrifice for sin.
Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted and set the captive free and His Holy Spirit understands - He knows, He loves, and He cares for each one of us, so draw closer to His arms of comfort, and trust in His love today, for a day is coming where there will no longer be any mourning, crying, or pain.
We have passed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, for we have received the forgiveness of sins and newness of eternal life in Christ Jesus, our God and our Saviour - and nothing can pluck us out of His hand, and no one can pluck us out of His Father's hands, for ever and ever, AMEN.
In Revelation we read that, Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and here in Isaiah, we discover some amazing prophecies that relate to Christ's triumphant reign in the coming Millennial Kingdom.
He details the day when Jesus will reign in righteousness as the supreme King of the whole earth.
He speaks of that promised time when peace and prosperity will finally be instituted - and Jesus will rule the nations with a rod of iron.
Paul tells us that the judge will be the Man, Christ Jesus, Who has received sovereign authority to judge the nations in righteousness.
The Lord Jesus is uniquely the eternal Son of God, the perfect Son of Man, the rightful King of the universe, and God's anointed High Priest.
In every way, the Lord Jesus is presented in Hebrews as being superior to prophets, angels, Moses, David, and all created beings, for He alone is the uncreated God Who was made in the likeness of mortal man, yet without sin.
It was at His Resurrection, when Christ had fulfilled His role as the sin-sacrifice for the whole world, that God was finally able to say: This day have I begotten Thee. It was when the Lord Jesus had finished the work that God had sent Him to do that He was lifted up to the position of God's eternal High Priest, and today Jesus is seated in heavenly places interceding for His people for He is the only Mediator between God and man.
Jesus is our heavenly High Priest Who is interceding for us day and night.
In contrast to the temporary priesthood of Aaron and his descendants, who were fallen creatures in need of the forgiveness of sins through the constant cleansing from the old sin nature by means of many blood sacrifices, Jesus offered Himself once, for all, and has established an eternal priesthood into which all members of the Body of Christ have been given a permanent position.
The Lord Jesus was not appointed as High Priest after the order of Aaron, whose singular office was that of priest.
Jesus was appointed after the order of Melchizedek, who held office as God's Prophet, God's Priest, God's King, the Messiah of Israel, and Saviour of the world.
No matter where Paul ministered, his greatest concern was to preach the gospel of Christ, and so we discover that in Ephesus as elsewhere, Paul preached boldly in public places and went from house to house testifying to Jew and Gentile alike, of the need of repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us pray that they guard their own hearts as well as guiding and shepherding the Church of God, which our Saviour, Jesus Christ purchased with His own precious blood, 2000 years ago.
We cannot begin to imagine the depth of agony that our Lord Jesus Christ experienced in Gethsemane, when three times in succession He asked Abba, His God and Father, if it were possible to remove the bitter cup He was about to drink, for He knew that all things are possible with God.
Jesus was not seeking to extricate Himself from His God-appointed responsibility, for He knew that for this purpose He had come into the world to save lost sinners by means of His substitutionary death.
Indeed, according to the writer of the Hebrews, the Lord Jesus asked to be saved out of death and not saved from death: Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to him who was able to save him out of death, with strong crying and tears.
The punishment that we deserve was poured out on the Lord Jesus, in our stead.
Jesus paid the full price for our sin and for the sin of the whole world so that whosoever believes on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.
The full force of God's wrath against sin was poured out on Jesus, instead of being poured on us.
For that reason, Jesus was born into the human race so that He could become our Kinsman-Redeemer and pay the price for our sin.
Nevertheless, God expects all His children to live godly in Christ Jesus so that the deeds we carry out in the body during our sojourn on earth, will glorify our Father Who is in heaven.
The Lord Jesus said, If you love Me you will keep My commandments, and one of the tests of a real love of God is willing obedience to His Word, a genuine trust in what He says, a readiness to believe His precious promises, and a desire to obey His commandments.
As the Cross of Christ loomed ever closer, we find the Lord Jesus saying to His disciples, A new commandment I give to you - that you love one another as I have loved you.
What a sublime and impossible command, for in so doing the Lord Jesus commands us to display the same depth of love to one another as He Himself demonstrated to us.
The most astonishing description of the Lord Jesus Christ is given in this first chapter of Revelation.
John gives the most disconcerting description of the Lord Jesus, from the top of His head to the soles of His feet, each aspect of His appearance speaking of His might, majesty, dominion, glory, and power.
Jesus is the Word made flesh, and throughout His earthly ministry His humanity was the important focus of the Gospel writings.
In these last days, God is speaking through His Son, and the book of Revelation is the full and final unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe; the risen, glorified, and highly exalted Son of the True and Living God.
The bronze serpent raised up by Moses in the wilderness typifies the Lord Jesus Who was made sin for us and took the terrible punishment for our sin on the Cross.
Belief in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree, dictates life or death for the sinner.
Choosing to follow the Lord is the most important decision of the will that every man must make one day: Take up your cross daily, Jesus told us, and follow Me.
He then gives the amazing answer, I thank God, in Jesus Christ!
Praise God that Jesus is the answer to sin.
HOWEVER, if we sin (by allowing the old sinful nature, to climb down from the place of death and reestablish its influence over our lives), then we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins. Jesus is the Mediator between man and God - and between God and man.
May we keep our 'old man' in the place of death and may we grow in grace, by allowing our new nature to live godly in Christ Jesus - Who is our life.
As Son of God and the Seed of the woman through His forefathers Abraham and David, the Lord Jesus was born without sin, and lived a sinless life in order to pay the penalty for the sin of the whole world.
The Lord Jesus Christ is Paul's joy and delight, for him to live is Christ while to die is gain.
And Paul's directives are for all who would live godly in Christ Jesus should take to heart: Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Jesus prayed for unity in His Body while Paul told us: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
God forbid that I should glory, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
There is no punishment for believers at the judgement seat of Christ, for there is NO condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, although those who choose to live carnally in this world, rather than living godly in Christ Jesus, will certainly suffer the loss of their reward.
Let us choose to live godly in Christ Jesus from this day forward, for His name's sake.
All we have to do to please God is to trust in Jesus as Saviour, by grace, through faith, knowing that He is God and that He rewards all who diligently seek Him.
His plan is that the new-life-in-Christ that we received when we were born again, grows in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and that the beautiful character of Jesus is formed in us, as we live our lives in spirit and truth by submitting to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit within.
A brief look at the gracious life of the Lord Jesus, Whose prayer was always Thy will not mine be done, together with a study of the directives of Paul in his Church epistles, tells us very plainly how God expects each of His children to conduct their lives.
And as we walk in newness of life, may we grow more like Jesus, day by day.
From their wilderness wandering and the giving of the Law, to the construction of the Tabernacle, the Feasts of the Lord, the Levitical Priesthood, and the bronze serpent that was raised up to halt the plague: all point to Jesus.
The wages of sin is death, and the only way for man to be saved is EITHER - to live a perfect, sinless life, OR - to accept God's offer of salvation, for the forgiveness of sin, through Jesus Christ.
The first way is impossible for sinful man, leaving only one way to be declared righteous by God and gain salvation - by grace through faith in Jesus.
But HALLELUJAH - the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and will bring him to nothing with the brightness of His coming.
Jews that were steeped in the Mosaic Law were prepared to add elements of Christianity to their Judaism by believing in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin, but they were not prepared to live by faith alone - preferring to revert back to the Law as they lived out their daily lives through works of the flesh.
From the beginning, the wages of sin for both Jew and Gentile alike has been death, and the shed blood of an innocent animal covered man's sin until the arrival of the true sacrifice for sin - Jesus Christ.
Though the wages of sin is most certainly death, the gift of God is eternal life to all who believe in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son.
Circumcision was not a condition of salvation following the Cross, and neither is water-baptism or any other additional requirements than to simply trust in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ through Whom we are justified before God - through faith.
Many in the early Church found it very difficult to recognise that there is a difference between the way God dealt with Israel, pre-Cross (through the conditional Law of Moses) and the post-Cross Church (through the unconditional 'Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus').
An apostle is one that is specifically commissioned, by God, to carry out a definable task... and we discover from Scripture that God's chosen apostles and prophets were the ones He authorised to lay the foundations of the Church in this dispensation of grace - and one important, biblical criteria of apostleship was to have met with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
He did not receive it from anyone other than Jesus.
Jesus sent a group of 70 disciples (some manuscripts say 72) as heralds along the route that He was to take from Caesarea Philippi on His journey to Jerusalem.
Their mission was to alert the people in the various cities and towns along the way, to the wonderful news that the kingdom of God was very near, and that Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, was soon to pass that way.
This was a special office and unique privilege for these 70 disciples which they undertook during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus, but there are many principles in this passage of Scripture that can apply to our Christian walk as we witness of the coming of the Lord to a world of lost sinners who need a gracious Saviour.
It was the Lord Jesus Who took it upon Himself to fulfil the Law on our behalf, and then He identified with our sinfulness so that He, Himself, could pay the price for your sin and mine.
Jesus gave His life for our sins in order to save us from this evil world in which we live.
He prayed that they would bear fruit in every good work and daily increase in their knowledge of God and their love for their Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was because of God's undeserved favour that Paul was chosen by the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ, to be the apostle to the Gentiles.
Although he was undeserving, he received grace and apostleship from the Lord Jesus in order to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations.
Yes, Paul was commissioned to call men and women from every tribe and nation to faith, and to deliver to them the good news of the glorious gospel of grace so that by repentance and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, they might be saved by grace through faith in Him, and receive life everlasting.
It was through his ministry that the mystery of the glorious gospel of grace, which was hidden in ages past, was made known to the Gentile nations; that all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, old or young, bond or free) might be saved by grace through faith in Him.
Multitudes followed the Lord Jesus and hung on to His every word, for He had become famous throughout the land.
This blasphemous accusation was the turning point in His ministry when Jesus started to teach His disciples, and all who trusted Him, in parables.
Jesus is looking forward to the time when they will hear their Messiah's call, respond to His words, proclaim the gospel of the kingdom throughout the world, and become a fruitful fig tree that brings forth the fruit of righteousness.
And so it was, following this vital teaching and the many miracles designed to validate His Messianic claims, that we read: On that day, when evening came, He said to them, 'Let us go over to the other side.' In the midst of all the blasphemous accusations of the leaders, and the thronging multitudes with their 'frantic' demands for more mighty miracles, Jesus said to His true disciples: Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.
Why did we need to know that on that very day, when Jesus was inundated with requests for healing, the leaders had rejected Him with their blasphemy, the self-centred crowds refused to recognise the truth of Who He was, and Jesus then started to teach His true followers in parables?
Why, when evening came, did the Lord Jesus say to them, Let us go over to the other side?
These words were spoken by the One Who was facing the most acute trouble, for He was facing rejection, betrayal, false accusation, an unjust trial, and the weight of the sin of the world on His shoulders, for the Cross lay before the Lord Jesus.
They had just heard that Jesus was to leave them and that prospect left them in deep distress.
But the Lord Jesus spoke gracious words of comfort and encouragement to their troubled hearts, caring words that have travelled down the corridors of time and been such a blessing to so many countless saints: Let not your heart be troubled...
But Jesus said to them as He says to us today: Let not your heart be troubled.
They had anticipated that Jesus was soon to set up His kingdom on earth.
In thesame way, there is joy unimaginable for all who believe in God and also trust in Christ Jesus our Lord, our Saviour, and our Kinsman-Redeemer.
Not only did Jesus instruct them: Let not your heart be troubled, but He gave them tools to keep them from worry and fear, and it all comes back to FAITH.
Just as they had trusted in God they were now to trust in Jesus, the Word made flesh Who was in the beginning with God, and through Whom ALL things were made.
We live in a world that is filled with stresses and strains, and although we are not able to prevent the pressures of life, we have an assurance from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that because HE overcame the world, the flesh, and the devil, we too are overcomers in Him, for THIS is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith in Christ.
We may be facing some of the darkest days of this world's history, but there will be joy for us as well, on that glorious day when Jesus comes in the clouds to take us to be with Himself.
Let not YOUR heart be troubled.Let not MY heart be troubled.Let not OUR hearts be troubled.Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
David believed the unconditional promise he received from the Lord; that Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, would come from his line, through the tribe of Judah, and establish a kingdom that would endure forever.
Jesus would take up everlasting sovereignty on his kingly throne and rule the nations with an iron sceptre, in equity, righteousness, truth, and justice. On that day, David would be resurrected from the dead and bow towards God's holy Temple.
This is the future temple of God which Jesus will one day build, following His second advent, at the end of the 7-year Tribulation.
Israel as a nation did not recognise the time of their visitation, when Jesus came to offer His people the kingdom of God and presented Himself as their promised Messiah.
He recognises that this will be a time when the Davidic Covenant he received from the Lord in 2nd Samuel 7 will reach its fulfilment, and Israel will repent of their sin in rejecting their Messiah and declare, both nationally and individually, their love and loyalty to Jesus Christ, their God and King.
Those days arrived when Christ was born, and had Jesus been accepted as Israel's prophesied Messiah, He would have set up His earthly kingdom there and then - a kingdom which had been promised to Abraham and his Seed many years before - for God's anointed King was in their midst and all Israel had to do was to repent, turn back to God, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Whom He had sent.
The Church age, which began on the day of Pentecost and ends with the Rapture, is the interim period between Christ's shocking rejection at His First Coming and His glorious acceptance as God's anointed King at His Second Coming... when Israel will finally accept Jesus as their Messiah and will once again cry, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
Before the Cross, Israel were looking forward to their full and final redemption which would happen through the shed blood of Christ, the Lamb of God - when He would instigate the New Covenant in His blood. The Old Covenant was cut using the blood of bulls and goats. The New Covenant was cut through the blood of Jesus Christ.
He heard them and He helped them, by sending Jesus to save them from their sin. This was carried out through the shed blood of Christ Jesus, their Messiah and King, despite their cruel rejection of Him.
The 'day of salvation' refers to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ - but sadly, Israel did not recognise the day of their visitation and, as a nation, have been blinded in part until the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled - until the Church age in which WE now live, will be completed and the Church removed at the Rapture.
God helped His people when He sent Jesus to save His people from their sin - to die on the Cross pay the price for their sin and rise again on the third day.
Although in its entirety the Mosaic Law was given to God's covenant people, and although the Decalogue is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, we must never forget that Jesus Himself instituted a new covenant; a better covenant through His own blood.
The sole aim in our life on earth is to glorify God through the Lord Jesus Christ and in consideration of all the faults and flaws of His apostles, what a joy to hear Christ words of commendation: I am glorified in them, for if Christ was glorified in the lives of His imperfect disciples with their many failings and frailties, the Lord may also be glorified in our lives, if we will but listen to His voice and obey His commands.
It is as Paul draws his letters to a close, that he adds greetings from other saints of God and often introduces brief words of encouragement and succinct directives to pray, rejoice, give thanks, abound in good works, trust in God's supply, and glorify our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, our great God and Saviour.
We are not to be ashamed of the gospel of salvation which is the power of God unto all who believe, and we are to glory in the name above all name, Christ Jesus our Lord.
Mutual encouragement is also an important part of Paul's closing sections, and here in this verse, Paul sends greetings from the brethren who are with him, exhorting the Philippian believers: Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.
May we pay heed to the letters of Paul which give such encouragement and instruction on growing in grace, living a victorious life, trusting in God, holding fast to the truth, and maintaining an unswerving focus on Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.
And in a world where the love of many has grown cold, may we delight to meet with our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord, and take every opportunity to rejoice with them that we are one in Him and that our names are written in heaven.
The epistle to the Galatians is not only a great proclamation of the liberty we enjoy in Christ and the amazing grace that is afforded to all who believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, it is also a serious warning against turning away from biblical truth to a false gospel.
He had been taught the gospel of the grace of God directly from the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus, and was, no doubt, thrilled when the good news began to spread throughout the region, as men and women came to believe that Christ's sacrificial offering of Himself, was sufficient for their salvation.
But after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was horrified to discover that the legalism to which he had adhered so ardently, was the antithesis of the true gospel of God.
It was difficult for Jews to discover that the Law of Moses had been superseded by the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, and many refused to accept that the dispensation of Law ended at the Cross and had given way to the dispensation of the grace of God.
We are all justified by faith in Christ Jesus - there is NO other way.
Never forget that man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus.
Even Paul, a strict Pharisee, set aside his firmly held biases to believe in Christ Jesus so that he too was justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law - since by the works of the Law NO flesh will be justified.
Indeed, the young Lord Jesus, Himself, became knowledgeable in the Scripture as a child - and competent in joinery, for He was described as 'the carpenter's son'.
And during His temptation, it was the Word of God that the Lord Jesus used to counter every satanic temptation and confound the enemy of His soul.
And in His goodness and grace, God has also revealed Himself fully and finally in the written Word of God and through the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son Who died to pay the price for the sin of the whole world.
Jesus was just about to go to His Father in heaven and had just reminded His disciples that after He ascended to the right hand of the Father, He would send His promised Holy Spirit to indwell them forever, and to guide them into all truth.
The King of the Jews had come to set up His promised kingdom (where God rules over all), but the nation denounced the Lord Jesus and accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan, and in rebellion would cry: We will not have this Man to rule over us.
A critical moment had arrived when the Lord Jesus started to set aside His temporal, earthly ties in order to develop an eternal, spiritual bond with all who would believe on His name.
And so we read that Jesus started to teach the people in parables so that although they heard His Messianic teachings and saw His Messianic signs, they would not understand His Messianic message: that He was the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.
Let us rest in Jesus, listen to His voice, be guided by the Holy Spirit, and live by faith and not by sight, to His praise and glory.
Paul resolved to know nothing, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And so Paul chose to walk in the Spirit, speak the words that lifted Jesus up and not himself, to the glory of the Father.
This should be our resolve - to know nothing, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified so that our song or story, sermon or speech, points only to the Lord and does not seek to draw away the attention and glory that alone belongs to the Lord our God.
As His blood-bought children, we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There are certain scriptural truths that should be so much a part of our inner being that we have not the slightest doubt or uncertainty of their veracity: 1) God's sovereign rule. 2) His goodness and grace to all. 3) The duty of all people and nations to exalt His holy name. 4) For those who are saved by grace through faith in Christ, to develop an ever-deepening knowledge of the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus.
It is through the love and grace of our Heavenly Father that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Everyone has the opportunity to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
He is the One Who died and rose again so that by faith in Him we might live in newness of life, and the duty and responsibility of ALL is to KNOW God and to KNOW Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, to glorify Him forever, and to tell forth the glories of His holy name, to all.
May we stand firm on the immutable Word of God, which has graciously endowed us with greater illumination through completed revelation of Jesus Christ, to Whom be all honour and glory.
The Lord Jesus came into the world as the incarnate WORD of God, to reveal to the depraved mind of man, the truth of God's eternal love and His perfect holiness.
It was through sin that darkness entered the heart of man, and it is through the Light of God's Son, that sin, death, and darkness was overcome. He came as the Light that will never be extinguished in the heart, soul, and mind, of those who place their trust in the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Gospel of John was written to introduce the Lord Jesus Christ to fallen man as the eternal Son.
When the Lord Jesus came into this world as the Light of Life that lightens every man that comes into the world, they did not comprehend Who He was or why He had come.
They were ignorant of the truth that: Jesus was the Light that shines in the darkness - BUT - the darkness is incapable of extinguishing it.
The opening statement of John's Gospel lays out, in all its beauty, Who Jesus is and why He came.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of the most High God, who existed from eternity past and is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit.
Only through the Man, Christ Jesus, can men receive Peace with God and the Peace of God.
Christ Jesus is that LIGHT that has been shining from eternity past, and it is only through Him that God's light, and life, and love, and hope, and joy, and peace will flow, for God has decreed that Christ is all in all.
It should rather be undertaken with a clear conscience and a sincere heart of grateful thanks for all that Christ has done for us... for we have been bought with a price - the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
We should always remember and honour the supreme sacrifice that was made on our account, when Jesus willingly went to the Cross for us and died in our place on Calvary's tree.
Jesus suffered and was afflicted for the sake of righteousness, and He warned that in this world we too would suffer tribulation.
The consolation and 'salvation' in this verse is in connection with the Christian's sanctification process... in which we are given spiritual strength and godly help to press forward to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
It is for Christ's sake that we can be glad in our difficulties and rejoice in our distresses, and it is for the sake of Christ Jesus our Lord that we can be content in persecution and pain.
It contains superior promises of grace, an inner change of the heart, unlimited blessings, sins forgiven, and an eternal hope laid up in heaven for all who would trust in the Lord Jesus Christ: our Prophet, Priest, and King.
The Church of Christ is made up of the family of believers that have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and God in this dispensation (from Pentecost to the Rapture).
This body of believers is made up of a remnant of Jewish believers in Jesus Christ together with a multitude of Gentiles who were lost in their trespasses, dead in their sins, without God as their Father, and without hope in a fallen world.
But because each member of the Body of Christ trusted Jesus as Saviour, we are no longer foreigners and strangers who were eternally condemned in their sins and headed for eternal separation from their Creator, but are now fellow-citizens of heaven along with all the past Old Testament saints.
The woman Ruth, is a most beautiful picture of the Church - as the Bride of Christ, and the man Boaz, is a stunning type of the Man, Christ Jesus - Who is our Lord and Kinsman-Redeemer, our precious Saviour and coming Bridegroom.
We too were lost in sin and entirely separated from God, but we were brought near to Him through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
Similarly, we KNOW that Jesus is coming for His Bride, at the right time - but like Ruth, we have to watch patiently and eagerly await the coming of the Lord, when we will meet Him in the air.
Jesus similarly told us, I go to prepare a place for you.
And although we have nothing to offer in return, and although we can do nothing for Him, except to sit at His feet and wait... our Lord Jesus has bestowed on us many precious promises.
As we look back to the consummation of God's greatest gift of love in our lives - Christ's finished work on Calvary's Cross, we see that Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, Saviour of the world and only begotten Son of God is our own perfect Kinsman Redeemer, and like Ruth, we are to look forward to the coming of our promised Kinsman-Redeemer as we sit quietly and wait.
NEVER FORGET - JESUS is our coming Bridegroom, but unlike Ruth, OUR story is not yet over.
Let us sit still, and patiently watch and wait for His imminent return, knowing that the Man, Christ Jesus, rests neither day nor night as He makes intercessions for us - for, Christ loves the Church and gave Himself up for her.
The conditions of the Law were not set aside, but through the birth of Christ into the human race and His sinless life and ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, God purposed that Jesus would fulfil every legal requirements of God's holy Law on behalf of every fallen sinner - and the single requirement to benefit from His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, was faith in HIM - to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - and by believing, be given salvation as a free gift of God's grace: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
All the nation of Israel had to do to bring in the kingdom, was to repent of their sin (as a NATION), turn back to God (as a PEOPLE), and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as MESSIAH.
Jesus used areas like prayer and fasting to teach that the sort of external perfection the Jewish rulers demonstrated, fell far short of the inner beauty of a virtuous heart that is acceptable to the Lord.
We are to manifest lives that are like a physical eye that is ablaze with the light of God's love - for the Lord Jesus is the Light of the world.
How important, therefore, to keep our spiritual eyes clean and clear as we look away from that which is evil and worldly and focus our eyes on Jesus Who is our singular source of light and our sufficiency in life.
They had to break free of the restrictive rites, rituals, and religiosity that enslaved them under the Law, and they had to embrace the law-of-the-Spirit-of-Life in Christ Jesus.
However, this was hard for those early Jewish Christians who wanted to be sure that Jesus - the incarnate Word of God - was the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.
This promise was fulfilled some 2000 years later, when the promised Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, was born into the human race to become the sacrifice for sin. He was sent by the Father to be the Jewish Messiah and the Saviour of mankind.
The blessed promise of Jesus, our Messiah was written for us in the Word of God - God's unchanging, unbreakable, authoritative, honourable oath to His people.
He told of the light that was brighter than the noonday sun, and repeated the challenging words of the Lord Jesus, Who identified Himself as: Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.
Paul used this familiar Greek proverb to illustrate the futility of his murderous mission in seeking to destroy Christianity, for his fight was against God and the target of his abuse was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the very Son of God.
Paul was called and chosen to be used by God so that countless millions might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified and positionally set apart for God, by grace through faith in the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the believer, the fear of the Lord comes from a humble heart of worship which has a reverential respect, a holy fear, and a thankful heart for all that our Lord Jesus is and all that God has done for each of His children.
Jesus is the foundation upon which our knowledge is founded, and He alone commands our reverential fear, humble worship, and eternal devotion, for in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and we are positioned in Him.
When Peter writes: Christ also suffered for sins once, he points to the Lord Jesus as the perfect example of One Who through His suffering, fulfilled the will of His Father in heaven.
The Lord Jesus was indeed the: Just One, about Whom Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost.
The Lord Jesus was truly the righteous One Who died for the unrighteous; the eternal Son of God Who was sent from heaven to lay down His life for the sin of the whole world; the perfect Son of Man Who was born of a woman, in order to lay down His life for lost sinners: That He might bring us to God.
Jesus came as the incarnate Word of God, that He might redeem us from slavery of sin and cancel the debt of death and hell, which is our just desserts.
He was told at the start of his ministry that he would suffer many things for the name of the Lord Jesus, and what a catalogue of trials and tribulations have been listed in his various epistles.
Timothy is encouraged to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, to take to heart the many nuggets of wisdom and teaching that he gained from his teacher, Paul, and to pass on this truth to other trustworthy believers who are also strong in the faith so that the good news of Christ Jesus will continue to be spread abroad, throughout the world, to the glory of God.
We do not have to go on long missionary journeys, spend time in prison, or pastor a church to enrol in the army of believers that endure suffering in order to become a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But our life will be filled with suffering of some kind, if we are living for the Lord, as Jesus Himself promised.
Both Jew and Gentile alike are summoned to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has paid the price for our sin and has, in Himself, the Word of eternal life.
Joel's prophecy concludes with the words: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (JESUS) will be saved, and this was the message Peter shared.
Peter's sermon combined various biblical prophesies with the truth of the gospel of Christ, and he challenged the assembled company by saying: Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a Man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.
He told the wonderful news that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed God; the Word Who had come from heaven to save His people from their sin.
Jesus of Nazareth was indeed a man, but He was attested and authenticated by God.
His signs, His wonders, His message, and His ministry, were foretold by prophets of old, and His heavenly mission and Messianic claims were authenticated through His words and actions, and Peter reminded the crowd of these things: Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, was a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.
He then concluded with a lovely prayer, The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
While Jesus won the victory over Satan at the Cross, God in His grace is using the Church - which is the Body of Christ on earth today, to carry forward His plans and purposes, through spiritual warfare - for the weapons of our warfare are not physical, but spiritual.
On at least 3 occasions in the gospels, we hear the Lord Jesus giving a warning on the importance of hearing His message, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. However, in a couple of chapters in Revelation we have this same warning given to the Church, seven times, with additional instruction, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Every one of the seven Churches in Revelation were instructed to listen... and pay close attention to ALL that the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus had to say to ALL the Churches. Each Church was given some important information, which is vital to our individual spiritual growth and our collective Christian witness.
How sad that only a short while later, they had to be rebuked about their lack of love and receive this blistering warning from the risen Lord Jesus, Himself.
What a gracious God we serve, that even when we fail in our devoted service or become waylaid by the mounting pressures we inflict on our own Christian service, He is ready and willing to warn us of our failure, to encourage us to listen to God's voice, to instruct us to put our priorities in order, and to command us to return the Lord Jesus to His rightful place in our lives. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, is a warning that every Christian should consider on a daily basis.
After the Lord Jesus corrects them, He does not leave them comfortless and goes on to promise, to the one who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.
The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
What a great privilege for us to know that the Tree of Life, from which man was barred due to sin, is once again freely accessible to those that have trusted in Christ Jesus for salvation.
When we are looking to Jesus, and when the eyes of our heart are firmly fixed upon Him, we have a confidence in the promises of His Word, for His Word is true and His promises stand fast for ever and ever.
Jesus reminded us: Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
He prays for a life that carries out every good work that God has prepared for us to do in the power of His Spirit, a life that lives and functions in the grace and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, a new-life in Christ that can say it is not I that live but the mighty power of Christ Jesus Who is living in and through me.
The content, message, progression, and information contained within the Old, often lays the foundation for its fulfilment in the New, where it is often expanded, explained, illuminated, revealed, or fulfilled in the Person and Work of Christ Jesus.
Isaiah paints the most astonishing picture of Jesus, as the suffering Servant of God Who was despised and rejected by those He came to save.
The Word of God identifies our flaws, faults, and failings, and it provides the means to correct them and live godly in Christ Jesus.
An inner change of heart by grace through faith in Him should be translated into an outward demonstration of a changed life that is being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, through the power of the indwelling Spirit.
It records the prophecy of Simeon and the testimony of Anna, the old prophetess, and allows us glimpses into His life in Nazareth, His extraordinary visit to the Temple at the age of 12, and the many silent years He spent as a young carpenter when: Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
Though born in the City of David, Jesus grew up in the little town of Nazareth where He grew and developed both physically and spiritually.
Like every little Jewish boy or girl, Jesus had to learn to walk and talk, to play and work, to interact with others, and to learn about the Law and the prophets of Israel.
Physically, the Lord Jesus continued to grow and develop and to become strong, as he passed through childhood to maturity.
Because Jesus had to experience the physical and emotional development that every child undergoes, we discover that He is well able to sympathise with every stage of our development and every circumstance we meet.
He understands our infirmities for He was faced with the same temptations we face, yet Jesus was without sin.
Not only in His adult ministry but throughout His childhood and youth, the Lord Jesus was the sinless Son of God Who learned obedience by the things that He suffered.
During His life, Jesus fulfilled every requirement of the Law.
The young Jesus lived in submission to His earthly parents, even though He would be their Messiah and Lord.
And both parents set the young Man a good example, for they also obeyed what was written in the Law of Moses and brought up the little Lord Jesus in the way that He should go, and the favour of the Lord was upon Him.
Living after the Cross, in the age of grace, we are no longer under the Law, as was Jesus, but His life, from beginning to end, is a shining example to all of us on how to live for the glory of God, for He lived His sacred life and died His sacrificial death for the honour and glory of the Father in heaven.
Although Jesus was fully God, He laid aside His glory for a season and lived in total submission to the Father, in the power of the Spirit.
Jesus lived His entire life in total dependence on the Father and was willing to say NOT MY WILL, but Thy will be done.
Such apostate teachers with their heretical doctrines always insist that salvation requires something to be added to the Cross - that man must engage in some meritorious work, other than simply believing in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, for their salvation.
And although Paul was commissioned to preach to Jew and Gentile alike, his specific calling was to be God's apostle to the Gentiles - so that the world may know that Jesus Christ is both God and Saviour.
Those of us who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, live in the dispensation of grace.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ, and our union with Him makes us complete in Him and accepted by the Father.
Paul wants us to really know this truth in our own lives and to grasp hold of it with our whole being so that we may be filled to all the fullness of God, which is ours by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
The more we rest in Him, the more we find that we are being filled to a measure of all the fullness of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God can bring beauty from ashes and He can turn any obstacle in your life into a blessed opportunity, where the gospel of Christ can be preached and the name of Jesus lifted up.
May we recognise that every day that passes is one more day of grace that God, in His long-suffering mercy, has permitted so that other lost souls may be brought into the kingdom of Christ, through their faith in Jesus Christ.
Love is a theme that threads its way through all the writing of John, but it is in the later chapters of his first epistle that he brings the important theme of divine 'love' to the very forefront of our attention: God IS love, John reminds us, and He manifested that love towards us in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He works in the lives of those who are living by faith and not by sight, and His love is perfected in the lives of those that are growing in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He points out that he would prefer to put off his mortal body to die and go to be with Jesus, rather than keep on living in this fallen world and a dying body.
But by faith in Christ, we are born into the new creation with Jesus as the Federal Head.
He will lure many away from their only hope of salvation, which is through faith in the shed blood of Christ Jesus - the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
God in His omniscience knew in advance of man's terrible fall into sin, and determined from the foundation of the world, to save mankind, by grace through faith in the sacrificial death of His dearly beloved Son - Jesus Christ the righteous.
Jesus was not literally crucified at the foundation of the world, but God's plans and purposes dictated from that point, Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, as laid out in Scripture, would be the only acceptable sacrifice for sin.
And let us seek to tell a lost world that forgiveness of sin and the salvation of their soul is available to ALL who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
This Scripture is one of the clearest verses to indicate that Sunday was the day that the early church chose to meet together to celebrate their risen, ascended, glorified Saviour, and to break bread together, as the Lord Jesus instructs us all to do.
Indeed, there does not seem to be any other reason for Paul and his co-labourers to tarry seven days in the city... other than to enjoy fellowship with them on Sunday, as they broke bread together in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
May we too join together on the first day of the week - in the breaking of bread, as we hold in eternal remembrance the enormous sacrifice of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ - and may the Lord Jesus be worshipped and glorified on every day of the week, for this should be our continuous sacrifice of praise.
Even in Paul's day, there was much confusion and false teaching concerning the prophesied Day-of-the-Lord, the end of the age of grace, and the events during this time period, including when the Lord Jesus returns in the clouds to gather the Body of Christ to Himself in the Rapture, the seven-year period called the Tribulation, and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus to earth to set up His Millennial Kingdom on earth.
The Day-of-the-Lord starts with the 7-year Tribulation period, at the end of which Jesus returns to earth in the event called the Second Coming.
The Day-of-the-Lord continues with the Millenium, where Jesus rules and reigns for 1000 years and ends when God's sets up a new heaven and a new earth.
Paul obviously felt the need to pray for the Body of Christ in a way that reflected Christ's own High Priestly prayer - which the Lord Jesus prayed only hours before His own crucifixion (see John 17).
We are not to be those that pull back when times get tough, and should take to heart Paul's words of encouragement - as we press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, knowing that His grace is sufficient.
We were lost in sin and separated from God, but Jesus took the full punishment for our sin.
Although He came as Israel's Messiah, the Lord Jesus did not die for one group of people or for one specific race or nation.
God's free gift of salvation was not only for the Jews but reaches out to whosoever will believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God, whether they are Jew or Gentile, for all have equal access to His goodness and grace and all receive His forgiveness and life everlasting, by faith in Jesus Christ the righteousness.
Praise God that Paul let us know that there is one God who will justify all mankind in the one and only way He made it possible: by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sins are forgiven, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, fellowship with the Father is reinstated, we become children of God, citizens of heaven, and placed in unity with Christ Jesus our Lord.
For by the power of the Spirit and to the glory of God the Father, we are made dead to sin and alive to Christ Jesus our Lord.
We can buy into various false teachings, live our lives in selfish pride, and even keep the Lord Jesus standing outside the door of our hearts, but like Israel, today is a day that is a feast day for us, for Christ our Saviour has redeemed us by His blood and we have been released from the bondage of slavery to sin into the freedom of Christ's saving grace.
We should turn away from our wrong attitudes and actions and look to Jesus, for every day is a day that is holy to the Lord.
Like Israel, we should not remain in self-condemnation, but rejoice that there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Let us never forget that we are the people of God who have been purchased with the precious blood of Christ - and that the many precious promises of God towards us, his sons and heirs, are 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus.
We too need to be like that little group of faithful elders that listened to Paul's passionate preaching on the shores of Miletus, when he reminded them to be unafraid of teaching the truth and encouraged them not to shrink back from witnessing of Jesus, both in public places and private homes.
Although He had many critics who did their best to discredit His claim, their baseless accusations were silenced and the common people of Israel rejoiced because of the wonderful miracles Jesus did in their midst.
And so, for those with eyes that could see, Jesus began to teach His kingdom parables, telling of things that must take place before the time appointed for Him to set up the kingdom of heaven on earth.
Despite the mustard seed of early Christianity morphing into the worldwide tree of Compromises and Corruption, let us not be discouraged, for Jesus said: I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail.
Never was a more gracious answer received, directly from the heart of God than: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
Believe that He rose again the third day to break the power of death in your life, and believe that God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven, to live a perfect life on our behalf so that He could also die a sacrificial death in our place.
And all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, with no need for any add-ons or any hidden-extras.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, eternally saved, and forever secure.
And multitudes down through the corridors of time have simply believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and been saved from the punishment of sin and its diabolical wages, which is death.
You must BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
And your family must do the same, they must BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and they will be saved.
This one simple requirement; to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, appears sublimely foolish to the logic of thinking man who too often treat it with contempt and ridicule!
It was the jailor who asked the question: What must I do to be saved? and He discovered that all that was needed was to believe of the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be saved.
And all that was required of his family was that they too, simply believe in Jesus Christ for salvation, for Jesus is our Kinsman-Redeemer.
He is our great God and Saviour, for Jesus became the sin-substitute for all who will believe.
With man the forgiveness of sins is impossible but with God, all things are possible when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.' WOW!
Jesus did not simply say He would show us the way, but that He IS The Way.
And the way Jesus had to travel to that pivotal point in the history of the world, was the way of the cross of Calvary, where His shed blood and selfless sacrifice, shattered the immovable barrier between sinful man and a holy God.
Jesus IS the one and only Way - and it is non-negotiable!
Jesus did not say He would tell us some truths, but that He IS incarnate Truth.
Without JESUS we do not know where to go.
Without Jesus, we do not know what is the truth, and without Jesus, there is no way to live life or to face death.
Jesus is the eternal God.
Only Jesus was equipped to answer Thomas' question, and tell His disciples, I AM the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Jesus Christ is THE Way that leads to the Father.
Jesus not only points the way to our heavenly Father and our eternal home, but He is the Way, for salvation is not a state but a Person, and no one comes to the Father except by faith in the Son.
Jesus Christ is THE Truth Who opens up our understanding of God and gives us knowledge of God - a truth that confounds the wisdom of man and a truth that silences all the presuppositions of prideful humanity.
Jesus not only teaches the truth, but He is incarnate Truth.
Jesus Christ is THE Life, Who breathes His own resurrected life into a fallen man, by faith.
Jesus is the way which every one of us must follow.
Jesus is the truth in Whom we must believe.
Jesus is the life in Whom we have our hope.
And Jesus said - NO ONE comes to the Father but through Me.
The one and only way, truth, and life is JESUS.
No other religion, no other faith, no other path, no other philosophy, and no other gospel leads the sinner to God the Father, tells the truth about Him, and gives us His eternal life - other than JESUS.
Jesus Christ is THE Way. Jesus Christ is THE Truth. Jesus Christ is THE Life.
May the truth of this simple yet profound statement permeate to the very core of our being so that our troubled heart will be stilled and our joy will be full, and may we be willing to share the good news that Jesus Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Life, with whomsoever the Lord may place in our path.
Other practices that Paul warned against, in this passage, were developing a lop-sided view of the truth, allegorising Scripture, politicising religion, and engaging in petty quarrels over unimportant theological issues, because they divert the believer's attention away from their focus on Jesus and the important issues of our faith and living for Him.
How important that the wise teachings of Paul, on division within the church, are applied in congregations today - if men and women are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the omniscient God Who knows the very thoughts of our inner heart - and He did not give one word of commendation and praise to these Laodicean believers.
The condemnation that Jesus gives to these believers is graphically described as, I know your deeds.
As a result, Jesus labelled them as, wretched and miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
Not only were these believers not on fire for Jesus - but neither were they icy cold against Him!
Whether the attitude of these believers was a total indifference to Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, a general disinterest in getting to know the Lord Jesus and the power of His Resurrection, or simply a lukewarm spirituality due to a carnal, self-inflated ego and self-satisfaction in their own abilities, these believers were the group that disgusted the Lord Jesus more than any other Church that is listed in the book of Revelation.
No matter what the temperature of our own spiritual walk, we would all do well to consider some of the serious accusations the Lord Jesus uttered to these lukewarm Christians. I know your deeds.
They thought they were rich, but Jesus tells them of their true state.
This is a parable about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He returns to earth in power and great glory to set up His visible Millennial kingdom as Israel's Messiah-King.
We are to faithfully carry out the good work that God has given us to do as we work and watch and wait for the Lord Jesus to come take us to be with Himself forever.
Today, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and during His absence, those that are wise and faithful will obediently and diligently discharge their duties.
Let us faithfully heed the instructions of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and obediently carry out our duties to His praise and glory, knowing that such a servant will receive a wonderful reward, while the unfaithful servant will suffer great loss.
Paul identified the main culprits as people who peddled that gospel for worldly gain, and those who insisted on returning to the legalistic practices of the ceremonial Law, thus denying the Lord Who bought them and trampling on the all-sufficient sacrifice of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
This final book of the Bible is an unveiling of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and through its pages, the Holy Spirit gives us a peep behind the scenes of the glorified Christ in heaven and how He will complete God's plans and purposes for mankind.
The Lord Jesus Christ is God's final Prophet.
Let us contemplate these glorious truths that are ours by grace through faith in Christ Jesus and let us conclude that He is worthy to receive all power, riches, wisdom, might, honour, glory, and blessing.
The Lord Jesus in His humanity is the visible revelation of the invisible God.
The only way to discover the invisible God is through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the visible image of the invisible God; God manifest in the flesh.
The only way to know our Creator intimately is through His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the firstborn over all creation.
Jesus (the Word), is God the Son.
Jesus created everything and in Him everything holds together.
Jesus Christ is first in importance over all His creation, and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow for all creation is subject to His authority, and He died so that we might live.
Starting from their slavery in Egypt, he progressed through Jewish history until he reached the ministry of John the Baptist who preached a baptism of repentance to Israel and identified Jesus as: The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
Finally, Paul dropped the climatic bombshell: Let it be known to you, brethren, that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Paul was explaining to his unsaved Jewish 'brethren' that Jesus was great David's greater Son, after the flesh.
The indestructible life of Christ Jesus, was greater than king David, for He was raised from the dead by the almighty power of God and was the perfect Sacrifice for their sin – and by faith in Him, redemption would be theirs.
This is the gospel that must be preached to unsaved Jew and Gentile alike, that through faith in the Man, Christ Jesus is received the forgiveness of sin.
We are not saved by works of the Law, but by faith in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of Jesus, the eternal Son of God and sinless Son of Man.
For 2000 years, the Jews have rejected Jesus as their Messiah because they were unwilling to trust the Word of the Lord.
All who have trusted in Christ are already forgiven of our sin and have received the gift of eternal life, and by His grace, the Church will accompany our God and Saviour on that incredible day when Israel recognises Jesus as their Messiah.
There is no solitary place to which we can go, nor a single state in which we find ourselves, that is able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Familiarity with this biblical passage must never diminish the lofty splendour of this magnificent truth - that, whether we are awake or in the grave, we will live together with Jesus, eternally.
We have been given salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ and we have been promised that we will live together with Him, in resurrected bodies, through the Millennial age and throughout the eternal state.
The Bible tells us that the soul that sins shall die, but thanks be to God for we have been redeemed by the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and have been united with Him forever.
Jesus died for us to pay the price for sin - BUT, He also rose again, so that whether we wake or sleep - whether we continue to live in this mortal realm or cast off this physical 'tent' when we die, we know that we will live together with Christ until the consummation of this Church age when we will be raised in an eternal and incorruptible body - for the rest of time (the Millennial kingdom) and for the eternal ages to come.
When we breathe our final breath in this life, we simply transfer into the next - with Jesus, in heavenly places.
As the Lord Jesus Christ continued His journey towards Jerusalem and the Cross, we discover an increasing opposition to His Messianic claims.
As the day for His departure drew ever closer, we find Jesus preparing men for a ministry that would shortly be handed over to them.
This selected group were given the task of going ahead of Jesus, to prepare the way of the Lord as He set out on His final visit to the city He loved - and to face an increasingly hostile population.
'The Revelation of Jesus Christ' is a prophetic book that opens up our knowledge and understanding of our Saviour: And when we finally see Him we will know Him as we are known.
Nothing on the earth below nor in the heavens above can cause the steps of those that have been made righteous through Jesus Christ to stray so far or to fall so heavily, that God in His grace will not reach down and to pick us up.
When the Christian Church was birthed at Pentecost, Peter stood up and addressed the men of Israel and Jewish converts. He told them that Jesus of Nazareth, Whom they all witnessed performing many mighty miracles through the power of God, was the promised descendent of king David, and that He was to sit on the throne of His father, forever.
He prophesied that this coming Son would receive an eternal kingship through the power of a deathless life, and Paul explained that Jesus, the One Whom they crucified, was the One about Whom David spoke.
Paul wanted to make it clear that this prophecy did not refer to David as the Psalm implied, but to Jesus, Whom they crucified.
He opened the prophetic Scriptures to their understanding so that they might believe that Jesus, the Nazarene Who was accredited by God with miracles, signs, and wonders and was delivered up according to God's determined plan and foreknowledge to be nailed to a Cross, crucified, and killed by lawless men, was the One to which David's prophecy pointed.
As the eternal Son of God, Christ Jesus possessed immortality.
No one but the Lord Jesus Christ, fully God yet fully Man, qualified to be our deathless Redeemer.
Only the eternal Son of God and sinless Son of David, fulfilled the criteria that was carried out through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ the Righteous.
and yet we know this to be a reality in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is the Prophet greater than Moses, the singular Priest of the most High God after the order of Melchizedek, and the eternal King of heaven, from the lineage of David.
I wonder if this was one of the Scriptures that the Lord Jesus related to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus when He joined them on the way and opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, explaining to them the things which were written about Him which must be fulfilled in the Law of Moses, the Prophets of Israel, and the great treasury of Psalms.
As we journey through the Word of God, may our hearts and minds be open to all the Lord has to teach us so that we are guided into all truth about the Lord Jesus, knowing that God's plan of redemption is a most precious scarlet thread that weaves its way through each book and every character.
The truth Paul preached with a passion was that God's plan of redemption was made fully known to mankind, through the advent of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Timothy had shown himself approved unto God, and Paul wanted him to be a bold and very courageous testimony to the truth, and to keep on sharing the good news of the gospel of God, and Jesus Christ His only begotten Son.
Paul knew that Timothy could be timid and was sometimes intimidated, and so he encouraged him not to be embarrassed to testify of the Lord Jesus, nor to be ashamed of Paul, his father in the faith: Rather, share in suffering for the gospel, by relying on the power of God, were Paul's encouraging words.
He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, he wrote to Timothy, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
We are redeemed by faith in the precious blood of Jesus.
He reminded him that God's redemption plan was formulated in the council chambers of heaven, before the world was founded: But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus.
Many came to Jesus to accuse, ridicule and scorn Him, but the name of Jesus in the ear of the believer is the most beautiful of all names, for it is through our union with the Lord Jesus that we have been brought back into sweet communion with the living God, for there is no other name in heaven or on earth that has the power to seek and to save that which was lost.Trusting in the name of Jesus is accepting Him as the incarnate Son of God, Who came to earth to be our substitute for sin.
It is believing that the consequence of sin is death, but that Jesus paid the penalty of sin by dying on the Cross for us.
It is believing that Jesus took the punishment that we deserve, and that through faith in Him our sin has been blotted out forever, we have been declared righteous by God and covered in Christ's own, perfect righteousness. Believing on His name is the start of an amazing, everlasting journey that has given us the authority and privilege of being adopted into the family of God and being awarded the right to be called children of God.
'To believe in His name', does not simply mean to believe that Jesus lived, as a historical figure, like Caesar Augustus, Cleopatra, or Tutankhamun.
It does not mean to believe the fact of Scripture, as an intellectual exercise. 'To believe in His name', means to accept everything that the Bible teaches about the Lord Jesus Christ - that He was sent by God to pay the price for our sin - that He is the Word of God made flesh, Who dwelt among us and died as the sacrificial substitute for the sin of mankind.
'To believe in His name', is to believe that Jesus is God incarnate - the Creator of the world, Who came to earth as a Man..
There is only one way to be saved - believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. There is only one way to become a child of God - believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be given the right to become a child of God. There is only one way to be born-again - believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is indeed that Light of lights that came into the world... for it was in Him and through Him and by Him that the world was created, when God said: let there be light.
Men of Israel at the time of Christ who believed the voice of John the Baptist and trusted in Jesus as their Lord, have already received the many benefits of trusting in their prophesied Messiah, for their sins are forgiven, eternal life is their portion, and each one is being conformed, day by day, in the beautiful image and likeness of the Saviour, in Whom they placed their trust.
We too have been commissioned to bring good news of great joy to the unsaved masses - to Jews and Gentiles alike, by declaring the gospel of grace to those who are dead in their sins... for there is only one name under heaven, whereby we must be saved... the lovely name of Jesus.
The foundation of the Christian Church is Jesus Christ, our Lord.
There are those that like to suggest that Jesus was referring to the apostle Peter as the foundation stone for the Church.
Entire doctrines have been written on this unscriptural imagination and entire denominations have been founded on this false assumption - for the Lord Jesus alone is the underpinning Bedrock of our gospel and the singular Foundation upon which we are to build our faith.
Jesus is the Cornerstone that underpins our faith.
Jesus Christ is the Anchor of our hope - and He alone is the fundamental Truth of the glorious gospel of God, for there is salvation in no one else.
Other Christs may be worshipped - but there is only ONE Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul warned against replacing the truth with another Jesus, another gospel, and alternative ways of salvation.
But let us be unshakable when it comes to the Rock upon which our faith is founded, for no man can lay a foundation, other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Salvation is by faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
It is by faith we were justified and by faith we are going through a process of sanctification, as we are conformed into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Jesus died on the Cross, He became our sin-substitute.
But Jesus also died as our representative.
There are likely to be times when we will fail and our practice will not reflect our position, but our earnest desire should be to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As an outpouring of their trust in Christ Jesus as Saviour, this little band of believers demonstrated a deep love for all the saints of Christ.
And praise God that we are eagerly awaiting His appearing: Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The honour and glory that is due to Jesus is infinitely superior to that demanded by Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David or any other highly esteemed Old Testament saint.
And we are reminded in this verse: Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of a house has more honour than the house itself.
He was highly respected by fellow members of the growing family of God, and although Moses received high honour and great glory for the part he played in God's plan of salvation, he was simply one little cog in the great wheel of God's vast redemptive plan which comes through Jesus Christ the righteous.
In every other respect, Christ Jesus is vastly superior to Moses and commands far greater glory and significance.
As believers in the dispensation of the grace of God, every Christian both Jew and Gentile alike, are reminded that we are holy brethren who by faith in Christ, have a heavenly calling to honour the Lord Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the incomparable Man and is the Author, Finisher, Builder, and Sustainer of the entire household of God.
Melchizedek is a most beautiful symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the true King of Righteousness, the only King of Peace, and Great High Priest of the Most High God.
We are to take courage in our hearts and look to JESUS, and we will not only discover Him to be the strength of our life, but the Light to our Christian walk, and salvation for our soul.
I wonder if he knew it was a signpost that points us to Jesus, and His familiar friend and beloved disciple - Judas Iscariot, who would betray the Lord of Glory for thirty pieces of silver.
But His righteousness is only given by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
Paul wants to make it crystal clear that apart from the unattainable righteousness of the Law, the righteousness of God is attainable to all, but it is only obtained through faith in Jesus Christ.
We have been declared righteous in Him, not by works of the Law, for by works of the Law shall no man living be justified, but by the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God Who became the perfect Son of Man and the only sacrifice for the sin of the world.
And over many centuries, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, to give testimony of the coming Messiah; Jesus Christ the righteous, heir of all things, and through Whom the world was created.
But the fullness of the message of grace could not be more fully unveiled until the Lord Jesus came to present Himself in Person, as the sin-sacrifice for the whole world.
But as Church-age believers, we have the incredible privilege of being given the full and final revelation of God through Jesus Christ, and we have come to an understanding of that which was hidden from these early prophets, with inexpressible joy.
This beautiful 'high priestly' prayer of the Lord Jesus demonstrates His humble obedience and unreserved dependence upon God.
And being found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death on a cross.
Jesus manifested the glory, attributes, nature, and character of the invisible God to the men Whom God had called and chosen, before the foundation of the world, to be His children.
And 'though they were to make many more mistakes in the days to come, we discover in His high priestly prayer there is no mention of their faults and failings, but an earnest desire that God the Father would keep them - for they were bought with a price - the precious blood of Christ Jesus our Lord.
It was the Lord Jesus who explained that the evil words which come out of our mouths have deep roots in our inner heart: For out of the heart come evil thoughts like murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander.
We are not to become dependent on the things of this world, like unsaved people, but to familiarise ourselves with our blessed hope in Christ Jesus our Saviour, and look for the day of His return to take us to be with Himself.
The Lord Jesus Himself will come down from heaven with a loud word of command.
After the bodies of dead Christians are resurrected from their earthly graves, the living believers will be raptured – caught up – seized – grabbed – to meet the Lord Jesus in the air: And so we shall forever be with the Lord.
And when Jesus returns to set up His kingdom, we (the Church) will accompany Him.
As we trace the various references of this fascinating king-priest through the pages of Scripture, we discover him to be an intriguing individual and a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ, our King of Righteousness, our Prince of Peace, and God's Great High Priest of heaven and earth.
As His blood-bought children we also enjoy the same precious promises of God, which are 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Law demands the death sentence for every man and every woman, but Jesus: Wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us.
Jesus has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross.
It was God's plan from eternity past that the Lord Jesus would cancel the record of the charges against us and take it away by nailing it to the Cross, and for those who believe in His name, it is FINISHED.
To prevent the Corinthians Christians from regressing into their former ways, Paul used Israel's escape from Egypt, their wilderness wanderings, and their eventual entrance into the promised land, to teach believers how to live godly lives in Christ Jesus and keep themselves from falling into sin, idolatry, apathy, or rebellion.
Paul tells us that ALL who were redeemed from Egypt ate of the manna - the supernatural food that God provided for them, and it represented Jesus - Who is our true, Spiritual Food... they ALL ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them - and the rock was Christ.
Israel were saved from Egypt, and their faith was reckoned as righteousness, and like all Old Testament saints, they looked forward to the One Who was to come - the Messiah of Israel; the Saviour of the world; the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every part of the Mosaic Law and all prophetic writings pointed to Jesus, Who was to come and save them from their sin.
Just as Christians today look back to Christ's finished work and are saved by faith in Him, so pre-cross believers looked forward to the coming Messiah, and their faith was credited as righteousness - they were saved by grace, through faith in the coming Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as we remember Him as the Living Bread and Water of Life, so the spiritual sustenance Israel received in the wilderness represented Jesus, including the Water that flowed from the Rock and the Manna that came down from heaven.
The Manna Israel ate in the wilderness, symbolised JESUS.
Jesus, Himself, reminded us, I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
The apostle Paul had a ministry that was distinct from the other disciples who accompanied the Lord Jesus from the beginning of His earthly ministry.
In various of his Epistles, he made it very clear that he was given his gospel by special revelation, directly from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul received his gospel exclusively from the Lord Jesus, Himself: For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it by men, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ...nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.
He was given it exclusively from the resurrected and glorified Lord Jesus Christ.
However, there were many who held fast to Jewish Law, legislation, rites, rituals, and feasts, and tried to incorporate Jewish traditions into the Church which conflicted with all that Jesus had taught Paul, and his message caused much contention and was resisted by many traditionalists and legalists, and Paul found it necessary to defend the gospel he taught - the gospel he was given by Christ, during his time in Arabia.
Paul stressed that God had set him apart from his mother's womb, and that he was called by His mercy and grace to be God's special mouthpiece, not chosen by men to be an apostle, like Matthias who replaced Judas Iscariot, nor was he taught by man, like the 3000 men who were saved on the day of Pentecost. Paul was taught by Jesus Christ and by God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead.
The healing at the pool of Bethesda was unusual, in that Jesus Himself asked the man, do you want to be healed? - whereas normally He was approached by others who asked for healing.
In an act of grace, Jesus chose to engage with this man on a Sabbath day, despite his being infirm for 38 years.
But like all the signs and miracles recorded in his Gospel, John's purpose in writing was to prove that Jesus was the Christ, and that by believing on HIM we might have life everlasting.
Although the healed man picked up his bed and carried it home, as instructed, he did not know who Jesus was and seemed indifferent to the gracious healing he had just received.
And so, when challenged by the authorities for breaking the Sabbath day rule, he did not withstand their rebukes by glorifying God for his miraculous release from sin and supernatural healing - he simply answered that he had no clue who Jesus was... and informed the Jewish leaders that he was not the one who should be held responsible for breaking the Sabbath Law - it was the responsibility of the Man who said to him, Pick up your pallet and walk!!
The Lord Jesus Himself was the embodiment of all holy wisdom, and the personification of godly humility.
The Lord Jesus was the one Who, throughout His earthly life, demonstrated how all humanity was originally designed to live, and He remains the perfect example of a Man with godly wisdom and gracious understanding for He was meek and lowly of heart, and in Him we find rest for our soul.
But he also knew that spiritual growth is not automatic, for we must grow and mature in grace and in a knowledge of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Peter knew that the spiritual qualities of godly living are all rooted and grounded in a life that is saturated with the Word of God, totally submitted to His will, and passionately in love with their God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The more we grow in this manner, the more productive and useful we become, and the greater will be our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we abide in Him to His praise and glory, and for His name's sake.
The position and privileges that are ours in Christ Jesus, and all that we will ever need to live a godly life which is pleasing to the Lord, were given to us as a free gift of God's grace.
As His children, we are called to live a life of godliness, to live our life in spirit and truth, and to live in total dependence upon our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
All that pertains to life and godliness in a believer is achieved through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within our heart and the intercessory ministry of our great High Priest in heaven, for it is God Who works in us, to equip each believer to mature in the faith, to grow in grace, and to come into a fuller and deeper knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Let us never forget that our heavenly position and privileges are ours in Christ Jesus Who, by His divine power, has given us everything that is needed for life and godliness.
Too often we permit the difficult circumstances of our present situation or the careless attitudes of other people, to rob us of the inner, unshakable joy we have in Christ Jesus today.
How necessary to look away from today's storms clouds that appear so threatening and which can so quickly cast a shadow on the eternal hope we have in our heavenly home, which is rooted in the Word of God and grounded on Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let us not stare down at the world with its trials and tribulations, and instead keep our eyes on Jesus.
Salvation is nothing to do with ourselves, it has nothing to do with rules, regulations, or laws we have to keep, for salvation is by grace, and it is a free gift from God to all who have believed in Jesus: Salvation is not from yourselves; it is God's gift.
The remnant of Jews that trust Jesus as their Messiah during this Church age become part of the Church of God, the Body of Christ, and like Gentile believers are saved by grace, not works of the Law.
They were an earthly representation of the true, permanent Tabernacle in heaven and the eternal, heavenly Priesthood after the order of Melchisedek, where Jesus Christ serves as our holy, heavenly High Priest.
In Him, we have an everlasting reality with a better sacrifice, for Christ Jesus presented His shed blood on the sacrificial Alter in the true Sanctuary above so that by faith in Him we are forgiven of our sins, and made one with Christ.
His words and actions, decisions, temperament, and the very motives of his heart should honour the Lord Jesus and demonstrate godly consideration and concern for the spiritual well-being of others.
Suffering afflictions for Christ's sake should be considered as part of our service to the Lord Jesus.
From this point forward, Jesus spoke to His followers in parables, so that those who believe in Him will have understanding, while the truth will be withheld from those whose hearts are hardened... so that their sin of unbelief will not be compounded.
The stereotypical 'JESUS' of modern-day thinking, is far removed from the Man that marched to the cross, overturned the tables of the money-changers in the Temple of God, called the Jewish leaders, 'a brood of vipers' and vehemently condemned them of hypocrisy.
While Jesus still is the God of love and grace and will eventually return to Jerusalem as Prince of Peace and King of kings, He is also the God of justice and righteousness.
While JESUS is the ever-faithful and gracious God who forgives sinners and clothes those who believe in Him in His robe of righteousness, He is the God Who cannot abide sin, and has determined that the soul that sins - through unbelief, will die.
Knowing the tremendous price that God the Father had to pay in sending the Son of His love to become our Kinsman-Redeemer... and knowing the terrible agony the Lord JESUS would have to endure and the incredible sacrifice He would have to make in order to redeem the human race, should cause each one of us to glorify Him with every fibre of our being - every moment of the day - and to spread abroad the glories of His holy name, without fear or favour.
When God sent His only begotten Son into the world to save His people from their sin and to set up the kingdom of God on earth, many did not understand that Jesus was the promised Messiah of God.
Many could not accept that Jesus was Immanuel, the Alpha and the Omega, the great I AM - despite His clear teaching which said, believe on God, AND Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
However, many did not understand... and although they repented of their sins and demonstrated this through John's 'baptism-of-repentance', they were still unaware that they ALSO had to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Whom God had sent, for the salvation of their soul.
Throughout the book of Acts, we see men and women who believed in God (Who brought their forefathers out of the land of Egypt), repenting of their sins, renouncing their apostasy, returning to the Lord, and coming to an understanding of Who Jesus was.
Having repented of their sins and returned to God of their fathers, they also had to come to an understanding that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah and the Son of God!
WOW, what a revelation that must have been when they finally realised that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of the world, and the Son of the living God Who was also GOD THE SON.
It must have been thrilling for these men of Israel and other Jewish proselytes when they finally recognised Jesus as the Rock in the wilderness, the prophesied great Star, and the eternal Sceptre from the line of Judah - of the house of David.
David identified Jesus as, the Good Shepherd, while Micah described Him as, the One Whose going forth is of old - from everlasting to everlasting.
Jesus was also the One about Whom the Ethiopian eunuch was reading, when Philip came alongside his chariot on that dusty road.
What a thrill it must have been as Philip opened the prophetic Scriptures to this God-fearing man, and revealed to him that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Son of God - in Whom is the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
No wonder the eunuch believed in Jesus Christ and asked if he might be baptised in the water right away.
Not surprisingly Philip said, Yes, if You believe what I have told you, about Jesus - that He is the promised Saviour, Who died on the Cross according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures - then you can be baptised and brought into the Body of Christ.
Nor is it surprising that this joyful man replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
It is always a joy to have Christian brothers and sisters whose lives are a shining example of Jesus Christ, radiating in them and working through them.
Paul was writing this letter to the Philippians from one of his many prison cells into which he had been flung for the sake of Jesus Christ his Saviour, but he endured it without bitterness or complaining.
He kept holding fast to the Word of life in Christ Jesus which had set him free from slavery to sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh.
And yet, Peter prays that the grace and peace of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ be multiplied in our lives and magnified in our hearts.
The Lord Jesus is not simply God's only begotten Son, but is Himself Deity, God incarnate, very God of very God, in Whom dwells all the perfect, holy, and eternal attributes and majesty of our Creator God.
Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, our Good Shepherd Who restores our soul by making us to lie down in green pastures and gently leading us beside his waters of stillness.
Either we are slaves of sin, impurity, and lawlessness, or we are slaves of righteousness, life, and truth, which is the path that leads us into sanctification (the lifelong process of being conformed into the likeness of Christ Jesus our Lord).
Paul knew that gaining an understanding of heavenly things is a difficult concept due to our human limitation and finite comprehension, but he wanted to give us a good grasp of the incredible contrast between what we were before we were saved and what we are now that we are saved by grace through faith and positioned in Christ Jesus.
Paul uses the close, marriage bond between a man and his wife, as a beautiful picture of the intimacy that exists between the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.
It is a wonderful truth that should encourage our hearts and fill us with joy, for as a wife is to her husband, so is the Church to the Lord Jesus.
We are to be a living testament of God's goodness and grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we are to avoid partnership with the enemy camp which can lead to a compromise of the truth of the glorious gospel of God.
Although Old Testament saints, including David the king, will partake in the resurrection of the dead at Christ's Second Coming, the One Whom the Lord will raise up to govern His people, is the Lord Jesus Christ; the Messiah of Israel, the Son of the most High God, great David's greater Son.
Today, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are the ones who are being used to testify to the truth of the glorious Gospel of grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
He recalled that through his SEED - Christ Jesus our Lord, all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Abraham demonstrated a belief that the promises of God have an eternal perspective as, like us, he looks forward to the New Jerusalem - to the new heaven and the new earth and the eternal ages to come when the kingdom has been restored to the Father and the Man, Christ Jesus, rules and reigns in righteousness and peace.
This old bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ knew that the day of his death drew near, but the eyes of his inner soul were fixed on his God and Saviour, and his heart was moved to bless his brothers and sisters with multiplied blessings, while instructing them to stand fast on the Word of God and not to be hoodwinked by false teachers or demonic doctrines.
As a young man, Peter sought to influence the Lord Jesus against His Father's will and had to be admonished by Jesus with the rebuke, get behind me Satan... But as a mature believer, his walk was so intimate with his Master that the Lord made it clear to him that it was soon time for Peter, to lay aside his earthly dwelling.
No doubt, Peter recalled His Master's personal command to, feed my sheep, and provide food for My little lambs, as he sought to remind his readers to persevere in life's trials and grow in brotherly love, to be fruitful in their knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to make their calling steadfast and sure.
The urgency to remind these saints about the truth of the gospel of grace and the necessity to be diligent in their earthly walk and established in sound doctrine, was because Peter had received special revelation from God about his imminent death, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent - as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
Peter had seen the empty tomb and had touched Christ's supernaturally resurrected body of flesh and bone, and Peter understood that he too, would one day 'fall into the ground and die, like a grain of wheat', so that like the Lord Jesus, he too would rise into life immortal, at the coming of Christ.
It was once said that, the devil is never more satanic than when he carries a Bible, and the Scriptures give multiple warnings to beware of false prophets and flawed teachers with their counterfeit gospel, their doctrines of demons, and a different 'Jesus', which too often results from their fraudulent greed.
Although this was a command that was given to the chosen nation of Israel and related to the specific covenant that God made with them, it embraces an important principle for all God's children in this Church dispensation; There are important lessons to learn by all who have been rescued from slavery to sin and have been brought into the family of God, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
It was not only Jesus Who explained that the Christian life would entail much suffering but also Peter, James, and the apostle Paul.
Even death is the doorway into the presence of God Who Himself has promised to finish the good work that He began in us the moment we came to faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour, and were born into His heavenly family.
For it has been granted to us on behalf of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, not only to believe in Him for salvation but also to suffer for Him as we journey through life in a Christ-rejecting sinful world that is lost in their trespasses and sins and is at enmity with our Heavenly Father.
This headstrong, young fisherman, who was the first to proclaim by revelation, Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God, addresses himself to fellow-believers in simplicity and humility as: The bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.
And at the start of his second epistle, we find Simon Peter (bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ), offering words of encouragement and advice to all who by God's grace, had the obtained the same precious faith that he had received; for in Christ Jesus our God and Saviour, we have all become the righteousness of God in Him.
Simon Peter may have trudged the dusty roads of Galilee with the Lord Jesus, been invited to the same wedding feasts, and attended the same gravesides.
But in the opening verse of his second epistle, Simon Peter gives the Lord Jesus the honour and reverence due to His name, His authority, His character, His deity, and His Person - with the title our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
But when a parent is trying to impart godly discipline from a heart of love for Jesus and for their child, they will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness: For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Jesus had been sent from heaven to fulfil His Father's will and had just explained to his confused disciples He was about to return to heaven, where He would be seated at the Father's right hand.
No doubt, Peter had pumped up his own self-confidence and courage to such an extent that he could proudly proclaim, in front of the rest of the congregation, that he would die for Jesus.
However, his fervent zeal was quickly checked when Jesus answered: Will you lay down your life for Me?
As evening shadows were drawing across the sky, Jesus told his followers that Peter's predicted failure was to take place before the coming dawn.
Jesus had already told them that one in their midst would betray Him, and no doubt the thought must have crossed many minds that night - was Peter the one that would betray the Master to their Roman overlords or the hostile Sanhedrin?
But the Lord Jesus, in this extended dialogue to His followers, warns of the foolishness of fretting and futility of worry, for it results in a fruitless and defeated life.
The Lord Jesus had just told a number of parables to illustrate the futility of worry and the wisdom in maintaining an eternal perspective throughout the ordeals of life, which we all inevitably face, which is why He said to His disciples: For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.
And so, to His disciples, Jesus gives the serious warning to take no thought for your life.
But Jesus spent some considerable time instructing His disciples to trust Him and not to worry about the things we need in life.
We are similarly informed that He will never allow the righteous to be shaken and to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, we are to let our requests be made known to God, for when we trust in the Lord with all our heart, His incomprehensible peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, he wrote, and from the first day until now, I continuously make prayer requests for all of you... with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel. Paul was confident that the good work that God had started in the life of each believer would be brought to fruition in the 'Day of Jesus Christ' - that time when He returns in the clouds, to take us to be with Himself.
And Paul rejoiced with great joy when he remembered the Christians who had received the glorious gospel of grace, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and started their lifelong journey towards spiritual maturity and Christian understanding.
How he rejoiced to know that these believers in Philippi were growing in grace and gaining a mature knowledge of Jesus.It must have been a great joy for the Philippian Christians to receive and read this encouraging epistle from Paul.
And what a wonderful example he is, of a man whose love for the Lord Jesus was demonstrated through his caring concern for those who had been brought to a saving-faith in Christ.
He is reminding us of the supernatural position and privileges that are ours, simply by grace - through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us read the Word of truth for ourselves, know what the Bible teaches, and live godly lives which reject the ways of the world and honour Christ Jesus our Lord.
But being moved by the Spirit of God, he determined to share nothing... other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified for their sin - and raised unto life eternal, for all who believe.
The Lord Jesus laid aside His heavenly glory to speak only those things that He heard from His Father, and in like manner, Paul set aside his own human accomplishment and oratory skills in order to speak only those things that he received from the indwelling Spirit of Christ.
He wanted to show that there is a godly wisdom that comes from above and that God's servants should speak only those things that come from Him - a hidden wisdom that is unavailable to the world - heavenly truths that are only unveiled to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's message may have been unimpressive from a human perspective, but the message of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes... and Jesus Himself promised... that if HE was lifted up... and the gospel of God was spread abroad... the Spirit of God would draw all men to the Lord Jesus.
Paul's piercing question, deserves self-examination of our own conduct and personal attitude, if we desire to seek to live godly in Christ Jesus and walk in spirit and truth.
Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ came to die for the sin of the whole world, and not only for those who would one day trust Him as Saviour.
The Lord Jesus is the Saviour of the whole world and He bore the sum total of all the accumulated sin of the entire human race upon His shoulders on Calvary's Cross.
Jesus became accursed of God so that whoever would look to Him for life would be saved.
Because God provided adequate provision for the salvation of every single man, woman, and child by faith, Paul can legitimately call the Lord Jesus Christ: The Saviour of all men.
People are eternally separated from the Father, not because of their sins, but because they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour: For He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Paul tells us: Jesus is the Saviour of all men, especially those who believe.
The eternal Son of the Father was made a little lower than the angels for a season, but having been born into such humble surroundings, lived a life of loving and obedient submission to the Father, and having purged our sins at Calvary's cruel Cross, the Lord Jesus became the firstborn from the dead at His Resurrection.
His work of redemption having been completed, Christ Jesus became the federal Head of a new creation of humanity.
Like Christ's other apostles, Paul could rejoice that he was worthy to suffer as a Christian, to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ, his Redeemer and Lord.
How we rejoice to know that where two or three are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus, He has promised to be there among us, for He is our living Head and we are all members of His Body.
What a joy to know that Jesus has promised to work in and through the prayer and praises of His people.
And how important to keep Jesus in His rightful place, as HEAD.
This equips the believer to have fellowship with other Christians and enjoy sweet communion with God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Although we have a new nature (our new-life-in-Christ), we are gradually being sanctified in Him as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Progressive sanctification takes place in the lives of all believers, as we are conformed into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus, until we are fully sanctified; spirit, soul, and body, when we finally go to be with Him.
Every man and woman born of the Spirit is being conformed into the image of the lovely Lord Jesus.
Paul knew that when God begins a good work in a new-born believer, He will most certainly bring it to completion, which is why he declared, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it in the day of Christ Jesus. Yes, the justifying work God started at our initial salvation, and will be brought to its final conclusion by Him, when we are glorified - spirit, soul, and body.
We are all so familiar with the armour of God as laid out in Ephesians 6... but no matter how much we learn about it, there is so much more to discover... for every piece of our spiritual armour points us to the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God - and every aspect of our holy covering is immeasurable.
Truth is the gift from God that was personified in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
God has ordained that lasting wisdom comes from the preaching of the Cross; for the power and wisdom of God is from above and can only be found in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
But although God's way of salvation is foolishness in the eyes of the world, it will be to the eternal loss of all who do not repent of their worldly ways and recognise that the one and only path to eternal salvation and everlasting life comes from faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man.
Our boasting must only come from the Lord Jesus and Him crucified, for He is the personification of God's wisdom and strength.
For wisdom comes from God alone, and His sufficient strength is only to be found in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
It was at the beginning of His ministry that Jesus entered into this den of thieves and overturned the tables of the unprincipled moneychangers.
The love that the Lord Jesus had for His Heavenly Father was openly demonstrated in this righteous action of indignation.
The Lord Jesus Christ was fully Man yet He was also fully God, and His angry challenge was issued as a prediction of His forthcoming death and glorious Resurrection.
After Jesus was raised from the dead, His astonished disciples looked back and remembered all that had transpired on this historic day.
The gospel of truth that these believers had embraced so readily, is the same gospel that is freely available to all who will trust on the Lord Jesus Christ: For the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, and all who abide in Christ will grow in grace and produce the precious fruit of righteousness.
The Father generally trains His children through trials, difficulties, and sufferings, just as the Lord Jesus also learned obedience: Through the things that He suffered.
God does not want us to remain immature, mollycoddled infants. He wants us to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Christian Church is one Body of believers who are all united together under One Head; Jesus Christ the righteous.
Jesus is the singular Leader of the Church and Captain of our salvation Who was made perfect through His sufferings, on our account.
May we look to Jesus and be quick to keep Christ alone as the central focus of our life. May we be diligent to preserve in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace within the church meetings and fellowships we attend, and may we be diligent to stand firm on the truth of the glorious gospel of grace for His greater praise.
Never let us forget that Jesus is the incarnate Word Who came from heaven above, spoke the Word of God, and is the almighty, sovereign, Lord of all.
The apostle wanted his audience to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ His beloved Son, in Whom are the words of eternal life.
He wrote his Gospel so that we may know and believe that Jesus, the Son of Mary, and Carpenter of Nazareth, is the eternal Son of the Almighty, and that by believing in HIM for the forgiveness of sin, we have life through His name.
Early in his Gospel, John not only stressed that Jesus had come from above, but made it clear that the requirement for our reconciliation with God and our eternal salvation was a rebirth from above, the New Life in Christ that only comes by faith in Him.
He recorded the important truth that Jesus was the incarnate Son Who was prophesied of old by holy men of God.
He wrote how the Baptist testified that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that: He must increase, but I must decrease.
Elsewhere, we read that John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus in bodily form like a dove, and remaining on Him, and he heard a voice from heaven saying: You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.
John also proclaims: JESUS shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
And in this verse he explains: JESUS, whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.
It is JESUS Whom God sent to speak the words of God, and He did only those things He heard from the Father, and spoke only the words that came from above.
His prayer for these brothers and sisters in Christ was that they would increase in knowledge and all discernment, as they became increasingly conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus.
And this I pray, he wrote in the opening section of his epistle, I pray that your love may abound still more and more, in real knowledge and in all discernment.The love of God is as unfathomable as it is eternal, and yet the Lord Jesus commanded us to love as He loved, and Paul prayed that love would overflow in our hearts.
They begin with his characteristic greeting of, grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Thessalonians needed to stand on the many precious promises of God, which are 'Yes' and 'Amen', in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And just as Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered, we are to follow in His footsteps, for His name's sake - as we grow in grace and in a knowledge and likeness of Jesus
Jesus told us that, in this world we will see tribulation, and we will be, persecuted for righteousness’ sake, - but we are to be of good cheer and trust His Word - for He has overcome the world, and in HIM we are all overcomers - for the one who overcomes the world, is the man or woman who BELIEVES that Jesus is the Son of the living God.
Just as Jesus identified with US, and suffered for righteousness’ sake, so we are identified with HIM and will suffer for righteousness’ sake - so that we will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, which is a reason that we suffer in this fallen world.
Their disobedience would result in their eventual downfall and dispersion from the land of Canaan (which God had pledged as an eternal inheritance to Abraham, and his Promised Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ) - until the entire nation repented of their sins.
And let us thank God that His grace towards His covenant people will continue... until Jesus comes to set up His eternal kingdom on earth in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel - for He longs to be gracious to all His children and waits on high to have compassion on us all.
But this is more than a psalm proclaiming the beauty of Jesus and highly exalting His holy name, for it continues on to give advice to His glorious bride who is without spot and wrinkle or any such thing.
And although in context this was most certainly composed to celebrate the majesty of the Israel's honoured king, it provides a beautiful description of great David's greater Son the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride, which is the Church.
Christ's finished work on the Cross paid the full price for our sins and has already been fully accepted on our behalf by our Heavenly Father: For there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
It is the collective Body of Christ that is being called to continue in the faith in this verse, and it is Christ Himself who has promised to build His Church and to sustain all members of His Body to the end so that together we will all be found blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are one in Him, sanctified and set apart for God once for all, through the offering of the blood of Christ Jesus our Saviour.
The extraordinary riches of God's glory and His glorious inheritance of the saints, which is ours in Christ Jesus, cascades into our hearts in the first chapter of Ephesians.
The book of Acts in general is a history book that bridges the pre-Cross Scriptures of the Old Testament and Gospels (when the gospel of the kingdom was the main focus of teaching), and the post-Cross period when God's full revelation to man had been given through Christ Jesus (when the gospel of the grace of God became the main focus of God's good news to all men).
But although Jesus was certainly delivered up by the Jews into the hands of the evil, lawless Gentiles to nail Him to a cross and to kill Him, this was part of the foreknown, divine plan that had been purposed in the council chamber of God, before the worlds were created.
Shocking though this miscarriage of justice was, when the children of men slaughtered their Creator, they actually performed a major part of God's determined plan of redemption - so that whosoever believed on the Lord Jesus Christ would not perish but have everlasting life.
The crucifixion of Christ was meant for evil, but God caused this heinous act to become the most glorious point in the history of man to be used for GOOD - your good and mine - and for all who trust in the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
Indeed, God will punish all who, through ignorance or unbelief, have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God and have refused to obey the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to run the race that is set before us, and we are to keep on looking to Jesus.
We are to live in spirit and truth, abide in Christ, grow in grace, and trust Him amid every difficult circumstance of life so that the name of the Lord Jesus is glorified through us, and we remain rooted and grounded in Him.
Just as God gave the Thessalonian Christians the grace to stand firm in the day of trouble for the honour of His name, so He has given His sufficient grace and strength to each member of the Church to become a living example of godly behaviour and Christlike character: So that the name Christ may be glorified in you and ye in Him, according to the goodness and grace of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
When Paul prayed that the God of peace Himself would sanctify us completely and that our spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was looking forward to this glorious Jubilees of all jubilees, when Christ will rule and reign on earth, during the great Jubilee celebration (the Millennial Kingdom).
The love about which the Lord Jesus was speaking was not the ordinary love that flows from the heart of a human soul.
Yet the deep and incredible love the Father has for His Son is the same deep and incredible love that Jesus has for His people - for YOU and for ME!
He made a point of telling His disciples that His love for us is as passionate and full and glorious and unending as the love that flows between Him and His Father, Just as the Father has loved Me, SO I have also loved you... The way that God the Father adores His beloved Son is exactly the say way that Jesus treasures each of US.
Surely there is nothing that should excite our hearts more readily than the knowledge that we are loved so deeply by God Himself - in the person of Jesus Christ - the Word made flesh.
For love of US, Jesus chose to be born into His own creation, so that He could pay the price for our sin, by being nailed to the cross in our place.
Jesus made a simple statement to His disciples and gave them one brief instruction, that would transform the lives of ALL who trust in Him.
But it is also a time when Israel finally recognises Jesus as their Messiah, and the Gentile nations finally know that God is the Lord, and that He is in control.
Although this Tribulation period happens after the Rapture, it does not give Christians a mandate to ignore the book of Revelation, which is a vitally important prophetic book with the primary objective of revealing Jesus Christ - and to show us the things which must soon take place in the near future, at the end of the age.
For whatever reason, this great multitude, who were saved by the blood of the Lamb during this terrible time, did not believe in the Lord Jesus during the Church age and are not part of the Body of Christ, which is the Church.
and made them white in the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, in Whom we all trust.
They will be commissioned, to serve in the Temple of God, day and night, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who sits on the throne, will dwell among them.
Jesus is the good Shepherd of Israel, and He is the Great Shepherd of all His sheep.
Jesus became our Gentle Shepherd when we trusted Him as Saviour, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, Who died as Israel's Passover Lamb and gave His life as the ransom price for His little flock in the Church dispensation - but Jesus also gave His life for these Tribulation sheep, just as He did for you and for me.
The life that we live is to be a true reflection of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ Who lived in total dependence upon His Father in heaven, through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, and in willing submission to the leading and guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ walked in unbroken fellowship with His Heavenly Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit, during His entire sojourn here on earth.
As believers, we are positioned in Christ, born into the family of God, made members of the Body of Christ, and placed in eternal union with our Lord Jesus.
During His time on earth, the Lord Jesus gave us a beautiful demonstration of what it means to abide in the Lord and rest in His love, for throughout His life, the Lord Jesus did only things that He saw the Father doing.
Although He was fully God, the Lord Jesus set aside His glory and lived His life on earth as God intends for all men to live: in utter dependence upon God.
And Jesus demonstrated to you and to me what it truly means to a live as God intended man to life.
Jesus learned obedience to the Father by the things that He suffered so that as He faced the Cross, He was able to say: Thy will not mine be done. During His time on earth, the Lord Jesus glorified His Father in heaven by abiding in Him throughout His entire life.
Having just been reminded in the previous verse that the Lord Jesus was fully human: Made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, which gave Him the right to the throne of Israel, we now read that Jesus Christ was also: Declared the Son of God with power, because He was Resurrected from the dead, by God's Holy Spirit.
Isaiah tells us that Jesus was the Son of Man that was born as well as the Son of God that was given, and Paul confirms that He is of the earthly Seed of David while at the same time being declared to be Son of God.
It is only as Man could Jesus be identified with the human race and offer His perfect life for the sins of the world, but only as God was He good enough to pay the price for sin.
Peter walked with Jesus, talked with Him, and spent three amazing years with the lovely Lord Jesus, Whom he confessed as Christ the Son of the living God.
The apostle Peter was no stranger to the divine power and wonderful work of the Lord Jesus.
But Peter preferred to share the good news of the gospel of grace with his fellow countrymen, no matter what the cost, and to tell abroad the wonders and glory of Christ Jesus, his Lord.
He sent letters of instruction and encouragement to believers who like him had trusted Christ for their salvation and been declared righteous before God, because of their precious faith in Jesus.
God's wrath was poured out on Him instead of us, and there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
At the end of the 7 year Tribulation period, which is the period when God's wrath is poured out on a God-hating, Christ-rejecting, sinful world, national Israel will finally acknowledge Jesus as Lord and call out to Him for salvation.
Redemption is becoming fully and increasingly identified with the very nature and mind of the Lord Jesus Himself.
Redemption is becoming so fully identified with Christ Jesus our Lord, that we can say with Paul that the life that I now live in this mortal body is not me (my old former self, my old-man, my Adamic sin-nature), it is not me that lives and influences my life choices and thoughts, but the indwelling Spirit of Christ, Who has sway and influence on my newly 'born-again' human spirit.
Jesus lived a life encompassed by problems and perplexities, sorrow and scorn, disappointments and disease, rejection, hatred, and contempt, but He lived an exemplary life that was free from worry.
Why was the Lord Jesus free from worry?
Although Jesus was fully God, He lived His life fully as a Man.
Rather than permitting worry to darken our heart and cloud our mind we should look to Jesus and seek our Saviour with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength - for He is not only our Redeemer and King but is the personification and embodiment of all that is the Kingdom of Heaven, for Christ is all in all.
Let us seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, by seeking Christ and setting the eyes of our heart on the beauty of the Lord Jesus and trusting Him in every circumstance of Life, even when we don't understand, for in so doing, the worry of the world will be replaced with the wisdom of the WORD, as our mind rests in Him.
God knew that the only One good enough was the Seed of Abraham, Who would one day be born into the world as the sacrificial substitute for the sin of the world - Jesus Christ - the Seed of the woman - the Seed of Abraham - the Messiah of Israel - the Son of God.
Despite the testimony of John the Baptist, which announced the arrival of Israel's Messiah-King, and the many signs and wonders that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry, we read that the Lord Jesus was despised and rejected by the religious leaders of His day.
His name was to be Jesus, for He was to save His people from their sin.
So WHY did these religious priests and Pharisees ignore the shepherd's testimony, the inquiry of the wise men, the fulfilment of Micah's prophecy, the proclamations of Zechariah, the songs of Simeon, the old priest, and Anna, the aged widow woman... both of whom rejoiced publicly and took the baby Jesus in their arms and blessed Him at His dedication service in the Temple of God?
We don't know the reason why these proud, pious, close-minded religious leaders, rejected their Messiah and crucified their Saviour... but we do know that each of us has been supplied with the same witness, from the Word of God, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and we all have the same choices to make - to believe in Him or to reject His offer of salvation.
We can accept the truth of God's Word and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved - OR we can reject the truth of God's Word and refuse to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be lost.
But once we are justified... we should strive to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and to study the Scriptures daily, so that we do not make the same mistake as the religious leaders of Christ's day.
May we not miss the truth that is available to ALL who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that is ready to know the truth, so that we might be set free from the world, the flesh, and the devil - through faith in the efficacious blood of Jesus Christ our God and Saviour.
We are also reminded that Jesus is the perfect example of how to live godly lives - as we die to self, live for God, seek His will, surrender our lives to His guidance, and do only those things that we hear from our Father in heaven.
Paul also leaves us in no doubt about the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God the Son and the Son of God... Who came down from heaven to be born as the perfect Son of Man.
Jesus Christ is the second member of the triune Godhead.
As Christians, we are identified in every way with the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus was not condemned by the Law, for the condemnation of the Law is upon the sinner.
Jesus was not 'alive' to the condemnation of the Law but through His righteousness, He was 'dead' to the Law.
Indeed, so close is our identification with our Saviour that His death to sin and His death to the Law became our death to sin and our death to the Law, for there is NO condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Our identification with our Lord Jesus Christ is eternal, irreversible, and binding and so we can say with confidence, I have been crucified with Christ.
It centres on the good news of God's grace towards mankind and its singular focus is the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus became flesh and dwelt amongst us, living a perfect life so that He could offer Himself as the only sacrifice to God for the sin of the whole world, and by His death and Resurrection, redeem sinful mankind from eternal separation from a holy God.
Having matured in our faith and having grown in our spiritual walk, we should never forget what we have learned, nor should we turn away from the fount of all knowledge or leave our first love, Christ Jesus, our Lord.
It continues with the Millennial rule of Christ, when Jesus will rule the earth with a rod of iron; a time when justice and righteousness will reign upon earth: For the patience of our Lord is an opportunity for sinners to be saved.
As we wait for the soon return of the Lord Jesus for His saints, let us never forget that any apparent delay in Christ's return exposes the goodness and kindness of God towards unrepentant believers, leading them to repentence.
When he taught the Jews about the Lord Jesus, he approached it from a Jewish perspective.
He used the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and Psalms to point his kinsmen to Christ, explain the truth of Who the Lord Jesus was, and why He was the promised Messiah of God.
Similarly, when teaching non-Jews about the Lord Jesus, Paul used elements in everyday Gentile culture to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the truth of the glorious gospel of God.
He used examples from farming, the military, cooking, and even the popular athletic games, when describing the need for patient endurance, spiritual protection, self-control, and the need to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Salvation does not depend on keeping the Law, but is a free gift of God's grace to whosoever will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul used every opportunity to share the truth of the gospel of grace to Jew and Gentile alike.
How very different from the imperishable reward that is the prize received by all who run the Christian race with patient-endurance, who press toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We should offer our lives as a living sacrifice and press on so that we may gain the imperishable reward that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We may plant seeds of truth in the heart of a sinner, and point others to Jesus, but God alone breathes life into a spiritually dead soul.
And in this verse, Jesus makes a very succinct and clear declaration.
These lost sheep of the house of Israel would not believe that Jesus was sent by God.
Jesus did not fulfil their incorrect perception of what the Messiah would be, and so they rejected the One Who came to seek and save them.
Five thousand men had just been fed with some loaves and fishes, but they considered one meal of bread and fish was paltry compared with forty years of manna in the wilderness that their ancestors ate, and so they refused to come to Jesus.
While He rebuked their grumbling attitude, Jesus did not argue His point or try to correct their erroneous thinking.
Sinners of every generation come to God by believing in His WORD - JESUS, the living Word, and Scripture, His written Word.
Jesus was explaining that the importance of hearing the Word of God, and responding positively to His Holy Spirit's ministry in their life, lines up with the rest of Scripture.
Right up to the moment when Jesus was offered as the sacrifice for their sins, Israel remained under the Law, and failure to carry out the commands of the Lord resulted in Israel's scarcity.
The New Covenant was cut at Calvary through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but Israel rejected their Messiah and the covenant He cut at Calvary.
By God's grace, WE who believe on the Lord Jesus have been made ministers of this New and Better Covenant.
As Church age believers we live under a New Law - the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.
Some consider that God was unjust to condemn the whole human race because of one man's sin - but in reality this is the most gracious and loving action imaginable, for as through the one man's disobedience (ADAM's sin) the manywere made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One Man (JESUS CHRST and His sacrifice for sin) many will be made righteous.
Though we all became sinners through the single sin of one man, we all have the opportunity to be made righteous because of the single sacrifice of One Man - Jesus Christ the righteous, and whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.
Once we start to recognise that we are sinners, we start to understand the amazing love of God, the forgiveness of sins, and His over-abounding grace which is ours by faith in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul portrays the life of Jesus as the exemplification of what a godly life should be.
Whether rich or poor, young or old, male or female, Jew of Gentile, Jesus is held up as the perfect example of a life lived to the praise and glory of God.
In a sinful world and hostile environment, Jesus is seen as living His earthly life in the way that God intended mankind to live, when God formed man in His own image and breathed into him the breath of life.
The life of the Lord Jesus demonstrated a God-focussed Man that chose to please God before self, and who cared more for the needs of others before His own.
Jesus was a Man Who delighted to do the Father's will and could pray in the most gruelling of circumstances: Thy will not Mine be done.
Jesus was the perfect example of a man that loved the Temple of God and applied the Word of God in every area of life, for it was of Jesus that the Psalmist wrote these words: Zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
Jesus demonstrated His zeal for the House of God as exemplified in His life and actions, when He overthrew the tables of the money changers and cried out in fury: You have made My Father's House into a den of thieves.
Jesus set aside His own desires and needs because of His love for His Father in heaven, but He also had to suffer the reproaches of men because of His relationship to His Father.
Jesus was the chosen Servant of God who had to suffer the reproach of sinful men who transferred their reproach, loathing, and hatred of God, onto a reproach, loathing, and hatred of Christ.
Jesus lived His life as unto to Lord and for the eternal benefit of all mankind.
And having completed His work on earth, in spirit and truth, the Lord Jesus set His face as a flint towards His ultimate victory over sin, death, and the satanic forces of evil in heavenly places: the Cross of Calvary.
And having glorified the Father during His sojourn on earth in thought, word, and deed, and by completing the work He had been given to do, the Lord Jesus prayed that the Father would now glorify Himself once again with the unchanging, co-equal, and co-eternal glory of the triune Godhead.
Paul was a willing bond-servant of Jesus Christ, who was called and set apart unto the gospel of God.
This gospel for which Paul was set apart, were the good tidings which had been foretold through an army of Old Testament prophets; a gospel which uniquely pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Man had separated himself from God because of sin, but God reached down from the heaven of heavens in loving-kindness and gracious mercy to sinful, fallen man with the good news of Jesus Christ, for He is the centre and the circumference of God's good news.
Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of God's purpose towards His fallen race.
Jesus Christ is the gospel of God which He promised beforehand through His holy prophets in the holy Scriptures, and Paul was God's willing bond-slave who was a chosen instrument of God: To carry His name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
In this final letter just before his death, the aged apostle Peter wrote to all Christians: To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Like all of Christ's disciples, Peter started following the Lord at the start of Christ's ministry when Jesus was teaching the lost sheep of the house of Israel, that the kingdom of heaven was near.
But from the moment that Israel's leaders accused Jesus of healing the sick in the power of Satan, His focus changed: He began to speak in parables.
Jesus started to prepare His little band of followers for His forthcoming betrayal, crucifixion, and Resurrection.
Peter had to make a huge adjustment from being a devout Jew who lived under the Law of Moses, to becoming a mature member of the Body of Christ who lived by the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.
Praise God that today, and into the eternal ages to come, our feet stand securely on His sufficient strength, His right-hand takes hold of our right hand as He holds us through every eventuality of life: Fear not... I the Lord thy Lord will hold they right hand, was the promise given through Isaiah and Jesus confirmed that nothing can pluck us out of His hand and no one can snatch us from His Father's hand.
When Jesus rose from the grave, He broke the power of death and hell in the lives of ALL who are identified with Christ and positioned IN Him, all who are saved by grace through faith in Him, all who have been born of the Spirit of God and have received a NEW and eternal life in Christ.
Our heart rejoices as Paul continues to teach that Jesus will one day hand the redeemed creation back to God, and then Paul describes the wonderful new body with which we will one day be clothed.
Not every member of Christ's Body will feel the icy fingers of death on their throat nor sleep in a grave, BUT we will ALL be changed; changed into the likeness of Jesus, changed from mortal to immortal.
Let us rejoice and be glad as we watch and wait in holy anticipation for this blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let us celebrate this marvellous truth from the apostle Peter: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, but He did not only come to save His own people from their sin.
It was early in His ministry that the Lord Jesus began to be resented by the Pharisees.
John had already identified Him as the Messiah of Israel, and Jesus was gaining a substantial following.
But rather than bathe in the attention He was receiving, Jesus left Judea and went into Galilee, where He would be less conspicuous.
However, we read that Jesus had to pass through Samaria.
And so Jesus started His trek along the dusty road, through Samaria, in the blistering heat of the day.
Although Jesus was truly God, He was also a fully mortal Man, and arriving at Sychar, He was thirsty and sat by a well.
This was the place that Jesus met a woman of Samaria, who came to draw water in the heat of the noon-day sun.
Her life-style seems to be somewhat suspect, and she even appeared to flirt with the Jewish Rabbi, who asked for a drink! But her eternal salvation was at stake and she soon realised that Jesus was a prophet of God and asked some searching questions, that brought her to faith in Him and cause her entire village to welcome the Saviour into their midst, and to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was the prophesied Messiah of Israel.
But Jesus not only asked for a drink, as she carried her water jar, but He also engaged her in conversation.
Jesus piqued this woman's curiosity when He offered to give her living water, for He said to her, If you only knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.
How often we also seek after a 'tap of flowing water', a bank-balance that never ran dry, a life of ease and plenty, or an insurance policy that covered all eventualities, instead of looking to Jesus and simply trusting in His promise to supply ALL our needs, according to His riches in glory.
The woman's interest was in a plentiful supply of rain-water for her physical need and the daily necessities of life, and so she said to Him, 'Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?' Jesus was offering her the living water of eternal life.
Jesus was offering this despised Samaritan woman Himself - for in HIM are the words of eternal life.
May we be like the Samaritan woman, who came to Jesus, listened to His Word, and chose to drink deeply and daily of the living water that is ours by faith.
There is one generation of Christians that will be alive at the return of the Lord Jesus: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Our body will be changed into a new incorruptible body; an eternal resurrected body, just like the Lord Jesus Himself.
When Jesus rose from the dead He ascended to heaven in a resurrected human body, and today there is an immortal Man Who loves each one of us deeply.
But just before the living believers are caught up to Jesus in the air, all the believers who became part of the Body of Christ down through the last two thousand years in this Church-age of grace, will rise up out of their graves.
The purpose of the Law was to reveal unrighteousness and to bring a sinner to repentance before a holy God, but the Word of God identifies two types of righteousness: one that stems from a works-based morality, which is achieved by rigorously keeping the Law, and one which is a faith-based righteousness, which comes from humbly trusting Jesus as Saviour and depending on Him at all times and for all things.
They expend much of their time and energy in producing a works-based righteousness, which relies on what they do for God, rather than for what He has done for us (through the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross of Calvary).
In the first verse of the epistle to the Romans, we are introduced to the man who was called by God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the apostle to the Gentiles: set apart for the gospel of God.
And so, because of his unique calling by God, should we not pay particular heed to all he teaches us in all his epistles on how to live godly in Christ Jesus?
We too should learn from Paul: The servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.
When we first heard the good news that Jesus died and rose again to pay the price for our sins and that salvation is God's gift of grace to all sinners who believe in His only begotten Son, our hearts rejoiced with great joy.
And since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we have a firm assurance and an established confidence that God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.Death is a natural part of life that affects every member of the human race, but for those who have been born from above, death takes on an entirely new and wonderful perspective.
Oh, when dear friend or a precious loved one whom we cherish dies, it is right and natural to miss them and even weep over our loss, but our sadness should never be excessive and should never be akin to the hopeless grief that is so often the reaction of the unsaved for a loved one who has died in their sins – our loss should never eclipse the glorious future hope in Christ, for all who believe.As Christians, we have firm hope and a wonderful assurance that is very different from the world, for we believe that the Lord Jesus died and rose again.
And the mighty power that raised the Lord Jesus from death is the same mighty power that will resurrect all that have died in the Lord so that when He returns in the clouds to take us to be with Himself, all believers that have fallen asleep in Christ will rise first and we that are still alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall ever be with the LORD.
Let us comfort each other with this truth, for Jesus died and rose again - this we BELIEVE.
It was at Antioch that we read that the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ started to spread rapidly, and that certain Greeks began to believe in Christ, and God in His grace blessed them mightily.
Despite Peter's experience with Cornelius (the Roman centurion who was baptised by the Holy Spirit the moment he believed) there was much resistance to admitting uncircumcised Gentile believers into the Body of Christ, but we discover that in Antioch, a great number of people believed in Jesus, and many Gentiles as well as Jews turned to Christ for salvation.
It was there in the city of Antioch, that Paul and Barnabas met with the other believers: They met with the Church and taught considerable numbers there. It was there in that pagan city of Antioch, where many believed the gospel and many more mocked the teachings of Jesus, that the disciples of Christ were first called Christians.
As believers today, we should not be reluctant to be labelled 'Christian' for in so doing, we acknowledge the Person and Work of Lord Jesus Christ in our lives, for in Him is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.
Let us press on for the high call of God in Christ Jesus, and be proud to call ourselves 'Christians' for His greater praise and glory.
His song of confident praise could be translated into Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians, when he wrote: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the joy that was set before Him, the Lord Jesus endured the Cross.
In reality, there are two ways to be saved!! 1) Keep the letter of the LAW perfectly, which is impossible for fallen man, or 2) Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that HIS death becomes our death, His burial becomes our burial, and His resurrected life becomes our new resurrected life.
These religious bigots tried to explain away Christ's supernatural signs and miraculous deeds - but their hatred reached its zenith when Jesus healed the sick on a Sabbath day and claimed authority to forgive sins.
As His walk to the Cross drew ever closer, the scribes and religious leaders engaged the Lord Jesus in many heated debates, and here in John Chapter 8, the central conflict between Christ and the Pharisees was in connection with His claims to have come from above, and that He would soon return back to heaven.
And in this passage, Jesus testified to His eternal claims and heavenly status, by confessing, You are from below, but I am from above.
Jesus explained that He came from heaven and would return to heaven.
We read that they discussed among themselves what Jesus meant when He said that He was from above and they were from below.
These religious rulers were so biased against the Lord Jesus that they condemned themselves to die in their sins, because they refused to recognise the truth... that they were from below, but Christ was from above and had the words of eternal life.
Those that die in their sins never recognise that we are from below and that Jesus Christ is from above.
Jesus was born into the human race without the curse of Adam's sin, for He was the eternal Son of God... and when He was born into the human race and became the sacrifice for sin, He became the federal head of a new spiritual creation.
Paul refers to it as 'my gospel' in one place, and that he received it directly from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
Paul was met and commissioned by the glorified Lord Jesus Christ on the Road to Damascus.
Paul was on a mission to slaughter Christians... but he was apprehended by the risen, ascended, glorified God-Man Who warned him that in persecuting the Body of Christ, Paul was persecuting Jesus - the eternal Son of God - Who is God the eternal Son.
Paul was personally taught by the glorified Lord Jesus Christ Himself and was given an incredible responsibility... as apostle to the Gentiles.
In his vehement defence of the gospel, which was delivered to him directly by the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul wrote, The gospel which was preached by me is not according to man... for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it by man.
I received the gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
If the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus Christ chose to meet with Paul on the road to Damascus, commission him in his unique role as apostle to the Gentiles, assign him to be the human author of a significant section of New Testament Scripture, and deliver through him much post-Cross doctrine for the Church - should we not pay especial attention to all that he has to say and seek to put into practice the important instructions we have received from the Lord Himself - through His servant, Paul?
Jesus was sent to the world under the authority of the Father, on a very specific and authoritative mission.
The Light of Life, in the Person of Jesus Christ, came into the world to save mankind through faith.
But on those who remain in unbelief, the Light of Life, in the Person of Jesus Christ, casts the shadow of condemnation under the cloud of judgement and the terror of eternal death.
For the Light of God in the Person of Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God came into the world to save fallen men from their sins, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds are evil.
They are in danger of becoming lukewarm, disinterested, or legalistic in their faith, or succumbing to carnality and falling short of their high calling in Christ Jesus.
Our righteousness is a free gift of grace to all who are redeemed through the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we are to quietly wait, with patient endurance, for the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the glorious object of our hope, for we, through the Spirit, are waiting for the hope of righteousness, when this corruptible body shall have put on incorruption and this mortal frame shall put on immortality.
On the last day of the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles, Jesus cried out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: If anyone is thirsty, come to Me and drink, and from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.
It was not a literal river of water that would flow from their belly: But He spoke of the Holy Ghost, Whom those who believed in Jesus would one day receive.
Jesus knew that His death was fast approaching.
Jesus' death was only six months away and His pleading cry was for all to believe on Him, for in so doing, their thirsty souls would be satisfied eternally through this gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, welling up within unto eternal life, and they would be used of God to draw others into His arms of forgiveness.
And by living water, Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit Who would be given to everyone who believed in Him as Saviour.
At the time that Jesus spoke these words: The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet died, resurrected, ascended into heaven and entered into His glory where he is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
But we do not have to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be sent like the disciples of Christ's day, for Jesus is our risen Saviour.
Jesus is the Living Water that is poured into our hearts by His Holy Spirit the moment we believe.
The apostle John loved his Lord, and throughout his writings, sought to bring others to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus and to trust in His salvation.
How vital it is that we know and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour: For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
The book of the Revelation was penned by John to all who believe in Christ Jesus Who is the Word made flesh, Son of God.
All the writings of the apostle John are pointing us to Jesus so that we may believe on His name and know that we have life, wonderful life, the life of Christ within us, the Spirit of life indwelling us, abundant life, eternal life.
And the day is fast approaching when at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We have been eternally saved by grace through faith in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are also kept by grace, through the power of the Most High God and are eternally secure, for there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.
'JESUS' is His human name, which was given to Him when He was born into the human race.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the One Whom we worship and adore, for He has redeemed us by His blood and removed us forever from God's eternal condemnation.
The world hated the Lord Jesus without a cause, and that same hatred of Christ for His followers continues to this day.
Paul reminds us that all who live godly will suffer persecution, while Jesus Himself told us that in this world we would be hated, mistreated, and killed by sinful men.
Peter points out that there is nothing shameful in trusting in Jesus, the only begotten Son of God.
Suffering for righteousness' sake brings eternal and lasting glory to our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Whom He sent.
The Lord Jesus however, was born both a KING through David's line and anointed by God as a PRIEST forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
The author of Hebrews is demonstrating that Abraham and all his physical descendants and spiritual offspring, including Levi, Judah, Aaron, and those of us in this present dispensation, are lesser and subservient to the lovely Lord Jesus Christ; the righteous King-Priest and the antitype of Melchizedek, to Whom be all honour, glory, might, majesty, dominion, and power, forever and ever, amen.
The Holy Spirit of God was upon the Lord Jesus Christ Who was sent by the Father to bring good news to those that were afflicted.
Jesus came to comfort all who mourn... and to adorn each one with a glorious garland of beauty instead of ashes.
Jesus came so that God would be exalted, and His name would be praised and glorified.
Matthew was a man who fell within many of the categories that Jesus came to save.
Jesus ate and drank with prostitutes, tax-gathers, and sinners, because they were in need of salvation.
Jesus came to save those that were lost in sin.
Jesus came to save sinners who recognised their sinfulness and realised their need of salvation.
Jesus came to call sinners to repentance - and Matthew was one such sinful man.
And so it was that when Jesus passed by, He noticed Levi, a tax official, sitting in his little tax booth, and said to him, follow Me.
And immediately, he left everything behind and got up and began to follow Jesus.
Together, these sinners reclined at the table with Jesus and found salvation for their soul.
It was then that Jesus answered these legalistic religionists, who were so self-righteous in their own eyes, with these astonishing words, It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
Jesus had not come to call those that are righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Jesus came to save ALL men... for all have sinned.
Jesus came to save the cheating tax-collector and the proud Pharisee, for ALL are sinners and all fall short of God's glory.
God's plan of redemption was not fully known until He sent JESUS, His only begotten Son into the world - that we might live through Him and be declared righteous by God's grace - through faith in His redemptive blood.
It is not only a message that is pertinent for leaders in the church but for all believers; because whether we are babes in Christ or spiritually mature, all believers have a duty to live godly lives in Christ Jesus in our countries, our communities, and our churches.
As believers, we are given many instructions and encouragements on how to live godly in Christ Jesus.
We do this so that the burden of sin that lays so heavily upon our consciences, is laid, with an unshakable hope, upon the shoulders of our heavenly sin-Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ Whose blood was shed in our place.
Jesus travelled all the way from Galilee to be baptised of John in the Jordan.
Jesus was in the line of Judah and thus qualified to become Israel's king, but He was also destined to be God's holy, High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and John the Baptist was called to commission Christ's coming priestly ministry, as well as to introduce Israel to their true Messiah: Behold, he cried, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
The Lord Jesus was not only the eternal Son of God but also the sinless Son of Man, and His very act of baptism by this voice, crying in the wilderness, commended, authenticated, and approved John's God-given office before this generation of vipers; a nation that was once again being called to repent of their sins and turn back to their God.
It was at the Cross where all righteousness was finally and fully fulfilled for you and for me - through time and into eternity - but that day at the river Jordan, when John watched the sinless Son of God step into the baptismal waters of the Jordan, Jesus commanded: 'Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.' Then he permitted Him.
But mercy, truth, and unity, only comes when we have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit flowing through our inner beings, for it is only as we are yielded to the Holy Spirit, that He is enabled to conform us into the likeness of Christ.
We are to be united in spirit and fervent in love, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
Our lives are not to mimic the unruly behaviours of evil-doers but to be a light to glorify the Father and to point others to our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus is the most wonderful example of the Man that radiates the inner beauty of God and we are called, as members of His Body, to be clothed with His inner loveliness, to show forth a gentle and quiet spirit and to reflect His everlasting beauty, for such qualities can never fade and such graciousness of character will never perish.
The Church was born on the day of Pentecost, but many men of Israel had failed to recognise Jesus as their Messiah, the Son of the living God.
Jesus came to die as the full and final Passover Lamb, but Israel missed the day of their visitation.
Nevertheless, many men of Israel and Jewish proselytes came to faith in Jesus in those early days of the Christian Church.
There were many things Jesus had wanted to share with them before He left them, but they were unable to bear it and had to wait until the Church had been birthed.
While the first Adam who was made from the dust of the earth failed miserably in his task, the last Adam, Christ Jesus our Lord Who came from heaven above, would succeed.
His victory caused God to place all authority and rule in heaven and earth under His feet, but because His own people was not ready to repent of their sins and receive their promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus returned to heavenly places for a season.
They will finally recognise Jesus as their Messiah and preach the gospel of the Kingdom throughout the entire world, which will usher in Christ's return to reign on earth for 1000 glorious years.
Righteousness will be restored and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will finally return the kingdom to His Father in heaven.
Peter was one of Christ's chosen apostles who was naturally an authority figure in the early Church, but he was also one who denied His Lord three times - and yet three times he was called by Jesus to Feed My sheep - to care for the flock of God and to provide for the little lambs that needed nurturing, nourishment, encouragement, and training.
Because of his closeness to Jesus, Peter could have elevated himself above all other Christians.
Peter had watched the sufferings of Jesus, but he had also witnessed His Master's glorification on the Mount of Transfiguration.
The way that Peter addressed his fellow elders, as he sought to equip those that came after him in proclaiming the gospel of grace, forwarding the cause of Christ, and feeding the flock of God, demonstrates true, Christian humility, and a life that is dedicated to equipping others to carry on the message of salvation by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord
Peter was a man who pointed others to Christ, and he was one we should all seek to emulate, as we die to self, live for Christ, and press on towards the goal of the upward call of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord - for His ultimate praise and everlasting glory.
In His final High Priestly prayer, the Lord Jesus prayed that we would be one, even as He and His Father were One - united together with a single focus and a singular resolve, joined as one in our fellowship with God and with one another, and standing firm on the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ.
It is those who mirror the Christ-like character of our Lord Jesus in their everyday living and who bear each other's burdens in godly love, that are bound together in the unity of the Spirit - in the bond of peace.
Joel's prophecy was given to Israel, and its full and final fulfilment awaits Christ's second coming and is connected with Israel's Times of refreshing, which will take place prior to or during Christ's Millennial Kingdom reign, after Israel has acknowledged Jesus as their Messiah.
Just as Christ's first coming was a brief foretaste of His second coming, so the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that day of Pentecost was a tiny taste of the wonderful happenings that will transpire when Jesus returns in power and great glory to set up His eternal kingdom as Israel's Messiah and promised King.
Jesus Himself told us that in this world His followers would go through all sorts of tribulations, trials, sufferings, and persecutions, but we are not to fear what is coming on the earth, for He has overcome the world and given us His indwelling Spirit to lead and to guide.
It is God Who started a good work in us and it is God Who will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus, for as Paul concluded: I do not consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
Throughout Scripture, the right hand of God is the place of heavenly authority and sovereign power, and the Bible bears abundant testimony that the Lord Jesus Christ has been given this place of universal supremacy.
But before that awesome day we know as the Second Coming arrives, Jesus will gather His Bride in the event we know as the Rapture of the Church.
He is rejoicing in the wonderful promises that are founded on the blood of Christ – the gospel that removes all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ from the condemnation of the Law, for the free gift of God is eternal life to all who believe on Christ.
It is not God's will that anyone should perish, but that all come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus – but God gives every single man and woman a choice to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved or to reject the gospel of grace and be condemned.
All Christ's chosen apostles were men who accompanied the Lord Jesus from the very beginning until the day He ascended into heaven.
They all witnessed His Resurrection and were all men who travelled with Jesus when He started to go in and out among them, during John the Baptist's ministry (when he challenged the lost sheep of the house of Israel to repent of their sins, for the kingdom of heaven was at hand and their King was in their midst).
Although he did not meet with the resurrected Lord Jesus before He ascended into heaven, Paul was a chosen instrument of the Lord Jesus.
The resurrected Lord Jesus appeared to Paul on that road to Damascus, thus fulfilling the biblical basis for apostleship.
The biblical criteria for true apostleship is to have met the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus.
And Paul was personally commissioned by Jesus to be His chosen apostle.
Paul always referred to himself as the least of the apostles, because he had persecuted Jesus by hunting down Christians to the death: Binding and putting both men and women into prisons. But God in His grace, arrested Paul on his murderous journey that day, and brought this arrogant Pharisee to his knees, when he met Jesus face to face.
Saul of Tarsus became Paul, the Apostle of Christ, after Jesus met and commissioned him for His own service.
He reminded us that we were predestined to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ, and that we have received redemption through His blood.
All of us were operating as children of disobedience BUT every converted sinner becomes a heavenly saint and a child of God: For you who were dead in trespasses and sins, have been made alive in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This grace of God is so abounding and precious that there are neither words sufficient to describe, nor songs sufficient to sing of His amazing love and the gracious gift that has been poured into our hearts, through the finished work of our Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord.
As the Church of God we should combine our graces and spiritual gifts, to express the beauty of Jesus to a world that is dead in trespasses and sin.
Just as the human body is the vehicle by which a man or woman expresses their character and personality, so the Church is the channel through which Christ Jesus is enabled to reveal Who He is, and what He has done, as recorded in the Word of God - so that the world may know that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In his final letter to Timothy, he reminded us that he had suffered much mistreatment and warned, YES, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
However, following his encounter with the glorified Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, he found that... although he was persecuted, Christ did not forsake him... and despite being struck down and abused in multiple ways, God's grace was always sufficient and he was not destroyed.
Both John the Baptiser and Jesus Himself had been teaching the gospel of the kingdom to none but the house of Israel, for Christ had come to set up His kingdom as Israel's Messiah-King.
But they did not receive Him, and they cried out together: We will not have this man to rule over us. Jesus had just wept over Jerusalem's continued unbelief.
And so, with this amazing prophecy ringing in their ears, His disciples asked Jesus: When will this be? When would He return?
When would He come to fulfil this promise to set up His kingdom: What would be the sign of His return? And Jesus started to describe all the things that would take place in those seven years about which Daniel prophesied; the time which would lead up to His glorious kingdom rule.
Jesus told them the temple would be destroyed, and nations and kingdoms would rise up against each other.
There would also be an explosion of false prophets and increasing martyrdom of those who believed in Jesus Christ; the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.
One of the things that Christ explained would happen, would be that the gospel of the kingdom, which both John the Baptist and Christ Himself had been preaching for 3 years, would once again be the message that Israel would preach throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end would come, when Jesus would return in power and great glory to set up His earthly kingdom in Jerusalem.
And during the coming 70th week of Daniel, that future time of Jacob's trouble, Israel as a nation will finally and fully complete their God-given responsibility as His chosen people to tell the nations of the world about Jesus Christ; the Son of God and Son of Man, the Messiah of Israel, man's Kinsman-Redeemer, and the Saviour of the World.
This gospel of the kingdom will be preached by Jewish evangelists throughout all the world as a witness and testimony to all the nations that Jesus Christ Whom they crucified, is both LORD and CHRIST.
Today, it is the gospel of the grace of God that the Church has been called to preach; a message that has been faithfully proclaimed for 2000 years; a message that will continue to be taught to a lost and dying world until Jesus comes in the clouds to take us to be with Himself.
The gospel of the grace of God will continue to be proclaimed until the time of the end about which the Lord Jesus told His disciples on that day when He departed from the Temple and started to tell them what would be the sign of His coming at the end of the age.
For forty days after His Resurrection from the dead, the Lord Jesus appeared to many of His disciples and followers, speaking of things concerning the kingdom of God.
It was in the upper room on that last night before He was betrayed, that the Lord Jesus spoke of the coming Holy Spirit Who, at that time, was living ALONGSIDE them (in the Person of Christ Jesus Himself), and Who would one day live IN them (in the Person of Holy Spirit), after Christ's return to His Father in heaven.
And so it was that after forty glorious, post-Resurrection days, the Lord Jesus gathered His followers together and commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for this promised heavenly Helper, the permanently, indwelling Holy Spirit Which the Father had pledged to send.
But first Jesus must leave them and return to His Father in heaven, for if He did not return to the Father, the Holy Spirit would not come.
It would be on that special Day of Pentecost that the Church was to be birthed into being, and so Jesus gathered His followers and gave them instructions: Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before.
Little did this faithful band of followers know that in ten days time they were to receive that promised baptism of the Holy Spirit, about which both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself had spoken.
In his final meeting with those who were saved by grace through faith, Jesus made reference to approaching the day of Pentecost when He said, You will be baptised not many days hence.
Though Peter may have left all to follow Jesus, watched in amazement as He saw Him transfigured at the top of the holy mount, and unashamedly proclaimed: Thou are the Christ the Son of the living God, he could not begin to understand the staggering spiritual significance of Christ's act of humility, when He laid aside His garments, girded Himself with a towel, and began to wash the disciples' feet.
The shock-horror of the cruel Cross, the distressing denial of His Lord at the unjust trial, the bewildering amazement at His glorious Resurrection, the breathtaking baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the astonishing inclusion of the Gentiles into the family of God, and the many hidden mysteries of the Church that were almost entirely revealed to the apostle Paul, were all enfolded and yet enshrouded in one simple act - when Jesus rose from the Passover supper, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet.
Perhaps the Man Who sank into the deepest pit of destruction and Whose patient endurance eclipses all others is our Saviour, Jesus Christ Whose trust in His Father never failed, despite the cesspool of sin into which He willingly sank when crucified on a Roman cross so that we might be raised up from our pit of destruction into life immortal, by faith in Him.
In every situation in which we find ourselves and in each life-problem we meet, we have irrefutable assurance in God's Word that He is able and willing to deliver those that trust in the name of His only begotten Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Rather, be quick to abort any evil broodings, as soon as they come to mind, by setting the eyes of your heart on the face of the Lord Jesus and taking those thoughts captive to Christ.
Remember, it is fear of man that spawns death and dis-ease BUT the one who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ honours the Father in heaven and brings life and release.
Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel as their Messiah and King, but He also came as Saviour of the world.
When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to ask Him to come and save the life of his slave. They came quickly to find the Lord, and earnestly implored Him to help this well-respected member of their community.
Immediately Jesus set out to heal his servant.
Jesus went because His heart was full of compassion, mercy, and love.
Jesus came from heaven to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, and drive out demons, but as He drew closer to the house, more servants met Him with an astonishing message from the centurion, Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof.
Jesus was utterly astonished by this message because it demonstrated a secure faith in the Person and work of Christ.
Now when Jesus heard this, we read, He marvelled at the centurion, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, 'I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.' How sad that Jesus came to His own people, who rejected Him, yet this heathen man demonstrated such astonishing faith.
Jesus marvelled at the simplicity and strength of this man's faith, for he expressed an understanding of Christ's authoritative word and exhibited an unprecedented awareness of His sovereignty in the spiritual sphere.
Unlike his Jewish neighbours, this Roman knew that Jesus was from God, and that His authoritative Word was powerful enough to command the fatal sickness to leave the ailing body of his faithful servant.
There are only a few recorded instances where we read that Jesus was amazed.
It was not the amount of faith this soldier demonstrated that is important - but the Person in Whom he placed his trust - the Lord Jesus Christ.
The 'sheep', who represent those who aided Israel during the Tribulation, will enter the Millennium and become subjects of King Jesus in His earthly kingdom.
They will be rewarded and praised by the Lord Jesus Who will say, well done, good and faithful servant.
Jesus had died for him and taken the punishment that he rightfully deserved, and even though he had denied Jesus, Peter was not rejected or replaced.
Peter was not only forgiven of all his sins, but re-commissioned by the risen Lord Jesus Christ to be His chief apostle who would feed His sheep, shepherd His lambs, and unlock the kingdom of heaven to Jew and Gentile alike, as he shared the wonderful gospel of grace.
We who have been bought with the precious blood of Christ Jesus our Lord, should arm ourselves with the same courage and determination and to accept suffering in this life for the sake of our God and Saviour.
Because Jesus suffered in the flesh on our account, we are to arm ourselves with the same resolve and purpose as Him, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
We can take the easy route in life and compromise the truth of the glorious gospel and indulge in worldly ways and ungodly alliances or we can take the path of purity and righteousness by eschewing all that is evil and bearing the reproach of Christ in our suffering and shame - for how can we continue to be slaves of sin when the Lord Jesus, Who died for us and rose again, has set us free from slavery to sin and broken its suffocating hold on our lives?
As believers, we are: Called into fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ, and we do this through living in spirit and truth.
We were bought with a price - the precious blood of Christ Jesus our Saviour - and in Him we have the mind of Christ and should not be influenced by the world's thinking, their philosophies, their mind-set, or their world-view.
However, David learned from his youth to get his eyes off his enemies and to keep His focus on Jesus, the God of heaven and earth Who alone was his shield and buckler, and Who alone was his shepherd and the lifter up of his head.
Jesus had just healed a man at the pool of Bethsaida, but He did this healing on the Sabbath.
The Jews had so misinterpreted the Law of Moses about the Sabbath day that they considered the miracles that Jesus carried out on the Sabbath, violated their strict rules.
When the man that had been healed obeyed Christ's instruction and picked up his bed to carry it home, it was construed as work, and they accused Jesus of violating their laws.
But Jesus replied, My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.
This response infuriated the Jews, for they knew that Jesus was making Himself equal with Almighty God.
Following this accusation, the Lord Jesus taught His disciples all about His unique relationship with God the Father.
Jesus finally summed up this important teaching that spelt out the clear message of His eternal deity before saying: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.Jesus had simply explained the gospel that we read in John chapter 3: That whosoever believes on the Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
He was just stating what the Philippian jailer would hear: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He was simply saying what Paul would teach in Romans 8: There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
Jesus laid out this truth very emphatically by starting what He said with the words verily, verily: Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
The never-changing nature of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, for He is the same and His years will never come to an end.
The salvation we received is a free gift, which costs us nothing, yet it cost the Father the death of His beloved Son, and the price the Lord Jesus paid was His life.
Our salvation only comes by God's grace through man's faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is because we are so blessed, and our sin is no longer accountable, that we are called to eschew all forms of evil, to mature in the faith, and to live in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and to be increasingly conformed into the likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus as we die to self and live for Him.
In this verse, and also in stark contrast to the list of occultic practices and satanic pretenders whom Israel would encounter in the promised land, God presents a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ - the one, true Prophet of God, Who would be raised up from the nation of Israel, The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, Moses told them.This prophet will come from among you.
Scripture tells us that, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, but that a time was coming when the Lord God would raise up another Prophet, and today we know Him to be Jesus - the Lord's anointed Prophet, Priest, and King of Israel.
Moses spoke of the Lord Jesus, Who would be the ultimate Prophet, through Whom God would speak His words of salvation.
YES, this coming Prophet was the Lord JESUS Himself, fully God and fully man.
And although His propitiatory work on the Cross stands fast for whoever believes on His name... the Lord Jesus returned to heaven for a season and God the Father sent God the Holy Spirit as the Heavenly Comforter to convict the world of sin and to warn of coming judgement for those who will not believe.
The Holy Spirit was sent to permanently indwell all who by faith in the Lord Jesus, became sons of God... but even in those early days of the Church, we see many resisting the gospel of grace and rejecting the inspired words of Stephen, the first Christian martyr - who was himself filled with the Holy Spirit.
But our times are in God's hands, and following the example of His Lord and Saviour, Stephen committed His spirit into Christ's safe-keeping with the prayer, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!
Indeed, the Lord Jesus Himself taught us, Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you, because of Me.
However, Stephen's bold proclamation of the glorious gospel message, together with his gracious words of forgiveness and the releasing of his spirit into the loving arms of Christ Jesus our Lord, is an inspiration to men and women of all ages who may have to face severe persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ.
When we were saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we were positioned in Him and identified with Him.
And it was the Holy Spirit Himself that placed us into union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Union with Christ is the most wonderful truth of our salvation that staggers the imagination, for the Holy Spirit baptises us into the Lord Jesus and then comes to live inside our bodies.
The very focus of this passage in Isaiah 53 is the beating heart of the gospel of Christ Jesus Who was sent by God to be the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the whole world.
Jesus was the One Who was despised and rejected of all men.
The Lord Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb of the most High God: And the Lord laid upon HIM the iniquity of us all.
Jesus not only paid the purchase price for our sin by His substitutionary death, but He identified with every aspect of humanity's sin and the curse of God's holy Law.
Jesus Christ died on the Cross for all mankind as humanity's representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice so that all who believe in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus bore all our griefs, and Jesus carried all our sorrows in His body on the tree.
Jesus shed His blood on the Cross for our transgressions and rose again the third day so that we might be born from above, born anew, born of the Spirit of God, positioned in Christ, clothed in His perfect righteousness, and accepted in the Beloved for His name's sake.
Jesus had told them during His time on earth that He had only been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and Paul became a Christian at a time when the gospel was almost exclusively taught to the Jews.
Other areas included Christ's rejection, suffering and death, His Resurrection, Ascension, and Glorification, the Rapture of the Church, the great and terrible 'Day of the Lord', His Second Coming, and our blessed hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is nearer than when we first heard the truth of the gospel of grace and placed our faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ: Therefore, we should lay aside the deeds of darkness and clothe ourselves in His protective armour of light.
When Paul prayed that Onesiphorus would find mercy from the Lord on that day, he was referring to 'the Day of Christ' when Jesus will return in the clouds to remove His Church-age saints from the world, before the beginning of the great and terrible, 'Day of the Lord' - the 70th week of Daniel which is often called the Great Tribulation.
This apostle of God revealed many of the biblical truths and treasures which we have received as a free gift of grace, by trusting in Christ Jesus as Saviour.
The apostle wrote his gospel so that men might know and believe that Jesus was their Saviour.
Although the disciples had acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of the living God and hailed Him as their Messiah and Lord, there was so much that they did not know... and so much that they had yet to learn.
Instead, may we value our salvation by living godly in Christ Jesus so that in all we say and in all we do, we do only those things that bring glory to God, in the power of the indwelling Spirit.
No wonder His disciples pleaded with Jesus: Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.
The life of Jesus was the demonstration of a Man Who lived His life in a spirit of dependant humility, goodness, and grace, Who would not compromise the good news of the gospel of God, but spoke the truth in goodness and love.
And so it happened: While Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished one of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.'
When a Christian desires to pray: LORD, teach ME to pray, he needs only to look to Jesus Who demonstrated throughout His entire life what it really means to PRAY.
It is as we are enlightened to the truth of the gospel, that we begin to understand the tremendous price that Christ paid on the Cross for us, for it is only by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, that we are forgiven of our trespasses and sin.
The blood of Jesus saved us, and it continues to cleanse us from all sin, and if we abide in Him and walk in the light of His love, we have fellowship with our Heavenly Father.
The more time we remain in His company, and the more we walk in the light of His truth and righteousness, the more like Jesus we will become.
Truly there is power in the blood of Jesus, there is wonder-working POWER in the precious blood of the Lamb of God.
In consideration of our great salvation, surely it should be our heart's deepest desire to walk in the light as HE is in the light, so that fellowship with our Father is maintained, as the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us day after day after day.
Having become part of His own creation in order to deal with sin, death, and Satan, Jesus had to discover what it was to live in a frail human body in a sin-sick, fallen world.
Christ lived His life this way, by obeying God's every Word and carrying out His every Will in thought word and deed, for although He was the eternal Son, Jesus learned how to be obedient to God's Word and will, and He learned this through the things that He suffered.
God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, chose to be born into the race that He Himself had created so that He could live His life exactly as God created men to live.
John was to bear witness that Jesus Christ came from heaven as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
And John told us that we receive this gift by grace through faith so that all who believe in Jesus would not perish but have everlasting life.
John pointed people to the Lord Jesus, for Christ Himself was sent to bear heavenly witness of the invisible God Who: Loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
Believing in the existence of Jesus does not result in eternal life, for the historical evidence of His existence (in both sacred and secular writings) is irrefutable.
Eternal life is only received by believing that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and that salvation is a gracious gift of God.
How true that the Lord Jesus had saved others for He went about doing good.
Had Jesus so chosen to do so, He could have saved Himself from the punishment of the Cross.
May we never be those who join with the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders, doubting and mocking Christ, but may we be those who, like the centurion, gaze at our Saviour and say: Truly, Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.
Many consider this angel to be 'The Angel of the Lord' - Lord Jesus Himself Who is God's anointed High Priest of heaven, for Hebrews tells us that Christ is the One at the right hand of the Father Who intercedes for the saints day and night.
The Psalms are replete with morning offerings and evening vespers, and the Lord Jesus Himself delighted to make it His daily habit to come before His Heavenly Father in prayer and thanksgiving.
Perhaps the prayer that has ascended heavenward more than any other supplication, is that which Jesus taught His disciples to pray.
But the Author of life and Fountain of all grace, has filled our hearts with the True Light of the world; the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Son of Righteousness and 'the Bright and Morning Star'.
By faith, he receives enlightenment of the knowledge of God's manifest glory, in the presence of Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ, is our dazzling and eternal Day-Star and He is the Light of life, in Whom we have received forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
The illuminating light of His sufficiency and knowledge, His wisdom and grace, His truth and His power, is reflected in the shining face of the wonderful Lord Jesus.
And yet in His grace, God determined that Light shall shine out of darkness: He shone truth into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
He gives details of the last day's battle, and how Israel will be empowered by God and delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ.
He explains what will happen when Jesus returns to set up His millennial rule on earth, and he even identifies the very place to which the Lord will return.
At His first coming, Jesus came as the suffering Servant and Lamb of God Who was despised and rejected of men.
It was as Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives that He ascended into heaven, as recorded in Acts.
And it is to that same place - to Mount Olivet, to which Jesus will return... for two men in white explained what would happen to the bewildered disciples.
This Jesus, Who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven.”
Jesus ascended into heaven from Olivet, and He is to return to the same spot on earth.
It was in His Olivet discourse that Jesus told His disciples everything that would happen at His return.
He told them that the gospel of the kingdom, which was curtailed at His first advent would eventually be taught throughout the world by Jewish evangelists who put their faith in Christ Jesus as Lord, and He warned of the abomination of desolation that is to be set up in a newly constructed temple.
YES, Jesus confirmed much of what Zechariah, Daniel, Isaiah, and other holy men of God prophesied and He gave some additional information about His second coming to earth, at the end of the tribulation, which will be invaluable to those who have to endure this terrible time of judgement.
But it is also a time of purifying and healing - the purifying of sinners who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption of those who call on His name.
When Israel rejected their Messiah at His first coming, the Lord Jesus wept bitterly over Jerusalem, because they did not recognise the day of their visitation.
In great distress of heart, the Lord Jesus cried out, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her!
Today, a remnant of Israel believes in the Lord Jesus, and have become part of the 'one new man' in Christ - together with Gentile believers.
But in that 'Day', Jesus, Israel's true Messiah and King, will return to earth, and they, as a nation, will acknowledge Him as their God and Saviour.
The tabernacle of David will be rebuilt, in that 'Day', when Israel acknowledges Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords - but first, they must endure the coming 'Time of Jacobs Trouble', acknowledge Jesus as Lord, and call out to Him for salvation.
Jesus is the One Who will rebuild the temple of God, and He will rule and reign on the throne of David forever and ever - AMEN.
Paul was stopped in his tracks on the road to Damascus by the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus.
I thank my God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, was Paul's amazing discovery.
Paul discovered the answer to living a godly life was found in Jesus Christ Whose grace is sufficient... for His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
Paul discovered that the only way to victory over the principle of sin, was by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ - as he allowed His Holy Spirit to rule and reign within until he could say, it is not I that live, but Christ that lives in me.
Before Jesus was to embark on His earthly ministry and set out on His three year march to the Cross, it was necessary for Him to demonstrate that He was qualified to act as the federal Head of God's new creation of mankind.
The first man, Adam, had failed in his assignment, but as the last Man, the last Adam, Jesus Christ would need to prove Himself qualified for the task of Kinsman-Redeemer to the lost race of mankind.
But Jesus was also divinely approved at His baptism when the Father said: This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove.
And so we read that immediately after His baptism, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
It was at this point of human vulnerability that Satan sought to tempt Jesus to act independently of His Father, just as the first Adam had succumbed to the same temptation to act independently from God.
Satan knew perfectly well Who Jesus was, for the Bible in the original Greek literally reads: SINCE You are the Son of God.
But Jesus had been sent to earth to carry out the Father's will and to only do those things that He heard from the Father.
And so we hear those universe-shattering words, when Jesus responded to this temptation by saying: It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Nothing was more important to the Lord Jesus than to carry out the Word and Will of His heavenly Father, and this even included dealing with His legitimate needs and those natural human desires that are not sinful in and off themselves, but which do become sinful when we engage in them independently of our heavenly Father.
Although fully God, Jesus lived His life as fully man, and needed food to sustain His physical, human body, but His priorities throughout His life placed obedience to His heavenly Father's will and Word as the highest priority in His life (as it should be for all of God's blood-bought children).
Jesus lived as the perfect example of how God expects all His blood-bought children to live: in obedient dependance upon our heavenly Father.
We do this by walking in spirit and truth, living godly in Christ Jesus, and praying at all times in the power of the Holy Ghost.
Let us, therefore, encourage one another and seek to build each other up in our most holy faith, praying in the power of the Holy Spirit, as we wait for the any day appearance of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ Who has given us eternal life, by grace through faith in Him.
Many people have a historical faith in Jesus Christ.
To some, their belief in Jesus remains a historical fact and not a saving faith.
When belief in the historical Jesus becomes faith in the person and work of Christ as Son of God and Son of Man, He is removed from being an unapproachable historical figure to a very present personal Saviour Who loves us and gave His life for us.
Indeed, later in John's Gospel, we hear Jesus addressing those present on the last day of the feast of Tabernacles: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
And some of the very last words Jesus speaks in the book of Revelation repeat this blessed truth about living water: The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires, take the water of life without cost.
this is not a call for physical circumcision for the Lord Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the Law for all His people, but we are to be circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ.
They were unconditional promises, and Jesus set aside His heavenly glory and became a Man so the promises of God to Israel's forefathers would not fail.
Jesus had to come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel first, because the promises of God had to be fulfilled through Israel.
But first the entire nation of Israel must repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but they would not.
Christ came to the circumcision first so that they could be forgiven of centuries of apostasy, by faith in Jesus, the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man.
But had Jesus not come to the people of Israel first, then the Lord God could be accused of breaking His promises to the forefathers, and so we read: Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises given to the fathers.
It will be established by the God-Man, Christ Jesus, and the world will finally understand the significance of Israel in God's eternal plan of redemption.
People from many nations will desire to travel to Jerusalem so that the Lord Jesus: May teach us about His ways.
God did not reject His people, but promised to make a New Covenant with them when He would write His laws on their hearts, and we read in this verse that the Law of God, through Christ Jesus their King, will rule the day.
Eternal life is a free gift to ALL who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and once we have been covered in Christ's righteousness we are called to LIVE the rest of our life BY FAITH.
But we are also blessed to realise that the justified man or woman will live eternally, because he or she have trusted in the Word of God, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
May we KNOW in the inner recesses of our heart and mind that: A man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Christ Jesus.
Praise God that WE, who have believed in Christ Jesus, are justified by faith in Christ.
Salvation is an unmerited gift and salvation is an eternal gift from the Lord of the universe to fallen man, and it flows from the exceeding riches of His amazing grace, which is found in Jesus Christ, His dearly beloved Son.This gift of salvation streams to mankind from the Father-heart of a loving God – Who knew that the sinful race of fallen humanity faced a lost eternity without the great and costly gift of His only begotten Son.
God has given humanity an incredible gift, and that gift is salvation – but it only comes as a gift of grace - through faith in His only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
Our salvation depends entirely on Christ’s worthiness, and the work that He carried out on Calvary’s Cross, when He offered up His sinless life to pay the price for our sin, freeing us from the guilt of sin and the penalty of sin – and breaking the suffocating power of sin in our lives.And all that humanity has to do to receive this eternal gift of salvation is to believe in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father.
All we have to do is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour… to have faith in Him… to believe on His name.
God has given humanity the amazing gift of salvation which is given freely, to whosoever will trust in His redeeming work on Calvary – because God is gracious and God is good.God’s gift of salvation is given by GRACE – for it is by grace that we are saved, through faith in Jesus Christ.
Salvation is the amazing gift of God’s grace, and does not have anything to do with us. All that is required of you and me is to believe – believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.Those of us who believe this by faith are justified, saved, redeemed, declared righteous, positioned in Christ, clothed in His righteousness, in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, and have been given a whole host of other supernatural and eternal benefits, simply by believing on the finished work of Christ at Calvary, for He died for our sin according to the Scriptures, was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures.
Following Christ's death, resurrection, ascension and glorification, we discover the murderous Saul of Tarsus being selected for a unique ministry by the Lord Jesus Himself, which he describes as: The dispensation of the grace of God.
Like us, these believers had come to faith in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Like us, they knew that they had to: Wait for His Son from heaven, Whom God raised from the dead, that is Jesus Christ the righteous, Who rescues His children from the wrath to come. Like them, we know that we are not appointed to suffer the wrath of God, because Christ took the punishment that we deserve.
Jesus took the full force of God's righteous anger against their sin, our sin, and the sin of the whole world.
Like us, the Christians at Thessalonica believed by faith that God poured out the full fury of His anger against sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was God's sacrificial Lamb and our sin-substitute.
Like us, these Thessalonian Christians were waiting for the any day return of the Lord Jesus in the clouds in their own lifetime.
But God has given all who trust in Jesus as Saviour so much more than we could ask or imagine, for God has given Him supreme authority and made Him universal Head over all things.
In Christ is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and our Lord Jesus in Whom we trust, has become the fullness of Him Who flung stars into space and fills all in all.
Just before His death and Resurrection, the Lord Jesus prayed a wonderful prayer - a prayer that demonstrated the intimate relationship with the Father and the Son - a prayer for the protection of all believers during our time in this world - a prayer that Christ Himself would be given the glory He had with the Father before His sojourn on earth - a prayer that asked that all who are in Christ Jesus may be made one as He is one with the Father - a prayer that we will one day be with the Lord Jesus, and a prayer that one day we would see and participate in His own heavenly glory.
We are not of this world system, just as the Lord Jesus is not of this world.
We were all born into this world, but since we trusted Jesus as Saviour we were separated forever from union with this world, for our union is now in Christ and we are now part of His heavenly kingdom.
The Lord Jesus Himself said, My kingdom is not of this world (system).
Let us live our lives in close communion with the Lord Jesus and demonstrate that we are not of the world, just as Christ is not of the world.
God is still in control of the unfolding plan of history and His sovereign purposes will one day be fulfilled, for His Word cannot fail and His promises are 'Yes' and 'Amen' in Christ Jesus.
The only salvation that can bring the world in general, and sinners in particular, back into fellowship with the only source of life, light, love, and peace, is found in the one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved – the Lord Jesus Christ.
They knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and that in Him were the words of eternal life, and light, and truth, and love.
They knew that Jesus alone was their blessed hope and so they proclaimed the good news far and wide - with great boldness.
Had they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, their finances would have dried up and their positions of power would have evaporated.
But Peter could not remain silent and boldly proclaimed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—Whom you crucified and Whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing here before you - healthy.
This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders.
They crave forgiveness without trusting the one Person Who is qualified to save them - Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God and righteous Son of Man.
How blessed we are, that through God’s grace, we have been given the free gift of salvation, simply by believing on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us glory in that wonderful name of JESUS and resist the deceit of the world, the lusts of the flesh, and the wiles of the enemy, by keeping the eyes of our heart fixed upon Him and the ears of our understanding ever open to His still small voice.
Hebrews is an epistle that targets maturing believers, and its clarion call is to live godly lives in Christ Jesus - the Author and Finisher of our faith.
It is when we arrive at the epilogue of this important letter, with its comprehensive warnings to live righteously in Christ Jesus, not to fall short of the grace of God, and to avoid the many pitfalls into which Israel fell... that we arrive at the final section which offers some very specific instructions on brotherly love, suffering in adversity, and holy living at home and in the wider community.
Jesus confirmed that God made male and female to unite together as one and said, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh.
While 'fornication' often refers to those that are unmarried, 'adultery' is linked to those that are unfaithful in their marriage, however, all sexual immorality is an abomination to the Lord, and Jesus Himself gives us the standard of purity that God expects from each of His own.
How necessary that all believers guard against spiritual impurity, but especially in the hallowed institution of marriage... where physical union and spiritual intimacy is woven together in the marriage bed - representing the close affinity we all have with Jesus, our heavenly Bridegroom.
The glorious New Covenant was cut at Calvary by our Lord Jesus, and all who believe in His name (both Jew and Gentile) are members of His Body during this present dispensation of grace.
We need to disentangle ourselves from any association with the murderous way of Cain, the greedy error of Balaam, and the ungodly character of the rebellious Korah, as we watch and wait for the any day return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Because of His willing obedience to live in total dependence on the Father and become our sin substitute at Calvary, the Lord Jesus has been given a name that is above every name and He has been given a position that is far above all principalities and power, not only in this age but also throughout the eternal ages to come.
Jesus had just told His disciples that He was going away – but that He was going to prepare a special place for them in His Father's house.
This was very disturbing for the little group of men who had given up everything to follow the Lord Jesus, and separation from Him was quite shocking.
They realised that He was the Messiah of Israel, and their expectation was that Jesus would shortly set up the long-awaited kingdom of God.
Jesus not only sought to give them every reassurance that His departure would be for the best, but He wanted to nurture an ever-deepening trust in Him and His Word, just as they had a trust in His Heavenly Father and His Word.
2000 years have passed since Christ promised His disciples that He would return for them and this seems like a long time in our human minds, but in God's economy, Jesus has only been away two days, for a thousand years in God's economy is just one day.
What a comfort to know that soon and very soon, Jesus will be coming back for His Bride.
As soon as the Ark, which is a type of the divine Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, was correctly positioned, the veiled glory of the Lord descended from heaven like a dark cloud that filled the House.
Jesus knew the time of His departing was near and wept over Jerusalem because the people were so deceived by the enemy's lies and blinded to the truth of the glorious Gospel of God.
Jesus had wanted to gather His people together, as a mother hen safely gathers her chicks under her wings, but they were unwilling.
The disciples continued to trust confidently, that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
They were looking forward to receiving important positions in His coming kingdom, while Jesus knew that the kingdom He came to establish would have to be postponed, until His second advent.
We have been made ministers of reconciliation and are to tell the world that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
They are to believe that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel and call on His name.
While the Church will be raptured BEFORE the Great Tribulation, unbelieving Israel will have to go THROUGH this terrible time, but like Old Testament saints and Church age believers, they will be justified by faith in Jesus. And though many will be killed - He will bring them through.
What are the strongholds that our spiritual weapons can destroy through Christ Jesus our Lord?
May we be ready to give an answer to every high-sounding argument that exalts itself against our heavenly King, for the hope we have in Christ - for He can break down every satanic stronghold and reclaim the spiritual high-ground with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ the righteous.
The day is coming when each fool will stand before the judgement throne of God to give an account of their foolish choices in life, and with one voice will declare: Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus Himself warned us that in this world we would suffer tribulations and trials, but He also urged us to remember that He has overcome the world: For greater is He that is in us that he that is in the world.
But as we look to Jesus and willingly submit to the ongoing child-training and chastening work of the Holy Spirit within, we will experience an inexplicable, inner peace that passes understanding, for this is the promise of God to all whose mind is resting in Christ.
The high price God paid for us was the precious blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ, and the moment we believed in Him, we were sealed with His stamp of full ownership and approval.
Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted, to set the captives free, to cause the lame to walk again, and to make the blind to see.
For 3 years, Jesus had taught His followers that He alone is the way to the Father, His Word is true, and in Him is eternal life.
Like the disciples, we may be broken-hearted, lost, blind, or sorrowing, and we may not understand, but God's Word is as true today as it was 2000 years ago and remember, it was Jesus that said, In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.
But there is none to be found outside the Person of the Lord Jesus and His sacrificial work on the Cross, yet Satan spins his wicked web of deceit to entrap deluded 'seekers'.
As we read in the Gospel of Matthew: Jesus moved to Capernaum to fulfil that which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
Jesus came to the lost sheep of the House of Israel as their Messiah and King.
Jesus came as the true Light Who came into the world to enlighten every man: So that all who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.
The promised kingdom of their father David was at hand - King Jesus was in their midst.
Nearly thirty years later, Jesus was identified by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus was Israel's promised Messiah, and He had come to set up His royal kingdom of peace and prosperity, as was promised to Abraham and prophesied by holy men of God.
Although the nation of Israel was in deep distress, Jesus was God's anointed Sovereign, Who was to rule and reign in righteousness - and He will rule and reign with a rod of iron.
Is Jesus the son of David?
God's sovereign rule was to be established on earth, and Jesus was to set up His millennial kingdom over all His creation.
God's anointed King was Jesus, for He was both the root and the offspring of Israel's great king David, as promised by the Word of the Lord.
And so, following His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, when Jesus rode into the city of David on the back of a little donkey, the crowd cried out in joyful chorus, Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest! - as foretold by the prophet Zechariah.
Christ will return with all His holy ones - the Christian Church, to set up His kingdom and to re-establish the throne of David on earth - when the whole nation of Israel will recognise their Messiah and once again cry out for salvation, Hosanna to the Son of David - Save us, Lord Jesus.
It is a Messianic Psalm that, from beginning to end, casts a shadow on the passion of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
And, as this Messianic Psalm discloses... Jesus waited patiently for the Lord..
and God inclined His ear, and He heard His prayer, Father forgive them for they know not what they do - Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit. And Jesus died - according to the Scriptures.
The Lord Jesus waited patiently on the Cross for His Father to hear and answer His prayer once the ransom price for sin had been paid in full.
Yes, this beautiful Psalm explains that Jesus waited patiently for the LORD, I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to Me and heard My cry.
The unbroken fellowship and eternal bond of love that exists between the Father and the Son was to be broken for the first time at that pivotal point in history when, as perfect Son of Man, Jesus was to pay the purchase price for the sin of the whole world.
This new-life-in Christ was to be breathed into all who would believe in Jesus as their Saviour.
And in the same way that the living God sent the eternal Son into the world to live a life of total dependence upon His Heavenly Father, we too are sent into the world by Jesus to live a life of total dependence upon Him by faith and through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Adam was the federal head of the human race and through him sin was imputed to all mankind, but God in His grace sent a second Man, the last Adam (the Son of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ) into the world.
What an incredible contrast there is between the first earthly man, Adam, and the second heavenly Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our God of grace is willing to extend His arms of love and forgiveness to all Who will trust in Jesus, for He is not willing that any should be condemned but that all come to a saving knowledge of the Lord.
Let us in His strength, keep our eyes fixed on Jesus so that we become a true reflection of His grace and compassion, His patience and love.
James encourages us to consider the various trials we encounter as a joy, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance and develops godly patience which causes us to grow more and more like our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
He is reminding him to demonstrate appropriate Christian behaviour in his own life, so that the instruction he offers to every group of believers, both young and older, will inspire them all towards a sanctified life that honours the Lord Jesus.
Just as there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, so also there is nothing to reproach those who teach sound doctrine.
While faith and hope will certainly continue throughout the eternal ages, for our faith and hope will always be in our heavenly Father, it is love that will increase and multiply when we see Jesus face to face - for we see Him as He is and we shall be like Him.
But love is the loveliest grace of all, for during our sojourn on earth we are being conformed into the lovely image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ, Who is incarnate love.
In His final message to the disciples, the Lord Jesus explained that knowledge of the truth was man's greatest freedom, in a world that is enslaved by sin, oppressed by Satan, condemned to death, and bound for hell.
Paul is describing the very condition of these Roman believers, before they were saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He gradually unveiled His plans, purposes, character, and names, through the Word of God - and Jesus was God's final revelation to man.
Prideful man does not want to be accountable to a holy God Who reads our hearts, understands our foolish ways, and insists that salvation is only by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Kinsman-Redeemer - Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus is the Living Bread Who not only has Life in Himself, but is the giver of Life and Who gave His Life as a ransom for many.
Jesus is the Bread of Life, in Whom is life-everlasting.
Jesus is the divine Bread from heaven Who came to earth in the likeness of sinful man in order to give His sinless life as the ransom price for the sin of the world.
Jesus so often used physical elements to teach deep spiritual truths for those that had ears to hear and eyes to see, but the Jews of His day could not separate the physical loaves-of-bread from the spiritual flesh-of-Christ.
Many unbelieving Jews dismissed His teaching as the contemptible and foolish ramblings of Jesus from Nazareth, born out of wedlock to Joseph and Mary.
But when we who have trusted Jesus as our Saviour recognise the enormity of this truth, we come to realise that the more we eat, ingest, imbibe, and drink of Christ Jesus our living Redeemer, the more He comes to dwell in our heart by faith and live His life in us as an abiding reality.
Every Church-age believer has been cleansed of their sins, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and consecrated to God, because Jesus became our substitutionary sacrifice for sin and breathed into us His own perfect, abundant, and eternal life.
Saved, by grace through faith in our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
When Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, He paid the full price of the righteous requirements of the Law in blood on a wooden cross, 2000 years ago.
How important it was that the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven at the end of His earthly ministry, for only then could He send the indwelling Holy Spirit as the seal of all God's promises to those who believe on Him.
This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.
What an assurance to know that Jesus Christ would come again to deliver His people Israel.
Two thousand years have sped by, and now we are living in the time that many term 'the end times' - those last days prior to the glorious return of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus will one day descend from heaven to take His Church to be with Himself in our heavenly home in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, but these angels were not talking of the Rapture here, but of His Second Coming; that glorious day at the end of the Tribulation period when Christ shall come in the clouds of glory, and every eye shall see Him.
And let us pray for the nation of Israel who, at the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation period, will see Jesus return in the same way that He went, watch Him set His feet upon the Mount of Olives, and as a nation cry out: Blessed is he Who comes in the name of the Lord.
We are God's masterpiece, God's workmanship, God's handiwork, God's creatures – we are God's new creation in Christ Jesus.
We are God's masterpiece, made in Christ Jesus in order that we may be able to perform the good acts and good works, which God prepared for us to do before we were even born.
How wonderful that we truly are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
They told Jesus about a terrible incident when Pilate mixed the blood of certain Galileans with their religious sacrifices.
However, Jesus rejected their supposition and used the parable of the fig tree to explain that although sin is the root of all tragedies, it is not necessarily because of a man's PERSONAL sin that bad things happen, for ALL men are guilty of sin, not only those who have difficulties.
Jesus was pictured as the Vine-dresser, and the lack of fruit on the branches of the tree indicated an absence of the fruit of righteousness from the nation of Israel.
However, the grace of God is clearly seen in the response of the husbandman, JESUS.
Jesus was the incarnate Word of God about Whom the Scriptures spoke and to Whom the Jewish Law pointed, and although they were a worthless nation, Jesus graciously asked the Father to give His people more time to repent of their sin and produce the fruit of righteousness: He answered and said to Him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertiliser,' as He continued to share the good news of the gospel of God and the coming kingdom.
Jesus had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, as foretold in Scripture.
Israel should have responded to the many calls to repent of their sin and produced the fruit of righteousness, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness.
Throughout the Church age they have had even more opportunity to repent of their sin, return to the Lord, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin.
As we reflect on these four boys who refused to be brainwashed by the society of the day, but courageously stood firm in their faith, may we seek to develop the same steadfast trust in God and allow their example to ignite our faith, sustain the blessed hope we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, challenge us to stand firm in the truth, and prompt us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord our God.
Yes, our bodies are indeed earthen vessels, but the treasure that has taken up residence within our mortal frame, is the beautiful Spirit of Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is through faith in Christ Jesus that we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the incomparable greatness of the power within, will come from God and not from ourselves.The new, eternal life of the resurrected Lord Jesus was breathed into our bodies, which were dead in trespasses and sins.
And the Holy Spirit of God took up permanent residence within our weak, mortal frames, from the moment we trusted Christ Jesus, for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
The almighty Creator, Who caused light to shine out of darkness, is the One Who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ – so that His life may dwell in us and His love may shine into our hearts, so that we may be made ministers of His grace and show forth the excellency of His power to those that remain dead in their trespasses and sins.There is no merit in us that we should be so honoured, as the contrast between our frail, feeble, perishing bodies and His divine strength and eternal light demonstrates – but by His goodness and grace, this heavenly treasure has been placed in earthen vessels - our human body, which is Christ in us the hope of glory, so that the excellency of that power may be shown forth in our lives.We are the earthen vessels into which the glorious truth of the gospel of God has been poured, causing our mortal bodies to become the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who uses this gospel light to guide us into all truth and as we proclaim the glorious gospel of grace to others.
Others like to hide the shed blood of the slain Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins under the proverbial carpet, because they think that it is rather offensive.
OR, alternatively, they teach of nothing but a dead Jesus without linking His sacrificial death to His glorious Resurrection and present-day ministry in heaven.
Paul cautioned us that if ANYONE advocates a different doctrine that does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the doctrine of godliness which is laid out for us in the Word of God - it must be renounced, rejected, and exposed.
The eternal deity of Christ as a member of the triune Godhead is renounced, the humanity of Jesus is mocked, and His substitutional death, burial, and Resurrection is belittled.
God has spoken to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The doctrine conforming to godliness is clearly laid out in the written Word... and as God's born-again children we are to live godly in Christ Jesus - as laid out by the Word of truth.
God has supplied all our needs according to His riches in glory and has given us the permanently, indwelling Holy Spirit to lead and to guide, to teach and to train, to correct and to comfort, and to conform us day by day into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord.
Jesus was the promised Messiah Who was to break in pieces the kingdoms of this world and set up His Millennial Kingdom upon the earth, with God's chosen people, Israel, as the head of the nations and not the tail.
Jesus had come to set up His earthly kingdom, but first He was to suffer and die for the sin of the whole world, for before the establishment of His earthly reign in Jerusalem, Jesus must also become: The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
Before Christ could set up His earthly rule, Jesus was to become a suffering Servant.
Jesus suffered on the Cross, but He rose again the third day in glorious fulfilment of many Old Testament prophesies: After His suffering, Jesus presented Himself to His disciples with many convincing proofs that He was alive, appearing over a span of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Jesus triumphed over thrones and authorities, making them a public spectacle and gaining victory over satanic principalities, powers, and the rulers of darkness in heavenly places.
Throughout His earthly ministry, Christ had been teaching of the coming kingdom of God, and so with excited anticipation His disciples asked Jesus: Lord, is it at this time You are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
We are justified by God's grace and pardoned of our sin as a free and unconditional gift, through redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Man is justified by faith - without the deeds of the law.
Paul rejoiced when he considered the love and faith Philemon had for the Lord Jesus, and made reference to the joy, comfort, love, and refreshment he readily supplied to many other saints in the Lord.
He referred to himself as 'Paul the elder' and also 'a prisoner of Christ Jesus'.
Jesus challenged His disciples to consider the flowers of the field, because God in His providential goodness and grace adorns each one beautifully, with the most colourful array.
Jesus pointed out that the simple wayside flowers don't sew, they don't spin, they don't till the field or gather-in the harvest, and yet God even cares for their meagre needs.
The Lord Jesus wanted those that believed in Him to truly trust Him in all things.
They had come to an understanding that Christ was the Son of the living God, in Whom are the words of eternal life, and had obviously placed a certain amount of faith in God for their eternal future, and Jesus wanted that faith to extend to all things.
Jesus was attempting to show them that if they had trusted Him for their redemption, how foolish, therefore, to become fretful and anxious over their daily needs.
Jesus wanted to show that anxiety about their daily needs demonstrated a shocking lack of understanding of the tremendous love the Father has for those that are His children.
How often we need to remember His loving provision and tender-mercies towards us ALL.What could seem less significant than a broken reed, a tiny sparrow, a widow’s mite, or a little wayside flower, but God takes and uses such insignificant, everyday, mundane things and then He contrasts them with the opulence of the wisest, wealthiest man that ever lived in order to demonstrate His unconditional love and superabundant grace towards us – reminding us that He knows us personally, loves us unconditionally, and cares for each of us individually.When the Lord Jesus takes such care to get His point across to us, perhaps we need to take note of what He is saying.
Not only did the apostle John write his epistle, so that believers may know without a shadow of a doubt, that we have eternal life in Christ Jesus, but in this verse, he wants to establish our assured confidence in the privilege of prayer, the power of prayer, and the preciousness of prayer, THIS is the confidence we have before Him, John writes, THIS is our confidence, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
They were taken captive by the Babylonians for 70 years, but God in His grace promised to make a New Covenant with Israel by sending JESUS, (His Only Begotten First-Born Son), into the world.
Indeed, Jesus was incarnate God and the Word made flesh.
The New Covenant that was promised to Israel was cut at Calvary through the shed blood of Jesus, their promised Messiah and King.
They will cry out to God in the time of Jacob's Trouble, and Jesus will return to save His people from their sin and set up His promised millennial kingdom on earth.
Israel, (God's first-born adopted son), will be saved from their sin by Jesus Christ, (God's Only Begotten First-Born Son).
Salvation and the forgiveness of sin is simply by faith: Believe in God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent, for Christ is the end of the Law to all who believe.
It was at the start of Christ's ministry that Jesus walked from His hometown in Galilee to the River Jordan to be baptised by John, to be anointed by the Holy Spirit, and to be confirmed as God's only Begotten Son and Israel's promised Messiah.
But John protested Christ's request for water baptism, for although Jesus was a Jew (of the line of Judah and the house of David), there was no sin in Him.
And yet, we discover that the baptism of Jesus was God's legal requirement in order for Him to fulfil all righteousness.
Jesus was required to live the perfect life in our stead so that by faith in Him, His death became our death and His life became our life so that His righteousness could be imputed to us.
Jesus walked in spirit and truth for you, and He did it for me too.
Jesus submitted His whole life to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and depended on God by faith, all for you and for me.
Jesus prayed: Not My will but Thine be done, every day of His life so that after His death, burial, and Resurrection, His life could become our life, just as His death became our death.
Jesus also had to be anointed with oil so that He could function as God's heavenly, High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.
He paid a tremendous price to redeem us from our lost condition and it was a price that only He could pay, for we could not have been redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, but only with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ Who died so that we might live.
The Lord Jesus is that unblemished and spotless Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world and gives us spiritual life in return for spiritual death.
In order for believers to be united together in love, joy, peace, and harmony, we are to let the mind of Christ dwell in us richly and to display the same beautiful disposition that Jesus displayed in His earthly life.
And Jesus Himself exhorts us: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
And the world often portrays the Lord Jesus as a bit of a push-over with His teachings on being meek and mild-mannered, loving your enemies, blessing those who curse you, and praying for those that despitefully use you.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God... BUT they are justified freely by His grace, which is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
We can be forgiven of our sin by faith in the shed blood of the sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour - Who takes away the sin of the world.
The promise of the New Covenant was to be fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ - such that all who trust in Him as their perfect, sinless, Kinsman Redeemer - Jew and Gentile alike, are beneficiaries of this gracious promise which includes a renewed heart and an enlightened mind - with godly understanding and right judgements - and this would come through the power of God's own Holy Spirit.
This wonderful promise to the nation of Israel was cut at Calvary, and the wonderful promise to give His people a new heart and put a new spirit within is fulfilled in the life of ALL who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour of their soul and the Mediator for their sins - Jew and Gentile alike.
Those of us who have already trusted Jesus as Saviour - Jew and Gentile alike, have been made ministers of this New and Better Covenant, because we believe in JESUS the Son of God and Son of Man, Who willingly offered Himself, without blemish to God - for our sake.
The development of the disciple's faith in Jesus as their God and their Saviour, can be traced from the time of John the Baptist to the final chapters of John's apocalypse.
It was revealed to Peter, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God... and the content of John's Gospel was written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing on Him we might have life in His name.
When Christ set His face as a flint to go to Jerusalem to face the unbelieving Jews who desired to kill Him, Thomas boldly cried, Let us also go to Jerusalem, with Him - so that we may die with Jesus!
Lord, we do not know where You are going, was his quick complaint when Jesus revealed that He was soon to leave them and return to His Father in heaven, so how can we know the way? was his earnest query.
Jesus came and stood in the midst of them and said, Thomas - reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.
What a wonderful truth - for Jesus is alive and has broken the power of death in the lives of all who believe.
Indeed, how grateful we are that these words of Thomas are recorded in the inspired, God-breathed Scriptures... for Jesus is indeed our God and our Saviour.
I am sure Christ's gentle admonishment at his earlier unbelief was a great relief, for although Thomas - like Peter - had denied his Lord, Jesus did not dismiss him, but met him at his point of need and strengthened his resolve to go into all the world and preach the gospel of Christ to others.
You and I do not have the opportunity to see the risen Lord Jesus in the same way that Thomas saw Him - but Jesus also added these words of comfort... especially for you and for me, Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.
He warns that there is only one way by which man may be saved, and that is by faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the propitiation for our sins, and through Whom the redemption price for the sin of mankind was paid in full and accepted unconditionally by the Father.
The perfect righteousness of God was fully satisfied when the shed blood of the innocent Lord Jesus was willingly offered as that full and final payment for the sin of the whole world.
Yes, the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our sin nature and the sins we commit have to be punished, and Jesus took the full and final punishment that we deserve; but it is only and exclusively and unalterably by faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus that we can be fully and forever forgiven of our sins and placed in eternal union with Christ, by which we are brought back into a right relationship with our heavenly Father.
But Jesus took time to come to him, to call to him, and to open up for him the path of salvation, for Jesus had come to seek and to save that which was lost.
How different the Lord Jesus was from those critical Jewish leaders, who so readily accused the Lord Jesus of fraternising with tax-collectors and sinners!
Along the way, we are shocked to discover that Pilate released Barabbas instead of Jesus, to appease the crowd, who refused to recognise Him as the rightful King of Israel.
However, following His sacrificial death on the Cross for the sin of the world, the Father would not allow His beloved Son further abuse from godless men, but arranged for His burial in the newly hewn rock-tomb of a wealthy man: When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
Joseph, a prosperous man, was a member of the Sanhedrin, the religious authority who consented to Jesus' death.
This secret disciple was part of a remnant that was looking for the consolation of Israel, and, no doubt as he studied the Scriptures, he discovered that Jesus was indeed God's promised Messiah.
He may have been a clandestine follower before the Cross, but we read in Mark: He came boldly to Pilate, to ask for the body of Jesus for burial, and his request was granted.
Before His death, godless men were permitted to carry out the most atrocious acts against the Lord of glory, but after His death it was only the hands of faithful followers, like Joseph of Arimathea and his friend Nicodemus (who came to Jesus at night), who handled the body of our Lord, as they wrapped Him in a linin sheet and laid Him in the prepared tomb.
Not only is Jesus our Saviour, King, Prophet, and Lord, but He has also become our great High Priest.
Jesus is God's anointed High Priest, through Whom we have been made fit to approach the grand and awesome throne of the most high God.
The Lord Jesus is the ultimate and final Word of God.
Jesus is the only Mediator between man and God, and He is the only One who can defend our case when the accusational finger of the evil one is pointing at you or at me.
There were a succession of men from the earthly Mosaic economy who functioned as high priest, but none could be compared with Christ Jesus, for all were sinners in need of salvation.
He has been given a Name that is above every name: Jesus Christ the righteous.
We are commanded to stand firm on the witness of the Cross: Jesus is the Son of God; Jesus is our great High Priest; Jesus has put away our sin forever by His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection; Jesus ascended into heaven by passing through the heavens on our account; In Jesus are the words of eternal life.
For it is only and ultimately through Jesus, the Son of God Who is God the Son, that we can find grace to help in time of need, for His grace is sufficient, His office is efficacious, and His loving-mercy is everlasting.
YES INDEED, since we DO have a great High Priest Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
He knows the end from the beginning and the formation of the Body of Christ was in accordance with God's eternal plan and purpose for the redemption of mankind - which was carried out through the Lord Jesus Christ, at Calvary.
Indeed, Jesus Himself reminded us of the futility of gaining all that the world has to offer, while losing ones opportunity to live for the Lord.
But unless our vertical relationship with our Heavenly Father is founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ, our life becomes futile and our fellowship with Him is broken.
We are all part of His Body, and His Body is not divided up into little scattered and unrelated groups, but one family of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Also, we are reminded that following His Resurrection, the Lord Jesus was seen alive by over 500 eyewitnesses, many of whom were still living when Paul wrote his epistle.
Jesus must reign on earth until He has defeated every enemy.
At this time, Jesus will hand back the kingdom that was lost by Adam, to God the Father, after having put down all rule and all authority and power: For He must reign until He has put ALL His enemies under His feet.
But it was also a picture of the Father's relationship to Christ Jesus, His Son, Who lived His life as God's, perfect bond-servant.
May we be wise and join the ranks of men like Paul - a bondservant of Jesus Christ, James - a bondservant of God and of Jesus Christ, Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ and Jude, another bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
May we be careful not to fall into the careless ways of Israel, but to learn from their waywardness, so that we may live godly in Christ Jesus... in our words, in our deeds, and in our manner of life, in love, in faith, and in purity of heart, to the glory of God.
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called, the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, and through faith in Christ's sacrificial work on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection, our names are, enrolled in heaven.
We are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Who is the perfect example of how to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.
We are exhorted to keep looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our life and our faith.
We are being conformed into the lovely likeness of Jesus - and will one day be clothed in resurrected bodies, like unto His own glorious body.
As children of God we are not appointed to wrath, because Jesus took the punishment in our place, so we will not be hurt by the second death - for we have been raised with Christ and our names have been enrolled in heaven, and by God's grace we have been promised a great reward.
Members of the Body and Bride of Christ who have fallen asleep since the birth of the Church at Pentecost, are today consciously enjoying the company of the lovely Lord Jesus in heavenly places.
The coming Judgement Seat of Christ is not to be feared for Jesus paid the punishment for our sin on Calvary's Cross, and the only thing given at this Judgement Seat will be rewards.
Peter knows that such qualities are the birthright of all who are in Christ Jesus, and that if these godly qualities are evident in our lives, we will become fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Those that are lacking in godly character are described as being spiritually blind and short-sighted, having forgotten all the glories that are ours in Christ Jesus, despite the fact that we have already been purified from our former sins.
We are to recall the blessings which are ours in Jesus Christ, and we are to return into His loving embrace and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
But through the teachings of Paul, we understand that every believer in Christ is a member of His spiritual Body (which is called the Church), and Jesus Christ is the Head of that Body.
As the Federal Head of the new creation and the Founder of the Church, Jesus Christ is also: The Firstborn from the dead.
Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who justly deserves first place in everything by the power of God.
The Pharisees did all they could to discredit the Messianic claims of the Lord Jesus by asking difficult questions.
David had been moved by the Holy Ghost to write: The LORD (God Yahweh) said to my Lord, (the Lord Jesus), sit at My right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit of truth, David addressed the Lord Jesus as my Lord.
Jesus was both son of David by birth and David's Lord, by virtue of His deity.
Christ was so much more than the son of David, for this great king of Israel had identified Jesus Christ as Lord.
But as citizens of heaven and members of the new creation in Jesus Christ, we can say with reverence and awe that we are of Christ Who was begotten of the Father, very God of very God, Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary - God made Man - and we are: Of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews is a book that not only opens God's progressive plan of redemption for Christians today, but was originally written to help Jewish Christians in the early Church to understand that a change in dispensations took place with the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paul was ready and willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for love of the Lord Jesus, and he considered his life-breath which was soon to expire on the executioner's block, as a drink-offering that was about to be poured out to the Lord he loved so dearly.
From the moment that he encountered the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus, this man, Paul, had became an ardent follower of the Christ.
He was humbled by the encounter on the road to Damascus, and committed himself to lifelong surrender, under the Lordship of Jesus.
It was his passion for his Lord that caused Paul to press on for the upward call in Christ Jesus, until he could say, it is not I that live- but the Spirit of Christ, living in me and working through me, for His greater glory and praise.
And we are exhorted to do the same as we watch for Jesus' imminent return for His Church-age saints.
Let us follow in Paul's footsteps and fight the good fight of faith, so that we may say, with Paul, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith and in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge of the earth, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
From the very first verse in Matthew's Gospel to the closing statement in John's Apocalypse, the focal figure of the New Testament is Jesus Christ... and the thrilling testimony is salvation by grace through faith to all who believe.
From the opening verse of his Gospel, Matthew begins to open our understanding that Jesus Christ is the promised Seed of Abraham through Whom all the families of the earth will be blessed.
He starts by rattling off a long list of Jesus' descendants, taking us back over centuries of time - to Solomon and David - to Jacob and Abraham.
Matthew opens his book with the words, This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Although this catalogue of forebears, which includes some difficult to pronounce names, may appear to be rather meaningless or somewhat superfluous, it date-stamps legitimacy on the authority, authenticity, and ancestry of Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary who was married to Joseph, the carpenter.
There are two chronologies of Jesus Christ's ancestry.
The Gospel of Luke takes the lineage of Jesus back through David and Abraham to, Adam, the son of God, while Matthew's genealogy places its foundational root firmly in Israel - the chosen people of God.
Matthew traces Jesus' Jewish genealogy, His royal line through David and Solomon, to Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Joseph was chosen by God to be the adoptive father of Jesus, the Son of God, for we read, and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, to whom was born Jesus, Who is called Christ.
Matthew tells us that Jesus was of the house of David and also of the lineage of David.
Although the lineage of Christ as a descendent of David was certainly evident in both Matthew and Luke's genealogies, only Matthew is able to provide the legal status for Jesus to be anointed as the legitimate King of Israel.
Through Joseph, His adoptive father, Jesus could legitimately claim to be the prophesied King of Israel.
Mary was a virgin when she conceived the Lord Jesus.
However, Joseph took Mary to be his lawfully wedded wife and in so doing, Jesus became Joseph's lawfully adopted son.
JESUS - the unique Son of the living God was born into the human race as Jesus - the immaculately conceived Son of Man.
Indeed, the Lord Jesus Himself said that He was going to prepare a place for us in His Father's house, but we do not know all the wonderful things are being prepared for us.
God accepted Christ's offering of Himself as the full and final payment for the salvation of all who would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when we are confronted with the problems and difficulties of life, we are to work these out in the power of the Spirit, by looking to Jesus and by facing every life-challenge through prayer and praise with thanksgiving.
And yet He desires in this brief span of time (between our justification and our glorification), that we work out our own salvation in humility of heart and to His praise and glory so that in the ages to come, He may show forth the incomparable riches of His grace which He has expressed in His kindness towards us, in Christ Jesus.
The glorious gospel of Christ reveals the uncompromised righteousness of God, which is based on faith: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
The truth of the glorious gospel of God and His perfect plan to reconcile man back to Himself, without compromising His holy character, reveals God's perfect yet uncompromised righteousness, and it is all by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The first step of faith is to BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
We called to LIVE by faith and instructed to keep on living by faith, knowing that He who started a good work in us will be faithful to complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.
The name 'Shiloh' means 'the Bearer of Rest'. 'Shiloh' does not refer to a city or a group. 'Shiloh' is the name of the coming Messiah; the promised Seed, through Whom all the families of the earth would be blessed; the One Who brings rest for the soul and is the fulfilment of all Scripture: Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham, the father of Isaac, the father of Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers.
What an astonishing privilege we find within the pages of Scripture – for the Spirit of God determined our fallen and eternally condemned status in the world, but in His goodness and grace, outlined all we need to receive His promised blessing of salvation, the forgiveness of sin, and life everlasting.Scripture is a supernatural document that has been delivered to us all through the pens of the apostles, the prophets, and the life of the Lord Jesus, which explains that we are all prisoners of sin and under the authority of Satan... with death, hell, and eternal separation from our God, as the bitter fruit of our fallen nature.
But God has taken the wicked, evil plan of Satan and turned it into eternal blessings for all who depend, by faith, on the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.
They thought that keeping the Law would save them, but the Law was designed to expose their sin so that they would admit their need of a Saviour and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul.
Paul needed to teach this terrible truth that we are all under sin and that the Scriptures themselves, have declared us to be sinners - so that he could link it with a tremendous truth - the Scriptures have shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe!
The Scriptures were given to expose our need of a Saviour but those same Scriptures present the good news of the gospel - that God's promise of salvation - by faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
Should we not read, mark, learn, inwardly digest, and apply all the treasures that are given to us through this open secret, which is His precious Word, for Scripture has shown that all are the prisoners of sin – in order that God’s promised blessing, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ, may be given to all who believe in Him.
The Lord Jesus, Himself, explained the distinguishing qualities of this 'law of the spirit of life' which is found in John 13:34 where we read: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
Spiritual maturity develops as we are conformed into the likeness of the Lord Jesus through the wise choices we make.
Jesus said, Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters, while Peter, who was prompted by the Holy Spirit to confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, became a fleshly tool in the hands of Satan immediately after his great spiritual revelation from God.
Let us die to self and live our life to the glory of God so that we may mature in the faith, grow in grace, live a spiritual, God-honouring life, and become a living testimony to the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us hold fast to that which is good and seek to do everything to the glory of God... so that our whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved complete and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for His praise and glory.
The gospel of Christ centres on the Person and work of the incarnate Word of God, our Saviour, Jesus Christ Who gave Himself willingly to die on the Cross in our place.
Before the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we were all condemned under the Law, but in Him we have died to the Law, by grace through faith in Him.
If keeping the Law could make us right with God, then there was no need for the Lord Jesus Christ to die at Calvary.
He prayed that we would increase in understanding and knowledge, and be granted greater illumination and spiritual revelation of our Father in heaven and His anointed Son, Jesus Christ, Who died for our sins and rose again the third day to give us His abundant life, according to the riches of His grace.
It is noble and wise to diligently search the Scriptures day by day and to carefully examine all that you are being taught by teachers and preachers, to ensure that you are not been fed a distorted doctrine, a twisted truth or 'another Jesus'.
And although it may speak to us this way, this special Psalm of praise is a Messianic psalm that is not talking of today or the times through which we are passing, but this verse speaks of THE day - the Day of the Lord – that Day that the Lord has scheduled into His eternal timeline - the Day when Christ Jesus returns in the clouds with His saints to set up His glorious kingdom on earth.
Before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus wept over Jerusalem and prophesied, You will not see me until you cry, 'blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.' That is the Day when Israel will rejoice and proclaim together, This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
And in Chapter 7, Jesus leads us from the dangers of developing a critical spirit, to what has been universally termed 'The Golden Rule': In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
It systematically lays out principles on how to live righteously in the sight of God, and in chapter 7 verse 11, Jesus demonstrates the incredible goodness of our perfect God towards His children by comparing it with the care and concern a human parent has towards their own offspring.
Earlier in His 'Sermon on the Mount', the Lord Jesus reminded us that we are to ASK God for the things we need and to keep on asking, because He is a good and gracious Father to His children and has promised to provide all we need.
And to explain the great generosity of our Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus drew this comparison: There isn't a person among you who would give his son a stone if he asked for bread, is there? Or if he asks for a fish, he wouldn't give him a snake, would he?
Jesus knew how important it was for His disciples to be clear about their relationship to Himself.
For centuries, Israel had been an unfruitful vine, and only days before His crucifixion, Jesus taught the parable of the tenant farmers who killed the son of the vineyard owner - prophesying His own rejection and death which would be instigated by the priests and Pharisees who were looking for a way to arrest Him and were plotting His death.
While most of Israel would reject Him, Jesus wanted His own disciples to understand that HE, and not Israel was the True Vine to Whom they must remain attached.
Jesus explained that He was the True Vine and His Father was the husbandman, Who prunes away the unfruitful branches so that new growth - new believers can begin to grow and flourish - Jew and Gentile alike would be branches that would grow on the True Vine, and together they would become the Church - at Pentecost.
Jesus wanted them, and us, to be fruitful branches.
Without Jesus, we can do nothing.
The astonishing truth that Jesus shared with His disciples on that day should affect each one of our lives.
But if a Christian obeys Christ's command to abide in Him and He in us, he will bring forth much fruit - 10-fold, 50-fold and maybe 100-fold, and he will hear Jesus say, well-done good and faithful servant.To abide in Christ and to rest in His love is to know, with absolute certainty, that He alone is life’s sufficiency and to act on this knowledge.
Though abortion is a sin, and the loss of life through terminating a pregnancy is a travesty, Jesus died to pay the price for the sin of every man and woman, including this one.
There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, for He even gives forgiveness and healing to those who commit this sin, both in their pre-salvation and post-salvation life - for if we, who have been justified by faith, confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness - including this one.
These words of Isaiah were indeed good tidings of great joy to the little, faithful remnant of Israel, but they are words of great comfort and succour to all who are weary and heavy-laden, both Jew and Gentile alike, for He sent Jesus to be the good Shepherd of the sheep, the Door of the sheepfold, the Way, the Truth, the Life, and the Light to all who would trust in His name for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
The woman caught in adultery had certainly sinned and judgement needed to be meted out, but the Jewish leadership were using the undeniable guilt of this adulteress in an evil scheme to trap the Lord Jesus.
This was an underhand plot to either accuse Jesus of disregarding sin by demonstrating His contempt for the God-given Law of Moses, or reveal that He was not living up to His claims of being a friend of sinners and their merciful Saviour.
A lose-lose situation for Jesus, in their eyes.
Were He to ignore her sin and recommend her release, Jesus would have proven Himself to be a lawbreaker, with contempt for the Torah and a disregard for the Law of God.
Jesus silently permitted the ranting allegation of the many accusational voices to continue spewing out their judgemental criticism on this woman, as they pointed accusingly at a sinner who most certainly deserved to have the punishment of God poured out upon her: For all have sinned, and all fall short of the perfect standard of a holy God.
We don't know what Christ wrote in the sand that day, but the consciences of every proud Pharisee and each scheming Scribe was cut to the quick when Jesus spoke with commanding authority: Let him who is without sin among you, throw the first stone.
And convicted and confused by their own conscience: They left, one by one, starting with the older men, leaving Jesus alone with the woman.
His wrath was poured out in full measure upon the sinless, Lord Jesus as He hung on the Cross.
And as the woman stood before Him, Jesus knew that He was soon to pay the price for the sin of this adulterous woman, just as surely as He died to pay the price for my sin and for yours.
We can continuously thank God for what He has already done in our lives and make intercession for that which God will continue to do, as the Spirit conforms us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus with every passing day.
Paul knew the importance of a spiritual understanding of the blessings we have already received as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
He was exalting Jesus, the incarnate Word Who Himself is God, through time and forever.
He was proclaiming the Son of Man, Who was formed in the womb of a woman and Who was born in the person of the Jesus of Nazareth.
It was John who had felt the warmth of Christ's breath on his face as Jesus breathed His spirit into His disciples, and it was John who rested his weary head on His Masters bosom on the night that He was betrayed.
This Jesus - Son of Man Who created the world and has the highest office in the universe, is the Man that John lived with for three wonderful years.
This Jesus - Son of God Who is equal in essence and character with every aspect of the Father, is the same Jesus that John heard with his ears, saw with his eyes, and handled with his body.
And so he wrote these words to encourage us: What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
And he spends considerable time in his second letter, warning of the devastating influence of false teachers and exhorting us to watch out for their destructive heresies, while urging us to grow in grace and to develop a sound knowledge of the Lord Jesus as we press towards spiritual maturity.
JESUS is that Kinsman-Redeemer who gave His life for us.
Jesus is the only acceptable sacrifice for the sin of the world.
Our sin was judged at the Cross, and payment was made through the shed blood of a perfect man - the Man, Christ-Jesus.
Jesus was born into the human race - not the angelic host.
Adam's sin was imputed to all men, but God in His grace determined that by the sacrificial death of one MAN - the man Christ Jesus, ALL mankind, not angel-kind, would be given the opportunity to be saved by grace through faith in God's own anointed Messiah, Jesus Christ, Whom He would send.
Only then will Jesus return to save His people and set up His millennial kingdom on earth.
Only then will Israel and the Gentile nations live in peace and safety - with Jesus as King and Lord of the whole earth.
He is also a picture of the last antichrist - the prophesied ruler about whom Jesus warned in Matthew 24 when He told of a sudden increase in false prophets, satanic deception, and a shocking moral decline, together with an increase in earthquakes, pestilences, famines, and war.
Jesus further warned that an 'abomination of desolation' similar to the slaughtered pig offered by Antiochus, would desecrate a yet to be built Temple, in Jerusalem.
But the chosen people who know their God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, will display strength and take action for the Lord.
Israel as a nation will one day recognise Jesus as LORD... and welcome Him back as their God and Saviour.
Jesus warned Israel, unless you believe that I AM - you will die in your sins, and the apostle John wrote the following words about the Gospel he was inspired to write, these things are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God; and that believing in Him..
God's knowledge is based on His omniscience wisdom: Those He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed into the image and likeness of our Saviour Jesus Christ, born into the old creation in Adam and then reborn into the new creation in Christ, by faith.
As we journey through life we are going through a process of sanctification which is only finally completed when we go to be with Jesus and see Him as He is.
Praise God that we are eternally secure, but may we also choose to live godly in Christ Jesus to His praise and glory and for our eternal benefit.
But this we do know; that when the Lord Jesus comes in clouds of great glory, with the shout of the archangel and the trumpet-call of God, the dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up into the clouds with them.
From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour and about the ninth hour… Jesus yielded up His spirit and behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
That torn curtain in the holy of holies was the dramatic end of the earthly order of priests, for as both High Priest and Sacrifice, Jesus offered Himself as the perfect, innocent Sin-Offering to the most High God: Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, and by His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain of His flesh into the Most Holy Place for those who believe.
The curtain in the Jewish Temple, which represented the separation of incurably sinful man from eternally Perfect God, was torn from the top to the bottom, ripped asunder from heaven to the earth, demonstrating that the finished work of Christ Jesus was accepted and sufficient.
Jesus was arrested in the dead of night and quickly hustled into a tribunal, that was not simply illegal but broke the Mosaic Law multiple times. Those who had seized Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together unlawfully.
Many false witnesses were also there who testified against Him, twisting the truth and misinterpreting His words. But the Lord Jesus said nothing.
Eventually, he stood up and came forward to question Jesus himself, saying, Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You? But Jesus remained silent and would not answer.
When Caiaphas commanded an answer from Jesus, he was not asking if He was Deity... but he did ask if He was the expected Messiah of Israel - of the royal house of David.
The response that Jesus gave to Caiaphas was an answer this puffed-up, little man was not expecting.
Not only did Jesus identify Himself as the long-awaited, prophesied Messiah of Israel, but also that He was the eternal God.
Jesus identified Himself as God, by using the title given to Moses from the burning bush - I AM that I AM.
Jesus had kept His identity hidden from many during His earthly ministry, but as He stood before Caiaphas, He boldly identified Himself with a title that could only be used by the almighty, everlasting God.
And Jesus said, 'I AM.
And you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.' Oh yes, Jesus gave him an answer he certainly did not expect to hear.
Jesus told the high priest, the Sanhedrin, and all Israel the truth about Himself as well as some important information about His Second Coming.
Earlier Jesus had wept over the blindness of His people knowing that they had missed His visitation, and that the kingdom He came to set up had been taken from this generation of Jews and would be given to a future generation of Israelites - those who would believe on Him during the Time of Jacob's Trouble, who would also witness His Second Coming.
Caiaphas and his generation, had to be set aside through unbelief, but at His illegal trial, Jesus prophesied of His return to earth, at the end of the Great Tribulation.
Jesus was condemned as a blasphemer at his unjust trial.
Jesus told Israel that they would not see Him again until they cried out for Salvation!! - Hosanna, they will cry.
Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord. Yes, when they repent of their sin and call out to God for salvation they will see JESUS, coming with the clouds of glory, and every eye will see Him... including Caiaphas and those who condemned Him to death on the Cross.
Jesus told His disciples to remember the word of life, the light of Christ, the love of God, and the blessed hope we have in Him - which He taught them during His sojourn on earth.
We are to REMEMBER that we were once strangers to the covenants of promise, but now through Christ, we are the recipients of all God's promises, which are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The wonderful story of redemption is picked up by Peter following the death, burial, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Lord Jesus.
And having laid out the everlasting story of redemption, which had just culminated in Israel's rejection of the Holy One of Israel, Peter's blistering accusation followed: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
But by God's grace, Peter was to tell the men of Israel the next chapter in God's eternal plan of salvation and many repented of their sins and found life in Christ Jesus their Saviour.
For the soul that sins shall die, but the soul that turns from their sins by trusting in Christ Jesus for the remission of sin shall live.
Praise God that we are not called to serve in the old letter of the Law, but in spirit and in truth. Praise God that the Spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death. Praise God that in Christ our trespasses have been forgiven and that He will remember our sins no more.
God is not mocked, for His truth is everlasting, His Word stands sure for ever and ever, and one day the Man, Christ Jesus, will judge the world in righteousness.
And every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It was the Lord Jesus about Whom it was said: No man ever spoke like this man, and it was the Lord Jesus who spoke in spirit and truth.
Jesus only said what He heard the Father say, and He only did as the Spirit of God instructed Him.
He is co-equal with the Father in every respect, but while on earth, the Lord Jesus subjected Himself to the will of the Father.
We can never learn how to speak as unto the Lord by a 12-step programme designed by man, train ourselves to always say the right thing, try to copy the words that other people speak, or even parrot the words of the Lord Jesus Himself.
They believed in God, but were also to believe on Jesus Who came to save His people from their sin.
The first incident happened when a fierce tempest started to rage around them, and Jesus was asleep!
By demonstrating to the disciples His almighty power over the elements, Jesus wanted to establish their hope and trust in Him, no matter what situation they might have to face.
Seeing Jesus coming ashore, the man cried out, fell down before Him, and said in a loud voice: What business do we have to do with us, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
James tells us that demons know perfectly well Who Jesus is and shudder at His presence.
This man immediately knew Who Christ was and correctly addressed Him as: Jesus, Son of the Most High God!
Not only did these demons recognise the Person and Office of Jesus, but knew His mission was to send them to their doom and pleaded: I beg You, do not torment me.
Having been returned to his right mind, the man believed on Christ immediately and begged the Lord Jesus to let him join His band of astonished disciples who had just witnessed this amazing event.
Jesus had other plans for this man.
Indeed, he was to be the first person to shed abroad the truth about Jesus in that region: Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.
And so we read: He went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
May we be ready and willing to tell others what Jesus has done for us in the place where we live.
If God has placed a seed in your heart, never doubt that He is All-sufficient to carry it through to its final delivery, for He Who started a good work in you has promised to bring it to completion, by transforming you into the likeness of the Indwelling Seed, the lovely Lord Jesus in Whom we trust.
Not only were the charges against Jesus false and the Mosaic law broken repeatedly, the hearing that took place before the high priest, and members of the Sanhedrin, was riddled with inconsistencies and illegalities.
The trial of Jesus was a travesty of justice.
Jesus had just eaten the Passover supper with His disciples, washed their feet, and predicted Peter's denial before the crowing of the cock at daybreak.
Jesus had received the treacherous kiss from Judas..
In their eagerness to condemn the Lord Jesus as a criminal and have Him executed, the high priest and members of the Jewish Sanhedrin conducted an unholy trial, and broke the Mosaic Law countless times, in order to secure their guilty verdict and pass the death sentence on this innocent Man - the very Man Who had come to save them from their sin, through His own sacrificial death.
The Law demanded the testimony from two witnesses to condemn a criminal, and so the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimonies against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. There were many false witnesses who were hurriedly assembled to spew out their verbal poison against the innocent Son of God, but their accusations conflicted with each other.
However, they managed to find two who gave the same, inaccurate testimony of what Jesus said..
Jesus however was not speaking of the actual, physical Temple, as the witnesses implied.
Similarly, Jesus did not say that HE would destroy the Temple... but that THEY would carry this heinous crime.
Despite the many false accusations, blatant lies, and inconsistent testimonies against Him, Jesus kept silent and did not open His mouth.
Jesus could have answered every false accusation magnificently and called on many to testify of His deity, including His Father in heaven, Who identified Jesus as His beloved Son.
Jesus could have cited masses of evidence from Old Testament prophecies that had already been fulfilled through Him.
Jesus could have called down fire from heaven and had legions of angels swarm into the house of the high priest and strike him and his co-conspirators dead, had He been so inclined - but Jesus held His peace and said not a word.
The power of sin was broken in the life of all who are identified with Christ by faith, because Jesus gained the victory over sin, death, and hell through the sacrifice of Himself.
We have been bought with a price: the precious blood of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
And all who trust the Lord Jesus for salvation belong to God by right of creation and by right of ownership: For were bought with a price, redeemed from the pit of hell by the blood of the Lamb.
The Lord Jesus created us and He purchased us with His own blood.
We read of Mary, of whom Isaiah proclaimed: She who has believed is blessed because what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled. So often Mary is venerated because of her role as the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we read another reason that this special lady was so blessed.
He gained permission from the Jewish authorities to seize all who were following Jesus of Nazareth and throw them into prison.
Much time had passed since that meeting with Jesus on the Damascus road, but the testimony of his conversion to Christianity was told on many occasions, and in Acts 26 this champion of the faith was to once again share his supernatural encounter with some high-ranking Gentile officials.
As he continued to relate his encounter with the risen, ascended, glorified Christ, and tell the court all that Jesus said, Paul likened himself as an obstinate mule: It is hard for you to kick against the goads, were Christ's chastening words to him.
Jesus was more interested in describing the necessary character traits, godly attitude, and spiritual temperature of those desiring to enter the kingdom of heaven.
In His teaching, Jesus gave examples of the right and the wrong way to live.
Without faith, it is impossible to please Him and one of the biggest demonstrations of a lack of faith is worry... which is why Jesus concluded by addressing the issue of fretfulness and fear, anxiety and worry.
Because of all the things He had taught them, up to this point, Jesus continued... For this reason, I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? And using the little birds of the air and the fragile flowers of the field, Jesus gently explained that if God showed so much care and concern for birds and flower, should they not trust Him to supply all they needed according to His gracious goodness and lovely character?
Jesus was speaking to those who believe in God.
Jesus was teaching Jewish people who had a covenant relationship with God.
Jesus had been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel who had a covenant with God.
It is unsaved Gentiles who eagerly seek all these things, Jesus pointed out.
This teaching from Jesus was given to His covenant people, Israel, but there is so much of His teaching that is applicable to the Church, that we need to seek out all the truths that we can glean from this important Sermon on the mountain.
The quickest way to cause fear to evaporate is to focus the eyes of our heart, steadily on the Lord Jesus, and in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to cast our care on Him and to make our requests known to God - and then the peace of God that passes understanding will fill our minds and flood our hearts and our faith will flourish.
Those who are persecuted for righteousness sake are blessed in the eye of Jesus, and this is the message of many New Testament writers.
James, the younger brother of the Lord Jesus, explains that the testing of our faith produces endurance, while Paul in this passage encourages us, by revealing that we who are afflicted, will certainly be given relief, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire. God is the righteous judge of the whole earth, and although we appear to be living in days when evil men prosper, and the righteous are treated unjustly... punishment and judgement awaits our persecutors, while peace and rest is the reward for the people of God who are abused, afflicted, troubled, and oppressed.
Jesus told us that in this world we would have trouble, and in his final epistle to Timothy, the apostle Paul reminds us that all who live godly will suffer persecution.
Those who have undergone unjust treatment and have suffered for righteousness sake, will be vindicated and avenged by the Lord Himself, for God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by the Man Whom He has ordained - the Man Christ Jesus.
All wrongs will be righted, when the appointed day for Christ's return arrives, and Jesus is revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels in flaming fire.
As Christians, who are ministers of a new and better covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are advised that all Scripture is given for our learning and is profitable for our teaching, correction, and training in righteousness.
We are to look to Jesus as we die to our self-interest and trust in Him.
How important it is to remember the God-breathed predictions of the Lord's holy prophets of the Old Testament, and how necessary to recollect the words, wisdom, and warnings of the Lord Jesus Himself, which has been recorded for our learning, our correction, and our training in righteousness by God's appointed apostles, as recorded in New Testament Scriptures.
No matter what difficulties you or I are experiencing in our lives, let us take to heart the truth these gracious words remind us that there is nothing in heaven, on earth, or under the earth that can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus - nothing that will ever cause the Lord to forget you.
Jesus was looking forward to eating the feast of Passover with His disciples.
But the anguish in Gethsemane, the mocking of the soldiers, and the Sanhedrin's illegal trial where He was falsely condemned of blasphemy, ALL had to be endured before Jesus was led away by the entire multitude to undergo a civil trial before Pilate, the Roman governor.
Only hours earlier, the disciples had been arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom, and the Gospel of John describes the beautiful example of service and servanthood, when Jesus took off His garment, tied a towel around his waist, and began to wash the disciples' feet.
Before the dawn, these evil men found Jesus guilty and marched Him to the governor's residence with three political accusations against Him.
Jesus came to give them rest from their labour, spiritual nourishment for their soul, forgiveness of sin, and life everlasting.
Jesus, the anointed Messiah of God was their rightful King.
He had been sent from the Father to set up His kingdom of righteousness, not a worldly kingdom but the kingdom of heaven, but first His people had to repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sin.
The three false accusations made against Jesus escalated further when they cried, We have no king but Caesar.... Let His blood be on us and on our children.... Crucify Him!
The final chapter of the story of redemption is written in the book of Revelation, where Jesus Christ the righteous God-Man, is fully and finally revealed.
It is through His shed blood that mankind is redeemed - for we read, I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you, these things for the Churches.
Book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, God's perfect plan of redemption and His eternal purposes for mankind continued to unfold, until Jesus came in the likeness of human flesh.
Jesus, the incarnate God, came to earth in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, to become the Propitiation for our sins.
As the eternal God, Who became the perfect, sinless Man, Jesus could claim, before David was, I existed as the eternal God - I am both the root of David and his descendent.
And as the resurrected, righteous son of David, Jesus could equally declare, and in ME is life everlasting for ALL who believe.
The Lord Jesus has many titles and many names, one of which is the Bright Morning Star.
It is through Israel that He can refer to Himself as 'the root and stem of David', but it is to the Church, which is His body, that Jesus is able to declare, I, Jesus, AM the bright morning Star. The day is fast approaching, when Jesus will come in the clouds, as that bright morning Star, to gather to Himself, those who have been born again - by grace through faith, in His sacrificial work at Calvary.
Jesus is coming as the bright morning Star, to Rapture His church-age saints into His presence, before the great and terrible day of the Lord begins.
And Jesus will return for Israel, as the Son of Righteousness with healing in His wings, when God's chosen nation acknowledges Jesus, as their own Messiah, Who died and rose again, to save His people from their sins - and they will once again cry out, during that terrible time of Jacob's Trouble, blessed is He, Who comes in the name of the Lord.
Jesus was the king of the Jews and He was now in their midst.
This act was to be a preparation for the arrival of Jesus - their promised Messiah and King of the Jews.
Jesus had come to give Israel their long-awaited promised rest.
We read that John was the greatest of all Old Testament prophets and yet Jesus would completely overshadow John - just as He eclipsed all the former prophets old.
The Gospel of John proclaims with authority that Jesus Christ is the sovereign Word of God, the eternal Word of God, the creative Word of God, and the incarnate Word of God.
Jesus Christ is the fullness of God's wisdom and power, and the exact image of His goodness, grace, and glory.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the personification of all truth.
And Christ Jesus is also the Light of the world, the true Light of all men Who shines in the darkness and gives light to all who come into the world.
Jesus came as the true Light of the world so that the world through Him might be saved.
John was the one that testified that Jesus Christ is the true Light of the world.
And today we who have trusted Christ as Saviour are called, as was John, to bear witness to the LIGHT: Jesus Christ, the true Light that lights everyone who comes into the world.
As believers, we are born of the Spirit of God with a new Christ-like nature and reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus so that we may not do the things that we please, but those things which honour God.
We meet together in His name and come to the throne of grace through the name of Jesus.
His name is the name of authority in heaven and hell, and demons, death, and Satan tremble at the awesome name of JESUS.
Jesus is the One that is the Author and Finisher of our faith, our great High Priest - our Shepherd and King.
Jesus is the name that soothes the troubles breast and Who calms our fears, and it is the name of Jesus that causes undying thanks and worthy praise to well up in the bosom of the believer.
Jesus is the One that is full of grace and truth and Who walked all His life in willing obedience to the Spirit of God, and we are called to follow His example by denying self and crying, Thy will not mine be done.
We are encouraged to have this attitude in us which was in Christ Jesus Who, although He existed eternally in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
The Lord Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a Cross.
It is for this reason also, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
But all that changed when Saul of Tarsus met Jesus of Nazareth on the road to Damascus, and became Paul - God's apostle to the Gentiles.
He told how he carried a warrant to arrest Christian men, women, and children, but was stopped in his tracks by a supernatural meeting with the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, Who had chosen him from his mother's womb to be His apostle.
He understood that Jesus had been crucified and buried.
However, he was challenged to the depths of his being, when he heard the answer to his question, I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.
As we look down the periscope of life to the birth of the Lord Jesus, we are reminded in Luke's Gospel that the love-story that blossomed between Ruth and Boaz which is recorded in the final chapters of the book, was beautifully orchestrated by the Lord in the progressive unfolding of His wonderful plan of redemption, for we read that the Lord Jesus was: The son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz....
On two consecutive days, we read that John the Baptist pointed people to Jesus with the words, Behold the Lamb of God..
John had received confirmation from above, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, for at His baptism, he heard the voice of God the Father testifying of Jesus, and saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Him in the form of a dove, and resting upon Him.
They had heard him preaching of the coming Messiah and already knew about Jesus, Who like them, had been following John from the start of his ministry.
He even testified that he was not worthy to untie the latchet of His shoe, for had been given confirmation from God that Jesus was the Christ.
It was as John was standing with the two disciples that he again pointed them to the Lamb of God and the men were so curious that they left the Baptist and started to follow Jesus at a distance.
They did not question John about the Lord Jesus, even though he had given such a stunning testimony about Him.
Instead, they immediately left him and started to follow Jesus.
The Lord knew that He was being followed, And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, 'What do you seek?' They said to Him, 'Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?'
Jesus wanted to know what they were seeking.
Are we wanting to know the most important answer in life about the Person and Work of Jesus or are we simply giving Him a cursory glance before moving on to the next interesting passer-by.
Jesus knew what was in their hearts, but He wanted these two men to consider the motive behind their action.
It seems that the two did not know exactly what they were seeking, but they realised that the answer was in the Man, Whom John had called the Lamb of God, and so they replied with a question, that would ensure that a conversation with Jesus ensued.
Andrew and John made it clear that they had already started to transfer their loyalty from John the Baptist to the Lord Jesus, by calling Him Rabbi - or Teacher.
They knew in their heart, that Jesus held the answers to all of life's questions and their simple reply demonstrated that they needed Him to answer many more issues that were on their hearts.
Like many today Andrew and John did not know what they were looking for but they found their answers in Jesus, and they responded by transferring their allegiance from John to Jesus.
Their wise decision resulted in the Lord summoning both of them to Follow Me. Jesus is willing to invite anyone and everyone who truly desires to know Him, to come and follow Him, and the more we get to know Him, the more we stand in awe of Who He is and what He has done.
This message of goodwill to all men, is particularly remembered when we celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus, and recall the beautiful story of a young virgin and her espoused husband, who were entrusted with the upbringing of God's only begotten Son - Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
Although the gospel message that these angels shared continues to be available to ALL men, only those that enjoy goodwill before the Lord, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and trusting in the name of the only begotten Son of God for the forgiveness of sins, will enjoy the peace on earth that this heavenly choir proclaimed.
Although this good news which was delivered by the angels is open to ALL who will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - nowhere in Scripture is it taught that peace on earth is for all men.
Only those that have been saved by grace, will be among the joyful congregation that witnesses the Prince of Peace, when He comes to set up His everlasting Kingdom - when peace on earth will be governed in righteousness, and Jesus is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords.
Paul sent a warm greeting, to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints, and he included his traditional Pauline salutation, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, but first, he introduced himself as, Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, who was called as an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God.
He wanted them to know the gospel concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ Who was born as a physical descendant of King David as promised through prophets of God in the Holy Scriptures.
We are holy unto the Lord and are to be instruments of righteousness - set apart for Him - and the intertwined blessings of grace and peace (charis and shalom) is the beautiful benediction that anoints the heads of all the people of God, Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The gifts of grace and peace come from our Heavenly Father and also from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
In His grace, He purposed to once again establish man's dominion over the earth, through the perfect Man, Christ Jesus the righteous Who by the sacrifice of His life, would reestablish Man's rule on God's earth.
It is often in connection with His birth that Jesus is thought of as the only begotten of the Father, but in reality it is in connection with His Resurrection that Christ is begotten of the Father.
And at His Resurrection, the Lord Jesus became the first begotten of the dead, thus becoming the federal Head of a completely new creation.
When the Lord Jesus cried, It is finished, on the Cross, the price for the sin of the world had been paid by the eternal Son.
We are urged to live a life that is becoming of one that has been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, and upon whom our Father in heaven has lavished so much grace and favour, forgiveness, mercy, and love.
When we start to look to Who Christ is and how He impacts every aspect of our life and death, we discover that there is nothing more vital and no-one more important to every member of the human race than Christ Jesus our Lord: And you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.
He is both eternal God yet fully man, undivided divinity yet absolute humanity, united forever in the precious person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God's promises to Israel are equally as unbreakable as the promises He made to the Church, which are all Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The kingdoms of Israel and Judah will be reunited into one, glorious kingdom under God's appointed King - the Lord Jesus, and Israel's spiritual deliverance will be accomplished, when they cry out for salvation (HOSANNA- SAVE US) and Christ returns as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Spirit of God will minister to their repentant hearts, cover them with His saving grace, and lead the entire nation to make earnest supplication to the Father - as they acknowledge their sins and proclaim Jesus as Lord.
Zechariah tells us, for in that day they will look on Me Whom they have pierced. They will see Jesus coming in the clouds of glory and they will see the nail prints in His hands and feet.
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
God's plan of redemption was determined before the foundations of the world were laid, and so we can state with confidence when the spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon all people, at the end of the tribulation, then Jesus Christ will rule and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords - forever - as it is written.
The wages of sin have been paid in full and we have received the free gift of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ identified with our sinfulness so that, as the federal Head of God's new creation, believers are identified with His righteousness: For you have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. But we are also identified with His death: You died with Christ. We are identified with His burial: You were buried with Christ. We are identified with His resurrection: You have been raised with Christ.
And we are to reckon ourselves alive in Christ: alive to the new nature that we received at salvation, and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How important to take to heart the truth of God's Word, and reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul's dear desire is that these believers grow strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and that they know the joy of the Lord Jesus in their heart as an abiding presence.
Paul was convinced that the work that God had started in the believers at Philippi would continue until the day of Christ Jesus, and yet his deep desire for these men and women was that their love for the Lord, and for one another, would overflow in great abundance and that they would keep on growing in knowledge and godly wisdom.
Forgiveness of sin is what fallen man yearns for and yet is incapable of receiving, unless he comes to the foot of the Cross and is washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, for there is no forgiveness of sins except through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness was also a theme that was close to the heart of our kind and gracious Lord Jesus, and much of His teaching and training surrounds the principle of forgiveness – gracious, beautiful, unconditional forgiveness.
Forgiveness should be a subject to which we should also play close attention, for forgiveness is one of the godly garments with which we have been covered and clothed, and our call to kindness, compassion, and forgiveness rests on the immeasurable forgiveness and mercy that each of us have received in Christ Jesus.
Let us be those who are quick to forgive, quick to ask for forgiveness, and in so doing glorify our dear Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Jesus told us, My Father is still working, and I am working also.
All enemies have to be put under His feet and a new heaven and a new earth needs to be made, together with a new creation of man with Christ Jesus as the Head.
Old Testament believers and the Christian Church, together with Tribulation saints and those saved in the Millennium, will all be partakers of God's Sabbath-Rest which will be established when Jesus hands over the Kingdom to God the Father, after He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
We are to be God's representatives on earth... and before He ascended into heaven, the Lord Jesus gave us a new commandment, that we love one another in the same way that Christ loved us and gave Himself for us.
Indeed, the time that the Lord Jesus lived on earth can be described as a life-walk of love - a life which from start to finish was exercised in love.
The life of Jesus is characterised, in conduct, conversation, attitude, and action by an outflow of loving grace, and compassionate mercy towards those with Whom He came in contact.
His was a life of self-sacrifice for the whole world. He demonstrated a depth of love for the Church we will never fathom - for Jesus gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.
His whole life was as a fragrant aroma to His Father in heaven.The Lord Jesus Christ was indeed the personification of the bloody ‘sin offering’ that was demanded by God to pay the price for the sin of the world.
Jesus became a willing victim and a sweet-smelling fragrance before God, and like Him, we too are exhorted to walk in love in the self-same way.
It was by God's will that Paul was chosen to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus.
Paul was grateful to God for the eternal hope the Christians at Colossae had in Christ Jesus - a hope that was laid up for them in heaven.
There seems to be no rivalry between Paul and Epaphras, because their united focus was the Lord Jesus, their singular ministry was to preach Christ crucified, and their common goal was to spread the gospel of God to the unsaved, while also bringing the body of Christ into spiritual maturity.
May we seek to develop similar priorities in our own Christian life, so that we may grow in grace, fulfil the work that God has prepared for us to do, and live our lives in a way that honours our God and Saviour - Jesus Christ.
We are to stand on the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Rock of our salvation.
As believers, we are all saved by grace through faith, but if we live our Christian life in our own strength and not in dependence upon the Lord Jesus, we will still be saved but we will suffer loss, for the wood, hay, and stubble that results from works of the flesh will be consumed in the fire that tests each of us.
We want to be clothed in a new, heavenly body; a resurrected body of flesh and bone, just as the Lord Jesus was covered in a new, resurrected body - a new spiritual body.
Death however, should hold no dread for a believer, for when we leave this earth our soul goes to be with Jesus.
When we do become partakers of His suffering, Peter exhorts us to, rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, for there is a depth of meaning in this verse that touches every member of the world-wide Mystical Body of Christ Jesus, which is the Church.
When WE are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, we suffer for HIM, as Paul discovered on the road to Damascus. The Lord is the Head of His Mystical Body but the world hates those that are His, and Christ understood this. Indeed, as the time for His crucifixion drew ever closer Jesus warned us that in this world we will all have tribulation, simply because we are His followers.
Throughout His ministry, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were at enmity with Christ, but as the time for His crucifixion drew ever closer, we see their hostility escalating, and their accusations against the Lord Jesus, becoming increasingly hostile.
They used a woman, caught in adultery, in an attempt to accuse Jesus of contradicting the Mosaic Law, but they were caught in their own trap, and were convicted of their own sinful dishonesty, when Jesus challenged them, by saying, let him who is without sin, cast the first stone.
Soon the Lord of glory would be returning to His place, at the right hand of the Father, and these unbelieving men, would miss the opportunity to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of their sins.
The singular sin of rejecting their Messiah and King, was not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, for the salvation of their soul... for whosoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is not condemned, but whosoever does not believe on the only begotten Son of God, is condemned already - for there is only one way to the Father, and that is through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son.
And the joyful truth continues to be shared, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
It is by God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, our Kinsman Redeemer, that we are born-again, have peace with God, and become a child of the Most High.
I wonder if any of those foolish men, who rejected the witness and testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and His heavenly Father, during those days of His earthly sojourn, ever placed their faith in Christ.
God Himself knows the immense benefits that we enjoy when we turn our eyes away from ourselves onto the Lord Jesus and look full into His wonderful face - which is why Paul reminds us in first Thessalonians to, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks to the Lord, for this is God's will for us.
When the inner focus of our heart, soul, and mind is on the Lord Jesus, there is no room for a self-centred attitude of mind, or the petty preening of our own individual wants.
He tells of our redemption through the blood of the Lord Jesus, our changed relationship to God, the birthright we have in Him, and the permanently indwelling Holy Spirit Who guides us unto all truth.
He tells us of the riches of God's grace towards us, the mystery of His will to those who are in Christ Jesus, what it means to be a new creation in Him, and how He has broken down the middle wall of partition, giving all who are in Christ direct access into the throne-room of God.
Although Paul had made reference to this dispensation of grace earlier in his epistle, he felt it necessary to explain in greater detail the importance and significance of the Christian administration. God's governance of the world until the Cross had been through His chosen people Israel, but following the Cross and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, God revealed that He was about to use a different form of governance.
Paul was commissioned to explain the beautiful mystery that God in His wisdom had determined before the world, but which he had received by direct revelation from God for us: Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the Body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
When Jesus Christ, the Son of God, walked the earth, He demonstrated this truth, for He lived His entire life in utter dependence upon the Father: I can do nothing of Myself, He said, I speak only that which I have seen from my Father.
Though Jesus Christ was fully God, He lived His life in His humanity.
Jesus lived as God intended man to live: in utter dependence upon God.
Although Jesus Christ was fully God, He drew all His strength from His Father in heaven, demonstrating how you and I should live our lives as God's children, drawing all our strength from our Lord Jesus Christ: For without Him we can do nothing.
Let us meditate on this vital principle: JESUS is the vine and we are the branches.
Paul earnestly exhorted his brethren in Rome to pray for him and to strive earnestly together with him in prayer: I implore you, brothers, he writes, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to agonise together with me in your prayers to God, on my behalf.
Paul was not suggesting that God will not save the wealthy man or intelligent person, for His goodness and grace embraces all, but how important that we get our priorities right and put Jesus as the central focus of our lives.
He did not enjoy his suffering at all, but he knew that the pathway of affliction was the same route that the Lord Jesus Christ had to take on our behalf, when He set his face like a flint towards Jerusalem and walked to the Cross.
Paul was simply following in the path of his Master because he knew that Jesus suffered and died for our sake, so that by faith in Him we could be redeemed from the sentence of death... a death-sentence that is over every sinful man.
He knew that as Christ’s disciples we are to follow the same path of humility and humiliation that Jesus took, but he also knew that the sufferings of this age... by comparison with our eternal future, are very small and will soon pass.
Before the Crown, comes the Cross and Jesus was ready and willing to endure the Cross and despise the shame, for the joy that was set before Him, and the Bible makes it very clear that when the people of God suffer with Christ, we will also share in His glory.
And yet this was the simple secret that Paul openly shared in many of his writings – that the evils of this life will one day be lifted like a silken shroud, which will quickly pass away like the melting mist of the dawn, which evaporates into the first golden rays of the early morning sunlight.However great and burdensome the afflictions of this life may prove to be, the magnificent rewards of the eternal glories that are ours by faith in the Lord Jesus, are by comparison very small, very insignificant, fleeting, and momentary.
It is by bearing the cross for the Lord Jesus through the threads of time that a glorious crown is woven into the master-tapestry of our future, in the eternity of eternities.
Let us keep our eyes on Jesus and watch for that blessed hope and His any day return.
Very often in his salutation at the start of his letters, we find Paul giving thanks and praise to God the Father and Jesus Christ Whom He sent.
It was this dear saint who informed Paul of the great love the Colossian Christians had for one another and for the Lord Jesus.
This 'love-in-the-Spirit' which thrilled the apostle Paul, was a deep, godly love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was describing the supernatural love of the Lord Jesus that comes from above.
The love about which he wrote brings to mind the new commandment the Lord Jesus gave to all His disciples, as He prepared to face Calvary's Cross, Love one another, as I have you. He charged them, by this shall all men know that you are My disciples.
The new commandment Jesus gave - to love as He loved us, as demonstrated in the lives of the Christians at Colossae, did not negate the original commandments given to Moses - to love the Lord our God with all our heart and to love our neighbour as ourselves, for it is only as we love the Lord our God with all our heart that we are enabled to fulfil His new commandment.
However, Jesus' commandment was a new and better commandment - a superior commandment.
God has spoken to us in these last days through the Lord Jesus Christ, and in His grace has left us a written record in the Scriptures, and whether it be Peter, Paul, John, or James, we are urged to study to show ourselves approved unto God so that we may grow and mature spiritually.
We are to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Word of truth so that we may grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
May we meditate on the Word of God, trust His Word of truth, believe on His precious promises and look to Jesus day by day in the power of the Holy Spirit of truth so that we may grow in grace to His praise and glory.
It is the gospel of Christ upon which our faith is founded, and it is Christ Jesus Himself Who is the Foundation Stone upon which His Church is being built.
Paul denounces false teachers preaching another gospel in the strongest language possible and gives multiple warnings against following 'another Jesus'.
Because we were taught the mystery of the gospel and believed in Christ Jesus as our Saviour, our position in Christ and our eternal inheritance is secured for us in heaven.
All that we have learned from the inspired Scriptures about Jesus is in accordance with the truth, for we have been given the Word of truth and we have received the indwelling Spirit of truth Who was sent to guide us into the Way of truth.
And we know the Truth is not a concept, but a Person, our precious Saviour, Jesus Christ.
As we travel through life, let us stand firm on the Word of truth, the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ Who told us: I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.
When this happens, just remember that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Israel's opposition came to a climax in Matthew 11, when the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of casting out a demon by the power of Beelzebub.
Nothing He did satisfied their bigoted hearts, and they insisted Jesus prove His Messianic claims through a heavenly sign.
However, Jesus read their hearts and identified them as an evil and adulterous generation of unbelieving Jews who had rejected God's Word and were plotting His death.
Jesus did not exactly refuse a sign, but would only give them the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Jesus was angry at the unbelief of the Jewish leaders.
Jesus warned that no sign would be given, except the sign of the prophet Jonah: For just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea creature for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
The only sign Jesus would give this brood of vipers who were wilfully blind, was that of His death, burial, and Resurrection from the dead, after being buried for three days.
The Resurrection of Jesus continues to be a sign that has caused countless unbelieving people who desire to know 'who moved the stone' to come to faith.
From the time of John, there have been teachers and religious groups that refuse to accept that Jesus is fully God or that He is fully Man.
But Jesus is both fully God and fully human.
Some like to suggest that the Lord Jesus was a lesser god; a created being, while others have taught that Jesus was not fully human, but simply the mirage of a man.
Without the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no forgiveness of sin and without trusting in His death, burial, and resurrection to save, we remain dead in our sin and without hope in the world.
But through the pen of John, the Holy Spirit gives a simple rule to identify whether or not a professing believer has the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
And so we know that every person, every preacher, every teacher, every denomination, every doctrine, every spirit that does not acknowledge the humanity of God-incarnate, in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, proclaims a false gospel and is influenced by a 'spirit' other than the Holy Spirit of God.
Jesus eternally existed as God, but at a point in time He stepped onto the earth, and took on Himself the form of a Man.
Let us hold fast to the truth and confess Christ crucified as the anointed Messiah of God and Redeemer of the world, for our Saviour Jesus Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King.
Because the Lord Jesus suffered, we are also called to suffer for His sake, for this brings glory to His name.
Our suffering becomes a testimony of the hope of salvation we have in Christ Jesus, and the peace that comes through faith in Him.
Jesus Himself warned that in this world we will have trials and tribulation - but we are not to be fearful, for He has overcome the world and we are victorious in Him.
In His great High Priestly prayer, which was delivered to the Father on the night that Christ was betrayed, the Lord Jesus prayed that Christians would be united together as one - for we are one-in-Christ.
We are accepted by the one God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the one and only Mediator between man and God.
Jesus warned us that in this world we would have tribulation and trials because we are identified with Him.
They hated Him without a cause and they will hate us too, because we are one with Him - but we are to be of good cheer because Jesus has overcome the world.
The gospel of salvation we proclaim is a wonderful message of hope to those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we journey towards our heavenly home, we are being conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
The gospel of grace is an aroma from life to life... from a new, spiritual life in Christ at salvation... to everlasting life with Christ Jesus our Lord - in the eternal ages to come - for those whom He justified He also glorified.
May God use each of us to minister to the saved and unsaved alike - so that many who are lost in sin and heading for eternal damnation may hear the good news of the glorious gospel of grace and come to faith in our one and only God and Saviour - Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let us purpose in our heart to glory in nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, for He is the one and only Person that is able to save the lost sinners by the grace of God through the message of the Cross.
How important, therefore, that we daily examine our walk, our ways, our words, our actions, our attitudes, and our motives, to be sure that we do not fall from grace but live godly in Christ Jesus, being careful not to be tempted ourselves.
This He did so that we could be pronounced righteous before the Father and stand guiltless before the demands of the Law, for there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
It is his spiritual descendants who become sons and heirs, through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
In the same way, the one who is not enslaved to keeping the Law, but justified by grace through faith in Christ, is the one who has reached the age of maturity and has received the promise - Christ Jesus our Lord Who gives us victory in this life and great reward in heaven.
The transitory nature of fallen man whose days are but as grass, is starkly contrasted with the permanence of the everlasting Word of our God, which stands forever and ever.The Word of the Lord not only refers to the God-breathed scriptures but also to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ – the incarnate Word of the Father – the eternal Son of God, for He is the only eternally abiding reality in this world - and in the world to come, life everlasting.
The Corinthian Christians had become sceptical of this teaching, causing Paul to detail the whole counsel of God in this area, together with the good news of the gospel of grace, which promises eternal life to all who believe on the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
He wanted his readers to understand that as members of Adam's fallen race we are all part of the OLD creation and condemned to die - but through faith in Christ, we become members of a NEW creation, whereby we will all be made alive, and be resurrected from the dead like Jesus.
Because we KNOW death has been conquered and eternal life with Christ Jesus our Lord is our free gift of grace, we should delight to do His will and never waiver in our faith, for our resurrection means that our work for God will not be ineffective.
Once Paul has hammered home this shocking truth about our sin and the hellish consequences that apply to Jew and Gentile alike, he then starts to give the good news of salvation, which is by grace through faith in Christ's finished work, and this good news is equally efficacious for Jew and Gentile alike: The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In His Sermon on the Mount, it was not a great multitude of people that heard Christ's important discourse, for Jesus was only teaching His disciples.
We read that when Christ saw the multitudes, He went up into a mountain and His disciples came to Him and Jesus started to teach these important truths to His followers - alone.
Jesus was teaching His followers that there are two ways to travel through their Christian life: The spiritual gateway; which leads to an abundant and victorious life as we travel through this world where the Lord is glorified in us, or the carnal gateway; where the final result will be loss of reward for a wasted, defeated life where God was dishonoured by one of His blood-bought children.
Jesus was warning believers that the path to true discipleship is difficult and requires discipline, dedication, and death to SELF: self-indulgence, self-importance, self-centeredness, self-interest, self-seeking, and self-righteousness.
There is not even the slightest, tiny crumb of condemnation at all those who are in Christ Jesus - those in UNION with Christ - those that have been placed IN Christ at rebirth - those who have been born-again - those that have been sealed by the Spirit - those that have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
The judgement that we rightly deserve has already been paid in FULL with the blood of the Lord Jesus.
The wrath of God was poured out upon the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary in payment for your sin, and for mine, and for the sin of the whole world so that those that believe would not be placed under condemnation.
THEREFORE, there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with the Jesus Who is the Anointed of God.
Condemnation is a punishment that comes from a judicial sentence, and everyone that does not believe in the Lord Jesus as Saviour is already condemned, simply because they chose not to believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God.
This is how the Lord Jesus put it: God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus goes on: God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
This is the crux of the matter: Whoever believes in Him, (whoever is in UNION with Christ - whoever has been placed IN Christ at rebirth - whoever has been born-again - whoever has been sealed by the Spirit - whoever has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour) are NOT condemned.
Condemnation before God or justification by God comes from the choice we make about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Jesus, stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's only begotten Son.
There was mounting opposition to all who followed Jesus of Nazareth and although persecution intensified, so too did the spread of the gospel and growth of the Church.
The martyrdom of Stephen was the point at which a man named Saul of Tarsus began to breathe out threats and murder against the disciples and was given permission to arrest both men and women who followed Jesus.
All this had happened many years earlier, but this encounter caused Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor of Christians, to become Paul the servant of Jesus.
He had arrived at the place when the identity of the flashing light from heaven was revealed: And I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' Paul continued, And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.'
Jesus was the Messiah of Israel about Whom the prophets spoke!
Jesus was the Son of the most high God Who had been wrongly crucified and risen from the dead!
We who have believed on the Lord Jesus for salvation, underwent a similar life-changing event when we trusted Christ as Saviour.
While individual Jews can believe on His name and trust Him for their salvation, Jesus warned His rebellions nations: You will not see Me again until You cry, 'Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.' This will only happen at the end of the Tribulation, when the entire nation calls on the name of the Lord.
Some are deceived into thinking that this is the true Messiah, but he is nothing more than the evil imposter who has been prophesied of old, for Jesus is the faithful and true Witness.
He is the Rock of our salvation - our Defence and our Deliverer, but the enemy has set traps on the left and laid snares for us on the right, as he pummels our ears with doctrinal falsities and entices us away from the highway of holiness, with tempting ‘treats’, deadly doubts and ungodly desires.Let us learn to listen to the Word of the Lord and hearken to His voice behind us - leading us, guiding us, directing us, and telling us which is the way that we should go, so that we are not tempted to turn to the right hand nor to the left – but keep our eyes on Jesus and our ears ever open to His still, small voice of love.
But this restrictive way to approach the Lord was replaced by a new and better way - a heavenly Mediator - the Man Christ Jesus.
He is our heavenly High Priest Whose shed blood demolished the barrier between a holy God and sinful man... for although Jesus is fully God, He is also the sinless Man Who became our Kinsman-Redeemer.
Today we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, for He provided a new and living way for us to pray to our Father in heaven.
It was partway through the famous, 'sermon on the mount', that Jesus gave His short but instructive teaching on the important practice of prayer, and the specific need for our own, private prayer-time.
Submissive worship of God is the essence of prayer, and the self-glorification of those hypocritical Pharisees was denounced by Jesus, Who taught that prayer to our unseen, heavenly Father, should be carried out privately.
Because of this directive, some like to teach that communal prayer, with other brothers and sisters in Christ, is unbiblical, but this teaching does not prohibit public prayer, but is specifically geared towards our own, individual, private prayer-time - where the child of God enjoys sweet communion with his heavenly Father - as we come to the throne of grace because of our identity with Christ Jesus our Lord.
and the attitude of heart that lies behind the prayers and petitions that we offer to God about which Jesus is teaching in this passage.
Salvation by grace has nothing to do with what we have done but has everything to do with what Jesus has done for us, while works that we carry out in our own strength are meritorious.
Peter had seen his own mother-in-law brought back to health and strength by the healing touch of the Lord Jesus and he no doubt tasted the water that was changed to wine and heard the many of the gracious words that fell from the lips of this simple carpenter from Nazareth.
And so we read that on a certain day, having climbed into one of the fishing boats to teach the great multitudes who were thronging along the shore to hear Him speak and in the hopes of catching a glimpse of more miracles, Jesus told the fishermen to launch out into the deep waters and let down their nets for a catch of fish.
Even though Peter would later be prompted by the Holy Spirit to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, it took many more years for him to come to the point where he discovered that Christ was all in all; and he was nothing.
Peter came to understand that despite his own cleverness and skill, the Lord Jesus alone must become the central focus of his heart and life.
Peter was to learn that old life which stands guilty and condemned before God must remain nailed to the Cross so that the life of the Lord Jesus is able to conform us into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ Himself with every passing day.
Grace and peace is not only given to the child of God, but multiplied as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Heavenly Father and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Because we trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour, all that we need for life, godliness, and spiritual growth is ours already, but it is accessed by faith.
And to moral excellence can be added a deepening knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
And finally, may our patient endurance grow into godliness, brotherly affection, Christian love, and Christ-like behaviour, knowing that the more we grow in these virtues, the more productive and useful we will become in our Christian life as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Throughout his Gospel, the apostle John presented the Lord Jesus Christ as Almighty God.
As the Word made flesh, Jesus dwelt with His creation who despised and rejected Him, and yet in love He went to the Cross to pay the full price for our sins (for only the shedding of His righteous blood would satisfy the righteous requirement of a holy God).
Some things that Jesus accomplished during His time on earth will only be really understood by mortal man when we stand in His presence and see Him face to face.
And maybe there are yet more things, deeper things pertaining to Jesus' time on earth that we will never fully know or understand.
John walked with his Saviour for three wonderful years, and wrote his Gospel so that we would believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in His name.
However, John's Gospel only touches on the fringe of the inexhaustible fullness of all that Jesus did - for words are insufficient to capture the infinite riches of His unparalled life.
Time and space are insufficient mediums to contain all the unsearchable riches of all that Jesus Christ did during His tabernacle on earth.
No wonder John was caused by the Holy Spirit to write: And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if they were written one by one, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written.
It is a summons to persevere under trial and press on from the elementary stages of faith to a deeper spiritual knowledge, and richer understanding of the high calling of God that is our present possession in Christ Jesus.
By chapter 6, Jesus has already been falsely accused of performing miracles by the power of Beelzebub, rejected by both the Jewish leaders and the people, and had started to teach His disciples through parables so that only those with ears to hear would understand.
The Lord Jesus knew how the pressures of ministry affect the human body.
Just as Jesus gave these men work to do, so He called them to step aside from their mission and ministry and rest for a while.
Although Jesus was fully God, He was also fully human and He understands our weaknesses.
Life's pressures can start to take a severe toll on our relationship with the Lord, as intimate contact with the Lord Jesus is edged out by urgent time constraints, and too soon we discover He is pushed outside the door of our helter-skelter lives.
May we keep the eyes of our heart firmly fixed on the Lord Jesus day by day.
In this passage, James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, is particularly referencing the wisdom we need when compassed about by the various difficulties we encounter in our everyday lives and the tough choices we are all required to make.
We all desire to grow in grace and in a knowledge of Jesus and we all long to cultivate an undivided heart, that is unruffled by life, as we submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and walk in spirit and in truth.Awareness of our lack in any of these areas of our Christian walk or recognising that life’s problems are swamping our fainting hearts is wisdom indeed – and a prudent step towards solving such problems is to ask the Lord for wisdom.
After salvation, throughout our entire Christian life, our soul is being made new through a process of practical sanctification... as day by day our soul-life is gradually being conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus as we grow in grace and mature in the faith.
Our justification (spiritual salvation), sanctification (soul's salvation), and glorification (bodily salvation), is 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Jesus was the first Man who tasted death - and by His death He destroyed the power of the second death over all who would believe on His name.
Jesus was the first-fruit from the dead and all who trust in Him will partake in the first resurrection, with a body of flesh and bone.
There are a number of groups that are part of the first resurrection, 1) Jesus Christ. 2) The New Testament Church. 3) The Tribulation Saints. 4) The Old Testament Saints. 5) The Millennial believers.
The very next group in line for the 'first resurrection' after Jesus are US - New Testament, Church-age saints!
We will meet Jesus in the air and be taken into heaven at the Rapture which occurs before the seven-year Tribulation.
It is wonderful to know that all who have trusted God and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ will take part in this glorious 'first resurrection' but how sombre to realise that all who have rejected God's offer of salvation will have to take part in the 'second resurrection' and will have to face the second death - the lake of fire and eternal separation from their long-suffering God and gracious Saviour.
We were warned of immoral men, homosexual behaviours, kidnappers, liars, and perjurers that would divert our attention away from the Person of Jesus Christ.
Let us set the eyes of our heart on Jesus as we run the race that is set before us.
It is achieved simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ; trusting that His efficacious blood is sufficient to satisfy the righteous requirements of God's holy Law on our behalf.
Let us recognise this precious message with which we have been entrusted, and proudly proclaim God's gift of grace to all who will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus started to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah when He started to speak to the people in parables.
The Lord Jesus painted a word picture to capture the imagination of the crowd, but His painting became a mirror which reflected their attitude towards the truth that He was presenting.
Because of Israel's unbelief, Jesus did not speak to the crowds without using a parable, but when He was alone with His own disciples, He explained everything.
Let us spend time with the Lord in His Word, increasing and deepening our understanding of Jesus: In Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
His promises to Israel stand sure and His promises to the Church are equally firm, for every promise and covenant that has been given to humanity as a whole, to the nation of Israel in particular, and to us who are His Body, the Church, is 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May we never forget the high price God paid for our free gift of salvation: the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Unsaved sinners are condemned, and their iniquity separates them from God until they believe and are brought near to God through faith in the death, burial , and Resurrection of Jesus.
May we also be mindful that it is only by ongoing faith in Him, living a life of faith and walking in spirit and truth, that we can enjoy ongoing fellowship with our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.
Christ's discourse in John Chapter 10 thrills the heart of every child of God, for Jesus identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd, Who not only knows our name but lays down His life for the sheep.
Jesus pointed out that the mighty miracles He performed were a fulfilment of God's Word through the prophetic Scriptures, which authenticated His Messianic claims.
But when Jesus concluded by saying, I and the Father are ONE, their animosity against Him erupted because that statement made Jesus equal with God.
Jesus was not simply saying God has sent Me - but He was One with God the Father and equal with Him in nature, character, will, authority, and power.
It was at this point that Jesus asked them a clever, rabbinically-styled question, Has it not been written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'? Jesus argued. If He called them 'gods', to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of ME, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
Jesus used the Scripture, which cannot be broken, to silence their argument.
God's Word cannot be set aside when it conflicts with man's flawed thinking and Jesus challenged their attitude toward Him like an educated rabbi.
Jesus pointed out that these men, whom God chose to judge His people were all sinners... and if they could be labelled 'god' by the Father, surely Jesus, Himself, Whom the Father sanctified, and set apart for this Messianic role should also be able to call Himself the Son of God, without any argument!
Far from being a human appointee who was selected to judge Israel, Jesus was the incarnate God.
Jesus was not comparing Himself with the imperfect lawgivers of the Old Testament but demonstrating that as God in the flesh - He had every right to declare the truth, and claim that He and the Father were ONE - for He is the visible image of the invisible God.
And although the Pharisees clearly understood that Jesus was claiming to be deity - He exposed their ignorance and silenced their accusations.
In quoting this verse, Jesus was clearly showing a difference between 1) the corrupt judges of Israel in the old dispensation of Law, who judged unjustly and showed partiality to the wicked - who will themselves be judged by God, and 2) the Lord Jesus, Who came from heaven to lay the groundwork for the new dispensation of Grace, and die on the Cross for the sin of the world.
The Word of God came to earth in human form as the Lord Jesus Christ - Whom the Father appointed Heir of all things, and through Whom also He made the worlds - and as the perfect Son of Man He is also the eternal Son of God.
Jesus is indeed One with the Father and as such, His Word is true and His promises are sure.
Jesus is the incarnate Word, Who came to earth from His Father's throne to show us Who God is and how deeply He loves us.
Jesus is truly the Son of God and God the Son, Who chose to die for the sin of the world, as the Son of Man - so that whosoever believes on Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
We discover that the Christian is the sweet-smelling aroma of the Lord Jesus Christ to other believers, for we are one with Him in spirit and truth, and we are to be united with one another.
In His earthly walk, the Lord Jesus gave off the most beautiful aroma to those who loved and trusted Him and they delighted to be in His presence.
Our long suffering God Who strives with fallen man has opened a door of salvation, which invites all guilty sinners to look to Christ and live - but it can only be accessed by the Door of grace - through faith in Christ's sacrificial work at Calvary - and that Door is still open today, for Jesus is the Door and Jesus is the Way - and Jesus is the good Shepherd who is still seeking that which is lost.
The opportunity to turn from sin and to turn to Christ is still available, to all who will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by faith.
He has set His Word above His holy name and nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Peter was one who witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit falling on a group of despised, inferior, Gentile 'dogs', simply because they believed in their heart that Jesus Christ died on a cross for their sins, rose again the third day, and that through His name everyone who believes in Him would receive forgiveness of sins, life everlasting, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Our salvation is nothing to do with what we DO but rests entirely upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has DONE.
Our salvation is a free gift of God's grace for all who simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, by grace through faith in Him.
Our salvation has nothing to do with our DOING but has everything to do with our BELIEVING: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, the jailer was told by Paul.
We are to have confidence on all that the Lord Jesus carried out at Calvary and depend on the saving work that His death and Resurrection provides for all who trust on Him and rest in His truth.
He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit, and generously poured out His Spirit upon us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Following forty glorious post-resurrection days, the risen Lord Jesus led His little band of disciples out from the tiny town of Bethany to the beautiful Mount of Olives, where He spoke to them for the very last time before being taken from them, into heaven.
It must have been a time of confusion and expectancy, for His words were those of a dearly loved friend, Who was bidding His precious followers farewell, for after He had said these things, Jesus was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And so, lifting up His hand, the Lord Jesus blessed the disciples that He loved so dearly, and began to be taken up into heavenly places.
Finally, their beloved Lord Jesus and heavenly Saviour was lost from view.
How that memory must have been etched forever on the mind of each one who was silently standing in that little olive grove – a place that had become a setting of such significance to our Lord Jesus.
It was as Jesus was speaking that He started to ascend.
It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority, Jesus had told them as He ascended.
After He was lost from view, two men in white told them, This Jesus, Who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.
YES, at the end of the Great Tribulation, Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives, in a cloud of glory and His feet will stand on that same soil where the disciples saw Him leave.
However glorious this precious picture of His ascension is to us – we too have a time of hopeful expectation on which to train the eyes of our hearts – for this same Jesus, Who was taken from that little company into heaven, will come to meet us in clouds, at the end of the Church Age.
before the Great Tribulation, when we will be raptured into His presence, as His Bride - but this same Jesus will ALSO return to the earth in the same manner as that little company saw Him go up into heaven - at the end of the Great Tribulation, when Israel will call on the Lord for salvation.
But let us ALSO warn lost sinners of their need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, so that they too can escape the great wrath to come.
But death is also a gracious tool that God uses to cause men to search for truth and life - which is only found by faith in Christ Jesus our God and Saviour.
We are declared righteous because of our union with Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus had said, without Me you can do nothing.
It demonstrated Paul to be a man who followed in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Himself Who lived in total dependence on His Father by presenting his life as a living sacrifice - a freewill offering - a burnt offering that is holy and acceptable unto God.
And the Word of God should be sufficient prohibition for all who are born from above and seek to live godly in Christ Jesus.
Indeed, our citizenship is in heaven: From which we also eagerly wait for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In a God-hating, Christ-rejecting, wicked world that has bowed to satanically inspired evil and the sinful practices of the world, the divine institution of Christian marriage (which mirrors the love that Christ Jesus has for His Bride, the Church), needs to be a faithful witness to the world of the wisdom of our God.
Unlike the old covenant, all the conditions to be fulfilled by the new covenant were the responsibility of God alone, implemented with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All we have to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting, and by His grace we have become ministers of the new and better covenant.
The new covenant was implemented at the Cross for all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in this Church dispensation.
The gracious words of the Lord Jesus are light and life, health and wholeness, truth and love, and they are words of great comfort for all His children.
The words of Jesus bring peace and hope, and His words keep us from stumbling.
The gracious words of the Lord Jesus are light and life, health and wholeness, truth and love, peace and comfort, and these words are spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling.
Rejection is never a pleasant experience, but in Mark 6 we read that it was Jesus Who had to face being rejected, rebuffed, and ridiculed, by the people in his hometown of Nazareth.
Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He was brought up in the little village of Nazareth, where he worked with his father, Joseph, as a carpenter.
Jesus had already become well known, with a large number of followers including His 12 disciples.
About a year into his ministry, Jesus decided to return to Nazareth.
As was the custom with visiting Rabbis, Jesus was invited to preach at the Synagogue on the Sabbath.
And although they acknowledged that Jesus spoke words of wisdom with great authority, they would not believe that He had come from God and could not accept that He was endowed with wisdom from on high.
The contempt the townsfolk had for Jesus was partly due to their refusal to accept the virgin-birth.
Instead of referring to Jesus as 'the son of Joseph', as was the custom, they disdainfully labelled Him as the illegitimate 'son of Mary'.
Jesus was their Messiah, but they did not receive Him.
It was Jesus whom Malachi called: The Sun of righteousness Who will come with healing in his wings, and Zechariah rejoiced that the Messiah had come to visit His people, and prophesied of their coming redemption and deliverance from their enemies.
Jesus knew what bigoted, close-minded people they were, and said to them: A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
And so we read: Jesus was unable to do any work of power there, but only to put his hands on one or two persons who were ill, and make them well.
Mark made it clear that Jesus performed miracles as an acknowledgment of someone's faith: Your faith has made you whole, was His response to many who asked for their healing.
It was not that Jesus was rendered impotent or powerless because the people had no faith.
But Jesus knew that performing miracles among this rebellious, unbelieving crowd, would not cause them to believe on Him, but rather intensify their guilt and harden their heart even more.
And so, Jesus was unable to do any work of power there, but only to put his hands on one or two persons who were ill, and make them well. In His mercy, He did not prevent those with faith from benefiting from His visit to Nazareth, and a remnant of believers were made whole.
We are to grow in grace, walk in spirit and truth, mature in the faith, live godly in Christ Jesus, and to live our lives in a way that honours the Lord.
Much of his time in his service to Christ had been fraught with difficulties and dangers, but he laboured on ceaselessly for the joy of seeing saints in the various churches coming to full faith in the Lord Jesus, and becoming themselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord.
Over the years, Paul's life had become intertwined with the lives of these believers to the glory of Christ Jesus their Lord, and he was in prison for sharing the gospel of God with them: Even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
May we like them, joyfully present our own bodies and lives as a living sacrifice, holy unto the Lord, and may we also rejoice with exceeding great joy in the Lord, as we look to Jesus and keep our mind stayed on Him.
Jesus died for our sins: to take the punishment that we deserve.
But Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost; Jesus came to pay the price for all the sins of humanity so that all who were dead in their sins and at enmity with God could be restored back to fellowship with God.
And praise God that we are not under law but under grace, for we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, and we have been made alive in Him.
There were many accusations against Jesus because He claimed to have the authority of God, and this wounded the pride of sinful man.
Here in John 5, the first witness testifying about Jesus was the greatest man ever born into the human race; John the Baptist, who was God's chosen forerunner to testify of Christ.
The Jewish Scriptures, from Genesis to Malachi, bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour of the world and Messiah to Israel.
There are many scoffers against Jesus in the world today, but we have a faithful witness in the full and final Scriptures.
Genesis to Revelation bears witness that Jesus is God incarnate, Saviour of the world, and Messiah to Israel.
He set them there forever and ever and gave a law, and not one transgresseth it.If such a resounding call to praise and worship God as Creator is given to angels and the heavenly host, how much more should our worshipful praise and humble thanksgiving be offered to the Lord Who not only created us, but has also redeemed us by the blood of Christ Jesus, His dearly beloved Son.
The Lord Jesus Himself was speaking of this period, when he answered His disciples' question about His return and the end of the age to set up His kingdom - which will end Satan's authority over this world and his enslavement of mankind.
Jesus also said of this terrible time - For then there will be Great Tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Paul knew there were evil workers among the body of Christ, who placed their confidence in the flesh rather than in the Lord Jesus, and because of his narcissistic, pre-salvation life, Paul recognised that the zeal of these self-righteous legalists placed them in opposition to Christ!!
During His earthly walk, Jesus reminded His followers that either we are for Him or we are against Him.
Peter once found himself to be an enemy of the Cross, when in his righteous zeal he tried to prevent Jesus from fulfilling the will of His Father at Calvary.
Peter was shocked and upset by all Jesus had said and took Him aside and began to rebuke the Lord, saying, God forbid it, Lord!
But Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan!
Paul followed the example of Jesus, by setting aside all fleshly pursuits and being prepared to suffer for His name's sake.
He counted all things to be loss, in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.
Jesus Himself is the shining example of a man that was ready to say in every instance - THY will not mine be done, and Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, demonstrated a passionate desire to know Christ and to be found in Him - for His praise and glory.
Having just read about Christ's appearance to two of His disciples as they walked along the road, and having just recorded that Jesus rebuked His disciples for their unbelief and hardness of heart by refusing to believe the eyewitness accounts of Christ's Resurrection, we read that Jesus gave the disciples His great missionary commission: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all people.
There are many that believe in the historical Jesus and His moral teachings without believing in His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection for the forgiveness of their sins and life everlasting.
God could just as easily have sent Jesus to condemn the world, for all have sinned and fall short of God's required standard, and yet we read that that God did NOT send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Christ's shed blood on the Cross was the full and final payment for the sin of everyman, but the criteria for salvation is: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
John 3:16 tells us the glorious news of the gospel of salvation: Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. But the subsequent verses give us context, meaning, and the gravity of the situation for those who chose not to trust in Jesus and accept His free gift of salvation: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God has, by grace, promised those that trust in the Lord Jesus as Saviour, the most astonishing riches of His grace and inheritance in His glory; but without the death of our Lord Jesus Christ as payment for our sins we would never have experienced these joys, and without the Resurrection of our Lord, the power of death and hell would not have been broken.
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The person and work of Christ is the central focus of all prophecy, and the book of Revelation is the full and final unveiling of Jesus Christ, and is the climax of God's purpose and plan for His creation.
They were the two men who spoke with Jesus on the mount of Olives.
The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, will empower God's two witnesses during the Great Tribulation.
And through the child of promise - Isaac, would come the Promised Seed - the Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.
How much more, therefore, should we love and respect God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who saved us from our sin on Calvary's Cross.
and the discipline, chastening, and child-training we undergo from the Lord, is designed to transform us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
God in His grace contracted to fulfil ALL the conditions of the New Covenant - and all that Israel (and the rest of humanity) had to do was to believe - believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Israel did not recognise that Jesus was the Mediator of the New and Better Covenant, about which Jeremiah had prophesied.
On that day, the Lord will ratify His covenant with His earthly people, Israel - when He will finally write His Law upon their hearts and every man will sit under his own fig tree - and Jesus will be King over all the earth.
And the Bible tells us we are justified by believing on the finished work of Christ: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus. It is by faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus alone, that man is justified: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has sent.
Let us take to heart the shocking context of this verse and recognise what Paul is teaching us here that there is none good, not even one, and that trying to keep rules and laws is not what justifies us in the eyes of God, but believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as our sin-substitute.
Being doers of the law is rooted in faith in God and Jesus Christ Whom He sent to pay the price for our sins.
What an amazing sight it must have been when Jesus fulfilled this glorious prophecy that day, as He rode through the streets of Jerusalem sitting upon a donkey: Even on a colt, the foal of an ass.
And here, we find the Lord Jesus finally fulfilling these words of Zechariah the prophet.
They filled their arms with branches of palms to strew in His way, while happily announcing, This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee. 'Save us, Son of David,' was their cry, as He steadfastly rode towards His death on the Cross, for their sake and for ours.
Jesus was indeed the Son of David, as His genealogies in both Matthew and Luke authenticate.
Jesus was indeed the Messiah of Israel Who had been sent to: Save His people from their sins.
Jesus was indeed the incarnate Son of God, appointed before the foundation of the world to become God's sacrificial Saviour and Israel's Passover Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world for the sins of all.
And Jesus was indeed carrying out the words of this Old Testament prophets to the very letter.
But now he had a godly jealousy for their sanctification and purity so that he might present each of them to the Lord Jesus as a chaste virgin, when they go to be with the Lord.
Not only for ourselves (that we grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus), but for every other member of the Church.
The Lord Jesus was to face the most challenging event in the history of the universe, for He Who had rested in the bosom of the Father and communed with Him throughout eternity, was to experience the most excruciating separation from His God and Father – an agonizing disconnection which is beyond the comprehension of frail mortal man.
He had explained they would be scattered and scurry to their homes in fear, deserting their Lord and Master whom they had come to trust as Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.
However dark your own life situation may be and whatever challenges you may be facing, take these words from Christ Jesus to heart: But take heart!
May we keep the eyes of our heart on Jesus and apply the truth of the Word, knowing that we too are the apple of His eye and have been given all we need for life and godliness.
Jesus identified John the Baptist as the greatest of all prophets in the Old Testament.
YES, Jesus had at last been sent to set up God's kingdom on earth.
During his ministry, John gathered large numbers of followers who were passionately loyal to him, but some became concerned that Jesus was attracting people away from John's ministry.
Before His baptism Jesus had been a follower of John, but after His baptism and testing in the wilderness, Jesus began His own ministry.
The Baptist had testified to priest and people alike, that Jesus was the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
John knew that Jesus was the beloved Son of God Who had come to save His people from their sins.
He was nothing more than a voice in the wilderness called to prepare the way of the Lord, and yet Jesus identified this man as the greatest of all prophets, born of women.
While John continued to proclaim his own baptism of repentance to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he knew that the baton he had been carrying had been handed to the Lord Jesus.
While he continued to baptise with water unto repentance, John had faithfully prepared the way of the Lord and taught that Jesus would baptise those who believe in Him with the Holy Spirit... while those who would not believe would receive the fiery baptism of judgement.
The face of the nation had to turn in a different direction and the Holy Spirit caused increasing numbers to go after Jesus, causing John to remind his concerned followers, by saying, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.
He knew that JESUS was the One to whom they must all turn, and he pointed them all in His direction.
In the midst of his declining ministry, and as a comfort to his distressed disciples, John gave the most beautiful explanation of his relationship to Jesus.
John was the friend of the Bridegroom but Jesus was the King of glory Who had come for His Bride.
Even when some of his disciples deserted him to follow Jesus, he did not give up, but continued to carry out the good work that God had prepared for him to do.
He did not allow discouragement to overtake him, when Jesus commanded a larger following than he, nor did he try to hold on to the few disciples who remained loyal to him.
Rather than express regret that his ministry was dwindling, John was filled with joy that the Lord Jesus was apparently succeeding in His work for the Father.
He pointed to Jesus as the Bridegroom and those who would believe in Him as His Bride.
Throughout the Old Testament, Israel had been identified as the 'Bride' of Jehovah, and John had the privilege and responsibility of bringing the Bride (repentant Israel) to her promised Bridegroom (Jesus).
When John proclaimed that Jesus was the Bridegroom, he was proclaiming that Jesus is God - the same God Who created the world - the same Jehovah, Who redeemed Israel from Egypt and made a covenant with His people.
Praise God that we who believe are part of the Bride of Christ and Jesus is coming any day to take us to be with Himself.
But Jesus is still Israel's horn of salvation, Who will save His people from their sin at the end of the Great Tribulation, when HE returns in power and great glory to set up His millennial kingdom and be crowned King of Israel and Saviour of the world.
It is only when the purifying furnace of God's corrective hand is used to break us and empty us of self, that God can start to mould us and remake us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Who was the Personification of humility and grace.
Rather, let us feed on Christ in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving and allow the beautiful spiritual fruit of humility to blossom and bud in our inner being - so that the lovely character of the Lord Jesus may start to be seen increasingly in our lives - until we come to a measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to the praise and honour of our heavenly Father.
The book of Hebrews points us to the unique person and work of the Lord Jesus and calls us to trust God in all things, for without faith it is impossible to please Him.
But what is so special is that the Lord Jesus as a Man understands our weaknesses, but as God He is both omniscient and omnipotent and He intercedes for us in the heavenly places so that our faith will not fail.
It was not his trust in Jesus that had been scorched and left in ashes but his own self-confidence.
It was faith in Christ and utter dependence on God for which the Lord Jesus prayed and which did indeed stand the test of time, as ultimately Peter's foolish trust in his own limited abilities and confidence in his own human strength, was replaced with an unshakable faith in His Lord and Saviour.
And when our faith is refined and tested by fire, it is with the desire that it may result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The sad truth about the Church in Sardis, was that despite its lively appearance, busy activity, and great reputation, it was spiritually dead, and Jesus was very verbal in His undisguised condemnation of the majority.
Jesus identified the few believers who remained true to the Word of God as worthy of His praise.
They were 'overcomers' by faith, who were not only living a victorious Christian life, but continued to enjoy fellowship with the Father and were promised that they would walk with the Lord Jesus, dressed in white garments.
Throughout the Word of God, we recognise the faithful few who remain true to the truth of Scripture, loyal to their Lord Jesus, and refuse to compromise their faith or be enticed back into worldly pursuits.
We have a promise that He will keep us blameless in the day of Christ Jesus.
God in His grace has promised that He who started a good work in each of our lives (when we trusted His Word and were born from above), is faithful to complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.
And we are reminded that as we wait for the Lord Jesus, it will be God Himself: Who will also confirm us to the end of the Church age.
He will confirm us blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us rejoice and be glad for this irrevocable confirmation is in His written Word that He will sustain us to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we have the permanency of the indwelling Spirit Who has bestowed on us many wondrous privileges that are ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Only days before His crucifixion on Calvary's Cross, the Lord Jesus triumphantly rode into the city of Jerusalem on a little donkey... proclaiming to be Israel's long-awaited Messiah, and their prophesied King and Saviour.
Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord, was the jubilant greeting Jesus heard from the people - as had been foretold in the book of Psalms.
Others were intrigued with the passing thrill of witnessing the many signs and wonders Jesus performed in their midst.
Israel as a nation, was still in unbelief after three years of Christ's earthly ministry, and Jesus knew that the nation would reject Him as their King.
The cursing of the barren fig tree which was to follow, and the cleansing of the Temple from the corrupt money changers, set the stage for Christ's crucifixion... as the scribes and Pharisees plotted how they might destroy the Lord Jesus.
Some had heeded the call of John the Baptist to repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
Every one of the four gospels tells us that, Those who went in front and those who followed Jesus were shouting, 'Hosanna!
BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.' These prophetic words of blessing, which are found in the book of Psalms, fell from the lips of a great multitude that followed Him that day... when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey - declaring Himself as Israel's King.
And yet as Luke records, Jesus wept over Jerusalem and grieved for His people, for despite their fleshly adoration of Him, they neither accepted Him as their Messiah nor acknowledged Him as God's anointed King.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to His own people to save them from their sin, but they did not recognise the day of their visitation.
And so Jesus made a sombre pronouncement to unbelieving Israel, you shall not see Me again, until that day when you will say, 'Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.' But couched in His severe warning, is the most beautiful promise to God's chosen people - they WILL see Him again.
The day when Israel as a nation will truly repent of their sin and acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah and King, is yet future.
On that day, the entire nation of Israel will repent of her national sin against the Lord, as they call on the name of the Lord for salvation and accept Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God and King of the Jews.
On that day they will cry with one voice, Hosanna - Save us - Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord - blessed is JESUS. - Son of God and Son of Man - Son of God and God the Son.
Like the Lord Jesus, Stephen had been despised, rejected, outlawed, and falsely tried by the proud Jewish leaders.
They rejected God-the-Son in the Person of Jesus throughout His earthly ministry... and their abusive murder of Stephen was a clear rejection of God the Holy Spirit.
Although it was God the Father into Whose hands the Lord Jesus commended His spirit... it was the Lord Jesus, our Advocate with the Father, into Whose hands Stephen released his spirit.
Christ prayed to the Father, and pleaded forgiveness for those who crucified Him, for they know not what they do, while it is to Jesus, his Lord, Saviour, and intermediary, to Whom Stephen interceded when he fell on his knees and prayed with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin, before he 'fell asleep'.
We notice an incredible contrast between the venomous fury of the angry, murderous Jews, who were cut to the heart when they heard Stephen proclaiming the truth and gnashed on him with their teeth... and Stephen who, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and seeing the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father, fell asleep - after having prayed for his murderer's forgiveness.
Stephen believed in God and also in Jesus Christ, Whom the Father had sent to be the propitiation for his sins.
During his shocking ordeal, Stephen discovered that the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, guarded his heart and shielded his mind as he looked to JESUS - the Author and Finisher of his faith.
May we continue to look to Jesus, trust His Word, and tell forth the glory of His name, as we look for the any-day return of Christ when He comes in the clouds to take us to be with Himself into heavenly places.
Paul pointed out that before this new administration of God's grace was revealed to him, it had been a mystery: a truth known only in the mind of God; a truth that had been hidden for ages and generations; a mystery that was now to be unveiled to all who believe on the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And although Paul had touched on areas connected with the mystery earlier in his epistle, he now takes about 12 whole verses to explain in detail its incredible significance to all, who by grace through faith have been placed in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.
This glorious Second Coming of Israel's Messiah is not to be confused with glorious Rapture of the Church for which we eagerly await today, for we are the Body of Christ and we are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God desires that all men are saved and that His born-again children mature in the faith, grow in grace, look to Jesus, and in the power the Holy Spirit, be conformed, day by day, into the image and likeness of Christ.
Only the spilt blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was sufficient to satisfy God's righteousness judgement on sin, death, and hell, and permit forgiveness to flow from His pure heart of love to all who would believe on His name.
Peter was warned of the upcoming ordeal, but Job was not forewarned of His trials - and although we know that at times the enemy will seek to sift all of us who are living godly in Christ Jesus, never forget that God not only knows all about it but has also permitted it for a reason.
He reminded them that Jesus of Nazareth, Whom many had seen and heard preaching, was a man approved of God.
He told them that through the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, they had taken the Lord Jesus and had Him crucified, by the hands of wicked men.
Peter wanted the men of Israel to understand that Jesus was the Messiah, Who came into the world to die as the sacrifice for man's sin.
Jesus was sinless, and death is the consequence of sin.
Jesus did not deserve death.
Jesus became the Firstfruit from the dead; the first MAN to rise to life-immortal.
There was another important issue that these men of Israel needed to know: God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. Death had no power over Jesus.
Not only was Jesus a perfect Man, over Whom death had no claim, He is also the eternal Son, in Whom is life eternal.
Jesus was the eternal, indestructible, immortal, immutable, deathless God, as well as the sinless Man.
This is a truth that rejoiced the heart of many who heard Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, and it has rejoiced the heart of millions more, who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and been saved by grace through faith in Him.
But never forget what it cost God to give His dearly beloved Son, to hang on the Cross as the sacrifice for sin, and never forget what it cost the Lord Jesus to go to the Cross on behalf of you and me.
Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to be cursed in our stead.
Jesus was born under the dispensation of the Law.
Because Jesus was a Jew who lived under the Law, we often find Him visiting the Temple or attending a synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath.
For example, on one particular Sabbath day, we discover Jesus returning from the synagogue to the home of Peter, only to find that Peter's mother-in-law was sick, suffering from a high fever.
Jesus rebuked the fever and healed her - and immediately the fever left her and she got up straight away and began to serve Jesus and his disciples.
A little earlier in His ministry while at the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus had laid claim to the fact that He was Israel's promised Messiah with the words, the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor.
And when in Capernaum, we read that Jesus cast out demons and unclean spirits.
And so it was that after sunset on the very Sabbath day that Jesus had healed Peter's mother-in-law of a fever, we discover many sick people with various illnesses and diverse diseases, being brought to Jesus by their loved ones.
Jesus was the incarnate God Who came to Israel as the prophesied Messiah to save His people from their sins.
His mighty signs and healing miracles demonstrated that Jesus had dominion over sickness, disease, demons, and even death.
We see Jesus, a Man of tender-mercy and great gentleness of spirit, for we read in this verse that while the sun was setting at the end of a busy day - Jesus healed them ALL.
Although He was fully God, Jesus was also human.
But this simple story provides a perfect picture of Jesus, the God-Man Who understands our infirmities and frustrations.
This story reveals someone Who is able to sympathise with our weaknesses, for while the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus and laying His hands on each one of them, and heal them all.
YES - Jesus healed them ALL.
Although He is our eternal Creator, Jesus came to live among His creation as a Man Who was tempted and tried as we are - yet He had no sin.
The Lord Jesus died so that by faith in Him, we would not suffer the eternal dictates of breaking God's Law (death) but would find grace in the eyes of the Lord - by faith.
He addresses every possible distortion of the glorious gospel of grace in his carefully constructed epistle, and lays out the simple and astonishing truth: that man is saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the God-Man, Christ Jesus our Lord.
He gives meticulous insight into justification, sanctification, propitiation, and many other important doctrinal issues, and uses Abraham as his object lesson that the righteous man shall live by faith in the written Word of God, and the object of that faith is Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Despite the many trials and tribulations that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will inevitable have to face, Paul concludes his inspired writing with these wonderful words: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is nothing visible or invisible, natural or supernatural, created or uncreated, that has the power and authority to sever the union we have as blood-bought children of God, because we are in eternal union with the Man Christ Jesus, as Paul meticulously scripted in his carefully constructed epistle.
May we take to heart all that we read in this glorious book and rejoice that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul repeatedly pleaded with the Lord to have this thorn in his flesh removed, but the reply he received from the Lord Jesus was very different from the answer he had expected.
For thirty-three years, the eternal Son of God lived a perfect life as Jesus of Nazareth, dwelling in a perfect, sinless body that had been kept untainted from the inherent sin nature that is passed from father to son; the fallen sin nature that is the portion of all who are born in the image and likeness of Adam.
Throughout Mark 13, Jesus addresses issues connected with the end times.
However, Christ's apparent 'ignorance' here, during His incarnation, is because the Lord Jesus only said what the Father told Him to say and He only did what the Father instructed Him.
This does not lessen His omniscience as the eternal God, for Jesus is the Son of the Father.
And while Luke paid more attention in answering the question of when Christ Jesus will be returning to earth, Mark's greater focus was on the signs of His return and what we should look for to tell us He is coming soon.
However, Jesus did answer His disciples' questions about His Second Coming to earth, to set up His kingdom rule: But of that day or hour, He told them, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
Earlier in Mark Chapter 10, we read of a barrage of questions that the Pharisees were asking Jesus.
In a sense, we can understand that the enemies of Jesus sought to prevent the glorious truth of Christ's redeeming work being spread to those that needed Him, but how devastatingly sad and shocking... to realise that Christ's own, chosen apostles, who knew about His Messianic mission to seek and to save that which was lost, were obstructing these little children and young people.
How sad that parents and infants with an open heart to the glorious gospel message, were being obstructed by those who knew the truth - those who knew Jesus.
When Jesus saw this, He was aggrieved and indignant and openly rebuked His disciples.
It is no surprise that Jesus strongly rebuked them and commanded them to, permit the children to come to Me.
What wise parents they were to bring their children to Jesus so that He could bless them.
The family unit was instituted by God and one of the priorities of every parent should be to bring their children to Jesus and teach them the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ.
May we not wittingly or unwittingly exclude anyone from coming to a saving faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, by any biases that we may harbour in our hearts.
Jesus did not say that Christians would do greater miracles but greater WORKS and He told us: This is the work of God is that you believe in Him Whom He has sent, and for all who have believed in Him God has prepared many works for us to carry out in His strength.
The spiritual work we are called to carry out will be accomplished in the lives of lost sinners who are dead in their trespasses and sins, estranged from God and facing eternal separation from Him so that they might hear the good news of the gospel of grace, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, become a new creation in Him, and receive forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
The Lord Jesus raised a handful of people from physical death during His time on earth to authenticate His God-ordained, Messianic claims, but when Peter preached his first sermon, 3000 souls were saved: 3000 spiritual resurrections were secured, 3000 people gained access to the Father's throne of grace, for mercy to find help in time of need.
The work that Peter did on that first day of Pentecost was a greater work than had been secured during the entire recorded ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is still able to perform the same sort of supernatural miracles today, which continue to authenticate His deity, but the work that we have all been called on to carry out today is to proclaim the good news of the gospel of grace to a lost and dying world, to the glory of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ: For THIS is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has sent.
He has taken up residence within our frame and has made us the temple of the living God as, day be day, we are being conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ, until it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me.
God is no respecter of persons and there is not one man or woman that is excluded from God's gracious gift of salvation, for everyone that believes that Jesus is the Christ and is begotten of God – born of God – born-again – born from above.
It is not simply believing that Jesus was a good man, for many false religions consider Jesus to be a great, ethical teacher or even a lesser god.
It is not even believing that Jesus was a real historical person, for many atheists acknowledge Jesus to be an influential historical figure.
The critical thing is to believe in the hypostatic union (that Jesus was fully God and at the same time He was fully man).
The critical thing is to believe that Jesus, the God-Man, was anointed of God the Father to be the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world, and that His death satisfied God's righteous justice, broke the power of sin, and paid the full price for the accumulated sin of mankind, while His Resurrection demonstrated that the power of death and hell was forever broken.
Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God – he is born again – born from above – saved by grace through faith.
Anyone can become a new creation in Christ, for whosoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah is born of God.
Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God, and the sure proof that we love the Father Who saved us is that we have a love for the whole Body of Christ - a love for all believers who have been begotten of God and saved by grace through faith.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been begotten of God, and that rebirth into the family of God has abiding and eternal results, for we are eternally secure in Him.
After his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road and his commission as God's apostle to the Gentiles, his eyes were opened and he vigorously expounded the terrible dangers of Judaism.
We are saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and Paul strove to make it clear that the human mindset of these Judaisers destroys the truth of God's Word, and legalism is an anathema to the Lord.
However, the man or woman that lives by faith as well as being saved by faith, accepts the truth that God uses all the storms and problems of life, as well as times of great joy and rejoicing, to remove all the pride and selfishness of our old sin nature, as He gently conforms us into the beautiful image of the lovely Lord Jesus.
We are positioned in Christ, and identified with Him by the Spirit of God, the moment we trust the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
We are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, for the rest of our lives.
We are to be transformed, day by day, into the image and likeness of Jesus.
Because we are saved, we have received spiritual gifts and been given precious promises in the Word of God, which have become ours in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And remember... God's Word can never be broken, for all His promises are YES and AMEN in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It was after the Jewish leadership had accused the Lord Jesus of performing miracles by the power of Satan, that Christ started to speak in parables.
We read, His disciples approached Him and said, 'Explain the parable of the weeds in the field to us.'' Jesus explained that some good wheat was sown in a field by a good farmer... but later some tares were scattered in amongst good seed, by a wicked and malignant enemy.
He was a son of perdition who gave an appearance of faith, but his unbelief was finally exposed when He betrayed the Lord Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
He is Jesus Christ the Lord, our risen, ascended, glorified, heavenly Man.
He saw the heavens open and beheld the God-Man, Jesus Christ the righteous, returning on a white horse in the clouds of heavenly glory to save His people Israel from their enemies.
At His First Coming, the Lord Jesus rode on a lowly donkey in fulfilment of Bible prophecy, as a sign of His humility.
But this time, through the witness of one of Christ's New Testament apostles, Israel was also being called upon to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Who only fifty days earlier had died on the Cross to pay the full and final price for their sins: You believe in God, was Christ's earnest plea to his unbelieving disciples, believe also in ME.
Then believe also on the Lord Jesus Christ, and turn from Your sin and be baptised in the waters of baptism for the forgiveness of sin.
The men of Israel were also to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ if their sins were to be forgiven and if they were to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, which was the promise of the new and better covenant.
Following the Cross, both Jew and Gentile can only come to the Father through the shed blood of God incarnate: the Lord Jesus Christ, Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.
Peter had earlier argued that Calvary must never happen and boasted that he would die for the Lord Jesus, but when he saw the menacing approach of the well-armed soldiers his cowardly reaction was to cut off the right ear of the high priest's servant and to then flee from this ungodly scene.
Should not we in willing obedience seek to do the same, knowing that Jesus not only died to save us, but also rose again to live His life through us?
Jesus was indeed God WITH us, but He told His disciples of an even more staggering truth: that the time was fast approaching when the Holy Spirit would be sent: God WITHIN us.
The limited reach of the Lord Jesus as a Person in His human body extended only to those that were physically alongside Him, but the unlimited reach of the Holy Spirit as a Person, is such that no matter where we go, or what we do, God the Holy Spirit dwells within.
At Pentecost that promise was fulfilled, and from that day to this, all who trust on Jesus Christ as Saviour have God, the Holy Spirit with us and all around us, above us, beneath us, before us, and after us.
We are elevated into the irrevocable position of children of God by His grace, simply because we chose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And because of our positional status in Him, we are given a further, unmerited glorious gift of grace – we are elevated into the position of co-heir with the Messiah, fellow-heir with Christ, joint-heir with Jesus; sharing God's immeasurably rich inheritance with His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who Himself is one with the Father and equal in every detail with God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who loved us so much that He died for us.
Jesus warned us that just as He was despised and rejected of men, we too would have to face difficulties and severe trials, we too would share in His sufferings, for because of our new birth we are eternally identified with our Lord in ALL things.
Jesus Himself tells us: In this world you will have tribulation. Yes, we should not expect to have a trouble free life after we have been saved.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to reconcile sinners back to a holy God.
The Man, Christ Jesus, is the one and only Mediator between God and man, and although His High Priestly office is based on the Aaronic priesthood which was instituted by Moses, Christ's status and standing is pre-eminently superior: For He is a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus made atonement for sin once and for all at the Cross.
Unlike the earthly pattern where no king could act as priest and no priest could be crowned as king, Jesus is both King of kings and our heavenly High Priest.
Jesus Himself taught: In this world, ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
The Thessalonians had also mixed up teachings about the return of the Lord for His saints at the Rapture, when Jesus will meet us in the clouds, and the Second Coming of Christ, when He returns to earth with His saints, and He stands on the Mount of Olives and sets up His millennial reign in Jerusalem.
However, we read that Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, looked steadfastly up into heaven, and rejoiced to see Jesus, standing on the right hand of the Father in heavenly places.
Stephen believed the truth and kept his eyes on Jesus.
In his life, he reflected the love of Jesus and was identified as a godly man who could be trusted.
Let us seek to live the normal Christian life so that like Stephen, the first Christian martyr, we too may be faithful to the point of death and win the promised crown of life - to the honour of God the Father and the praise of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Jesus had just made an important announcement to His disciples, I am the Vine, He declared, and My Father is the Vinedresser.
They disobeyed God and produced fruit that was rotten to the core, and so Jesus came as the true Vine - the living Vine.
Jesus then detailed the expectations He had from His followers whom He describes as branches on the Vine - living branches on the living Vine.
Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh and all who believe in Him are washed, sanctified, and cleansed by the washing of the water with the Word of God.
Jesus is indeed the true and living Vine - and His Spirit lives in us day by day, and works through us as we abide in Him, to produce the fruit of righteousness - more fruit - and much more fruit to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus did not say that we would become children of God by exhibiting righteous behaviour, for by righteous works of the flesh shall no man living be justified.
Jesus is cautioning them to be careful not to do the right thing for the wrong reason.
Paul did not found the church at Rome, but being a chosen servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, an apostle appointed by God, a preacher of the glorious gospel of grace, and a missionary to the Gentile nations who had been commissioned by God, he expressed his deep love and genuine concern for the spiritual well-being of the Christians there.
Some anonymous believer in Christ must have been responsible for teaching the people in Rome about the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins for all who believe on His name.
Paul expressed his thanks and praise to God for all these beloved Christians at Rome and for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which he informs us was being: Spoken of throughout the whole world.
And so, God's chosen apostle and bond-slave of the Lord, who was called to declare to Jew and Gentile alike the wisdom of God (which had been kept hidden glory before time began), and the glorious destiny to which we have been called, opened his epistle to these believers with grateful thanks to God through Jesus Christ for them all.
The Father's gracious promises towards His children and the surpassing greatness of His mighty power towards all who believe in Him, is the confident hope that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, which was accomplished when God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand on heaven's glorious throne.
There is no other name but the name of Jesus before which every knee will one day bow in homage.
This is Jesus our Saviour Who took our punishment of the Cross so that we all who believe on Him would not perish but have eternal life.
He took up permanent residence within the heart of all those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we are being built into the temple of God – created with living stones, as Christ's witnesses to the world.
From the start of His ministry to His cruel crucifixion on Calvary's Cross, Jesus taught His disciples to love one another, with a godly love.
He was simply reiterating the same glorious commandment that he himself had heard, from the lips of the Lord Jesus, just before His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection - so many years before.
A new commandment I give unto you, were the staggering words of Jesus to His disciples that day.
However, that beautiful, old command that the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples only hours before His death, to love as HE loved you, is as fresh and new today as it was when first spoken to His disciples in the upper room - or written by John, many years later, in his first epistle.
The supernatural love which was demonstrated in Christ's life towards His beloved disciples, can equally be manifested in our lives, for Jesus is the Light of the world, Who was sent by the Father to dispel the shadows of darkness.
We are to love as Christ loved us and be used by Him to dispel the darkness by proclaiming the truth - because JESUS, the True Light has come into the world and is already shining forth the truth.
Every phrase and every word in this beautiful High Priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus as He faces the shadow of Calvary's Cross, are thoughts upon which we should take time to reflect.
As the shadow of the Cross loomed on the horizon, the Lord Jesus prayed, that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You.
Generations of yet unborn men and women who would trust in Christ for the redemption of their sins, are those for whom the Lord Jesus prayed.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners - and as members of His mystic Body we are the instruments that God, in His grace, uses during this Church dispensation to reach the lost.
God has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
Paul knew that like every other believer, his sanctification was a lifelong process which would only be completed when he finally stood in the presence of Christ Jesus, his risen, ascended, glorified Lord.
Ever since his saving encounter with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul started to press toward the high call of God in Christ.
Paul knew the answer to that cry of despair was Jesus Christ alone, but even after some 30 years of dedicated service, Paul assured these believers that there are no super-Christians in God's economy and told them reassuringly: Not that I have already obtained or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
The Word of God is the most valuable piece of equipment in our possession for it tells us how to live godly in Christ Jesus and how to deal with the difficulties and dangers that strew our path.
How wise to willingly submit to the godly discipline and necessary chastening that every child of God receives from our Father in heaven so that we may be conformed into the image and likeness of our Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus refers to this as: The abomination that causes desolation, and for three and a half years this man will rule the world with tyranny and destruction.
How precious that we can say: I know the 'unknowable' name of YHWH. His name is JESUS.
For a day is coming when they too, will acknowledge Christ Jesus as their Messiah and cry out: Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
Just as His promises to Israel will all be fulfilled one day, so His precious promises to the Church are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus, our Lord, Who loved the Church so much that He gave Himself up for love of her, and He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.
But just as God is faithful to His people Israel, we too have an assurance that we, who have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, will never be abandoned nor condemned, for there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus proclaimed a new commandment to His disciples.
The love we have for one another should mirror the love that the Lord Jesus demonstrated towards us - in that while we were yet sinners, at enmity with God and without hope in the world, Christ set aside His heavenly glory to be clothed in mortal flesh - and died, to save us from sin, Satan, slavery, death, and hell.
John, who is so often referred to as 'the apostle of love', wrote at the sunset of his life, Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. (through the ministry of Jesus Christ our Lord.)
He was simply emphasising a teaching that had been his life mission, since he watched in awe and wonder, as Jesus was taken up into heaven, with the instruction to, go into all the world, and to preach the glad tidings of the gospel of Christ, to all the people.
Jesus is that Word.
Christ Jesus is the Word made flesh.
The depth of His gracious love excludes no-one who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ – for the love of God stoops to the pit of death to encompass all who trust in His only begotten Son.
It is found in Christ Jesus our heavenly Lord and King - for God, being rich in mercy and love, has raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
This anointing happens the moment we trust Christ for our salvation - for we were bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and the cost of our redemption was paid in full - at Calvary.
Having received the anointing of God, the indwelling Spirit, and the abiding life of Christ Jesus our Lord, every believer has an assurance that those who walk in spirit and truth will be guided into all truth.
Indeed, we who have trusted Christ and who have been saved by grace through faith in Him, have much about which to rejoice, despite the sobering truth that in this world all who live godly in Christ Jesus will face various trials and tribulations and may even have to face persecution and death.
We need to recognise that God's chastening is not His wrath or some angry punishment or penalty, but rather God graciously deals with us as a loving Father Who seeks to mould us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for our benefit and for His glory.
And this surpassing greatness of His power is directed towards one group of blessed people, a peculiar people who were once dead in trespasses and sins, a little flock who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
How important that our hearts are flooded with the light of His grace and glory so that we have a real understanding of the confident hope that is ours in Christ, knowing that we are the rich and glorious inheritance of Christ Jesus our Lord.
All believers are children (teknon) of God, for all have been born from above into the family of God and one day all believers will be conformed into the likeness and image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we grow and mature in the Spirit, we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
In the knowledge of what God has done for us through the life, death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, shouldn't we be joyful with exceeding great joy?
We who once were dead in trespasses and sins have been justified and are being transformed into the very image and likeness of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
But a day is coming when these divided kingdoms will be reunited, and God's New Covenant with His chosen nation - a blood covenant that was cut at Calvary, will be confirmed and ratified, when Jesus returns as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Lord promised to bring them back together as ONE nation under the authority of God's anointed King, Whom we know to be - Jesus.
The New Covenant that God made with His people was an unconditional covenant, which God purposed to make through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father.
The Old, conditional Covenant, required Israel to keep God's Law, but the New unconditional Covenant required nothing from Israel, except faith in God and Jesus Christ, Whom He sent.
Indeed, we have become ministers of God's New Covenant, and we are recipients of multiplied blessings that God has promised to all who believe on the name of Jesus..
God's New Covenant, which He promised to the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah, have brought great blessings on the Gentile nations, for it is the Lord, Who has reconciled US to Himself, by the blood of Jesus Christ.
They will look on Him Whom they pierced, recognise Jesus as their Messiah-King - and together will cry out in praise and thanksgiving, blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
Paul expressed it this way in Romans, although we are many, we are one Body in Christ Jesus, and individually we are members of one another.
Just as the human body was designed by God to function as one unified whole - so the Body of Jesus Christ has been designed to be a unified whole.
The Christian Church is composed of all individuals who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
YES, the Lord Jesus is the Head over the Body, and His supreme command is that love should prevail in the hearts of all His children.
Praise God that we are all ONE in Christ Jesus our Lord and that by grace through faith, we are now Christ's Body - and individually members of it.
But these words were spoken to men who had already believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were being chosen and appointed to produce good and lasting fruit, to the praise of God the Father.
The Lord Jesus was only hours away from His crucifixion when He spoke these words to His eleven disciples.
The Lord Jesus was not choosing these men from the sea of unsaved humanity to salvation and eternal life.
Like Judas, the eleven had also been called to follow Jesus many years earlier, but they had heard the same gospel and had mixed faith with the truth.
Grace and peace to you from God and from the Lord Jesus Christ, is a well-loved and oft-used greeting that the apostles used throughout their letters.
Grace and peace to you from God and from the Lord Jesus Christ, is commonly associated with Paul and other New Testament writers, and within this simple expression is a wealth of truth and a peep into the very nature of God and His immutable and eternal attributes.
It was by grace that God's boiling anger and righteous judgement against man's wickedness and sin was poured out in full measure on an appointed sin-Substitute, our perfect Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That sacrificial offering upon Whom God's wrath was poured, was the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son Who received the punishment for sin that we justly deserve.
But it is the all-encompassing grace of God that is so treasured by believers, for having made peace with God we are enabled to receive the peace of God in our hearts and the ability to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Saviour, Jesus Christ: For the grace of God has appeared, instructing us, guiding us, teaching us, and conforming us, day by day, into the likeness of Christ.
And it is only by His grace that the believer can access His grace, continue in grace, and grow in grace so that we may have the peace of God which passes all understanding guarding our hearts and minds, as we live in Christ Jesus our Lord and His grace and peace is reflected in us.
Sometimes the passing enticements of this world seek to blind our eyes to the riches of the glorious inheritance that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It was Paul who rejoiced in the confident hope that we have in Christ Jesus and he longed that others too would come to a real understanding of the incomparable riches of His grace, which is expressed in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
The apostle John points to the deity of the lovely Lord Jesus so that many will believe and trust Him as Saviour, and be given eternal life through Him, by grace.
The woman at the well was one that testified of Jesus and pointed to Him, for when Christ is lifted up, He will draw all men unto Himself.
The woman pointed to Jesus and testified about Him, but it was not about her and her declaration (wonderful though that was), it was about HIM.
What Jesus did for the woman was wonderful and unique to her.
But people are not saved by beautiful testimonies, but by coming to Jesus and trusting Him as Saviour.
Jesus was the one that convicted the men of Samaria and taught them of their lack and their need of a Saviour, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Let us be like the men of Samaria who came to Jesus Himself and say: It is no longer because of what other people have said that we believe, but because we have come to Jesus and seen Him and heard Him for ourselves, and we know that He really is the Saviour of the world.
And just as the barren womb of Sarah brought forth Isaac, so the elderly Elisabeth conceived the child that was to fulfil many such prophecies. Her baby was appointed to announce the arrival of Israel's long awaited Messiah, Jesus Christ the righteous Who would usher in His reign of righteousness and the promised kingdom of God.
I wonder if we have the same intense love for our Lord Jesus and as deep a desire to maintain sweet fellowship with Him as we see in the life of Moses.
And in this final epistle of encouragement and warning, he trumpeted a call to faithfulness in ministry, courage in the challenges of life, and patient endurance when facing the inevitable hardships that pursue all who live godly in Christ Jesus.
However, Paul always brought his focus back to the foundational truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the need to, continue in the things you have learned, and to become firmly convinced of them in your heart, knowing from whom you have learned them.
Timothy had travelled with Paul on several of his missionary journeys, and although he had been taught the Holy Scriptures from his childhood, due to the faithful instruction he received from his mother and grandmother, it was Paul who introduced this young man to the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of grace.
No doubt he saw Timothy grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus during their ministry together, but as the time for his parting drew ever closer, Paul was prompted to write to his young co-labourer, exhorting him to continue in the things that he had learned from him..
And since Christ is the one bread upon Whom we feed, we have all received the same benefit from our singular source of our strength - the Lord Jesus Christ - our living Bread.
Just before ascending to the Father in heaven, the Lord Jesus commissioned His followers to go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded them, and then He made the most astonishing claim: And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
The Lord Jesus promised to be with His disciples for ever and for always.
Jesus promises to be with us to the end of the world.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd Who has said He would never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what situation we find ourselves in, no matter what difficult life-circumstances we face.
A time is coming when they will recognise their Messiah and trust in the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ Jesus their Saviour and our Saviour, for He is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
The gospel of grace is being preached by 'The One New Man In Christ' which is made up of believing Jews and believing Gentiles who trust in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And although some accepted Jesus as Messiah in principle, many refused to surrender their position as God's witnesses on earth to the Church, unless they adhered to Jewish rites and rituals as well as believing in Jesus.
This caused Jesus to become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to them, instead of the Rock on which their salvation is built.
Jesus was Israel's CORNERSTONE.
Paul explained that the Church is being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone, and Peter confirms this truth, by expanding Isaiah's prophecy: Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly Cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
To those who trust in Him, Jesus becomes their Saviour.
Rather, we are under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which... by faith in Him, has set us free from the law of sin and of death.
But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth as a man and died to pay the enormous price for our sin - for God, in His grace, sent His own dear Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as the only acceptable offering for our sin.
They felt the need to DO something to make amends for their sin, instead of believing that JESUS paid the price for their sin in full.
Some seek to turn the wonderful freedom we have in the Lord Jesus, into an opportunity to indulge in sin.
Some allow the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life to dominate our mind - catapulting us into an ungodly, carnal lifestyle that is detrimental to our spiritual growth, disastrous to our Christian witness, and dishonouring to the lovely Lord Jesus Who bought us with His own blood.
After 4000 years, God finally spoke to us through His Son, Jesus.
Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin and break the power of sin in our lives so that we could live with Him in the eternal ages to come... and he is there for us, no matter what temptations we may be called upon to face, and no matter how difficult life's circumstances may become.
We identify with His life, His death, His resurrection, and His righteousness. Those who trust in Jesus as Saviour are made a new creation in Him and receive a new life in Christ - His death becomes our death, His resurrection becomes our resurrection, and we are clothed in His perfect righteousness.
The Lord Jesus left His home in heaven and was born into the human race for our sake.
Although He was the eternal God, Jesus lived His life as a perfect man to show us how all God's blood-bought children should live.
Since Jesus Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is also able to come to our aid, and help those who suffer when they are tempted.
Let us never forget that Jesus is capable of being moved to give relief those who undergo the trials and tribulation which we all have to meet in this world.
And what a beautiful description Micah gives of the Lord Jesus, Who would arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord and in the majesty of God's powerful name.
As both the root and stem of king David, the Lord Jesus alone is qualified to fulfil this eternal role as heavenly Shepherd of Israel, for we discover that a future adversary of the nation will rise up in the end times, but he will be fully and finally defeated by Israel's Shepherd King and as promised to Abraham, David and His seed forever.
We who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation have already been transferred from the old creation in Adam into the new creation in Christ, and have a blessed hope and the promise of a heavenly home.
Every sin removes the believer from fellowship with God, but telling Him our transgressions through our only Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ (which is the right and privilege of all believers in Christ Jesus), returns us immediately into sweet fellowship with the Father.
Peter calls us: Living stones, built up into a spiritual temple, and in Christ we have become a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ.
We have been instructed that in everything, by prayer and supplication, to make our requests known to God, and we are to do it with thanksgiving and praise, so that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Over and again we are exhorted to pray without ceasing and to give thanks to our heavenly Father in everything... for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.
He desires to warn us against following another 'gospel' and believing in a different 'Jesus'.
Isaac was the supernaturally born 'child of promise' who was the son of Abraham and his freeborn wife, Sarah... in fulfilment of God's covenant promise with Abraham and his Seed (the Lord Jesus Christ).
Those that are children of the flesh and enslaved by the Law, are not children of promise. The bondwoman and her son were cast out, which foreshadowed the replacement of the Old Covenant with the New Covenant - where the law of sin and death is replaced with the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
In one respect, Jesus came to the whole human race for He is the Saviour of the whole world.
But in reality, Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus was God incarnate, Who had come to tabernacle among His people as promised in Israel's Old Testament Scriptures, but was rejected.
But by rejecting Jesus, they rejected the Father Who sent Him; by rejecting Jesus, they fulfilled the word of the prophet Isaiah, who wrote: Who has believed our message?
And yet, by rejecting Jesus they opened salvations' floodgates, for as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become Sons of God.
John's Gospel was written so that we might believe that: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in His name.
Jesus Christ is God incarnate, but He was also the sinless Man, born to die.
Others struggle with the concept of there being One God in three Persons, and still more reject the pre-existence and eternality of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
And for love of you and me, Christ Jesus became sin so that all who believe on Him would not perish but be clothed in His righteousness and made joint-heirs with Himself so that in the ages to come we might show forth the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
It tells us that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus (to those that are born again), because they are positioned in Christ, imputed with His righteousness, baptised into the Body of Christ (which is the Church) and accepted in the Beloved.
Praise God that He is no respecter of persons and all He requires of you and me is to trust His Word and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The deep desire of Paul's inner being was to be his utmost for the glory of Christ Jesus so that others would come to know Him as their Lord and Saviour, as Paul irrevocably surrendered his all to his Lord.
Paul's highest resolve was that in all things he surrendered his will to his Lord and that he both lived and died absolutely, entirely, and in every way, for Christ Jesus.
James was a half-brother of the Lord Jesus and could have boasted of their close family relationship or identified himself as a great leader of the Christian church.
He was chairman of the Jerusalem council which started to lay the foundational doctrines of Christianity, but James did not boast of his parentage, position, or pedigree, but identified himself as a bondservant of God - a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was probably following Christ's post-Resurrection, personal appearance to James, that his cynical attitude towards Jesus radically changed, and he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved.
James realised it was not his earthly connection with Jesus that mattered.
It was not his bloodline or ties to the Lord in His humanity that was of consequence to God, and so his opening sentence is: James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
The word 'AND' in the opening sentence, is more correctly translated 'EVEN' in this verse and should read: James, a bond-servant of God EVEN of the Lord Jesus Christ. It demonstrates that 'God' in this sentence is referring to the Lord Jesus in His deity.
There are many recorded instances of James and Christ's other siblings, mocking the Lord Jesus and even labelling Him as a crazy in His humanity, saying, He has lost His senses. But as Jesus pointed out, the one who is forgiven much is the one who becomes the most devoted.
The second-born twin was to be the one through whom God's promised Seed - the Lord Jesus Christ, was to be born, for the LORD said to her, the older shall serve the younger.
Paul wrote a very important letter, not only emphasising his God-ordained, apostolic authority but also reiterating the vital truth of the gospel of grace and the doctrine of justification, which he had received directly from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Abraham had a physical seed through Isaac, Jacob, and his sons, as well as a spiritual seed through the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he also took pain to explain in detail the glorious gospel of God which is available to all by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
None of us merit being clothed in Christ's own righteousness, and not one of us deserves the heavenly position, precious promises, spiritual privileges and eternal life that is ours through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May we repent of any pride or neglect that has caused us to doubt the power, ability, wisdom, knowledge, or truth of Christ Jesus our Lord, in Whom dwells all the treasures of God's wisdom, knowledge, strength, and grace.
They were given signs at the birth of their nation through Moses and Joshua and when they were about to be cut off as an unfruitful and unrepentant nation, more signs were give through Elijah, Elisha, and finally through the Lord Jesus.
The syncretism and traditions of men do not have Christ as the focal point, and Paul was warning the Colossian believers not to adopt these basic, world philosophies of men or their legalistic laws, because they cloud the true concept of Christ, distort the biblical truth of the Lord Jesus in the mind of the believer, and they rob the Christian of a proper understanding of the wonderful sufficiency and amazing adequacy of Christ in the life of ALL believers.
ALL the essence of the Deity inhabits the Lord Jesus in bodily form, the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily within CHRIST.
But we can know this for sure; Jesus, in bodily form completely expresses the divine nature.
ALL the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form in the Lord Jesus, and IN HIM YOU HAVE BEEN MADE COMPLETE.
BUT the truth is laid out in the Scriptures and when you accept the truth from the Word of God - that ALL the essential essence of Deity inhabits the Lord Jesus in His bodily form, and that you have been made complete in Christ as fact, then you have the most wonderful security in God, which allows you to rest in the Lord Jesus.
For you know that in Christ ALL the total fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, YOU HAVE BEEN MADE COMPLETE.
The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God,' and yet they give honour to everything and anything, as long as it is not God the Father and Jesus Christ Whom He sent to be our Kinsman-Redeemer.
In his various epistles, Paul unveiled the amazing privileges that God in His grace has determined for all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not a historical belief that Jesus lived 2000 years ago that saves a man.
The thing that saves the sinner and forgives his sin, is believing that Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, died for our sin, was buried, and rose again, according to the Scriptures. He went to the Cross in obedience to the Father, for His heart-cry was always: THY will be done He went to the Cross to redeem all who would believe, Jews and Gentiles alike.
Through Him has been revealed mysteries that were hidden down through the ages, until Christ Jesus was sent to reveal the Father to us, and to show us the way.
And when our life is submitted to Him in humble dependence and childlike trust, the Holy Spirit will instruct us, correct us, lead us, and guide us into all truth, just as the Holy Spirit of God led and guided the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly life.
Saving faith is by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone - and so is our ongoing, sanctifying faith.
Discouragement and unholy anger, doctrinal error and spiritual confusion, together with false teachings, moral failure, and self-recrimination, will flood our hearts if we step outside the protection of an unwavering faith in God - and Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent.
He will use fractured relationships, money concerns, health issues, the state of the nation, and anything else that may cause us to take our eyes off Jesus, and focus on the problem at hand.
knowing that ALL His promises are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus our Lord.
by keeping their eyes of faith on Jesus and by resisting every attack of the enemy, through standing firm on the Word of faith.
May we stand fast in this evil day and take up the Shield-of-Faith moment by moment, knowing that with it, we are able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and stand victorious - by the power of His Spirit, which is given by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
He also uses the lowly shepherd as a beautiful picture of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, the good and faithful Shepherd of the sheep Who sacrifices His life for the sake of the sheep.
And every eye will see Him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Praise God for JESUS - Israel's good and faithful Shepherd-King.
Praise God for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus identified with our sin so that we might be identified with His righteousness; He died to pay the penalty for our sin.
It was His birth into the human race and His sinless life which qualified Jesus to become the perfect sacrifice for humanity's sin.
Jesus died as the perfect representative of the old fallen creation in Adam paying the price for our sin, but He rose again as the first Person of a new creation of mankind.
Jesus Christ is the federal Head of God new creation of humanity.
In order for the ruling principle of sin, which enslaves every member of the human race to lose its power in our lives, we died in Him when Jesus died unto sin on the Cross.
Jesus died FOR sin as payment and He died UNTO sin to break its power.
He was wounded for OUR transgressions, and the wrath of God was poured out upon Him in fullest measure instead of upon US, simply because we believe on our Lord Jesus Christ.
Whether or not this was a satanic attack on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ or simply one of the many violent storms for which the Sea of Galilee is noted, this was a tremendous and dangerous tempest.
But the Lord Jesus was abiding in the Father and resting in His love, despite the ordeal that the little crew were facing, because the peace of God was secured in the heart of Christ.
When we do this, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and we are to abide in Him and He in us.
We are to establish, strengthen, and build-up our faith in our Lord Jesus, through Whom we have received forgiveness of sins and life more abundantly.
We are to establish God's Word of truth in our heart and to reckon it to be true so that we may live our lives in submission to the Holy Spirit of God, by faith in our Savour, Jesus Christ, with thanksgiving in our hearts.
John's Gospel was written in order that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living, invisible, immortal God and that by believing in Him we may have life in His name.
And The salvation of mankind would be accessed through faith in the supernational birth, the sinless life, the sacrificial death, and the glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ - so that by faith in His name we might have life eternal.
Throughout the Gospel, we discover many places where Jesus claims equality with the Father... for He is the Word made flesh.
Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath Who has the power to forgive sins.
There are many, however, who like to suggest that Jesus did not lay claims to deity, because He proclaimed, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do NOTHING of Himself unless it is something He sees the Father doing.
Jesus showed us HOW to live... in willing submission to the Father, delighting to carry out His perfect will, and maintaining intimate and uninterrupted communion with Him.
Jesus showed us how to have a fellowship that cannot be broken.
Jesus demonstrated a life lived in full and total harmony with the will of the Almighty God... for the Son can do nothing of Himself unless it is something He sees the Father doing.
Jesus came to earth to fulfil, to the letter, the Father's perfect will.
Paul was a logical thinker and had plain common sense, and yet as He grew in grace, Paul determined to know nothing other that Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
In five short words, Paul gave the foundational truths contained in glorious gospel of God, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Jesus Christ: refers to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ; the incarnate Son of God Who was given by the Father to be the substitute for the sin of the whole world.
Jesus: the child Who was conceived of a virgin through the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, and Who would grow up to become the Kinsman-Redeemer of humankind.
Yes, Paul determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And Him Crucified: refers to the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary.
Part of that work was the expiation of our sins, where sin and guilt was removed from our account forever because Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, sent by the Father to take away the sin of the world.
Yes, Jesus Christ was the propitiation for our sins, turning the wrath of God, which we all justly deserve, away from us and upon Himself so that by faith in Him we might be made the righteousness of God.
Although we were born into this world as enemies of God, the death of Jesus Christ reconciled us back to God.
Yes, Jesus identified with our death so that we might be identified with His life.
Our many sins together with our sin nature had made us slaves of sin, but Christ Jesus redeemed us in some amazing ways: 1.
We have received all that we need to walk worthy of the Lord, and so we are earnestly exhorted to walk in Him, for just as we received Christ Jesus as Lord, we are to continue to live our lives in Him.
Should not we who have received all from Christ Jesus, so walk in Him?
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
It is the love of God that caused the Lord Jesus to willingly stretch out His innocent hands and have them driven through with cruel nails.
And it is the love of God that has bestowed on all that believe on Christ Jesus as our sin-bearing Redeemer - to be called God's children.
This is a wonderful love, a perfect love, a unique love, a divine love, a love that bewilders our meagre understanding, but a love that is the eternal inheritance of all that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But this is what we are, and this is what we remain, and none can ever pluck us out of this secure love of the Godhead, for we are accepted by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Beloved Son of His love.
But Jesus came unto His own people as their King and He came to pay the ransom-price for the sin of the whole world, but neither Israel nor the Gentile nations recognised Him, for the world has been blinded to truth by the evil prince of this world system - and so they cried, we will not have this man rule over us.
And because the Lord Jesus was not recognised by the world, neither are we.
Because the Lord Jesus was despised and rejected of men, so are we.
But also, because the Lord Jesus is the beloved Son of God and rests in the bosom of the Father, so do we.
Jesus came to His people to present Himself as Israel's Messiah-King.
The Lord Jesus proclaimed His kingdom agenda to the people through His various sermons and teachings, and in Matthew chapter 10, He prepared His 12 disciples to undertake a mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
They were to travel throughout the cities of Judah and witness fearlessly of Jesus, the Messiah - but only to the people of Israel.
They were instructed on how to respond when harassed by unresponsive people and were warned they would be hated by all because of Jesus, even handed over to the authorities to be tried and scourged.
Truly, the Lord Jesus gave His apostles, the nation of Israel, and the Church, the greatest reason to trust in our heavenly Lord when we are persecuted for His name's sake or face opposition, abuse, harassment, and hatred.
But this can never be, for salvation comes through faith in Christ Jesus, the one and only sacrifice for sin, the one and only Mediator between God and man.
When the Law is used lawfully it points people to Christ; BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ AND do this and you are saved.
is asked, and the word AND becomes part of the answer: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and do this..... BEWARE!
The Lord Jesus told His disciples some important truths concerning the trials and difficulties that are inevitable in a fallen world, where men are lovers of themselves and sin has taken root in the heart of humanity.
Jesus explained that under this world system, which is subject to the rule of Satan, those that trust in Him would inevitably go through tribulation.
Following his customary greeting of, grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul started to express his deep gratitude for the growing faith and abounding love of these precious believers, towards one another - and also towards Paul himself, and his fellow-labourers in the Lord - (Silvanus and Timothy).
However, by God's amazing grace, we have the opportunity to identify with the actions, consequences, and outcome of another Man - a PERFECT MAN, a GOOD Man, the Man Christ Jesus!!
Jesus came to present Himself as the ONE perfect Sacrifice on behalf of all men.
All we have to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of our soul.
Jesus Christ came as our sinless Kinsman-Redeemer to die ONCE for ALL upon the Cross.
By faith in Jesus, we have been made a new creation.
All that is needed is faith in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of our sin - to Whom be all praise and glory, not only in this life but in the ages to come.
We are encouraged to look to the Lord Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and to consider Him and the hostility that He endured from the hands of sinful man.
We are to consider Jesus, and all He is, and all He has done for us, in order that we will not grow weary or lose heart, but continue to trust Him in all things and at all times.
Though the Lord Jesus was fully God, He lived His life from beginning to end as God intended man to live: by faith in God.
Jesus lived His life in the way that God expects us all to live: in full dependence upon Himself.
Jesus set aside His own glory during His time on earth and lived his life by faith in God for the joy that was set before Him - and we are to consider HIM.
We are called to consider Jesus Who endured the Cross for us and was made sin for our sake.
We are to consider Jesus Who endured grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself, and draw strength and encouragement from His example so that like Him, we will not grow weary but seek to follow His example of a life lived in utter dependence upon God.
Jesus has promised to be with us no matter what circumstances we face in life, and we should take comfort in the fact that the plans and purposes of God will one day be accomplished, no matter what the anti-God agenda of our day dictates to the contrary.
This is the beautiful passage that announced to Mary the conception and birth of the lovely Lord Jesus Who is the Messiah of Israel, Saviour of the world, Kinsman-Redeemer of humanity, and Son of the sovereign God Who is the highest authority in the universe.
And this truth is equally true for you as it is for me - nothing is impossible with respect to any of God's promises, and the lovely Lord Jesus is the fulfilment of all that God’s has promised, for all things are in Him and of Him and by Him and for Him.
Let us give praise to His name for sending Jesus to be our Kinsman-Redeemer and to die on the Cross for our sake, and may we never cease to give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
The people in this fellowship gave the appearance of being alive, vibrant, and effective to those in the world, and yet the Lord Jesus denounced them as dead, and complained that He had not found their deeds to be complete, in the sight of God, for they had defiled their garments, and walked in an unworthy manner.
They were not abiding in Christ and walking in spirit and truth, and they were accused by Jesus of being spiritually dead in their Christian life.
Not only does the testing of our faith work patience, which is an important attribute in the maturing Christian who is growing in grace and being conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus, but it ALSO brings glory to God and will one day be used to teach the angelic host about the never-changing character of our faithful Lord.
Every blood-bought child of God should have a holy fear of our heavenly Father, for although we are privileged to call Him Abba, Father, and are given access to His throne of grace through the merit of Jesus Christ our Lord, we should never forget He is the One Who judges the day-to-day thoughts of our heart and the imaginations of our mind.
Oh, He has committed the future judgement of condemned sinners into the hands of the Lord Jesus, but it is our heavenly Father Who with impartiality judges the thoughts and deeds of all who are His children during our life-time on earth.
Praise God that we have a Mediator between God and us Who is continuously interceding for us in the heavenly courtroom: the Man Christ Jesus.
It was in the city of Philippi that Paul told the jailer at midnight: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and Paul had the joy of seeing this man and all his family place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And death presented an even more joyful alternative whereby he would transfer directly into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ: If I am to live on in the flesh, he declared, this will mean fruitful labour for me, and I do not know which to choose.
But those that love the Lord Jesus and are saved by the blood of the Lamb are hated by the enemy of our soul, and His cruel attacks on the children of God can be sustained and dangerous.
But Christ Jesus is the Anchor for our soul, for He is the living Word of God.
We live in an evil and Christ-rejecting world, but when the enemy comes in like a flood: when our soul cleaves to the dust of the ground and when our heart is faint and weary, let us call to mind the many precious promises in the Word of God which are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The only begotten and eternal Son of God, Who forever rests in the bosom of the Father, became Jesus of Nazareth, the perfect Man, God incarnate.
The glory of God may be seen in nature and His wonderful works may be experienced in history, but the essence of God is invisible to man, and yet Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God and the express image of His Person.
We are to walk in love and keep on walking in the light, endeavouring to please the Lord as He works in our lives to conform us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world that lights every man that comes into the world.
May we run the race that is set before us looking to JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
May we foster a teachable spirit and develop a willingness to put the lessons we learn into practice, as we occupy until Jesus comes, so that we may finish the good work that God has prepared for us to do and hear Him say: Well done good and faithful servant.
Indeed, this was good news that would benefit all people who would trust in the name of Jesus, the Word of truth - the beloved Son of the Father.
He is Jesus Christ the righteous Lord, Who came in the image and likeness of the invisible God - full of grace and truth.
For by the first man - Adam, came sin, death, and eternal separation from God, but by the second Man, the Last Adam - Jesus Christ the righteous, came life and light, forgiveness, eternal peace on earth, and goodwill with God for men who believed - for as in Adam all DIE, so also ALL those that are positioned IN Christ, by faith, will be made alive.
Throughout Scripture, we discover over and again that a man is not justified by works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.
Praise God that we are justified by grace through faith in the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and not because of any good deeds we have carried out.
She had come to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah Who would save His people from their sins, but she had not yet recognised that she was addressing the incarnate Son of God Who created all things, and Who is before all things.
She was yet to discover that Jesus is incarnate God; the One Who holds all things together by His almighty power; the One in Whom is life everlasting.
Although Martha's faith was small, her faith was in the right Person - the Lord Jesus Christ - and so He was enabled to expand her trust in God.
Martha believed that God was faithful to fulfil His promise of a future bodily resurrection, and so Jesus was enabled to reveal more of His character and limitless resources to her as being available today.
Martha only had a limited understanding of God but she had come to trust His Word, and so God was able to work in the circumstances of her life to develop her faith and to deepen her dependence upon the Lord Jesus.
Martha's faith was expanded as she learned that she was to look to Jesus every moment of her life, from that day forward, as her ever present help in time of trouble, and not simply to trust God with a future programmed that will one day be accomplished.
And because of man's rebellion against God and man's imputed sin nature (due to His disobedience), Christ came to live as God intended man to live so that the life of God could be lived through a man; the Man Christ Jesus.
And now the hour for which the Lord Jesus had been born into humanity's race had arrived.
And in like manner, we too are to gird up the loins of our mind and to be sober in our thinking for in so doing, we secure an ultimate confidence on the truth of God's Word, and in directing our minds continuously towards the grace that has been revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord, our confidence base in Him will stand firm.
We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and the truth of God's Word and nothing else, in order to be able to avoid our hearts being turned toward the difficulties and trials of everyday life.
Let us get our minds ready for action, and not be diverted by the strange and difficult circumstances that encompass our lives so that we may hope perfectly upon the grace that is ours in the revelation of Jesus Christ.
God has been delaying His judgement and postponing His punishment to give sinners every opportunity to repent, for it is not God's will that any should perish but that all should come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus set the stage for His important teaching on the Bread of Life by feeding a multitude of 5000 men, besides women and children, with 5 barley loaves and 2 small fishes.
Jesus came to satisfy this hunger in the heart of all mankind: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes (in Me) has eternal life.
The miraculous multiplying of bread and fish provided one small meal that left the people hungry on the following day, but the true Bread from heaven that Jesus wanted to offer these people, was the spiritual Bread of Eternal Life that would satisfy their soul through time and into eternity.
Unlike Israel's forefathers who ate manna from heaven but all died in the wilderness, Jesus wanted these people, who were dead in their sins and at enmity with God, to recognise HIM as the True and Living Bread that came down from heaven to satisfy the inner hunger of man's soul.
Jesus knew that no fallen sinner would come to Him unless the Father drew that man, for sin had erected an immovable barrier between God and man, and man's sin nature is irreversibly hostile to the Lord.
And although God will never force a man to believe in Him against his free will, it is the Father Who graciously draws someone to Jesus.
It is the Father Who lovingly draws us to Christ - for Jesus explained that no one comes to Him unless the Father draws him.
We are credited with righteousness, our sins are forgiven, and we are given eternal life, when we believe in Jesus as our heaven-sent Kinsman-Redeemer.
It is God's will and God's desire that we believe that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes on HIM - whosoever believes on the Person and work of JESUS, would not perish but have everlasting life - and this was the message that Jesus delivered to the spiritually hungry souls who were dead in their sins and estranged from the Father: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
He speaks of God's gracious blessing on believing Jews, which will be finalised with the establishment of the Kingdom of God, and the millennial rule of Jesus Christ our Saviour, for the deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord's.
Let us comfort one another with these words, as we occupy until Christ comes, and tell forth the wonderful glory of His name, to a lost and dying world, who need Jesus as their God and Saviour.
We are called upon to take-up our weapons of warfare and to put-on the full armour of God, which is another way of saying - clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.
He longed that each one may have all the riches of an assured conviction, a true understanding and a secure knowledge of the mystery of God which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
But he also knew that the closer each one was in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Himself, and the more intimately aquatinted they were with Him, the more the Holy Spirit is enabled to open up their understanding of the gospel and the more firmly grounded they become in the faith.
The Lord Jesus Christ was our perfect example of a truly humble man, for He set aside His eternal glory to seek and to save that which was lost.
Just like a caring Shepherd is happy to find his lost sheep, so the Lord Jesus always rejoices when the straying sinner turns away from sin and back to Himself.
And may we bow down our ear to the wise words of correction that we may receive from others so that we may grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to His praise and glory.
And within this sacred text we discover, from the prayerful lips of the Lord Jesus Himself, exactly what eternal life is.
It is something they received the moment that they trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour, were born into the family of God, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
This is eternal life; that we know the triune God and that we know the Lord Jesus Christ Whom God sent to be the Saviour of mankind.
It is not just knowledge about God, but an intimate and eternal fellowship with Him that begins by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We cannot know the Father apart from the Son, for it is Jesus through Whom God now speaks to humanity.
As Jesus reminds us: I and the Father are One.
Jesus is the Word of God made flesh and He is the only One Who makes God known, through the power of His Holy Spirit.
God has given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as God has given Him: And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Paul reminded us that if we only have hope in this world, then we are to be greatly pitied, but we who trust in Jesus as our sin-bearing Saviour can rejoice and lift up our voices in shouts of praise and thanksgiving, as did the apostle Paul and Israel's king David.
Paul tells of the Spirit: That raised Jesus from the dead, and John reminds us that our Lord Himself confessed that He was given the power to take up His own life again, but here in Psalms it is David who joyfully announces that God the Father will not leave His soul among the dead nor allow His Holy One to undergo decay.
The manifold riches of God's grace towards His children sparkle like a myriad of shining stars throughout the book of Ephesians, reaching into the heavenlies as, verse by verse, we are shown more of the gracious provision that God has poured out, without measure, over the heads of all who trust in the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
For three whole chapters, Paul rehearses all the amazing benefits that God has, in His grace, showered on those that love Him – as the apostle opens to our understanding our position and privileges in Christ, and the inheritance that God has secured for all His blood-bought children.Having taken us to the heady heights of grace upon grace upon much more grace, Paul begins to tell us how we should live as children of God and how we should behave as inheritors of the many benefits and privileges that God has prepared for each of us who have simply trusted the Lord Jesus.Because of our position in Christ we are urged to live our lives in a manner that is befitting our heavenly calling.
As bond-servants of Christ, we are given a valuable list of how we should live, having put off our old selves and put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. We are exhorted to put off falsehood and speak truthfully; steal no longer but instead work and share; speak helpful and wholesome words; get rid of bitterness, anger, and slander and in their place put forgiveness, kindness and compassion.Paul rejoiced to be a prisoner of the Lord, not for any wrong that he had done, for all sin and every sin was forgiven at the Cross, but for the sake of the Lord Jesus Who loves us and gave Himself for us.
Let us, therefore, as prisoners of our Lord Jesus Christ, walk in a manner worthy of the heavenly calling to which we have been called.
When the Lord Jesus went ahead of us: He entered as a forerunner for us... and in so doing, became the Mediator between God and man and took up His appointed place as God's eternal High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek.
What a glorious truth that when Jesus ascended into heavenly places to act as High Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, He entered as the forerunner of the Church so that at the right time we too will be ushered into the holy presence of Almighty God.
The more one becomes familiar with Old Testament 'types' (like Melchizedek and the Aaronic priesthood) and their New Testament 'antitype' (the Lord Jesus Christ and His eternal High Priestly position and Sovereign rulership in heavenly places), the greater becomes our understanding of superiority of Christ, His never-failing, steadfast devotion towards us, and His entrance into heavenly places as forerunner for the Church.
It is a matter of faith, which pleases the loving heart of our gracious God of Love and secures our hope in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John, like all Christ's apostles, came to know that Jesus Christ, the incarnate WORD, was incarnate LOVE.
Hidden in the dusty desert of despair, we are given streaming rivers of living water that are brimming to overflowing with the Love of God, and Jesus Christ Whom He sent to reveal Himself to us.
And Jesus invites all to come and drink deeply of His refreshing Love, and to wrap ourselves around this never-failing truth.
Perhaps this verse, which so simply states that God Is Love, encapsulates the very essence of God and should be increasingly stirred-up in our hearts, knowing that those that rest, remain, abide, and dwell in His love by keeping their minds on Jesus, are assured that the Love of God will rest, remain, abide, and dwell in their hearts; encouraging, providing, upholding, leading, refreshing, comforting, and supporting.
In Paul's final epistle before his death, he wrote to Timothy urging him to be strong in the Lord, to live godly in Christ Jesus, and to hold fast to the faith.
He encouraged this young pastor to endure life's hardships, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and not get entangled in life's pressures.
Paul knew that after his departure, Timothy would be one that would need to pick up the gospel-baton of truth and to preach the Word, in season and out of season, and so he exhorted Timothy to press on to his high calling in Christ Jesus and to consider carefully all that Paul had taught him: Consider what I say, Paul cautioned his young protégé, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything, he promised.
Paul was able to say with confidence, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, and his dear desire was that Timothy, his young 'son in the faith' - and all who are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus, would follow his example and finish the race well... looking to Jesus and giving honour to the Lord.
May we never forget that the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is the One who dwells in us and will give us understanding in everything.
May we never forget that the Spirit of God Who raised Christ from the dead is the same Holy Spirit Who will also bring our mortal bodies to life and empower us to endure life's hardships like a good soldier of Jesus Christ, to run the race of life like a top athlete, and to be like a hard-working farmer who reaps the rewards of his fruitful harvest.
Because we are children of God we are to look to Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Today, Jesus is seated on the right hand of the Father in heavenly places, and the dear desire our hearts should be set on heavenly things, and not on issues that are intertwined with this broken world system, which lies is in the arms of the evil one.
Jesus is our blessed hope, Who is coming back soon to take us to be with Himself in glory.
This means that our fallen sin nature was nailed to the Cross with Jesus, as He hung on that wooden tree, 2000 years ago, and paid the enormous price for our sin.
By faith, we died to sin with the Lord Jesus, when He offered Himself up as the ransom-price for our sin.
We must never forget the incredible price Jesus paid for our redemption.
How hard it was for them to realise that their salvation did not depend on works of the Law, the maintaining of religious activities, or the keeping of cleanliness codes or food regulations, but rested entirely upon God's grace - by faith in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of their King and Saviour - Jesus Christ, the righteous.
It is Christ Jesus the Lord Who is our living bread.
Jesus had to go through Samaria, on His way to Jerusalem from Galilee, but there were alternative routes that He could have taken.
Jesus could have travelled to Jerusalem by an alternative route but Jesus HAD to pass through Samaria, for He knew that there was a wretched woman who was shunned by her community who was in need of the water of life and there was a city of lost sinners who desperately needed a Saviour.
Although He was fully God, Jesus only said and did those things that He heard from the Father as directed by the Holy Spirit, and so we read that Jesus had to go through Samaria.
For much of His life, Jesus worked as a carpenter in obscurity, in the little town of Nazareth, learning how to sit obediently at His heavenly Father's feet as He humbly listened to His voice and was willingly guided by the Holy Spirit.
This why Jesus grew in favour with both God and man, so that at the right time He would hear the inner promptings of His Father voice and be led to travel though Samaria by the inner prompting of the indwelling Spirit, doing only those things that He heard from above.
Therefore, we are exhorted to give more earnest heed to the Person of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross, and to pay very close attention to all that we have heard so that we do not drift away from the truth of God's Word.
How vital that we who have received the full revelation of God through the written Scriptures, do not drift away from the truth of the glorious gospel of grace that Jesus came to accomplish on the behalf of all who would believe on His name, in fulfilment of God's promises to His people, Israel.
May we never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As a result of Christ's redemptive work at Calvary, God gave the beloved Son of His love His full sovereign authority over all humanity, which qualifies the Lord Jesus to bestow eternal life on all whom the Father has given to the Son.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect Man Who, of His own human volition, willingly lay down His sinless life as a ransom for His fellow men.
It was by His own choosing - His human volition - His own, God-given free-will as a Man, that Jesus lay down His life.
The Lord Jesus Christ is also the Sovereign God Who in His omnipotent power could have struck down all His adversaries with one blow, but He knew that only a perfect Kinsman-Redeemer could save humanity from eternal separation from Himself.
No surprise that we are exhorted to worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness, for even the trees of the forest sing for joy and clap their hands together because the Lord is coming to judge the world in His righteousness and His people in His faithfulness.The Church is His Body, and we are now the holy temple of our faithful Lord, for we were created in Christ as a new creation, sanctified as His peculiar people, set apart as His representatives on earth, and we have been given a glorious song of grace to sing of the One that shows forth the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness towards us, in Christ Jesus.
Let us tell abroad the wonder of His name, for our Lord Jesus is greatly to be praised for all that He has done.
It was in the second year of His ministry that the Lord Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda, which means House of Mercy.
It was on a Sabbath day when this miracle took place, causing the chief priests and scribes to have an even greater hatred for the Lord Jesus.
When the Jews found out that it was the Lord Jesus Who had healed the man, they started to persecute Him, because He had healed a man on the Sabbath day.
Jesus justifiably laid claims to being God - asserting that He has the authority and power to forgive sins, raise the dead, and give life to whomsoever He wills.
Jesus let them know that the Father had committed the judgement of humanity into His hands.
Jesus Christ the Righteous.
Jesus told them very emphatically, that an hour was coming, when the dead would hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear would live.
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour) to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds (i.e.
did NOT believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation) to a resurrection of judgment.
The good work to which Jesus is referring, is to believe in Him.
An unsaved man CANNOT perform any works that are good in the sight of God, other than to BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Only those that have been saved, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ can carry out good deeds, for only justified men are given the nature of Christ... for the good work of God is to know HIM and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
May we who have come to a saving faith in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ, take to heart the character traits that should be evident in the life of the spiritual man or woman.
The Lord Jesus has been resurrected, ascended, glorified, and highly exalted above every created being, and a day is coming when every knee will bow before Him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
But God is glorified by saint and sinner alike, and a day is coming when all that God has planned and purposed will be achieved, and Jesus Christ will be all in all.
But why did it happen that the name of Jesus Christ has been highly exalted above every other name?
And so in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God the eternal Son set aside His heavenly glory and was born into the human race in order to carry out the most astonishing plan that God Himself had ordained in eternity past.
All of this simply by believing on the Person and Work of Jesus.
The day is coming when both the saved and the unsaved will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ as the Scriptures have stated.
Those who are saved by grace through faith will joyfully confess Jesus as their Saviour and Lord and enter into His heavenly joy, while those who through foolish pride refused to acknowledge Him as God and rejected His free offer of salvation will also confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the honour and glory of God.
Throughout His life, the Lord Jesus had demonstrated the very life that God created man to live; a life of utter dependence upon God, totally submitted to carry out the will of the Father; a life led by the Spirit of God and lived in humble obedience to God; a life that walked in sprit and truth and that always sought to glorify God and to carry out His will, both prayerfully and joyfully.
Jesus said: So that the world may know that I love the Father; I do exactly as the Father commands; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Love as I have loved You.
We are called to live a life of utter dependence upon Christ Jesus our Lord, and a life that is totally submitted to Him.
Let us love as Jesus loved us and live a life that walks in sprit and truth and that always seeks to glorify God and to carry out His will, both prayerfully and joyfully.
This is why Jesus Christ is the beloved Son of the Father.
When the Lord Jesus cried: It is finished, He had paid the price for the sin of the world and so He voluntarily breathed His last breath and gave up the ghost.
When the Lord Jesus met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they also demonstrated a serious lack of scriptural knowledge, but the Lord Jesus opened up their understanding of His Word.
God often used 'people' and 'things' as a 'type' of Christ in Scripture (to represent some character trait of the Lord Jesus or an important aspect of His ministry).
The Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself to God as the unblemished, sacrificial Lamb.
Trusting the Lord is simply believing that the one and only Way God has provided for fallen man to be saved, is through the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is accepting, as an unchangeable fact, that the Life which God imparted to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, will save to the uttermost.
It is trusting all that has been revealed in Scripture about our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
He gave him a panoramic view of world history, from the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the Great Tribulation.
And in this final letter to Timothy which Paul wrote near the end of his life, he reinforced the importance of knowing and understanding the whole counsel of God, which is able to make us wise unto salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Well, Paul gave us some help in his final instructions and encouragement in second Timothy: We are called to be faithful in knowing and learning ALL the sacred writings of God, which are able to give us wisdom and which lead us to salvation, which can only be found by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
In Proverbs, we are advised: Those that seek Me early will find Me, and what a beautiful example of this we see in Mary who went to seek Jesus so early in the morning: While it was still dark.
And what ecstatic joy must have flooded her heart when Jesus spoke her name, and yet He told her tenderly but firmly: Touch Me not for I am not yet ascended to the Father.
And in like manner, the Lord Jesus is the full and final representation of the First-fruit of them that slept and no-one (not even those that loved Him so deeply), was permitted to partake of Him or touch Him, for He was not yet ascended to present Himself as the First-fruit offering to the Father.
Jesus was to be glorified and to take His place at the right hand of the Father so that He could endow all His children with His abundant life, by means of the indwelling life-giving Holy Spirit.
Never before had the Lord Jesus called His followers: My brothers. With His glorious Resurrection was birthed a new dispensation which, for a season, was to be used of God to: Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
The writer of Hebrews is talking to Christians who have accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour, being born again and in so doing, have entered into Christ, have become a part of His Body, and have entered into the rest of Jesus.
We choose to enter into the sweet rest He offers to us, by diligently relying on Jesus and not our own strength, by choosing to trust Him, moment by moment, by faith.
The rest we can only find in Jesus, as we trust Him to keep us in perfect peace.
Paul had been explaining to the Galatians that following the death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the status of believers changed from that of an underage child with a promise of a future inheritance to a mature son who has received his inheritance from his father; and the Holy Spirit has been sent into our heart as the confirmation of this glorious truth.
It is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that presides in our hearts.
We are governed by a higher law - a heavenly law - a limitless law: The Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus which set us all free from the limited law of sin and of death, that condemns every sinner.
We are motivated by a law that is not limited by the flesh but one that is empowered by the Spirit of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Such language of sweet endearment is reserved for the closest of unions, and such was the life experience of the Lord Jesus.
Throughout His earthly life, Jesus showed us how to maintain close, adult fellowship with the Father.
Jesus set aside His glory for a season, and through humble, prayerful obedience, was enlivened, empowered, and animated by the same Holy Spirit Who dwells in us.
Throughout His life, Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing and only said what His Father told Him, and we are to pattern our life on His life.
It is not trying to copy what Jesus did that gives us this intimacy, but living as Christ lived.
Jesus, Himself, tells us he who believes is not condemned, but he that does not believe is condemned already - because he has not believed in the only begotten Son of God.
There are many who dismiss the teaching of the Lord Jesus, but are ready and willing to believe extra-biblical prophecies, new-age philosophies, revelations from mystics, illumination from tarot cards, and secret intel from a wide range of plausible people and teachers who tickle their itching ears.
There are many passages that warn of the torment that awaits those who do not believe in the only begotten Son of God for their eternal redemption, and perhaps there is no more chilling passage that attests to this truth, than the story the Lord Jesus related during his earthly ministry which describes the eternal destinies of Lazarus and the rich man, in Luke chapter 16.
Jesus told this story as a warning to the hypocritical Pharisees who treated Him with contempt and ridiculed His message of salvation.
It was to these men, who prided themselves on their knowledge of Old Testament Scripture, to whom Jesus related the terrible fate of the rich man who was clothed in purple cloth and fine linen and dined sumptuously on the best of fare... and Lazarus, the poor beggarman who sat at his gate.
Jesus explained that after the death of these two men, Lazarus was taken to Paradise - to 'Abraham's bosom' where he was comforted, while the rich man was sent to Hades where he was tormented and in deep distress.
It was then that the Lord Jesus uttered this chilling statement, If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone were to rise from the dead.
Jesus knew that if men refused to believe the Word of God... nothing would persuade them - even if someone coming back from the dead.
Indeed, not many months later a man named Lazarus... the brother of Mary and Martha, was brought back to life, and Jesus Himself rose from the grave - yet they refused to believe his message of salvation.
Jesus taught the futility of trusting in one's sight or relying on signs, feelings, dreams, or emotions.
Salvation is the free gift of God THROUGH having faith in the Person and Work of Christ Jesus our Saviour - for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
Like Abraham, and all Old Testament saints who were looking for their coming Messiah, the soul of Lazarus was taken to a holding place called 'Paradise' or 'Abraham's Bosom' UNTIL Jesus died on the Cross as payment for their sins and rose from the grave to set these captive souls free.
Like the rich man, and all who do not believe on Jesus for the redemption of their soul, the same place of torment and Great White Throne judgement awaited these proud, religious Pharisees - if they refused to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sin.
When the Lord Jesus told these proud, religious men, If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead, His message held a profound and eternal truth, that continues to resonate down the corridors of time.
JESUS HIMSELF would soon walk to the Cross as the ransom price for the sin of the world HE HIMSELF would die and He would rise from the dead, as prophesied by Moses and the Old Testament prophets... but Jesus knew that if these proud Pharisees would not listen to the truth spoken by Moses, the Prophets, and His own Messianic ministry - they would not even be persuaded when HE HIMSELF rose from the dead.
Peter points out that the Lord Jesus is the precious example of patient endurance and perfect submission, under unjust suffering.
Jesus is the One after which our lives should be patterned.
Peter gently guides us through the multiple ways that Jesus is our representative Man.
He reminds us that Jesus is also the good Shepherd of the sheep, Who not only laid down His life for us, but is the great Shepherd, and Bishop of our soul, Whom God raised from the dead, through the blood of the eternal covenant.
And by God's grace, we are all being conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Jesus is not only the One Who saved us, by God's grace - when we trusted Him for salvation, but He is also the One Who loved us and gave Himself for us, while we were still fallen sinners, who were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, and at enmity with God.
Whether a pilgrim, a citizen, a master, a servant, or whatever relationships we have in life, let us look to Jesus in humble obedience, and follow in His footsteps - by living in total dependence on our heavenly Father, and in willing submission to the Holy Spirit.
He used the images of freedmen and slaves to demonstrate that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.
Paul used this passage to remind us that a slave who is called to be in Christ by faith is the freedman of the Lord... while the man that is free must consider himself to be the slave of Christ - for each one of us were bought and paid-for at Calvary and the precious, purchase price was the shed blood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ - Who loved us and gave Himself for us.
But we have also been blessed to receive a third 'book' from our Creator God: The Holy Scriptures, which not only detail God's wonderful creation week, but His amazing plan of salvation, that fallen man can be saved by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Who laid aside His heavenly glory to be born into this sinful, rebellious race of man so that all who believe in His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection would not perish, but have everlasting life.
The day is coming when those that institute abominable practices, scorn His precious promises, violate His righteous commands, mock His holy Word, and reject His free gift of grace in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, will be finally judged.
Jesus knew that the hour of His death was approaching and so He prepared to lead the lost sheep of the house of Israel out of their sheepfold, and join them together with His 'other sheep' for whom He also would soon shed His blood.
Jesus is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
Although perfect Deity, Jesus lived in humble submission and perfect obedience to God, full of wisdom and grace, in perfect union and unbroken fellowship with His Father, all by the power of the indwelling Spirit.
Both need to have God's righteous wrath turned away from them due to Christ's blood sacrifice at Calvary, which brings all who believe in Jesus Christ into full fellowship with the Father.
And now both Jew and Gentile have access to the Father, by means of the Holy Spirit, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, for our sins: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
All are one in Christ: So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
So God devised the plan of salvation that would satisfy His justice and impute man with His own righteousness through the full payment of the required price for sin – the willing, sacrificial death of the only perfect sacrifice – the Lord Jesus Christ.
But before this time, we can look forward to the Rapture of the Church, the signless event when Jesus comes to take His Bride to be with Him forever.Let us keep awake and alert – eagerly awaiting His any-day return, knowing that the day is fast approaching when the Lord will descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and make His promised appearance in the clouds to meet us in the air.
Only days before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus wept and mourned that His people had missed the day of their visitation, and sadly announced, Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.
Some consider Jesus is referring to the Church, the Body of Christ, and many even make the unbiblical claim that God has finished with Israel and has transferred all their promises to Christians.
Although believers in the Church age have certainly been called to produce the fruit of righteousness and the Lord is using us to proclaim the gospel of grace to unbelievers, it is the last generation of Jews are the people about whom Jesus is speaking.
However, at His Second Coming, when He returns in great power and glory to set up His kingdom in Jerusalem, a redeemed Israel who finally acknowledge Christ as their Messiah and King, will produce the fruit of righteousness through faith in God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
It is one thing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, but it is another thing become a disciple, take up one's cross daily, and die to self as we live for Him.
The Sermon on the Mount was delivered to rectify Israel's incorrect interpretation of the Law and to challenge the traditions of the elders, and so Jesus began by clarifying the true nature of the Law so that His listeners would understand the true nature of righteousness.
It was necessary for Jesus to correct their conventional interpretation of the letter of the Law before presenting them with the spirit of the Law, the true significance of God's Word, and the need for all disciples to be perfect just as our Heavenly Father is perfect.
After having touched on tangible things like charitable giving, prayer, fasting, and one's attitude towards possessions, Jesus addressed issues like worry and anxiety and the need to place one's total trust in God for all eventualities of life: For this reason, Jesus told them, I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.
The Lord's extended sermon on the true nature of righteousness, which is produced by faith in Christ, systematically covers every area of concern any of us might face, and the principles of living a godly life in Christ Jesus.
For this reason Jesus said: Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.
Jesus had eaten a meal in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, where Martha was busily serving food.
In an outpouring of love, her sister Mary came to Jesus and breaking her costly alabaster oil of spikenard, she anointed His feet and wiped them dry with her hair.
While Judas and the other disciples criticised this young woman for this foolish extravagance, Jesus defended her act of love and explained that she had anointed His body for the day of His burial.
And Jesus assured them that wherever the gospel is preached, Mary's act of consecration will be told as a memorial to her.
Only days before Mary's sacrificial service, her beloved brother, Lazarus, had been raised from the dead when Jesus made the astonishing proclamation, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
The day after this memorable meal in Bethany and Mary's beautiful act of consecration, Jesus made His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey - in fulfilment of Scripture.
As the crowd waved palm branches, they joyfully hailed Jesus as their Messiah-King... and quoting from Psalm 118 they shouted excitedly, Hosannah!
This should have been the moment when Jesus was acknowledged as the Holy One of Israel and crowned as their King, but He knew what was in their hearts.
It was in the midst of all the hustle, bustle, to-ing and fro-ing on His final week, that some Greeks were among those who went up to Jerusalem to worship at the festival, but they came... seeking JESUS.
Jesus had come to His own people to save them from their sin.
And Gentiles came seeking Jesus when His hour was come to give His life to redeem mankind.
From His cradle in Bethlehem to the Cross at Calvary, Jesus is identified as Saviour of ALL - our Kinsman-Redeemer Who gave His life as the ransom for many.
Before these Greeks approached Him, the Lord Jesus said, on many occasions, Mine hour has not yet come.
But directly they came seeking Jesus, He answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
It seems that with the arrival of these Greeks, Jesus knew that His hour had arrived when He would be made the Sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.
Shall I say 'Father, save Me from this hour?' Nevertheless, Jesus reasoned with Himself... knowing that it was for this purpose... the salvation of mankind, that He had come to this hour - the hour when He would take upon Himself the sin of the world.
It was the Father's will that Jesus came to earth to give His life as the ransom price for the sin of the world.
It was to glorify the Father's name that Jesus came to earth as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
It was to glorify His Father in heaven that the Lord Jesus denied Himself as He set His face as a flint to the Cross - and so He cried out, Father, glorify Your name.
Jesus had glorified His Father throughout His life by the way that He lived and He was to glorify His Father by the way that He died.
And at Christ's crucial hour of commitment, the Lord Jesus received the most glorious encouragement from His heavenly Father, for His prayer was answered by a voice from heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
The Father will again be glorified when Christ comes to claim the Church for His Bride and will receive glory when Jesus returns to rule and reign in righteousness.
If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed, were Paul's stern words to these believers, while he concluded his epistle with the wonderful entreaty, Maranatha - Come Lord Jesus!!
There are many who make a commitment or claim the label of 'Christian' without a deep love for the Lord, but Paul makes it very clear that a genuine love of Jesus should shine from a heart of love and should be mirrored in the words we say and the things we do.
Our love for the Lord Jesus should reflect the deep love that Christ had for His heavenly Father.
In His farewell discourse to His disciples, Jesus reiterates the importance of Christian love.
The love about which Paul speaks is an ever-growing intimacy with Jesus, that expands and develops through time and into the eternal ages to come.
The focal point of the gospel of God is Jesus Christ, and how to be saved is the single, most important truth a sinner needs to know.
But he rejoices to inform us that apart from the impossible task of keeping God's perfect Law, the righteousness of God has now been made known through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.
When the Law has turned a sinner to repentance, so that they turn from their sin to faith to Jesus Christ - it has achieved the purpose for which it was given.
Death for the sinner means eternal separation from GOD... for the wages of sin is death BUT... the gift of God is eternal life, through faith in Jesus Christ.
By His grace, the redemption price was paid in full by Jesus, so that when a sinner recognises their sin and seeks salvation by faith in Christ, the Law has fulfilled its work in the life of that sinner.
As believers we have to make a choice: either we allow ourselves to be enslaved by greed and shackled to a materialistic mind-set, or we choose to be set free to the spirit of God in Christ Jesus.
Their inspired teachings should be the only foundation upon which our Christian faith, our spiritual life, and our fundamental doctrine should stand, knowing that Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone.
From the Gospel writers and the letters of Paul, to the apostolic epistles and the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave through Him to John (telling His Church things which must soon take place), the unquestionable foundation upon which our faith is grounded is the Bible.
Let us remember that all Scripture is breathed out by God and must remain the foundation upon which our Christian faith is rooted and grounded: Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone.
When the Lord Jesus taught His disciple to pray, He did not give them a magic format to repeat as a vain repetition, but a method of prayer to use as they approached the throne of grace.
God sent His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem mankind: to bring men out from slavery to sin and death into the light of the glorious gospel of peace-with-God.
God's wrath was poured out on Jesus Christ in our stead.
The Lord Jesus was meek and lowly, full of compassion and great mercy – and the gracious words that fell from His lips were life and health and healing.
Some of God's people may have returned to their homeland as the dead, dry, lifeless bones described in Ezekiel 37, but they have not been born-anew by the 'in-breathing' of eternal life from the Holy Spirit, which ONLY comes from faith in Jesus, their Messiah and King.
The day is coming when life is breathed into the 'dead bones' of Israel, and they will look on Him Whom they pierced, and acknowledge Jesus as Lord, King of Israel, and Governor of the whole earth.
Jesus is the very essence of God Who went from being seated in the highest place of honour and power, to the very lowest possible position: death on a Cross.
But Jesus did not lie in the grave.
His sinless life was a deathless life, for only the soul that sins shall die and Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life.
Jesus was not deserving of death, but chose to give His life willingly, as the ransom price for the sin of the world.
Only Christ Jesus, the sinless Son, could fulfil the righteous requirements of God's Law.
For this reason, Jesus alone is to be highly exalted.
He is the King of Righteousness and His name shall be called, Jesus: SAVIOUR, for He shall save His people from their sins.
The simple, common, everyday name of 'Jesus' has thus become the name that is greater and more eminent than every other name that is named, for His name is to be the most excellent name that is named in heaven or earth, throughout time and into eternity.
How sweet that name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear, for His name combines the holy and eternal attributes of the Godhead with human perfection, and every single spiritual fruit that God requires from man.
What music is the lovely name of Jesus in the ear of every sinner, saved by grace, for it calms all sorrow, heals each wound, and drives away all our fear.
The attitude of Jesus should be mirrored in the life of every believer, and yet His was a life of deep pain and intense suffering.
But His life of humiliation and death preceded His glorious Resurrection and exaltation, and we too must share in His suffering, and die to self if we are to live in newness of life and become a lovely reflection of the beautiful Lord Jesus Christ.
May we have an understanding heart and a listening ear to hear all that the Spirit says to us through the Word of truth, and may we rejoice that no matter what difficulties we may encounter in life or what problems may come our way, God has scheduled every day of our lives for His greater glory and our eternal benefit - and is transforming us, day by day, into the image and likeness of Jesus.
Mary of Bethany had anointed Jesus with precious perfume from her alabaster box, in readiness for His fast approaching crucifixion.
Judas had left to betray his Master, and Jesus had instituted the Lord Supper, following that final Passover meal with the disciples He loved.
Jesus had graciously washed His disciples' feet, told Peter of the imminent denial of his Master, and had entered into agony of spirit, as He wept and prayed, three times, in the garden of Gethsemane.
His confused disciples, however, slept away this pivotal point in the history of mankind - while angels ministered to Jesus, the Lord of heaven and God of the universe - in His travail.
The Lord Jesus would have received much comfort of spirit and inner consolation, had His disciples shown some sympathy in the spiritual battle that Christ had entered.
Jesus had been born for this hour and His whole life and ministry was focused on this even.
Jesus knew that His life must be lived in total dependence on His heavenly Father's instructions, for although He was fully God, He willingly set aside His heavenly glory to live his earthly life as a full member of humanity - for only a sinless man, who lived in perfect obedience to God would qualify to become the Saviour of fallen humanity and redeem everything that the first Adam lost.
Although Jesus was true deity and the second Person of the Trinity, He was a true man, who was tempted to sin just as we are tempted - yet He did not sin.
Jesus knew that the only way that He could successfully function in His body of flesh - and overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, was in humble submission to His heavenly Father through the power of the indwelling Spirit.
Jesus knew that sin had corrupted the nature of man and that the only way to live a victorious life, in a fallen world, was to watch and pray continuously - in utter dependence on the Father through the power of the indwelling Spirit.
It is only as the love of God is poured into our hearts by faith in Christ, that we are identified as His children, for Jesus is our blessed Hope - and all who have this godly love, joy, peace, and hope in our hearts, are purified.
And it is only as we abide in Him and His perfect, resurrected life abides in us, and works in us and through us, that the life of the Lord Jesus is enabled to live in us, grow in us, and work through us.
Only those that are born from above have the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus within... and only they can walk in newness of life and show forth the righteousness of Christ in their daily living.
May we who have been born from above, mature in the faith, walk in spirit and truth, grow in grace, and abide in Christ Jesus our Lord, day by day... so that His life and love, goodness and grace, may pour into our hearts from Him, and stream out in love to others.
He wanted to eradicate all knowledge of the Christian faith and remove from the minds of humanity all remembrance, of the One Who had become known as Jesus of Nazareth.
Saul alone heard the voice of the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Who challenged him with an arresting question: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?
But the answer he received must have shocked his piety and deflated his bubble of importance as he alone heard the shattering reply that would change his life forever: I am Jesus Whom you are persecuting.
When members of the Christian Church are being tyrannised, tormented, slandered, and victimised, the sober truth is that Jesus is also being tyrannised, tormented, slandered and victimised.
He learned that Jesus was alive and the claims of His Resurrection were true.
Repent of your self-righteousness and work the works of God, and this is the work of God that you believe on God and on Jesus Whom God has sent.
Saul of Tarsus learned that by persecuting the followers of Jesus He was persecuting the LORD Himself.
The pain and suffering he was inflicting upon members of Christ's Body on earth, were felt by the Lord Jesus Himself, the true and living God Who is the Head of the Body in heaven.
The apostle John earnestly desired to tell all that he knew and all he had experienced and witnessed of the glory and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He had been with Jesus constantly, ever since that decisive day on the shores of Lake Galilee when Christ called out to John: Follow Me.
John was anxious to bear witness of Christ's life and to declare the good news of the glorious gospel of grace and the joys of eternal Life which was with the Father, and which was made manifest in the Person and work of Christ Jesus our Saviour.
He wrote this so that we too may join in the fellowship of the saints, in-Christ, and enjoy sweet communion with our Heavenly Father and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son.
Love, forgiveness, and fellowship is what the world seeks most, and yet true love, true forgiveness, and true fellowship is only found in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Jesus alone opened up the way for unconditional love, true forgiveness, and beautiful fellowship with the Father, through time and into eternity.
He is the First-fruit from the dead and this is the thrilling truth: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer, guarantees the resurrection to life of all believers.
Jesus gave His own life willingly: I give my life for the sheep, He said.
It is only after the final battle of Gog, when ALL 'rule', 'authority', 'principalities' and 'powers' are abolished, that Jesus will be ready to hand the kingdom back to His Heavenly Father.
Although unbelieving Israel is already back in the land as Ezekiel proclaimed in chapter 37, they will not be brought back to 'life' until they cry out: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, at the end of the Great Tribulation when they acknowledge Jesus as Lord, as Luke tells us.
But unlike Israel's first experience in the Promised Land with Joshua, when God was rejected and: Everyone did what is right in his own eyes, this time His people will look to the Lord Jesus; Yeshua, in faith.
This time the people of Israel will KNOW that God is the Lord AND THEN the end will come, when King Jesus returns in power and great glory to sit on David's throne.
But first, the nation of Israel must face Gog of the land of Magog during the Great Tribulation, and we must occupy until Jesus comes.
Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity, Who was fully and finally revealed to the world through the birth, life, death, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Second Person of the immortal, invisible, almighty, HOLY God.
However, hidden within the pages of the Old Testament, are many concealed references to Christ Jesus.
Before the Cross, the people were anticipating a coming Kinsman-Redeemer - and His name is JESUS.
And 4000 years after Adam sinned, God sent His only begotten Son to pay the price for the sin of the whole world... so that whoever trusted in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, would be saved.
And our salvation was bought and paid for by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
But Hebrews reminds us that the 'last days' started with the ministry of the Lord Jesus for we read: In these last days God has spoken to us in His Son. John also reminds us: My little children, these are the last days.
We are to keep our eyes looking to Jesus so that we may finish the race that God has set before each one of us, whatever that race may be, and he also reminds us that there is a crown of righteousness laid up for all who long for His return.
May we in like manner fulfil our responsibility to God and our duty towards our fellow man as we look steadfastly to Jesus, study His Word, fulfil the ministry that God has given each of us, and continue to look for His any day appearing, knowing that very soon Christ will be coming in the clouds to take us to be with Himself, before He finally pours our His wrath during that future time of great tribulation.
He was Son of Man and the Word made flesh, and John the Baptist was the God's appointed prophet to witness that Jesus Christ is God's only, beloved Son: In Whom I am well pleased.
He had been prepared from his mother's womb to be God's human witness, and he was to testify to a sinful world that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
John was the greatest priest to ever live, for he had been anointed of God to bear witness that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
The end, objective, the climax, and the reason for John's message and ministry, was that Jesus was anointed of God to be the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world.
John was called as God's witness to humanity and he knew that Jesus must increase and he must decrease, and so he proclaimed of Christ Jesus our Lord: I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.
John was called by God to testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and we who are members of His Body have been given a similar responsibility and privilege to testify to a lost and dying world that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
Man in the arrogance in his own prideful understanding, is increasingly dismissive of the Cross of Calvary, the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the glorious gospel of grace, and yet it pleased God in the wisdom of His will, to demonstrate the power of God and the wisdom of God through His own crucified Son.
And to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks (to those who have trusted Christ Jesus as Saviour, by grace through faith), Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Paul rejoiced, because their service in giving gladly to the saints in Jerusalem was a proof of their love for the Lord Jesus, and demonstrated caring, godly concern for one another, and through it the Lord was honoured.
It is only by trusting in the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, that we can be reborn as a new-creation in Him, with a clean heart.
It is only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and our identification with Him that we can be declared righteous by God and have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.
May we choose the good and eschew the evil so that our new, born-again-life in Christ (our new-nature in Him) may be increasingly conformed into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus; until it is no longer I that live (my old sin-nature in Adam) but Christ (the new-life I have in Him) that lives in me, ever prompting me towards Christ-likeness.
But collectively, the SIN of the nation had to be covered, once a year, until Jesus came as the one and only perfect sacrifice for SIN.
the offering of Christ on the Cross, (once and for ALL) Church age believers, in the dispensation of the grace of God, are under the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, and Paul tells us that, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
We are delivered from the PENALTY of sin, because Jesus took the punishment that we deserve.
ALL are called to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and all are called to speak the truth of the glorious gospel of grace in love to one another.
And let us look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him, and for love of the Church, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high... until that wonderful day when He will come in the clouds of glory to take us to be with Himself forever - praise His holy name.
And it is God our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom Jude ascribes a plethora of superlatives, for to Him alone we subscribe all glory, and splendour, and magnificence, and majesty, and might, and dignity, and dominion, and power, and pre-eminence, and authority.
He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, and we who have had our sins forgiven have been reconciled to God through Christ. We have been reunited with God by grace - through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not only have we been reconciled to God through Christ, but as members of His Body, we have been commissioned to carry out and continue the ministry of reconciliation that Jesus Himself started during His earthly life: For God has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
It is not God's will that anyone should perish but that all come to faith in Jesus.
He has given us the ongoing ministry of reconciliation so that others may hear the good news, trust in Jesus for the salvation of their soul, and be reconciled back to God - not only through time but into eternity.
Just as Jesus reconciled us to Himself... so we have been entrusted with the word of reconciliation.
The Messiah of Israel was called Jesus and He came to fulfil the word of the prophets and save His people from their sins.
He had to come as Israel's Messiah first, because God had ordained that salvation would come to the Gentile world THROUGH the Jews: for salvation is by faith in Christ alone; faith in Jesus, the King of the Jews.
To be Saviour of the Gentiles meant that Jesus first had to be sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israelm whom God had called to be a light to the Gentile world.
There were those who had responded to the Baptist's call for repentance and John told the people to believe in the One Who would come after him: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!
Similarly, to regret one's sin or to become guilt-ridden because of one's wrongdoing will not save the sinner who does not concurrently turn TO the Lord Jesus Christ.
Repentance of sin is vital BUT believing on the Lord Jesus is the ONLY way to be saved.
The Lord Jesus was the One foretold by prophets of old Who would redeem His people FROM THEIR SIN.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ: the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection, and you will be saved.
And on that first day of Pentecost, the disciples who responded to John's message of repentance and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation were gathered together in one place in obedience to Christ's command.
As men and women heard the good news being taught on that special Day of Pentecost and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they were also indwelled by the Holy Spirit and baptised into the Body of Christ.
However, many who had received John's baptism of repentance were yet to hear the gospel of grace and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
John baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should turn away from evil and believe on Him which should come after him; that is believe on Christ Jesus.
There must have been many who believed God's Word by faith, whose lives spanned both sides of Calvary's Cross, who were not present on that special day of Pentecost, or did not realise that it was JESUS about Whom John spoke, when he commanded them to: Believe on Him which should come after him, that is, believe on Christ Jesus.
He taught that when the truth of God's Word shines into our hearts, by faith, we are given the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ - but he also warned that the Christian life is not an easy one.
Paul knew he was simply a weak, human vessel who was saved by grace through faith in Jesus and indwelt by the Spirit of God... when his eyes were opened on that road to Damascus.
He knew that Jesus of Nazareth, Whom he had persecuted, had been delivered over to death on the Cross willingly for his sake... so that by faith in HIM, Paul would also be raised to life immortal.
Christ died for PAUL and Paul was willing to give his life to Jesus.
He was ready to be delivered over to death for Jesus' sake - so that Christ could live His life through Paul - so that God is glorified.
As a disciple of the Lord Jesus, Paul knew that he faced many difficulties and dangers which is why he wrote, for we who live... we who are saved, are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
But what did Paul mean when he said, we are continuously being handed over to death? What does it mean: that the life of Jesus might be displayed in our mortal bodies?
As we trust His Word and rely on the Lord the more we will grow in grace, walk in spirit and truth, and continue to be conformed into the likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus - until it is not I that lives - but the life of Christ that is manifest in this mortal body.
Jesus Himself told us that those who follow Him WILL suffer persecution - before the glory comes the Cross.
He was ready to give His life for his Saviour so that the life of Jesus might be manifest in his mortal body - and we must be ready to do the same.
But Paul also knew that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead would raise him us also, with Jesus - just as Christ rose from the dead, we have the assurance that God will also raise us from the dead, together with ALL who have trusted in Him for their salvation.
The enemy of our soul has many ways to keep us from a knowledge of the truth, but just as Paul was ready to be delivered over to death for Christ's sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in his mortal flesh, may we also be willing to suffer for the sake of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, so that His life may be manifest in us and work through us, for God's greater glory.
The household of God are the men and women who are positioned in Christ, by faith, and have become the pillar and foundation of the truth of God's glorious gospel of Christ - for Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life - no man is reconciled to the Father except through faith in HIM.
However, we are those that teach, support, and defend the truth of the glorious gospel of grace - and we do it for love of the Lord Jesus and for the praise and glory of His holy name.
The Person of Jesus had been identified as the Messiah and rejected.
Jesus had been sent by the Father to right every wrong and yet the people would scream: We will not have this man to rule over us, we have no king but Caesar!
They knew that Jesus had come as King of Israel, and yet they heard Him saying: I go to the Father and you will see Me no more, a little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.
These men had given up everything to follow Jesus, as they believed Him to be: The Christ, the Son of the living God, and yet hope of seeing Rome smashed into pieces and their own personal aspirations of sitting on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel as promised, was in shreds, and their hopes dashed to the ground.
But only a few weeks after His glorious Resurrection, His disciples received the indwelling Holy Spirit Who would guide them into all truth and bring to mind the many words that Jesus spoke, and which were later translated into the God-breathed Holy Scriptures for our learning.
Jesus did not answer all their questions.
Jesus knew that the Holy Spirit would open-up their understanding about the future Church, the Body of Christ.
The Word of God provides all the instructions that we need for life and godliness, for our faith rests on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself being the chief Cornerstone.
The only way that man can be justified and made right with God is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only way that man can have his sins forgiven and be redeemed from sin, death and hell is because Christ Jesus paid the price in full.
The only way that a man can be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The inestimable and eternal riches of God are given freely to every-man at the expense of Christ's own life, and all one has to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
There is no rest outside of Him and there is no hope unless we are reconciled to the Father through Christ Jesus Who gave His own little flock His gift of peace, peace - wonderful peace, when He said, My Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Jesus is our Heavenly Shepherd Who came from His home above to gather all who would follow Him and believe on His name, to become one fold with one Shepherd.
Jesus is our caring Shepherd Who guards and guides us, Who feeds us and tends us, Who protects us and loves us, and Who intimately knows each of His own, by name.
What an amazing picture, therefore, of Jesus, our Good Shepherd Who gave His life that we might live.
But when Matthew was prompted by the Holy Spirit to write his gospel, he applied this same verse to the Lord Jesus Christ - the only begotten Son of the Father.
During His childhood and youth, we discover that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and increased in grace and favour with both God and man.
And so, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Matthew used the prophecy of Hosea to point to the Lord Jesus, when he wrote - out of Egypt I called My Son.
and it was love that caused the Lord Jesus to set aside His heavenly glory, and be born into the fallen, human race, so that He could shed His own life-blood on Calvary's Cross for the sin of the world - which alone has the power to forgive the sin of ALL who believe on His name for salvation.
Praise God that by faith in JESUS we are also sons and daughters of God Most High, and He has called us, chosen us, and brought us out of bondage to sin and slavery to Satan, and adopted us into His family.
Paul was not one of the twelve men chosen by the Lord Jesus to be a disciple during His earthly life.
He was not a man like Matthias, who accompanied the apostles during the time that Jesus went in and out among them all... and Paul was not one of the crowd who were cut to the heart on that first day of Pentecost when the men of Israel realised that they had crucified their Messiah, and cried out in despair, brethren, what shall we do?
Paul was an ultra-orthodox Jew who hated the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he understood that Jesus Christ was the King of Israel and that he had been complicit in crucifying his Messiah, Paul came to the shocking realisation that in tyrannising the Body of Christ, he was abusing the Lord Jesus Himself.
Paul was given revelation about the dispensation of the grace of God, and to him was revealed the mystery of the Church and the one new man in Christ - which is made up of believing Jews and believing Gentiles; the one new man in Christ where we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord, and equal members of His mystical Body.
Yes a thankful heart, boldness in testifying to the truth of the gospel, power for spiritual service, open-hearted generosity towards others, and the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ, are all evidences given in the Word of God of the man or woman who is filled with the Spirit of God.
One who is spirit-filled is one who is humble of heart, considers others more important than themselves, and is willing to be subject to their fellow Christians, to the glory of God and for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Underpinning our attitude, our actions, our mind, and our motive towards one another should be a deep reverence for the Lord Jesus Who is the Head of the body and Master of all.
They were to be the husband of one wife, with obedient children who also trusted in Jesus as their Saviour.
The high moral standard that was required of such elders and overseers of the early Church are equally true today, not only for those that are entrusted with the oversight of a local church assembly, but they should also be the criteria for all God's children who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus.
May we individually and corporately seek to be sensible, honest, moral, and self-controlled in all that we say and do so that Christ may be glorified in our lives as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Before the full and final revelation of God's righteousness was revealed through the Gospels and made manifest in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible testified of God's perfect righteousness in many ways.
But now, apart from the Law and the appeal of the prophets, the new, unique, and perfect righteous of the Lord Jesus can be imputed to the unrighteous sinner, by faith.
From our viewpoint in history, we see how the Law and the prophets pointed us towards Jesus Whose righteousness would pay for the sin of the world, and we can look back in time to the pivotal moment on the Cross, when the righteous blood of Jesus was shed for you and for me.
Let us quietly and confidently walk in the world today, telling all around us of the righteousness only found in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He came to testify that Jesus is the true Light Who gives light and life to everyone coming into the world.
He came to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ as their long awaited Messiah.
They enticed him to speak about himself asking if he was the Messiah or Elijah or 'the Prophet', but John refused to answer their probing questions and abruptly said 'NO', immediately pointing them to the Lord Jesus.
John was the forerunner who came to herald Christ and His coming kingdom, and this verse is part of a section that clearly identified Jesus as: The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
John described Jesus in this way: After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.
Jesus is not only superior to John, but a unique Man, for He was the pre-incarnate Word of God Who became the incarnate Word and dwelt amongst His people.
John admitted that in the beginning he did not know Jesus was the Messiah.
It was when baptising Him in the River Jordan to fulfil all righteousness, that God made it clear that Jesus was the chosen One.
Jesus was the Light that had come into the world about Whom John was destined to testify.
John explained that he watched the Holy Spirit descending from heaven like a Dove, and resting upon Jesus.
It was only at Christ's own baptism, when the Father identified Jesus as: My Beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a Dove, flew down and rested upon Him, that John KNEW the true identity of the One Who was to come.
There are many liberal, individual, 'progressive' churches and a multiplicity of cults that minimise or deny the deity of Christ and seek to belittle the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, was John's testimony of Jesus, for He existed before me and I am not sufficiently worthy to untie His shoe laces.
He must increase and I must decrease, were words that were not only spoken by this 'voice' in the wilderness, but were carried out in his life as John testified that Jesus is the Son of God, the Lamb Who was revealed to the world at the proper time Who came to live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, provide forgiveness of sin, and give assurance of the eternal life to ALL who believe in Him.
And it is all through faith in Jesus Christ that we have entered into this unbreakable union with Himself, not only in this age but in the ages to come.
Love for the Church was the reason the Lord Jesus went to the Cross of Calvary.
The Lord Jesus wrote seven letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, one of which was addressed to the church at Thyatira.
And throughout the ministry of the Lord Jesus, Himself, we hear the same call to action: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
We, who have trusted Christ for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting, are the people to whom these letters from the Lord Jesus were written.
Let us consider what an incredible privilege it is to have seven letters from the Lord Jesus - that are written to the Church of God and to pay heed to everything that they say.
Along with many holy men of God, Isaiah prophesied of Christ; the Servant of God, Jesus Christ the righteous Who was sent to save His people Israel from their sins.
Four hundred years of silence from God was broken with the arrival of Jesus.
Godly sorrow for their sin combined with a wholehearted commitment to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the object of faith was the single message.
And for three years, Jesus sought fruit from His people Israel, but as a nation they rejected Him.
Before He could set up His promised millennial rule, Jesus must first be offered as the one and only sacrificial Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
Too often, we look at the great power with which the apostles in the early Church gave testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and the abundant grace which they received from God in their powerful witness, and bemoan the fact that this is no longer the case today.
One significant difference is that the early disciples of Jesus unhesitatingly believed the Scriptures and depended entirely upon the Lord to move on their behalf.
Another significant distinction was that they stood fast on the authority given to the Lord Jesus, believing that the same mighty power of God had been entrusted to them, in and through the name of Jesus.
But one vital element is that the early Church delivered a powerful testimony of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
May our testimony for the Lord reflect the same confidence in Christ as we boldly proclaim the good news of the death, burial, and Resurrection of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
There is no more beautiful name than the lovely name of the Lord Jesus.
But here we read that His name shall be called Jesus, because He was the One to save His people from their sins.
Jesus certainly came as the Saviour of the whole world.
But we also know that Jesus came to His own people, the Jewish nation, and they rejected Him, thus opening up the floodgates of salvation to whosoever will, both Jew and Gentile.
The Seed of the woman that was to crush the serpent's head travelled secretly through the generations, first through Seth to Noah, then from Abraham to the sons of Jacob, via Ruth to David, and on and on through the royal line of Judah to great David's greater Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah: the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
This was so that Jesus could fulfil His promise and prophecies to unite the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel into one glorious kingdom and to save that little nation from their sins.
But His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people Israel from their sins.
And through Israel, all the families of the earth shall be blessed, for whosoever trusts in Jesus as Saviour, Jew or Gentile, male or female, old or young, slave or free, ALL have the right to become the children of God.
Let us learn from Jesus when He says, Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
From the beginning of Genesis to the final Revelation of Jesus Christ, we discover that God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.
They despised Paul's doctrine and attempted to undermine his teachings, and although they claimed to believe in Jesus, they did not understand the gospel of grace or accept that Israel had been set aside for a season during the Church age (the dispensation of the grace of God).
Jesus gave a detailed discourse about the Bread of Life to the same multitude who had just partaken of the five barley loaves and two small fishes.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus was teaching the people that He had been sent from God to carry out the will of the Father.
Jesus wanted to show that just as He was able to heal all their sicknesses and provide for their physical needs, He is also the One Who could heal the broken soul, release them from the slave-market of sin, bind up their emotional distresses, and bring inner peace and joy to their heart.
Jesus alone is the One that can supply the spiritual food every one of us so desperately needs.
Jesus often used the natural to illustrate a spiritual truth, and the feeding of their bodies with food was used as a demonstration of what He could do for them in the spiritual realm.
Jesus referred to Himself as: The Bread of Life to emphasise the lesson He wanted them to learn: I am the bread of life, He told them, No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever thirst again.
Jesus told this crowd the truth when He called Himself the Bread of Life, for in Him was Life everlasting.
Jesus came down to earth from heaven to breathe new life into those who were dead in their sin and estranged from God.
The Lord Jesus did not simply come to sustain their physical life but to give eternal life, and this was the vital message He sought to teach this great multitude.
They refused to believe in Jesus unless He produced a miracle equivalent to that of Moses who 'fed' the children of Israel with manna for 40 years!
Although they were prompted to follow Jesus, it was only to gratify their earthly appetites and not to satiate their spiritual poverty.
But as Jesus explained: As I told you before, you've seen Me and yet you do not believe.
Jesus was attempting to teach this unbelieving crowd that His life did not begin in Bethlehem as the son of Mary.
Jesus has existed from all eternity with His heavenly Father, yet they refused to recognise Him and believe Him.
Jesus came to do the will of His Father by bringing redemption to the lost race of man.
So united in Spirit and Truth are the Son and the Father, that Jesus was the radiance of His heavenly glory on earth.
Jesus was the exact image of His Father's essence in holiness and purity, in goodness and grace, in compassion and mercy, and in every godly attribute forever and ever. And yet, He was rejected by this unbelieving crowd who were more interested in their next meal than their eternal life in the kingdom to come.
We are to have this same attitude in ourselves that was in Christ Jesus.
We are to look to the Lord Jesus as our example in selfless humility.
Indeed, Jesus was the perfect example of a Man who aligned His will with the will of God and was able to pray on all occasions, THY will, not mine be done. But when our prayers are simply seeking to gratify the desires of the flesh – then we will not receive because we ask amiss.Our Heavenly Father loves to answer the prayers of His children when they are asked aright and are poured forth from a humble heart that loves and trusts Him and is seeking to do His will.
From the beginning of the book of Hebrews, the Lord Jesus Christ is elevated above every prophet of God and all angelic beings.
The Lord Jesus is far higher in rank and authority than Aaron the first high priest of Israel, and His ministry eclipses the Levitical priesthood.
In former times, an annual atonement was made for the sin of the nation, where the blood of animals covered the sin of the people for a single year. And yet through the sacrifice of His life, Christ Jesus obtained eternal redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting for all who would believe in Him.
May we never ever minimise the incredible sacrifice that Jesus made on our account, and the tremendous power that the blood of Christ has in the lives of all who trust in His redemptive work.
May we never diminish the inconceivable sacrifice the Lord Jesus gave, when He left His home in glory, made Himself a little lower than the angels on our account, and clothed Himself in mortal flesh, so that by the willing sacrifice of His sinless life..
Before this special time of prayer, Jesus compelled His little band of disciples to get into the fishing boat and sail to Bethsaida, on the far side of Lake Galilee... and then He withdrew to a mountain to pray.
But it was the Lord Jesus Who approached them, demonstrating once again, that He was the Lord of nature Who could turn water to wine, multiply loaves and fishes, direct sickness and diseases to flee away, and command the very howling winds and raging waves to be still.
The Bible reminds us 365 times to not be afraid, but to trust in our Creator God and glorious Saviour Jesus Christ, for He created all things by the word of His mouth and He upholds all things by the strength of His infinite power.
By grace through faith in Christ's redeeming work, we have been made His children, and as such, we have many precious promises from our heavenly Father which are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let us always look to Jesus and reflect on all He is and all He has promised... for His Word is true and His promises are sure.
Let us keep our eyes looking to Jesus and away from the circumstances of life, knowing that He is with us and will never fail us nor forsake us - for our hope is not in this world and our trust should not be in ourselves.
Our hope is in our heavenly Saviour, Jesus Christ the righteous.
They will bow before the awesome splendour of Jesus Christ the Son of God and Son of Man Whose presence and majesty will cause the earth and heaven to flee away.
All judgement of the saved and unsaved has been placed by God into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, and at the end of His millennial rule on earth this Great White Throne of judgement will be set up in the midst of heaven and Christ will pass judgement on the unsaved of all ages.
What beautiful truths are shared about our new life in Christ, where we discover that we are all members of His Body, united together in Him, free from bondage to sin and the curse of the law, each one with his own distinctive gifts and ministries, but each looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Although the book of Acts is often described as the acts or actions of the apostles in the fledgling Christian church, this volume of Scripture would more accurately be called the continuing acts or undertakings of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke in his Gospel, described all that the Lord Jesus began to do and teach in His earthly ministry and he also put on record, in the book of Acts, all that Jesus continued to do and to teach.
In the Gospel of Luke, the Lord Jesus was clothed with His own humanity, for when Christ came into the world, he said: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a Body You prepared for Me.
All that Jesus Christ continued to do through His Body, the Church, was recorded in the second letter that Theophilus received from Doctor Luke, in those opening years of the dispensation of grace.
In Luke's Gospel, the Lord Jesus was seen to wear His own humanity in a human body, while in the book of the Acts, the Lord Jesus clothed His activity and actions with the humanity of forgiven sinners who were redeemed by His blood and indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God.
We are instructed to abide in Christ, rest in His love, and submit to the work of the Holy Spirit within our heart so that we too may be part of that glorious cloud of witnesses that are being used by God to continue carrying out the acts of Jesus Christ in our lives, to His praise and glory.
It is because of God's grace and mercy that sinful man is able to be redeemed by the blood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and our sins washed away forever.
He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the power of the Holy Spirit, and then generously poured out the riches of the Holy Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ, simply because we trusted Him as our Saviour.
Both Silas and Timothy were at Thessalonica with Paul on his 2nd missionary journey when he wrote this letter to the Thessalonian Church, and despite differences in ages and backgrounds, they worked closely together in sharing the gospel of grace for the glory of God, and to exalt the person, work, and deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He simply addressed himself as 'Paul' the insignificant man who met with Jesus on the road to Damascus and became the greatest missionary the world has ever known.
But they are also IN God the Son, for we read: Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
Not only are we In God the Father but also IN the Lord Jesus Christ, our Creator God and eternal Saviour.
When we are recipients of God's grace, by faith, we have access to God's peace: Peace WITH God because our sins are forgiven, and the peace OF God which guards our hearts as we rest and remain: In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
May we abide in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ so we may enjoy ongoing fellowship with Him through prayer and praise.
We too lift high the name of Jesus, for He is our Rod and our Staff.
He is the One upon Whom we are to cast our heavy burdens, for Jesus won every spiritual battle we will face, when He proclaimed from the Cross: It is finished.
The Lord Jesus Christ was fully human - yet He was born without sin.
The Lord Jesus was fully God for He was the Word made flesh.
The Lord Jesus was truly God, but He was also fully man.
If Jesus was not fully God, He would not have been qualified to pay the price for sin - for God alone is holy, and righteous, good, and gracious.
It is important, therefore, that we acknowledge Jesus to be fully Man Who lived as we live - according to the limitations of our fleshly covering and human makeup.
And Jesus was tried and tested as we are - yet, throughout the course of His earthly life, HE did not sin in thought, word, or deed.
Jesus was the God-Man Who learned obedience by the things that He suffered and like us, throughout His earthly sojourn, He was acquainted with all manner of griefs.
Jesus was perfected, during His life, to equip Him for His role as the Author and Finisher of our faith - He was the source of eternal life for all who would believe in Him and He was sent by the Father to give His life as the ransom price for the sin of the world and obtain redemption for all who would believe on His name.
But it is vital that the Lord Jesus is equally acknowledged as the living God - the incarnate Word of the Father Who came from His heavenly abode to reconcile the world to God.
It was not through the blood of bulls or calves, sheep or goats that Jesus became our holy Hight Priest, the heavenly Mediator between God and man - but through the sacrificial offering of His own life and the shedding of His own blood.
Jesus was hailed as their long awaited Messiah and the expectation was that He would bless those that were poor in spirit, feed the hungry, heal the sick, comfort the afflicted, defeat their hated enemies, and set up the prophesied heavenly kingdom of peace and prosperity.
And so at this high point of His popularity, Jesus as the King of Israel, laid down God's required standard of spiritual purity to the people of Israel; an ideal that is only found in a repentant heart that is in right relationship with God.
Jesus listed the inner qualities of purity, mercy, gentleness, and grace, which conflicted so starkly with the outward facade of self-righteousness displayed by their religious leaders: And Jesus opened His mouth and taught His disciples saying: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus did not present the way of salvation in His Sermon on the Mount, but described the required conduct of a person that is in a right relationship with God.
The union of God and Man in the Person of Christ Jesus is far beyond the limited understanding of finite man.
As eternal Deity, the Lord never grows faint or weary and there is no limit to His wisdom and understanding, but as humanity, Jesus grew tired and hungry.
The early signs of His rejection had already begun in Judea, and Christ knew His earthly ministry would focus in Galilee, but although He was sent as Messiah to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Jesus was also to become the Saviour of the world.
Jesus started talking to this despised, immoral, isolated Samaritan woman so that her need for His living water and the eternal life that He offers to all by grace through faith in Him, could be satisfied.
But what of the question that the Lord asked to this woman of Samaria: Give Me a drink. Both Jesus and the woman knew that Jews did not associate with Samaritans and yet, this loving question from Jesus opened up a dialogue that would lead to the salvation of her soul.
To do so will ensure that God's incomprehensible peace will protect our hearts and govern our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are to discover our joy in the Lord and gladden our hearts by developing an attitude of rejoicing in Him and in the power of His might so that we may press on to the upward goal of our calling in Christ Jesus.
We are warned neither to fret nor to become anxious about anything that life may throw at us, but rather we are strongly exhorted to depend entirely upon the Lord for everything, for His Word is true and His promises are all 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus.
Let us seek to live our Christian life as God intended, with right thinking, right speaking, right acting, and right praying so that the peace of God which transcends all understanding guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.
How wonderful is the truth that we are saved, that all our sins were washed away, and we were born from above, the moment we trusted Christ Jesus as Saviour.
But because He is rich in mercy and not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and turn from their sins, He washed away our sins and gave us new life in Christ, by the power of His Holy Spirit, and the one and only 'condition' is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
We were washed clean the moment we were born again and were made a new creation in Christ by means of the Holy Spirit (Whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour).
Jesus Christ uniquely gave His life as the ransom price for the sins of humanity.
As Son of God, Jesus is fully able to save all who believe on His name.
And John was given a glimpse into the awesome throne room of heaven, where he saw Jesus perfectly embodying both these roles; the Lamb of God, slain to give humanity eternal life, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah, triumphant and able to judge the world.
Progressive sanctification is part of our spiritual development, where we are being conformed, day by day, into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ.
He trusted God to complete the good work which was started in each of their lives the moment they trusted Christ Jesus for salvation, and it was this deep love and intense yearning towards all that are united together in Christ, that caused Paul to cry out to them all: God is my witness, of how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
It was out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ (and his affection for them all) that Paul embraced his imprisonment with joy, and viewed it as a demonstration of his love for them all.
When the love of Jesus is genuinely filling our hearts, we discover a joy in the Lord that is inexpressible and a peace in our heart that passes human understanding.
Never diminish the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is ONLY by faith in Him that we are redeemed from the slave-market of sin.
It is not sufficient to believe in the historical Jesus.
Jesus is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life eternal, and NO-ONE comes to God the Father except through God the Son, by the power of God the Holy Spirit.
We were bought with a price: the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus was raised back to life and ascended into heaven to take back the glory He set aside when He came to earth as the Messiah of Israel and Redeemer of the world.
God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW.
Our blessed Hope rests on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
At the beginning of Mark, chapter 2, we read that Jesus had returned to Capernaum, after having completed an exhaustive preaching tour throughout the Galilean region.
However, soon after Jesus returned to His home base at Capernaum, following this strenuous teaching tour, we discover that people suddenly realised that Jesus was back in their village again..
and soon the message was spread abroad, that the Lord Jesus had returned to Capernaum!
Jesus naturally started speaking to them the word of life, and proclaiming the good news of the gospel of God and the coming kingdom, for He knew that they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus did not have much time to recuperate from his arduous preaching assignment before He was surrounded by vast numbers of people who wanted to see Him, and who brought the sick and lame so that they could be healed, and so we read, Jesus, having returned to Capernaum, after some days - it was rumoured about - that He was in the house.
This is the precursor to the healing of the paralytic man whose four friends were so desperate to bring him to Jesus for healing, that they joined the thronging crowds and even clambered up onto the roof of the house, in order to bring this man to Jesus.
Jesus died in our place, was buried, and rose again, according to the Scriptures.
All who enter that coming kingdom will have been saved, by God's grace, from the wrath of God, by faith... and the Lord Jesus will be their refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm.
And so, as the time for His Ascension drew ever closer and His disciples were to take full responsibility to carry on the work that Lord Jesus had started, He said to them once again: Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.
Earlier, the Lord Jesus had promised to leave His peace with His faithful followers: My peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you.
Jesus came as the Messiah of the Jews and the King of Israel.
The Lord Jesus came as a servant Who emptied Himself of everything so that He did only those things that His Father willed.
Jesus delighted to do His Father's will and demonstrated how to please the Father by the life that He lived in order that those who were to become His witnesses would know how to live to the glory of God in a Christ-rejecting, God-hating sinful world.
As the time for His departure drew ever closer, Jesus said to them once again: Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.
In the same way that Jesus was sent by His Father to preach the gospel of God to a lost and dying world, so we also are sent by Jesus to preach the gospel of Christ to a lost and dying world: That whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus Christ is the truth from God and any 'truth' that does not line up with the truth of God's Word is spawned from a spirit of antichrist; a spirit of error that is rooted in the world, a spirit that is not from God, and a spirit that will not listen to the truth.
And often, we find that the time spent in prayer at the throne of grace changes us, moving our focus onto Jesus, being conformed into His image as we decrease and He increases in our lives.
We do not have a distant, ineffective God but a God of peace Who made peace with us through the death of the Lord Jesus, and Who gives us His own perfect peace as we remain in fellowship with Him.
We are reminded of some of Jesus' parting words to the disciples, as recorded by John: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
Mockers scorned, women wept, and the whole heavenly host gazed on in stunned silence and awestruck wonder, as the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Father, fulfilled the final letter-of-the-Law to satisfy the holy requirements of a thrice-holy God.
And there is nothing that we can add to the price that Jesus paid on the Cross.
Only God, Himself, in the Person of Jesus Christ is able to redeem us (by faith), and He did this by dying on a tree and becoming a curse in our place.
God's wrath was poured out upon Jesus to pay the price for your sins and for mine instead of God's wrath being poured out on you and on me.
The letter sent to the church of the Laodiceans was not one of Paul's 'inspired' writings (it was not included in the New Testament), but no doubt addressed certain important issues to the church of the Laodiceans that may have been later challenged by Jesus Himself in His seventh letter, recorded in Revelation 3.
And although Paul's epistle to the Colossians is part of the Church's canon of Scripture, Colossae was not a Church that was included in John's final writing - the Apocalypse - the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The heavenly Person that stood before him was none other than a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ Jesus, the Lord.
During His earthly walk, the Lord Jesus was able to claim, Before Abraham was - I AM. Jesus could equally have proclaimed that before Moses, David, and Solomon, I AM, for the Commander Who stood before Joshua was the One Who had spoken to Moses in the burning bush when He proclaimed, I AM that I AM.
He was the pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus Christ, the righteous.
And the very question that Joshua asked, should be asked of each one of us What has my Lord to say to His servant? It was Jesus, our Lord and our God Who redeemed us from the slave-market of sin.
It was Jesus Who came to earth as our Kinsman-Redeemer, shed His blood on the Cross for our redemption, and broke the power of sin and death in our lives through His glorious Resurrection.
It is that same Jesus Who demands that we honour Him, yield to Him, reverence Him, and submit to His leading and guidance, as we journey through life and face the many trials and tribulations that will stalk our path.
But Paul knew that nothing could separate him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, and that no one could pluck him out of God's hands - and he wanted the saints at Rome to know the same truth in their heart, and to encourage these believers to hold fast to the faith, and stand firm on the truth of the gospel of God.
This song of praise points to the future destiny of humanity and the Man, Christ Jesus, to Whom has been granted even greater universal dominion, eternal joy and heavenly privileges.
As believers, we can allow sin to rule and reign in our mortal body and give in to the sinful desires of our fleshly nature OR we can consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Despite being in prison, it was Paul's delight to preach and proclaim the glorious gospel of grace and the wonderful truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As God's chosen apostle to the Gentiles, he wanted to warn us to live godly in Christ Jesus, to admonish us to grow in grace, to encourage us to walk in spirit and truth, and to teach us the unsearchable riches of God.
May we all mature in the Lord, with every passing day so that we measure up to the full and complete stature and standard of Christ Jesus, our Saviour, for His praise and glory.
The Lord Jesus Himself told us that peacemakers are blessed by God and are called His children, but in a fallen world, peace is something that is only found in Christ - and we must seek after it and actively work to maintain it.
They plan for peace and even sign peace treaties, but only believers in Jesus will find true peace, for peace WITH God comes only to those who trust in Christ as Saviour, and the peace OF God is given to those believers who maintain sweet fellowship with the Father.
We are to live and walk and pray in spirit and truth and then the peace of God, which surpasses our human understanding, and will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the increasingly evil days in which we live, let us turn from everything that is evil, walk by the Spirit, doing good in His power and for His glory, and seek the peace which transcends understanding, and which is only found in the loving arms of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so Jesus set about explaining in detail Who He was and What He represented: You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am.
Jesus was both Son of Man and Son of God - fully human yet fully God, of one Being with the Father through Whom all things were made, Who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven to be our Teacher, our Lord, our Saviour, and our God.
We have been called, chosen, justified, sanctified, and glorified as His witnesses so that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus - the One that we call Teacher and Lord, Saviour, and Friend.
There is only one Almighty God, and He has made it very clear that He will not share His glory with another, and yet we discover Jesus making the most astonishing claims which if not true, would be outrageous and even blasphemous.
Jesus not only claimed to be of equal status with the Father, but declared that He had the same authority to raise the dead and should be ascribed the same honour and glory as His Father in heaven.
Although He was fully God and possessed the same eternal power, authority, and attributes as the Father, the Lord Jesus was also fully human.
Jesus became the perfect example of how every man had been created to live; in complete dependence upon the Father, willingly submitted to His perfect guidance, and in utter obedience to His perfect will.
Despite being fully God, Jesus was content to do nothing of Himself which is why we read: The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
After the Lord Jesus confessed that He only carries out the will of the Father, He explained that although He is living His life under the authority and direction of the Father, He still retains His Deity.
As the obedient Son of Man, He was highly exalted and given a name that is above every name and a position that is above every man; that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that the Man, Christ Jesus, is God of all gods and Lord of all lords, for He lived and died as the obedient Son of the Father.
The Son of God was obedient to the Father's will and became the Man, Christ Jesus.
Every divine prerogative that Christ set aside when He took upon Himself the form of a man, was reinstated to Him when He rose from the dead, such that anyone who refuses to honour the Lord Jesus Christ, dishonours our Heavenly Father: For He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father Who sent Him.
Israel's past folly was not only prophesied by Isaiah and recorded by many prophetic voices, but was clearly seen during the time that Jesus walked the earth.
They believed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God Who had come to defeat their enemies.
Earlier, Jesus had promised that they were to sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
They had just heard Jesus announce that Peter would deny Him three times, before the cock crowed in the morning.
These were the perplexing circumstances that surrounded Christ's little group of faithful followers, but this was the night that Jesus shared some words of comfort and consolation, that has blessed so many, down through the ages: Peace I leave with you.
But 'peace' was what Jesus promised His people, amidst the disturbing circumstances that loomed before His disciples.
And as we seize hold of this truth in our heart, the more we discover that the perfect peace of God which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and protect our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As we face the ever-increasing turmoil and confusion that reigns in this fallen world, let us fix our gaze on Jesus, knowing that God will keep us in perfect peace when our mind is focussed on Him.
For over three years the Lord Jesus had gone about doing good, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and raising the dead, with great signs and miracles which authenticated His claim to be the Messiah, the Servant of God about Whom Isaiah and the prophets spoke.
Pilate's efforts to release Jesus were disowned and disallowed by the very people He came to save.
They accused Jesus of blasphemy, lied about the truth, and cried out for His blood, instead of receiving Him as the true Servant of God about Whom Isaiah had prophesied.
Imagine how stunned and shocked they must have been to be brought to the terrible realisation that Jesus of Nazareth... Whom they had delivered up to be crucified, was in fact the very Servant of God about Whom Isaiah had spoken.
God turned the greatest tragedy into the greatest triumph, for through Christ's death, the penalty of sin was paid and by means of His resurrection, the power of death in the lives of all who believe was broken forever - for although Christ was delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, glorified His servant Jesus Whom today is seated on the right hand of the Almighty in power and great glory - and He deserves our everlasting glory, thanks, honour, and praise.
Knowledge and application of sound biblical doctrine contained in Scripture is the only foundation for a mature Christian walk and effective Christian service, and Paul reminds the young pastor, Timothy that a good minister of the Lord Jesus Christ must be constantly nourished by the words of the faith and good doctrine.
Like Timothy, we are all to be good servants of Christ Jesus and constantly nourished on the words of the faith that was given to the saints, and of sound biblical doctrine.
Let us remember: At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In the early days of Christ's ministry, John (the energetic 'son of thunder') was disposed to call down fire on those who refused to welcome Jesus into their village.
John no doubt recalled Christ's words of wisdom and His life-give teachings as he reflected on those three amazing years when Jesus walked with them in the way, taught them by the sea, was transfigured before their eyes on the holy mount of God, and transported up into the heavens following His glorious Resurrection from the dead.
He accuses those who contradict the truth of the glorious gospel of grace of being deceivers, and John identifies those who deny that Jesus is the Christ, the son the living God, as 'LIARS'.
Throughout the history of the Church, there have been many false teachers, legalists, apostates, heretics, and antichrists who deny that Jesus is the Son of the living God and co-equal with the Father, and John makes it very clear that those who deny the Son, deny the Father also.
May we take this warning to heart, reject any teaching or teacher who does not hold to the Word of Scripture, and may we confess in our heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, knowing: Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; but the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
Once John was charged to write the book of Revelation, when he met with the resurrected, glorified Lord Jesus in chapter 1.
I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven, John writes, and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me. The angel who met John in the prologue was the same angel who accompanied him throughout the entire revelation of Jesus Christ, which the Father gave to His Son, to give to John through His angel.
And being: In the spirit on the Lord's day, John was given an amazing insight into the future, and greater revelation of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and Lion of the tribe of Judah.
God's overflowing grace began to be poured out into the world and His precious gift of salvation came to reign in life, through the one Man, Jesus Christ Who became the atonement for the sin of the whole world.
May we look to Jesus, abide in Him, and walk in the light as He is in the light.
When Jesus said, I Am the Good Shepherd, He claimed to be the true Shepherd of Israel.
Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus was sent by God to care for the lost sheep of the house of Israel and that He came to fulfil the oath that God swore to their forefather, Abraham, and his seed forever.
Jesus was the hope of all nations Who was sent from heaven to redeem His people from their sin and to save them from their enemies.
Jesus came at God's appointed time to protect the sheep of His pasture and to expose the false, careless shepherds who slaughtered the sheep, scattered the flock, and created havoc and hardship within the sheepfold.
Not only was Jesus the Good Shepherd Who gave His life for the sheep, but He also claimed, I am the door. He said, I am the door of the sheepfold, if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd Who leads His flock beside still waters causing them to lie down in green pasture; He also protects the vulnerable little lambs and His defenceless sheep from all the evils that stalk His people.
In this passage, Jesus is the 'Door' in a number of different ways.
Israel was the means (the door) through which Jesus entered the world, for He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel as the Jewish Messiah of the house of David... but He also came as Saviour of the whole world - in Whom are the words of eternal life.
Jesus is the Door to salvation for ALL who believe.
This verse makes it very clear that Jesus must be acknowledged as the one and only doorway to salvation and that anyone who enters through Him (believing Jews and believing Gentiles) will be SAVED.
Anyone who believes in Him will receive the free gift of SALVATION: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, Paul told the Philippian jailer, while the Gospel of John made it clear to Nicodemus, a teacher of the Jews, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to be the Door to bring us back into His holy presence, for whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus is the Way, and He is the Truth.
Yes, Jesus is the only Door through Whom we must pass if we are to secure all the precious promises of God, which are 'YES' and 'AMEN' in Him.
Praise God that Jesus is the Door through Whom we will pass from death to life, by faith... and that anyone who enters through Him will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture, not only in this age but in the ages to come - for Jesus is the One Who protects us from the evil schemes of the devil, guards us from the dangers of this fallen world system, secures salvation for all who believe, sustains our spiritual health, promises us a place in Christ's heavenly kingdom, and is keeping, for us, an eternal inheritance in the eternal ages to come.
It was Christ Jesus, his Saviour, Who had fulfilled His many promises, and provided Paul with His sufficient strength that was at the heart of his message to these believers.
Paul was eager to communicate to his readers that the message he taught about the Lord Jesus was steadfast, sure, unalterable, and reliable.
Paul wanted these believers to believe God's Word in their hearts and experience in their lives the Lord's never-failing riches of His grace, and so he wrote: For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are YES! For ALL God's promises are certain and sure in Jesus,... and so through Him we can say 'Amen,' to the glory of God.
The Lord Jesus came to earth as the sin substitute for mankind, and fulfilled all that the Father ordained so that we could be set free from the curse of sin, by faith in Him.
Jesus had erroneously been found guilty of blasphemy by the Jews, despite being the eternal Son of God, and proving His authenticity through the many prophetic signs, miracles, and wonders that were carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit, during His three-year ministry.
To placate the bolshie attitude of the impious, blinded Jews, Pilate carried out a farcical judicial hearing against the Lord Jesus.
He recognised that the charges against this Jewish prisoner were being fabricated due to jealousy and envy... and he even used a number of legal tactics to try to free Jesus from the false charges.
It was during a private interrogation that Pilate asked his world-famous question of Jesus, what is truth?
And so, in order to resolve the irritating problem that had been dropped in his lap, Pilate magnanimously offered to release Jesus and drop the criminal charges against Him - knowing full well that He was being falsely accused and was innocent of all the criminal accusations against Him.
However the satanically inspired accusers of Christ were baying for His death and as a further unethical compromise, Pilate agreed to give a criminal, called Barabbas, his freedom in place of Jesus. I find no fault in this Man, was Pilates final verdict of Christ to His accusers - but despite being found innocent of any crime, Pilate condemned the Lord Jesus to scourging, ridicule, mockery, and death... and we read in this verse, Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him.
Romans is also identified as the gospel of Christ, for the Lord Jesus effected it by His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.
Christ Jesus accomplished the good news of God, which was determined in the eternal council chambers of heaven, and Christ will complete it when He returns in power and great glory to set up His eternal kingdom.
And in this verse, we discover that a day is coming when God will judge the secrets of men's hearts through Jesus Christ, the man appointed as God's righteous judge.
In brief, as members of Christ's Body, our lives should be a reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ in us through a practical demonstration of loving acts, kindly deeds, and gracious words.
As the times in which we live become darker and darker, may we draw closer to the Lord with every passing day, as we seek to know more of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Let our hearts desire be to reflect the yearning desire of the ageing apostle Paul, who near the end of his life cried out, That I may know Christ and the power of His resurrection and participate in the fellowship of His suffering, so that our Christian religion may be pure and undefiled, and our relationship with the Lord Jesus become increasingly intimate.
Before he met Jesus, Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
Paul had to come to the shocking truth that within his very being was an inherited sin nature that was far removed from the holiness that God required of everyman, and only the precious blood of the perfect God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, could cleanse his heart and wash away the blackness of his sins.
That I may be conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.
And as we submit to the leading, guiding, and correction of the Holy Spirit, He will use all things, including our suffering and pain, to work together for good to His praise and glory, as did Christ our perfect, obedient, example: That I may be conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus was teaching the people that it is not what you DO that will get you into His kingdom but what you BELIEVE.
Jesus was teaching that redemption from the slave-market of this world, into the freedom of Christ's Millennial Kingdom, depends on what you believe and not what you do.
Jesus was actually presenting TWO ways to be saved, but only ONE is possible for the fallen race of men.
EITHER, live a sinless life by keeping the entire Law OR believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Jesus was showing that the only way to enter the kingdom of heaven and participate in Christ's millennial rule on the earth is to be saved.
We are saved by grace through faith in JESUS CHRIST, and this is non-negotiable.
The Lord Jesus is the one and only righteous man, Who has ever walked this earth.
The Jews proudly considered that their Jewish heritage automatically granted them this favour, but Jesus corrected this thinking by teaching: The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
There is one Lord Who is God of all creation, and the offer of salvation, which He provides by faith in the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, is equally available to all people, Jew and Gentile, black and white, free or in bondage, male and female, young and old... for all have sinned and all fall far short of the glory of God and the godly perfection He requires.
God is no respecter of persons and those who believe on the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, have His assurance that they are saved - by God's grace, through faith in Christ.
This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased, were the wonderful words of encouragement that thundered from heaven when the Lord Jesus fulfilled all righteousness, by being baptised by John in the Jordan river.
If the human race were to be redeemed from a lost eternity, the Lord Jesus had to live a sinless life, in total dependence upon the Father by walking in spirit and in truth.
Jesus was appointed to be the sin-sacrifice for the race of mankind.
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a young virgin as the Scriptures had foretold, and like His cousin, John, Jesus was filled with the Holy Ghost from His mother's womb.
The young Jesus had grown in favour with God and man in as the youthful carpenter of Nazareth, but following the heavenly announcement at His unique baptism, we read: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.
As the representative of the human race, Jesus would have to live in willing surrender and total obedience to His heavenly Father in the power of the Holy Spirit every moment of the day, for the rest of His life.
And in the power of the same indwelling Holy Spirit that led the Lord Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan and raised Him from the dead, we have the power of the same indwelling, life-giving Spirit Who will guide us into all truth as we live in humble submission and willing obedience to His leading.
This title showcases Lucifer's arrogance, seeking to counterfeit our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God's true Day-Star and the one, legitimate Bright Morning Star.
Satan defiantly declares his resolve, which is to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ, trump the will of the Almighty, and exalt his position above everyone else with his prideful announcement: I will be like the most High.
Having been made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ, while we were still enemies of God and wallowing in sinful rebellion, and having received the free gift of eternal life by grace through faith in Him, how much more certain is it that, during this life, we shall be delivered daily from the dominion of sin in our lives through Christ's resurrection life?
Praise God that when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Himself by the death of His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, the apostle Paul considered these things and everything else that life and living has to offer, as worth nothing by comparison with the surpassing value, joy, wonder, worth, and glory of knowing Christ Jesus.
Paul lost or lacked all these things and more besides, for the infinite excellency of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.
In Paul's estimation, knowing the Lord Jesus in an increasingly intimate and personal way was of far greater value that all that this world could offer, and yet right up until the end of his life, Paul's passion and greatest desire was to learn more of his Master and Lord: to KNOW Christ.
Before his conversion, Paul had all that this world could offer but, like Moses before him, he refused to be enticed by the benefits and advantages that this life had to offer, recognising that by comparison, knowing Christ Jesus was of paramount importance.
Let us take Paul's example to heart and recognise the immense worth and surpassing value, joy, wonder, and glory of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.
May we be able to say with Paul: I count all things to be loss, in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ.
Our hearts should be so in touch with our Father and so in love with the Lord that it is our delight to filter every thought that comes into our mind through the Lord Jesus, to offer up every situation in which we find ourselves, and to bring whoever we are with or whoever crosses the path of our thoughts, to the Lord in prayer.
Jesus Himself is currently seated on the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us.
The Lord Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.
The eternal Son of God was born into the human race as the perfect Son of Man, and the radiance of His beauty was identical in every way to the glorious brilliance of the Fath, for Jesus was full of grace and truth.
Jesus came to earth to save His people from their sin, in fulfilment of God's promise to the fathers.
He came to take up His rightful position as God's anointed King, but in rejecting Jesus, they rejected the Father in heaven.
Jesus alone has the authority to insist, If you have seen ME, you have seen the Father, and whoever rejects ME rejects Him Who sent Me.
In this passage, the Lord Jesus commissioned seventy of His disciples to travel throughout the land as His chosen representatives.
They were to be Christ's spokespeople, and by declaring Jesus as Messiah, they proclaimed Him to be the holy One of God.
Those who accepted the message of the seventy, not only listened the words of Jesus but also to the Father Who sent Him.
The Church of Christ are ministers of the New and better Covenant and anyone who listens to us and heeds our words, not only listens to the Lord Jesus but also is listening to the Father in heaven Who sent Him.
What a privilege and responsibility to discover that these words spoken to Christ's 70 disciples when commissioned by Him in Luke, are equally meaningful to ALL who have been called by His name: The one who listens to you, Jesus said, listens to Me, and the one who rejects you, rejects Me; and the one who rejects Me also rejects the One Who sent Me.
Jesus ended His teaching with an important command which not only reminds us to hear His Word, but to give our undivided attention to all He says and to inwardly digest all He teaches: He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Because their minds were open to the truth, they waited until the crowd had dispersed and were alone with Jesus, and then they questioned Him about its meaning.
But he also recognised that they held a steadfast hope in the return of the Lord Jesus - a blessed hope that He would come in the clouds to take them to be with Himself, into the presence of God the Father.
He saved us to obtain salvation through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
However, during those few short weeks, Paul taught them some tremendous truths, including the return of the Lord Jesus in the air to take His Body into His presence at the Rapture - to claim His Bride, which is the Church: And so we shall forever be with the Lord.
In this passage, Paul gives an expanded teaching on the glorious truth he wrote about in Corinthians, that this fallen, decaying body of ours will put on incorruption: But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' And Paul encourages us to comfort one another with these words, to encourage each other as we watch and wait for the return of the Lord Jesus in the clouds, to take us to be with Himself.
We live in a world that seems to be spiralling out-of-control, but just as the God of all comforts and Father of all mercies comforts us in all of our difficulties and sufferings, so we are exhorted to comfort others in the midst of all the difficulties and dangers that they are also facing, and what more appropriate, blessed, and true comfort can we offer, than to bring to remembrance the soon return of the Lord Jesus on that day when we will be raptured into His presence?
Jesus was the promised Messiah that the nation of Israel was eagerly awaiting... and there were many identifying marks and prophetic signs, recorded in the Old Testament, which would establish His identity.
Jesus used this healing to open the eyes of those who had not yet recognised Him as their Messiah, to revive those that were weary, and to call His chosen people to repent for the kingdom of God was near and the King was living among them.
The healed man pleaded his 'innocence' and appeared ignorant of Who Jesus was, when interrogated by the Jewish leaders.
But the Lord was more interested in this man's eternal soul and did not want him to miss the opportunity of salvation through faith in his Messiah, and so the Lord Jesus searched for him and we read: Afterward He found him in the temple and said to him, 'Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.'
I wonder if this man was thanking God for his healing when Jesus found him in the Temple, or if his attitude was apathetic and thankless - for he chose to tell the Jewish leaders who were so outraged about the Sabbath healing and that it was Jesus Who had healed him.
It was the Lord Jesus Who told Him to take up his bed and walk on the Sabbath day!
Although certain illness and ailments may result from sinfulness, the eternal consequences of sin are far more terrible than a lifetime of sickness... for the wages of sin is death, which means eternal separation from God and all that is good - however, the gift of God is eternal life for all who trust in Him - through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are all born - physically alive but spiritually dead in our sins, but every one of us has the opportunity to have ALL our sin forgiven, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But how terrible for the unsaved sinner who rejects God's offer of salvation and dies in their sin - for they will be judged for the good works THEY did and not the good work that JESUS did on their behalf - but the good deeds they did will inevitably fall short of the glory of God.
The infinite and indisputable supremacy of the Lord Jesus is the singular focus of the first few chapters of Hebrews.
And Christ Jesus, being the exact image and representation of the invisible God through Whom the world was made, is counted far more worthy that Moses - for Christ is the brightness of God's glory and appointed Son of the immortal, invisible, most high God.
We are living in an age when the Lord Jesus Himself is shortly going to return in the clouds to take us to be with Himself, forever.
We are also fast approaching the day when the Lord Jesus Christ will finally return to earth with all His saints and set His feet upon the Mount of Olives; a time when Jesus will set up His Millennial Kingdom in Jerusalem.
It was a time when the Holy Spirit of God came to indwell the hearts of all who trust in the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
This was a time when the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave the apostle John on Patmos, had not yet been penned, and today we are living in those times about which Christ's beloved disciple wrote.
Saul of Tarsus had it all as far as the world was concerned: power, prestige, position, privilege, and prosperity, but after his conversion, he simply became Paul the apostle and bond-slave of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself told us that there will be no profit for a man who gains the whole world, but loses his soul.
And Jesus warns us against laying up treasures on earth (where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal), but exhorts us to lay up treasures in heaven.
To John the apostle, and his brother James, Jesus gave the name Boanerges, which means 'sons of thunder.' No doubt, they possessed some 'thunderous' qualities to be given such a nickname.
Indeed, Luke records an occasion where James and John were so incensed that Jesus was not welcomed in a certain village, they asked Jesus, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?
for which Jesus rebuked them.
He identifies himself several times throughout Scripture as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and historically, he has been dubbed the 'apostle of love'.
Well, as John spent time with Jesus, walking with Him in the way, being taught, and cared for, and experiencing the love of the Father being poured out through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, he witnessed the very essence of the character of God - love.
The same proclamation may be declared by all who trust in the Lord for salvation: All our enemies will one day be ashamed and all our foes will be greatly dismayed, for the time is coming when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord.
God does not always remove the painful circumstances in this life, but, as with Job and David, He will give us the sufficient strength to come through victoriously, and by His grace will give us a deeper knowledge and understanding of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
They were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus - and His brothers.
You will be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now, were the final words that were still ringing in their ears as, with one accord, they devoted themselves to prayer, together with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers, and the many faithful women who had devoted their heart to their Saviour.
And together, they experienced an inner thrill and expectant hope that their risen, ascended, and glorified Lord, would send the Holy Spirit not many days from that amazing moment, when they had watched Jesus ascend up into heaven - only a few days earlier.
They were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women - and even Mary the mother of Jesus, and His own brothers who had ridiculed him throughout His ministry, were part of that praying company, as with one mind, they hammered on heaven's door.
Let us stand firm on the promises of God, and wait in earnest expectation for the imminent return of the Lord Jesus for his Church - and let us foster that true heart-focus on Christ, which should permeate the lives of all believers until it is, not I that live, but Christ that lives in me.
Jesus was sent to be the perfect Lamb, slain before the foundation of the earth - through Whose sacrificial blood their scarlet sins could be wiped away, by faith, and become as white as snow: Though your sins are red like crimson, they will be like wool, is God's promise to His people Israel - and His promises are 'YES' and 'AMEN' in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are to stand firm in the faith and submit to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, day by day, and we are to live our lives looking to Jesus and learning to say, in all things, THY will, not mine be done.
Jesus was the visible image and exact representation of the invisible God.
And yet, as the Cross of Calvary loomed into view... the Lord Jesus girded Himself with a towel and took on the menial task of washing the dirty, dusty feet of His twelve argumentative disciples.
Despite His eternal greatness and divine attributes, Jesus set aside His great glory to give us an example of how God created man to live.
Jesus' example of humility at that last supper when He washed His disciples' feet, enabled Christ to say to each one of us, I gave you an example so that you also should do as I did to you.
Jesus Christ set a pattern for godly living throughout His earthly walk.
Jesus was the promised Messiah Who was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to save His chosen people from their sins.
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, Whom You have sent.
Jesus likened their fruitless attempts to produce a righteousness through human merit to sewing a new patch of un-shrunken cloth onto a well-worn garment, which would result in an even greater tear.
When Jesus gave this teaching, He knew that one day every member of the coming Church would be imputed with the righteous life of Christ Himself.
They can choose whether or not believe in God and Jesus Christ Whom He sent to save them from their sins, and if they choose to believe, they will be forgiven of their sins and clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Christians can choose to either be controlled by the former self-life which can only produce the unacceptable works of self-righteousness, or they can choose to walk in spirit and truth and be controlled by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which will only produce acceptable works of Christ's own righteousness.
A true disciple is one that denies self and lives for Christ, rather than ignoring the commands of the Lord Jesus by living for themselves.
Though this passage is often incorrectly applied to the unbeliever, the Lord Jesus was speaking to his disciples and pointing out the two ways that a believer can follow: 1.
We who have the light of the glorious gospel of Christ in our hearts and the hope of the precious promise of heaven in our sights, should never be careless or apathetic as we wait for our blessed hope - that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Chapter 9, details his journey to the city with an edict from the high priest authorising the arrest of all who followed Jesus.
We read how Jesus met him on the road and challenged him saying: 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' And Paul replied: 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said: 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.'
He explained the reason for his conversion to Christianity: As I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' And I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.' And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.
He described how the glorified Lord Jesus spoke to him in the Hebrew dialect, and asked why Paul was persecuting Him and acting like a foolish donkey, kicking against the goads of his heavenly master.
He relates the shocking answer to that question: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
Saul's hatred of Christians had caused believers to flee far and wide, and knowledge of his threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord was known by all. He described how the glorified Lord Jesus spoke to him in the Hebrew dialect, and asked why Paul was persecuting Him and acting like a foolish donkey, kicking against the goads of his heavenly master.
He relates the shocking answer to that question: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
By oppressing Christians (the Body of Christ), Paul discovered he was persecuting Jesus (the Head of His Body, which is the Church).
Paul immediately relates to his audience the instruction he then received from Jesus: Get up and stand on your feet, for I have appointed you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen but also to the things in which I will appear to you.
He was being chosen by Jesus to proclaim the very gospel he had vowed to extinguish and was told that the Lord Jesus Himself would appear to him once again and he would be given greater revelation, which would later become part of the canon of Scripture.
He was given amazing revelation for the Church from the Lord Jesus Himself and was even caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words which he was never permitted to speak about.
Surely, if a man like Saul with such aggressive hatred against Christ and the Church could become the most devoted follower of the Lord Jesus, others can have the assurance that their sin can also be forgiven, by grace through faith in Him.
Let us tell abroad to Jew, Gentile, governors, kings, people, and all with whom we come in contact, that THIS is eternal life: believe in GOD and believe also in HIM Whom He has sent, Christ Jesus our Saviour.
It is the starting point of 'The Times Of The Gentiles' which comes to its conclusion in the Great Tribulation, when the kingdoms of this world are smashed into pieces by Jesus: the great Stone of stumbling and the Rock of offence that crushes all who do not believe on His name.
When the Stone, which is Jesus Christ, demolishes the Gentile empires, the whole of heaven will rejoice because: The kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdom of our God and our His Christ.
Should we not rejoice in the Lord and thank Him for loving us so much that He sent Jesus to defeat the enemy of our soul and make us citizens of heaven and joint-heirs with Christ?
No doubt this young pastor was aware that a prison cell was awaiting this much-loved prophet of God and that death was standing in the wings to envelop this godly man who had taught him all he knew about Jesus, ministered to him the wonders of God's Word, and instructed him to grow in grace, mature in the faith, and teach others the truth of the gospel of grace.
Our blessed hope is Jesus Who is soon coming to take us to be with Himself.
All are in need of a Saviour and the only way to escape condemnation, to be eternally justified, to be declared righteous in God's eyes, and to be positionally set apart unto Him, is by grace through faith in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every believer is placed in union with Christ, (positionally sanctified) the moment they place their trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
Every believer is holy unto the Lord at salvation... and from that moment, we embark on a lifelong process of sanctification, (practical or progressive sanctification) as the indwelling Holy Spirit works in our life to gradually change us, so that we become more like the Lord Jesus, Himself.
How can I live godly in Christ Jesus when it seems that every good thing I want to do is tainted by my old sin nature?
When Christ is exalted in every area of our life, our bodies become servants of righteousness as He works His work within - so that day by day we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The good news that the risen, ascended and glorified Lord Jesus taught to Paul was given for our learning, so that we need not be tossed to and fro by unbiblical teachings, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.
The Son of God is so much greater than the angelic host of heaven and every other class of angel, principality, and power, causing the Lord God Almighty to write of Christ Jesus: Your throne O God is forever and forever, and let all the angels of God worship Him.
The main theme of this first chapter of Hebrews is the elevated status of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ Who alone is worthy of all honour and worship, for He is greater than Moses, greater than David, greater than Solomon, and greater than all the vast host of God's angelic hosts: And His throne is forever and forever and His sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of His kingdom.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
The heart is the storehouse for wisdom and all that influences the life and character of an individual, and Jesus reminds us that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with every part of our inner being.
He detailed Christ's own glorious Resurrection from the dead, and meticulously described what will take place when the dead in Christ rise from their graves at the return of the Jesus Christ in the clouds, for His Church.
Just as the first Adam was a terrestrial man who came from the physical dust of the ground, so the last Adam (Jesus Christ the righteous) was the spiritual Lord Who came from heaven above.
Jesus was the first-fruit from the dead.
At that very moment, dead Christians will be raised with incorruptible bodies, which will be like the resurrected body of the Lord Jesus.
Should we not be diligent in trusting His Word, carrying out the good work that God has planned for us to do, and seeking to be conformed, fashioned, hewn, and made into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ?
All that we were, all we are, and all that we hope to be, is encapsulated in the unique Person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus holds these three positions from eternity past, even to its everlasting end.
During His sojourn on earth, Jesus was the faithful Witness Who was sent by the Father to reveal Himself to us.
Jesus became the Federal Head of God's new and perfected creation, when He emerged from the grave as the Firstborn from the Dead.
No other person is entirely worthy and no-one else so enduringly reliable as the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is that faithful witness Who loved us as He hung on the Cross, and He loves us still as He sits on the right hand of the Majesty of High.
Jesus Christ was, and is, and always will be this Faithful Witness, Who alone is the rightful King over the rulers of the earth, the appointed Prince over all heavenly authorities, the anointed Messiah of Israel, and the perfect Man Who laid down His sinless life so that whosoever believes on Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus Christ is the One Who took the punishment for us and washed us clean in the blood of the Lamb.
He broke, forever, sins enslavement and set the captives free once and for all, and Jesus Christ is coming in the clouds as the rightful Judge of the earth; and at the name of JESUS every knee will one day bow.
It traces the early beginnings of the Church from Christ's Ascension and the Day of Pentecost, when thousands of Jews came to faith in Jesus, through the tumultuous times of early Christendom.
Before his conversion, Saul was a fanatically religious Jew who hated the followers of Jesus.
However, Saul had an astonishing conversion when confronted by the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus.
He wanted his accusers to know that he originally felt the same hatred in his heart towards Jesus the Nazarene and those who followed Him, as they did, before giving them the good news of the gospel.
And in this verse he related his reaction to the heavenly question, And I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, Whom you are persecuting.'
Up until the time that this blinding light shone about him, Paul despised Jesus.
His encounter with Jesus caused Paul to be willing to let God mould him into the man God wanted him to be.
What a shock to discover that in abusing the Church, which is the Body of Christ, he was abusing Jesus - the Son of God Who is God the Son - the incarnate Word.
When part of the Body of Christ is in pain or being persecuted, it is Jesus, our God and Saviour, Who feels the pain that we feel and suffers along with us - and in every situation His grace is sufficient.
Jesus, Himself, informed us that in this world we will have tribulation and in his letter to the Romans, Paul explained that suffering with Christ is a necessary part of a Christian's journey.
What a comfort to know that Jesus identifies with US.
He identifies with all our suffering and pain such that when WE who are His BODY suffer persecution, Jesus - Who is our HEAD suffers along with us.
When Saul set out to persecute believers in Damascus he was a proud, religiously minded man who was dead in trespasses and sin and at enmity with God, but after his encounter with Christ, he listened, he responded, his spiritual eyes were opened to the truth of the gospel, and Saul was wonderfully saved by grace through faith in Jesus - the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world - the sacrifice for sin including your sin, my sin, and the sin of ALL who turn to Him in faith.
Well, we are told in the Word of God that it is the man who has faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that He is the one who overcame the world.
The Man Christ Jesus was both Son of God and Son of Adam.
And Christ has been given a name that is above every name - Jesus Christ the righteous - the unblemished Lamb of God Who, from the foundation of the world, was destined to be the Rock of our salvation; the Light of the world Who would bring hope to the Gentiles.
Jesus is the good Shepherd and He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.
We who have been saved from the PENALTY of sin by grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, have the continuing promise that we shall go on being saved from the POWER of sin in our lives.
Both are given by the same God-given grace, and through the selfsame faith in Christ, if we will quietly trust in the one and only Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Let us rather live this life by grace through faith and in quietness, confidence, and complete dependence on Jesus Christ, Who is all that we need in this world, and in the world to come, life everlasting.
All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus would do well to heed these words of Matthew.
Jesus explained that a true disciple not only believes in Him for salvation and the forgiveness of sins, but also trusts Him to break the power of sin in their lives by denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following after Him.
To deny yourself is not the giving up of things but the giving up of yourself wholly and completely to the Lord Jesus.
But our hope is not for this world, nor must it ever be but rather, we have an eternal hope that was planned in the heart of God, is firmly set in His immutable Word, and was cemented in heaven the moment Christ burst from the tomb and broke the power of sin and death and hell in the lives of all who believe on the name of the Lord Jesus.
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The perfect Law of God could never be kept by sinful man, but was skilfully designed to point fallen sinners to Christ. God purposed in His heart that salvation was a free gift of God's grace, by faith in Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless, Lamb of God and the only means of salvation.
A third unfounded exposition of this verse is that unsaved people who profess to be Christians but have never trusted Christ for their salvation: That Jesus Christ died, that He was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures, religiously keep the Law in the hopes that they will be justified by their good works and legalistic rituals and get into heaven, because God is pleased with them!
To seek to be justified, sanctified, glorified, or gain entrance to heaven other than through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to render His perfect sacrificial offering as irrelevant, or as Paul stated, You are severed from Christ... and you fall away from grace. You are still saved by faith, but have destroyed your earthly testimony.
There is only one way to be sanctified and there is only one way to get to heaven, and it is by God's amazing grace, through faith in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man.
Just as the sinner is to rest in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, so the saint is to rest in Christ Jesus for their deliverance from sin.
because Jesus took our sins upon Himself, giving His body to be nailed on the tree so that we, being dead to sin in Christ, might be raised to newness of life in Him.
Paul rejoiced to know that the gospel of Christ was being shed abroad (even though some teachers opposed Paul's ministry and taught about Jesus out of envy and strife), for Paul rejoiced that men and women were being saved by grace through faith in Christ.
Paul reckoned that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, and so while incarcerated in a prison cell, he was able to write: For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers, and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
When a man or ministry is founded on godly principles that lifts up the Lord Jesus Christ, and when earnest prayer, that reflects the love of God in the unity of the Spirit is offered, Christ will be magnified and the gospel will be preached.
But through all of his long and faithful ministry, he was (like the Lord Jesus) despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with much grief.
I have even heard God being accused of child-abuse because it pleased Him to crush the Lord Jesus and to expose His Son to a difficult life of accusations, ridicule, hatred, and a cruel death of betrayal, ignominy, and rejection.
For it pleased the LORD to crush Christ Jesus and to put Him to grief so that He would be the guilt offering - the sin offering - the blood-sacrifice - the innocent Lamb of God through Whom man individually and humanity collectively could have forgiveness of sins, by faith: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes on His name would not perish but have everlasting life.
He did this so that in the ages to come, He might show forth the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus so that all the saints individually and collectively can join with the choirs of heaven to sing forth His praise to the glory of God forevermore.
We are not only declared righteous by the Father and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but we become part of an entirely new creation, with Jesus as our federal Head.
Six bogus and illegal trials were held in a desperate attempt to characterise Jesus a blasphemer or label Him with some capital offense, but despite the frantic attempts of the high priest and the Sanhedrin, they found no fault in Him.
It is as this shocking miscarriage of justice was being played out in the corridors of Jewish and Gentile courts, that a man called Simon, who had travelled from Cyrene in Egypt to Jerusalem, was thrust into the centre of the crucifixion story: When they led Jesus away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.
The religious leaders were baying for His blood and despite having him flogged, beaten, belittled, and physically exhausted, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified.
Probably unaware of what was happening, he was seized by the Roman guards and was obligated to carry the cross and follow Jesus to Calvary.
Did Simon continue to watch the events of that day on Calvary's hill and did he hear Jesus call out: Father forgive them for they know not what they do?
Could he have been among the 500 followers to whom Jesus appeared, after He rose from the dead?
God's Word makes it clear that the Bible is His final Word to humanity, through Jesus Christ the living Word.
May we determine in our hearts to earnestly desire the greater spiritual gifts within the Body of Christ so that together we may grow in grace and learn to love others as Christ loved us; which is the more excellent way to live our Christian life, as we wait for the any-day return of the Lord Jesus.
David was a man after God's own heart and many of the psalms he penned foretold of Jesus... the coming Messiah Who would rise from the dead, ascend into heaven, and sit at the right hand of the majesty on high, until God finally places all His enemies under His feet.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and He is interceding on behalf of all who are called by His name.
Jesus is our Substitute, our Representative, and heavenly Advocate.
Jesus is the Author of a new creation, Whose resurrected life has become our new, born-again life.
Jesus hung on the Cross alone and paid the price of our sins alone.
As our substitute, Jesus went to the Cross alone, but as our representative, He took US with Himself to the Cross.
Jesus took our many sins to the Cross together with our old, fallen sinful nature, and there He paid the price of our sin by His death and in so doing, in the sight of God, we died together with Him.
We need to confidently wait for the Lord to act on our behalf, knowing that His promises are 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ Jesus, and we need to faithfully wait on the Lord with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, making music to the Lord in our hearts with thanksgiving and praise.
At the name of Jesus, EVERY knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Let us worship before the throne of grace, and offer Him our unending thanksgiving and praise for sending Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sin, and the Firstfruit from the grave.
It happens when we place our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Saviour, but from that moment onwards, we begin the lifelong process of progressive sanctification.
We should press on for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus... and strain to become mature in our own individual lives.
And although we are instructed to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, we shall never be fully matured until we are raptured into His presence, for then we shall see Him as He is and know as we are known.
And He has generously bestowed on each of His children, different gifts and talents that are to be used to compliment and equip one another, as we all press on toward the goal for the prize of the high call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul was a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his calling as God's appointed apostle to the Gentiles was to furnish the elect of God with a knowledge of the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ.
Paul was an apostle of Jesus, who was called to equip believers with godly attributes which would glorify our Father in heaven.
Many of the fundamentals of Christianity are discovered in the epistles of Paul, for he received certain truths directly from the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ; mysteries which had been hidden in ages past.
As Christian who are maturing in the faith, we proceed from the glory of justification through the many stages of sanctification, until we finally arrive at our heavenly glorification; spirit, soul, and body, when at last we shall be with the Lord Jesus forevermore.
At salvation, we receive the same eternal life of Jesus Christ Who rose from the dead in power and great glory, and triumphed over Satan, sin, and death.
As Christians, we come to God in the name of Jesus.
We petition the Father through the precious blood of His only begotten Son, and we approach the throne of grace in the name of Jesus: For there is no other name given among men through Whom we have access to God.
It is by trusting in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that we have access by one Spirit to the Father and can boldly draw near to the throne of God, confident that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus is seated on the right hand of the Majesty on High, continuously interceding for us and pleading our case to our Father in heaven so that we may remain in fellowship with the Son and enjoy sweet communion with our Heavenly Father.
In this glorious passage, our eternal security is reiterated, we are assured that there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, and we are told that all things work together for good to those that love God and are the called according to His good purpose.
We then arrive at the pinnacle of God's promises to us: Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed into the image of His Son so that the Lord Jesus would be the firstborn among many brothers.
In this amazing verse of Scripture, we discover that God knew in advance who would believe in Christ, and ordained that the essential nature and character of every believer would be changed, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into the perfect qualities and distinctive beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God foreknew whether you and I would place our trust in the death, burial, and Resurrection of His only begotten Son, and in ages past He preordained that our old sin nature would die to self, and our new life in Christ would be changed into the very likeness of Jesus in His humanity.
Jesus was a Man Who depended entirely upon the Father throughout His whole life.
The Lord Jesus Christ was fully human - yet He was born without sin.
The Lord Jesus was fully God for He was the Word made flesh Who was with the Father from all eternity.
The Lord Jesus was truly God, but He was also fully Man.
If Jesus was not fully God, He would not have been qualified to pay the price for sin - for God alone is holy and righteous, good and gracious.
It is important, therefore, that we acknowledge Jesus to be fully Man Who lived as we live - according to the limitations of our fleshly covering and human makeup.
And Jesus was tried and tested just as we are - yet, throughout the course of His earthly life, HE did not sin in thought, word, or deed.
Jesus was a Man Who learned obedience by the things that He suffered, and like us, throughout his earthly sojourn He was acquainted with all manner of griefs.
Jesus was perfected during His life, to equip Him for His role as the Author and Finisher of our faith - He was the source of eternal life for all who would believe in Him and He was sent by the Father to give His life as the ransom price for our sin.
But it is vital that the Lord Jesus is equally acknowledged as the living God - the incarnate Word of the Father Who came from His heavenly abode to reconcile the world to God.
Jesus was the Mediator between God and man, for God was in Christ making peace between the world and Himself: God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Having restored those who believe on His name, He did not count our trespasses against us, but He committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Just as Jesus reconciled us who believe, to Himself... so we have been entrusted with the word of reconciliation - we have been entrusted with the responsibility of telling the unsaved the glorious gospel of grace.
God knows the end from the beginning, and prophetic signs and seasons, days and years, would need to be recorded in Scripture by holy men of God so that the earth would recognise the Man, Christ Jesus.
Not only did God provide us with the terrestrial signs and seasons we so enjoy, but also celestial signs and prophetic seasons so that we would know God's plan and purposes, and trust in Jesus Christ, Who came to save the world from their sin.
Maybe this is why there seems to be an urgency in his writing with an emphasis on remaining faithful to the Lord Jesus in times of trouble, standing firm on the truth of the gospel of Christ, and being diligent to present oneself to God as a faithful worker that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.
The letter Paul penned to Timothy strongly indicated that within the professing Church there were an increasing number of problems, with some departing from the faith and others who had become unfaithful and careless in their work and witness, not only to Paul, but in their ministry and towards the Lord Jesus Himself.
He desires to use us for His greater glory and by His grace, has taken up residence within our mortal bodies, as He supernaturally conforms us into the lovely image and beautiful character of the Lord Jesus - until it is not I that live, but Christ that lives in me, and through me.
And in His grace, He replaces it with the sweet nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who demonstrates to us the same confidence He had in the Father, that we need to have in the Son.
He expands this in Galatians by explaining that as many as were baptised into the Body of Christ, which happened the moment we believed on Jesus we put on Christ.
Because the power of death was broken by Christ it was also broken in our lives too - and in the life of every single man and woman that simply believes in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Prior to believing in the Lord Jesus, sin and death had power over us 24/7.
Have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, when the Holy Spirit placed us into Christ's Body, we joined Him in His death and were identified with Him?
Instead of facing God's justified wrath and eternal indignation, grace and peace has been multiplied to us, by faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour, and in Him we have been forgiven of our many sins and reckoned by our Heavenly Father as righteous.
Indeed, we are promised that such godly attributes will be produced in us as we walk in spirit and truth which will prevent our lives from becoming unfruitful in the knowledge and understanding of Christ Jesus our God and Saviour, for in Him we are justified, and in Him we are being sanctified as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of Him, day by day.
No wonder Peter encourages us to grow in grace and stand fast in the truth of the gospel of God, for in so doing we strengthen our Christian calling to the point where he is pleased to say that in Christ we secure our entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for in Him we receive His richest supplies, both in this world and forever, to His praise and glory.
How vital to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, for in so doing we will be grounded in our faith and kept from stumbling.
It was the apostle John to whom the Lord Jesus gave an amazing unsealed prophecy from God, which was to unveil the glorified Christ in heaven and draw back the final secret curtain on God's future sovereign plans and purposes for the world.
Through our union with Christ we lack nothing, for He has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ Who called us to His own glory and excellence.
Jesus identified Himself as the Good Shepherd of the sheep.
Jesus explained in the previous verse that the way to differentiate between a false prophet and a godly preacher is by their fruit, and explained that a good tree bears good fruit, while a bad tree bears bad fruit. Those who do God's will produce the fruit of the Spirit, while others produce the fruit of the flesh, speaking perverse things to draw disciples away from Jesus: Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Unless a professing prophet is doing the will of the Father and producing spiritual fruit, he is probably a savage wolf who will proclaim a false gospel, promote a counterfeit Jesus, and offer a substitute salvation.
It is the Father's will that we know Him and trust in Jesus as our Kinsman-Redeemer.
The implication in this passage, is that these vicious wolves make a shocking pretence of being God's prophets by referring to Jesus as 'Lord', yet Paul tells us in Corinthians: No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit. The question arises, how can these false prophets name Jesus as Lord, if they are ravening wolves who do not produce fruit of righteous and refuse to do the will of the Father?
The answer is that they substitute their own will for God's will and expect to enter the kingdom of heaven without faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus points out: Not everyone who says to Him, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter. He is the only Door into the coming kingdom.
It is in the midst of his introductory salutations, but before he wrote his customary greeting: Grace and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour, that Paul seems unable to refrain from declaring, once again, the truth of the beautiful gospel of grace and the hope of eternal life which is given to all who trust in Jesus' name.
He was overjoyed for all the saints of God who rejoice in a knowledge of the truth and whose life is consecrated to the Lord Jesus.
As Paul, the bond-servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, started to rejoice for the faith of Titus and those chosen by God and who know the truth, live godly lives, and trust in Him for their eternal salvation, he started to expand his thoughts about the Lord's amazing promise of salvation, which was made before the world began.
God's plan of redemption for fallen sinners was the promised 'hope' which would come through the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The love of God for mankind, appeared in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who laid down His life for the sin of the whole world - so that ALL who believe in Him might not perish, but have life eternal as a free gift of God's indefinable grace.
There is nothing we can do, in and of ourselves, to assist God's transforming work in our life, except submit to Him and acknowledge that it is through His goodness and grace, that we are being changed from glory into greater glory, so that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Salvation in all its guises comes through Christ alone, for He was appointed by the Father of love, to fulfil God's wonderful plan of salvation through the justification, sanctification, and glorification of ALL - who simply trust in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he was arrested in his heart by Jesus of Nazareth and his zealous hatred was turned into a passionate desire to intimately know his Lord and Saviour.
Today, in this Church age, there is a tendency to intermingle sections of the Mosaic Law, which were given uniquely to Israel, with the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which was given specifically to the Church.
Despite being in prison for the sake of the gospel of Christ, Paul pens three amazing chapters in Ephesians that outline the incredible privileges and position that Christians have in Christ Jesus our Lord, before instructing us on how to live in this Church age.
Paul became a devoted servant of the Lord Jesus and to him was given the majority of Church-age doctrine.
Paul had been imprisoned for his faith, but recognised that he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the sake of the Gentiles.
It has been suggested that without the epistles of Paul, Christianity would have become one more sect of Judaism, and down through the multiple centuries, the teachings of Paul have been fervently and systematically attacked by the enemy of our soul, for the truth that they contain is the seed-bed for true Christianity and the enemy's attack on Pauline doctrine and the stewardship of God's grace, which was entrusted to him by the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, has met with the strongest opposition from every sector of society and each splinter group within Christendom.
This call to confession is not a summons to the confessional box where a 'priest' becomes a middleman between us and God, for there is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus.
It is only as we abide in Him and walk godly in Christ Jesus that we are enabled to pray in spirit and truth: And the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Paul's whole heart was that he himself would decrease to nothing, while the Lord Jesus must increase in every part of his life until he could say: It is not I that live, but Christ that lives in me.
The grace of God is freely available to all who would live godly in Christ Jesus.
Paul grew in grace from the wretched man that we see in Romans chapter 7, to the liberated man of Romans chapter 8, and his life ministry was sharing with others the open secret of how to grow in grace and in the wisdom of God, and how to grow in love and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God, Who is traced to every page of the Written Word of God.
It can differentiate between words, actions, thoughts, and motives, that are looking to Jesus and words, actions, thoughts, and motives, that have placed self on the throne of their life.
It can cut our evil hearts to the quick just as the penetrating look of the Lord Jesus brought His denying disciple into the depths of distress and repentance.
The action of the Word of God on the spirit and soul of every believer is a life-long process that continues to cut away all that is of the old man and conform the new life we received at Salvation into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is an ongoing operation in the inner recesses of every believer, which will be fully and finally completed at the rapture/ resurrection of the Church, when we shed the last remnants of our old fallen self, through our transformation into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord JESUS.
It is in His gracious, loving-kindness that God brings each of us to face such depths, so that He can purge out the old Self and form in us the pure and holy nature of the Lord Jesus.
This group of Christians are described by the Lord Jesus as wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
Jesus called the Laodicean believers to clothe themselves in the shining white garments of righteousness and to heal their eyes with the truth of the glorious gospel of God.
He exhorted them to earnestly repent of their apostate ways and return to a focus on Jesus - the Author and Finisher of their faith.
One night, the Lord Jesus was visited by an important teacher of the Jews called Nicodemus.
He had come earnestly seeking answers to important questions which he and other Jewish rulers had regarding Jesus, His teachings, and His miracles.
They all acknowledged that no one could do the mighty miracles that Jesus performed unless God was with Him.
Days earlier, Jesus had cleansed the Temple of God, overturned the tables of the money-changers, and demonstrated great authority.
And as the Lord Jesus looked into this man's searching heart, He read the question that was lodged there... Nicodemus wanted to know how to enter the kingdom of God.
And so Jesus answered this silent, heart-searching question with the words, Truly, truly I tell you..
Jesus was telling Nicodemus that unless a person is SAVED by GRACE through FAITH in HIM, he will not see the kingdom of God.
Despite being a teacher of the Law, this man lacked understanding and Jesus explained clearly, yet emphatically, that unless a person is born of water AND born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
One who is 'born again' believes in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
They even quote Jesus Who said, He that believes on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, in which Christ was making a direct reference to the indwelling Spirit of God.
Jesus had to lead this searching man into a deeper understanding of salvation and the kingdom of heaven - and using the TRUTH of God's WORD, Jesus gently led this man into a deeper understanding of Who HE was - the Light of the World, in Whom are the words of eternal life.
Jesus explained that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so HE would one day have to be lifted up on a Cross and be made sin for our sakes so that, like Nicodemus' disease-ridden ancestors in the wilderness who had to look and live, so ALL who would look to JESUS in faith would not perish but have LIFE.
Nicodemus had to learn that whosoever believes in JESUS is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.
I wonder, when Nicodemus accompanied Joseph of Arimathea to take down the bruised and bloodied body of the Lord Jesus from that cruel Roman cross, if his mind fled back to that life-changing interview, in the middle of the night, when he came to see the Lord and started to understand that unless he was born of water AND born of the Spirit, he could not enter into the kingdom of God.
Even we (Jews) have believed in Christ Jesus, Peter was admonished, so that we (like all sinners in need of salvation) may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law.
All fall short of God's perfect standard: For man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ.
In these final days of the Church age, there are many Christians who still find it difficult to come to terms with the enormous freedom that we have in Christ: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus.
Let us never forget that we are justified by faith in Christ, accepted in Christ, fully justified by His grace, clothed in His righteousness, and redeemed from the curse of the Law through Christ Jesus our Saviour.
While walking with the Lord of glory on His sacrificial journey towards the Cross and the glorious Resurrection, and having been forewarned by Jesus of the future suffering and tribulation both He and all His followers were to face, we discover the disciples squabbling about who was be the most important person in Christ's coming kingdom!
The Law of Moses, the Psalms of David, and the prophetic writings of holy men of God, had painted a clear and exciting picture of Jesus, their long-awaited Messiah.
How much greater will be the blessings and abundant riches for the Gentiles, when the nation of Israel finally recognises Jesus as Lord and welcomes Him as their Messiah and King?
Jesus is the singular intermediary between God and man.
Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and fallen humanity, seated on the right hand of the Majesty of high, and He ever lives to make intercession for those who believe in His name.
When the enemy accuses us before the throne of God, it is Jesus Who stands in the gap.
From the start of Hebrews 3 to chapter 5 verse 10, we are given some important details and characteristics about the Person and work of the Lord Jesus.
In this section, we are warned of the dangers of unbelief while being reminded that it was God the Father Who appointed the Lord Jesus to His elevated position, where He functions as our eternal High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
And it was the Lord Jesus Himself Who gave His life as a free-will offering and oblation, out of love for the Father, to pay the price for the sin of the world.
Jesus, being the incarnate Word, is the perfect example of how to live a holy life of active dependence on God.
Jesus was actively dependent on the Father and lived moment by moment in spirit and truth.
He came to fulfil His Father's will, and it was in the garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross of Calvary, that Jesus in His humanity: Offered up both prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, to the One Who was able to save Him from death - and He was heard because of His piety.
Jesus knew that the pure, unbroken communion He had enjoyed with the Father from eternity past was soon to be severed, while the floodgate of sin was to be poured over Him and His Father would have to turn away from the Son of His love.
And because of his reverend submission to the Father and unfailing trust in Him, Christ's prayer was heard and Jesus became the first-fruit from the grave - the first MAN to rise from the dead - thus breaking the power of sin, Satan, death, and hell for ALL who place their faith in HIM.
On that astonishing and holy day, Christ Jesus became our heavenly high Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.
The majority of Israel have yet to discover that the One for Whom they are to diligently seek is the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Christians, we already know Him as Jesus our Saviour, for Christ died to bridge the unbridgeable gap between a holy God and the imperfect race of man.
But like Israel, we are promised a much deeper knowledge and closer communion with Him, if we will plough into the depths of His Word, reach into the heights of His Truth, and look steadily into the Light of His Countenance - the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is rejoicing in heaven when an unsaved sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin - but there is also rejoicing when a child of God, who has been dazzled by the things of this world, comes to their senses and confesses their sin to the Lord.
Hebrews is a book that clearly lays out the deity and supremacy of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God Who is greater than all angels, principalities, and heavenly powers.
It tells the wonderful message of the superior status of Christ-Jesus, the God-Man Who came from heaven to earth to save us from our sin.
It is after being introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ as the eternal God Who created all things by the might of His hand and having been warned not to neglect God's great offer of salvation, that we are introduced to a further facet of Christ's unequalled superiority and His eternal destiny as the Captain of our salvation.
His death on the Cross and resurrection from the grave brought many sons to glory, which makes the Lord Jesus the Source of our salvation and the Perfector of our salvation.
Jesus, the Son of God, had to become Son of Man so that He could learn obedience through the things that He suffered - and He did it all so that we might be made children of God and become His brethren.
Jesus is the One who sanctifies us through His precious blood.
Jesus had to shed His life-blood for the sin of the world so that we who believe on Him would be sanctified, identified with Him, and clothed in His perfect righteousness.
And this is the reason we read in Hebrews 2:12, I will proclaim YOUR name to My brothers; I will sing hymns to YOU in the congregation. Jesus would proclaim God the Father to all who believe - to ALL his 'brethren'.
In His grace, Jesus, Who died for you and me, was able to finally proclaim to His Father in heaven that we are His brothers, in fulfilment of Psalm 22:22 where we read, I will tell of Your name to my brethren.
The Lord Jesus is God in the flesh.
The Lord Jesus is the incarnate God, sent by the Father to save us from our sins... and throughout the book of Hebrews, there are passages that present Christ's indisputable credentials as God's appointed King, clearly and thoroughly.
It is the Lord Jesus Himself, the Creator of heaven and earth.
Our heavenly Father testified to the authenticity of Jesus Christ through the multiplied signs, wonders, miracles, and spiritual gifts, which He displayed throughout His earthly ministry and which were carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The theme of this chapter is the doctrine of the Cross and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul writes a critique of this glorious gospel of God as it relates to those that are perishing; who consider the Cross of Christ to be foolishness.
The wisdom of the world has rejected the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and in so doing have identified themselves as wise in their own understanding but not according to true wisdom, for God has made the wisdom of the wise and those that denigrated the gospel of God to become fools.
The wisdom of God is clearly laid out in the written Word of God for all who have eyes to see: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; trust in the message of the Cross; have faith in the sacrificial death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Nevertheless, knowing: The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately wicked, we should examine our heart to see if we are in the faith to see if we are walking in spirit and truth, and to see if we are trusting in anything other than the Lord Jesus.
The Church of God, individually and corporately, should rather stand fast on the firm foundation of Christ Jesus our Lord and should shun every kind of evil thought, unkind word, ungracious action, or selfish motive.
As believers, we are united with Christ, and because the Lord Jesus broke the power of sin and death and hell when He rose from the dead, the strength of sin in our lives has also been broken and we have been raised up into newness of life, in Him.
But God did so much more for us when the Lord Jesus died and rose from the dead, and then ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father in great glory and majesty.
He gave all who believe in Jesus a new and eternal position, in Him.
We have been seated spiritually in the heavenly realms, in Christ Jesus.
Positionally and eternally, we are complete in Christ, yet we are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus during the rest of our time on earth.
For we were called and chosen from the pit of sin, cleansed and clothed in His robe of righteousness, saved and redeemed, sanctified and glorified, in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Israel will one day drink deeply of the living water when she recognises the Lord Jesus as her promised Messiah and Lord, but praise God that we have access to His reviving, reinvigorating, rejuvenating, and replenishing refreshment, today and forevermore.
And yet we discover Jesus making the most astonishing claims, which if not true would be outrageous and even blasphemous.
After His Resurrection, and just before He ascended into heaven, Jesus spoke to His eleven disciples, and said, All authority has been given to Me, in heaven and on earth.
Jesus not only claimed to be of equal status with the Father, and to have been given all authority in heaven and on earth, but He declared that He had the same authority as His Heavenly Father, to raise the dead and to Him should be ascribed the same honour and glory, might, majesty, dominion, and power, that is given to the Father in heaven.
Although He was fully God and possessed the same eternal power, authority, and attributes as the Father, the Lord Jesus was also fully human.
The second Person of the Trinity became the man Christ Jesus, and set a perfect example of how every-man should live - in complete dependence upon the Father.
Despite being fully God, Jesus was content to do nothing of Himself, which is why Scripture tells us that, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. Although fully God, Jesus lived His life as a Man.
The Lord Jesus lived in total unity of Spirit with the Father and confessed many times that He, only carries out the will of the Father. He explained that although He is living His life under the authority and direction of the Father, He still retains His Deity.
Jesus did all things in the power of the Holy Spirit - as an example of how we ALL should live our lives.
Jesus, the incarnate God could certainly claim that no one knows Who the Son is except the Father, because He was in the beginning with the Father.
Jesus came to make known the immortal, invisible Father to the lost race of man.
And as we look to Jesus by faith, and trust in His work at Calvary, He returns us into fellowship with the Father and will open the eyes of our hearts to know Him more and to love Him better.
Every member of the Body of Christ has a part to play in God's progressive plan of redemption, and He Who started the good work in our lives at salvation is faithful to complete it, until the day of Christ Jesus.
On closer examination, we find that the Day of the Lord spans a 'day' which lasts for 1007 years, when God Himself - in the Person of Jesus Christ, takes back the reins of authority from Satan who became the renegade 'god of this world' following Adam's fateful fall.
The Day of the Lord will begin with clouds and thick darkness - but Israel will eventually call out to the God of their Father - and Jesus, their Messiah will come with clouds of great glory.
On that day, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the honour of God the Father - and Christ will set up His 1000 year rule of peace and prosperity on earth.
The Day of the Lord which begins with God's wrath will continue for 1000 years under the authority of Jesus Christ, Son of God and King of Israel.
But despite the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus Himself, they continued in their sinful ways.
They had witnessed the various signs and miracles that Jesus the Nazarene carried out... and they had heard His teachings and astonishing claims.
But although a faithful few believed that Jesus was the Christ, the anointed Son of God, many failed to repent of their sin and refused to turn back to the God of their forefathers.
A future generation would welcome Jesus as their Messiah-King and cry, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!
Sadly, the very Nation who had been chosen by God tell the world the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God, had to be replaced - for a season - by those who believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the salvation of their souls and the forgiveness of sin.
But he added that they were also to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Who was God incarnate - the Word made flesh.
Israel were to turn back to the GOD of Israel through John's Baptism of Repentance and Israel as a nation, were to believe on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting - and by so doing they too would be baptised by the Holy Spirit into Church, which is the Body of Christ, and they would receive the indwelling Spirit of God, as promised of old, at God's appointed time - (Pentecost).
What a joyful day that must have been, when three thousand men of Israel repented of their sins, turned back to the God of their forefathers, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were born-again into the family of God and baptised into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit - and these men of Israel demonstrated their trust in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and life-everlasting by going through the waters of baptism.
We are saved by faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness for sins and life everlasting: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, Paul tells us.
We are not to drift through our Christian life in a careless and carnal way, but rather we are to give close attention to entering into God's rest by resisting temptation, by listening to His truth, by applying His Word, submitting to the Holy Spirit, and by being utterly dependent upon our Lord Jesus Christ.
The peace of God will guide our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, if we abide in Him, rest in Him, submit to Him, and utterly depend upon Him.
If this was not glorious enough, he tells us the reason for this: So that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
But praise God we can rectify this sad state of affairs by changing the way we think - by habitually setting our heart on heavenly things - by continuously looking to Jesus - by fervently drinking in His Word - and by developing a spiritual mind-set that makes for life and peace.
Let us put off our carnal mind-set and develop a fixed mental attitude that is founded and focussed on Jesus Christ.
But as we arrive at verse 22, we understand that this is a psalm that primarily, and in many ways, is pointing to the Lord Jesus Who quoted it in Matthew, giving a warning to those that rejected Him: The Stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone.
While the author of this psalm no doubt faced some terrible trials, deep distresses, and foreboding enemies from which the Lord delivered him, it becomes increasingly meaningful when we realise that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone about Whom the psalmist is prophesying.
It is poignant to realise that only a matter of hours before Christ's betrayal, arrest, trial, and crucifixion... when He too was surrounded by His enemies, rejected by the religious leaders, despised by the multitudes, falsely accused by the chief priests, mocked by the Roman soldiers, abandoned by His disciples, and nailed to a cruel Cross, that Jesus sang this very hymn with His disciples in the upper room after they had partaken of the last supper, for Psalm 118 is one of the songs of ascent that was sung at the Passover.
Three of the Gospels record Jesus challenging the chief priests and scribes to understand the meaning of this verse and warned them, Whosoever shall fall upon that Stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever that Stone shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
It is the first and most important stone laid, which guides, establishes, and stabilises the erection of an entire building project, and in God's plan of redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ is that Chief Cornerstone on which our faith is founded.
In Acts 4, Peter challenged the men of Israel proclaiming, Jesus is the Stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the Cornerstone, and in the closing years of his life he added, to you which believe, Jesus is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the Stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.
And in explaining about foundational truth of the Christian faith, Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians that the gospel is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone.
When the psalmist put pen to paper so many years before Christ Jesus was born, and wrote, The Stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone, he could not have understood the enormous, prophetic significance of his words.
Oh yes, Jesus was indeed rejected by the builders - the religious leaders of Israel.
Jesus was rejected by teachers of the Law and learned men of His day and He continues to be rejected by many influential people, religious intellectuals, and proud men today - and yet Jesus has already been established, by God, as the Chief Cornerstone of His redemptive plan of the ages and continues to build His Church.
And although obedience to parents is not a ticket to salvation, (for children must trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins) - it is the Lord Who ordained that parental obedience in a godly home is the best forum to teach our offspring the important things of life... which will provide them with a long and productive life and a lifelong reverence for the Lord our God.
And Jesus proclaimed, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. Only a few verses earlier we heard Jesus explain to His followers, and those that were challenging His Messianic claims, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
Those who know the Son know the TRUTH - for Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life'.
But how important to recognise that there is a huge chasm between knowing facts about the truth as a historical fact, or as some detailed information, and actually knowing the truth about the unique Person and saving Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a vast difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing the Person of Jesus - having a personal relationship with Him, as outlined in the God-breathed Scriptures.
and the simple answer was, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He was to believe on the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, the salvation of the soul, and life everlasting.
The jailer was not set free by simply knowing about the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, but by knowing Him as Saviour.
He was set free by BELIEVING on the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself explained to Nicodemus that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes on Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
They are being replaced with rational relativism, a hatred of all that is good, a distortion of all that is true, a celebration of all that is evil, a contempt for our Heavenly Father, a rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, a disdain for salvation, and an insatiable desire to relegate the glorious gospel of grace into the annals of a forgotten history.
Indeed, Paul reminds this group of believers in the Corinthian church that some of them had also been personally involved in the self-same, sordid sins, and gross wickedness as the unsaved before they had been redeemed through the blood of Christ, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Who paid the price for all their sins, and ours too.
We are all washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
But as Jesus taught on the night that He was betrayed, those that are fully cleansed by His blood and washed clean by grace through faith in Him still need to wash their feet and be cleansed as we journey through life.
As we journey through life, we go through the process of ongoing sanctification as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
All of us were dead in our trespasses and sins, but by grace through faith in Christ we are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Let us now live by grace through faith in Christ and continue to walk in spirit and truth so that in the power of the Holy Spirit we may grow in grace and mature in the faith to the glory of God our Father, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
What an amazing scene it must have been when Christ's followers began to proclaim the wonderful works of God in a multitude of languages, and Peter was empowered to deliver his great sermon, calling the people of Israel to faith in their promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
How appropriate that he should quote that wonderful prophetic Psalm of David, who foresaw the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and foretold that the God of Israel would not leave their Messiah in a cold, damp, tomb to decay and disintegrate, but would raise Him up to newness of life so that all who believe on Him, would not perish but have everlasting life.
And so, the words that the Lord Jesus spoke were not from Himself but from the Father of love.
In this way, the Father would be glorified in Jesus.
Jesus came as the final and visible representation of God's love for humanity.
And even though they may not have been aware of this fact, those that despised the love of Jesus and rejected His salvation, also despised and rejected His Father in heaven, for the words that Christ spoke were from the Father, and the life that He lived was directed by the Father.
Rejection of Jesus is an indirect rejection of God the Father, and the one that does not love the Lord Jesus and keep His Word is also one that does not love the Father nor keep His Word.
Whether we are talking of the written Word of God or the Living Word of God - the God-breathed Scriptures or the Lord Jesus Christ in Person - God wants us to hear, to know, to trust, and to keep His Word.
Like every other aspect of the Law, the alter of incense pointed to a special aspect of the Lord Jesus.
Today, we know that the ministry of Christ Jesus is continuous intercession, for He is at the right hand of the Father: And ever lives to make intercession for us (the Church).
Jesus opened the Scriptures to His disciples following His Resurrection, showing how He was the central figure to which the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms pointed.
Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel as the Good Shepherd.
Jesus came to the Jew FIRST, to fulfil God's unconditional covenant to Abraham, and His coming to Bethlehem in the land of Judah was one of numerous prophecies given to Israel, so they would recognise the eternal Son of His love - Whom God gave to be the Child, born of a virgin, so that whosoever believes on HIM would not perish but have everlasting life.
The Mosaic Law, the feasts of the Lord, the Aaronic priesthood, the sacrificial offering, the wilderness Tabernacle, and Solomonic Temple, were all signposts that pointed the people to Jesus.
But when He arrived, Jesus did not fit in with their predetermined expectation, and there was a certain point in Christ's ministry when the leaders of the Jews committed the unforgivable sin - they attributed the Spirit's work through Christ, to Beelzebub.
Parables were often used by Jewish rabbis to illustrate a point or clarify their teaching, but Jesus used them to conceal the truth from those who would not believe.
Jesus used parables to provide revelation and understanding to those who would believe, while making His words unintelligible and incoherent to those whose heart was hardened against Him.
As soon as Jesus was alone, His faithful followers, together with the twelve, questioned Him about His teaching in parables.
Jesus was warning the people that if they did not receive Him, they would die in their sin.
The generation in Israel that walked with Jesus on the way, were healed of all their diseases.
They would not turn back to God, nor would they believe on Jesus Christ, Whom He sent to be the propitiation for their sin.
They will recognise Jesus as their Messiah and King during the Time of Jacob's Trouble, and this coming generation will fulfil Christ own prophetic word - for they WILL see Him when they cry out to Him for salvation with one, united voice, blessed is He, Who comes in the name of the Lord - Hosanna in the Highest.
Indeed, in chapter 20, we discover the reason that John wrote his gospel: These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, he wrote, and that by believing, ye might have life through His name.
Faith must be in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God... and it is by that faith in HIM that we have life in His name.
Here, at the end of chapter 6, we read that Peter and Christ's other holy apostles, had come to that point in their lives where they trusted that Jesus was the anointed Son of the Father.
The disciples of the Lord Jesus placed their faith in HIM.
And Peter voiced the faith they all shared. We believe and have come to know that JESUS is the Christ, the Son of the living God - the Holy One of Israel. Peter was the spokesman for the other disciples, but His confession of faith was shared by the others - for WE have believed, He proclaimed, and WE have come to know Jesus is all He professed to be.
But once they had TRUSTED in Him, they then came to KNOW that Jesus was exactly Who He said He was - the Son of the living God Who was and is and is to come - the Almighty.
Jesus is the visible representation of the immortal, invisible, omniscient God, and in order to know Him, we must first believe in Him.
Jesus is the earthly representative of the immortal, invisible, triune Godhead Who died to pay the price for the sin of humanity - and rose again, breaking the power of sin and death in the life of all who believe.
The Lord Jesus was the living Bread that had come down from heaven to feed His people Israel and to save them from their sins.
Jesus was the eternal Son of the living God Who laid aside His glory so that He might become the Kinsman-Redeemer of the fallen, human race.
Jesus was God incarnate.
Jesus was the Lord's anointed Messiah.
Jesus was the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus came to earth as the perfect pattern of humanity.
He demonstrated from start to finish the conduct and character that exemplifies a Son of God... for Jesus said ONLY what He heard from the Father and did ONLY what He was told to do by His Father.
Having set aside His glory for a season, Jesus lived His life through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the exact image of the invisible God.
Jesus is the exact representation of God's very being.
Jesus answered sadly, You know neither Me nor My Father, for if you knew Me, you would know My Father also. All things had been delivered up to the Lord Jesus by the Father and He graciously came to earth to reveal the Father to a race that had become estranged from God through sin - a race that was without hope in the world.
God is Spirit, but the Son had come to earth clothed in human flesh, and His mission was to fully reveal the Father to mankind - because all things had been delivered to Him by His Father. No one is able to know the Father except the Lord Jesus Christ..
For much of His ministry, the Lord Jesus was teaching the gospel of the kingdom to none but the lost sheep of the house or Israel, but as the animosity and hatred towards their promised Messiah became increasingly evident among the Jewish leaders, Jesus began to prepare His little band of disciples for the significant changes that were about to take place after His Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension.
Jesus started to lay the foundation of Church age doctrine with a new commandment - to love as He loved and to understand that although He had to leave them, He would not only send the Holy Spirit of truth to indwell them, but that His own resurrected life and perfect righteousness would be imputed to them and they would learn what it means to: Abide in Me and I in you.
Only by faith in Jesus will they be brought into the family of God, for He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the only begotten Son of God.
Praise God that we have come to a saving knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and we pray that many who have not known Christ as Saviour and received the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting are convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement in the days that lie ahead before it is too late.
Jesus lived as a man in the way that God desires all His children to live: in lowliness of spirit and in complete dependence upon the Father.
He lived as man is called to live, in order to demonstrate to us how we should live in utter dependence upon the Son so that we might know God intimately, and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
The Lord Jesus was meek and lowly in heart and we are to learn of Him.
They do not understand that true righteousness comes only through believing on the Lord Christ Jesus as Saviour, for there is none good, not even one.
So what does Jesus mean by telling us that our righteousness needs to surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees or we will never enter the kingdom of heaven?
There was no-one who was more seemingly righteous than the Scribes and Pharisees of Christ's day, yet the Lord Jesus alone is good.
He alone is holy unto the Lord, for Jesus Christ is God.
And let us look forward to that day when we will enter into the kingdom of heaven, forever to be with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
When the eyes of our heart are focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, in love, and all we desire is to know Him more, and to please Him in everything we do, then it matters not which path you take, for He will be there leading you, and He will be there guiding you, no matter what path you choose.
And when the eyes of our hearts are fixed on Jesus and He is the focal point of our soul in all things, then we find that He truly is directing our path in the best possible direction.
Jesus is incarnate Truth and when He says to His followers, truly, truly I say to you... we should pin back our ears and pay special attention to all that He has to say.
The Lord Jesus came to earth to set fallen man free from his shocking enslavement to sin and to deliver us from the ruinous nature of sin which is imputed to every member of the human race.
Jesus came to bring freedom to all who are enslaved by sin - but many refuse to acknowledge that as sinners we need salvation.
Jesus came to free them from the tyranny of sin and told them that if they continued to follow Him and trust in His Word, they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.
Jesus was talking of the terrible human tragedy of slavery to sin.
Jesus came to set His people free from the curse of the Law and the chains of sin and death, but they could not accept that they were sinners in need of salvation.
Instead of saying to the Jews, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin, Jesus could have said, because you are a member of the human race, who all have a sin nature, you are a slave of sin.
I am sure when the Lord Jesus made this statement, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin, He said it with great sadness and deep compassion in His heart.
Jesus came to save us from our sin and not to condemn us for our sin.
When Jesus spoke these words, He was speaking to the Jews of His day who refused to accept His offer of Salvation.
Jesus came as the Light of the world to enlighten their darkened souls, but they loved the darkness more than the light and refused His gracious offer of freedom from sin.
Jesus had come to offer the Jews of His time freedom from bondage to sin and liberty from enslavement to the sin nature.
Jesus is the incarnate Son of God.
Christ is incarnate truth, while sin is the personification of a wicked and cruel slave-master, from whom there is no escape, except by grace through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
It is only those who are born-again and positioned in Christ who are enabled to live each day by grace through faith in Him - for Jesus not only paid the penalty for our sin but broke the power of sin in the life of all who believe.
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? But he also found his answer in Christ, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But when a member of the Body of Christ has been hoodwinked by the enemy or strayed into some cunningly devised fable from false teachers, unbiblical teachings, or worldly philosophies, we are exhorted to preach the Word in truth and to speak that truth in love so that together we may grow is grace as we mature in Him Who is the Head of the Body, even Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Christian life is not about 'me, myself and I', but is all about the Lord Jesus Christ and God's purpose and plan in bringing many sons to glory through Him, by means of His sacrificial work at Calvary. In respect to the dispensation of the fullness of times in which we currently live (the Church age), God's purpose and plan is to bring all things into one in Christ: the things which are in heaven and the things which are on earth; all things in Him; to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory in this day and age, and also in the ages to come.
Like all humanity, the high priest was a sinner himself in need of a Saviour, so (unlike the Lord Jesus) he could not come to offer his own blood on the alter.
This annual sacrifice continued until the full, final, perfect sacrifice in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ was offered as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the whole world - that day at Calvary - on that pivotal point in the history of humanity.
The Lord Jesus appeared as foretold by so many of God's anointed prophets at the consummation of the age of Israel.
And we who live in the dispensation of grace, look back with grateful thanks to that day on Calvary's hill, when God in the person of Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh to put away sin forever, by the sacrifice of Himself.
As the hour for His death and Resurrection loomed ever closer, Jesus sought to prepare His disciples for their physical separation from Himself, with an illustration that accompanies the birth of every little baby.
Jesus knew that for His disciples, the grief they were to experience due to their separation from their beloved Master, would quickly be replaced with joy beyond compare.
The sorrow that accompanied His departure would be short-lived by comparison with the everlasting bliss and joy that all who have trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour will one day experience: For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for those that love Him.
Jesus Christ became the second man - the heavenly man - the last Adam, and He was sent from above by God to exercise dominion over all that the first man had lost, due to his sin.
Jesus Himself was life and light, and He came to conquer sin and death and to terminate its reign over the lives of whosoever would believe on His name.
John had heard the voice of God from heaven declaring, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, and He witnessed the descent of the Holy Spirit as He came and rested upon Jesus in bodily form like a dove – and this was the sign to John from God that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah of Israel and the promised Redeemer of the world.
And so the next day, when John saw the Lord Jesus coming towards him, he cried out like a voice in the wilderness, BEHOLD, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
They did not recognise that Jesus was the true and only Lamb of God, the sacrificial offering Who takes away the sin of the world.
Paul continues to explain that we became a member of the Body of Christ when we were born again. The moment we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ we were baptised into the Body of Christ.
We all have the same indwelling Holy Spirit, we all partake of the same spiritual benefits, we all have the same heavenly inheritance, and we are all equally loved by the same Lord Jesus Christ.
Timothy was not Paul's physical offspring, but was either led to faith in Christ Jesus by Paul personally when he visited Lystra, or had been nurtured and discipled by the older apostle.
Timothy had not only believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, but had obviously exhibited the same spiritual qualities and moral characters as his mentor.
Having sons and daughters 'in the faith' who have developed spiritually, grown in grace, and matured in their understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a great joy with an eternal perspective.
Unlike the Galatian believers who were trying to be made perfect by fleshly works and caused Paul to lament, My children, again I am in the pains of childbirth for you until Christ is formed in you, Timothy was growing in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and he was developing his spiritual gift as a pastor-teacher of the Word to the Christians in Ephesus.
Paul's usual greeting of 'grace and peace' was extended with the addition of 'mercy': To Timothy, my true child in the faith, he writes, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Grace is when we receive what we don't deserve, mercy is not receiving what we do deserve, while peace with God is given to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
God's grace, mercy, and peace is not only ours from God the Father but it also comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Grace, mercy, and peace is our present possession from God our Father Who sent His only begotten Son to be the sacrifice for our sin, but we also are given grace, mercy, and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ Who loved the Church so dearly that He gave Himself for her.
The Lamb on the throne was the only One Who was worthy to open the seven-sealed scroll and set in motion the full force of God's judgement and wrath, on a world, that not only rejected the Father, and the Holy Spirit, convicted the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement, but they also rejected the Lord Jesus Christ - the second Member of the Godhead, Who came to earth as a Man, to pay the ultimate price for the sin of the world.
While many view the four horsemen of the apocalypse as the end of the world and a time to fear, we should never forget that the focus of the book of Revelation is the revealing of JESUS CHRIST.
Jesus is coming to place all God's enemies under His feet.
For three and a half years, the Lord Jesus ministered in Israel declaring that He was the promised Messiah.
The time eventually arrived when Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the last time.
Yet Jesus knew that their adoration would be short-lived and they would falsely accuse Him of blasphemy.
It was at this point that Jesus knew His time had come to complete the work He came to do: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, He said.
Jesus, the eternal Son of God was born into the world to be our Kinsman-Redeemer, and this was the point when He knew that the time of His death had arrived.
Jesus rehearsed the truth of His mission and ministry in the ears of all who stood by... but finally confessed, Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say.. 'Father, save Me from this hour?
Jesus walked in the shadow of the Cross His entire life and ministry.
For three and a half years, the Lord Jesus ministered in Israel for this very hour.
And as He utters these earth-shattering words, the singular concern of the Lord Jesus was to glorify His Father in heaven.
Peter rejoiced in God's great mercy, knowing that all who trust in Christ for the salvation of their soul through faith in Him, are shielded by the power of God until the coming of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ - Who is ready to be revealed at the last time.
From Genesis to the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are presented with God's gracious, redemptive programme for fallen man, as recorded in the Bible - that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, that He was buried, and rose again according to the Word of Truth so that whosoever believes on Him would not perish and pass away - as the grass in the field, but would receive the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
Jesus had been introduced by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus was in His final year of ministry, having proclaimed Himself to be the true Bread from heaven, the Living Water for the thirsty soul, the Light of the world, and the Son of the Most High God.
They pointed out that the Law required Jesus to provide at least 2 witnesses to justify His claim - that He had come from His Father in heaven.
The prophetic voices of holy men of God had proclaimed His coming throughout Old Testament Scriptures, wise men came from the east to worship Him, and Zechariah rejoiced that the Lord God of Israel had visited His people and provided redemption through Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist had identified Him as the Lamb of God, many years before, when he was that voice, crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, and Jesus' ministry was authenticated by the very signs and wonders He performed throughout His earthly life.
The Jewish establishment of the day, did whatever they could to try to trip up the Lord Jesus and render His words as false or irrelevant.
They even brought a woman, caught in adultery, and used her to trap Jesus to either 1) condemn a sinner who needs a Saviour by upholding the Law of Moses and stoning her with His own hand or 2) condoning her sin by forgiving her of her sin, which would have broken the Mosaic Law - which demanded stoning to death for the sin of adultery.
The Jewish establishment thought they had trapped Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ was able to reply unflinchingly to the biased and foolish accusations of the Jewish establishment, I am He Who testifies about Myself.. and the Father Who sent Me testifies about Me also.
May we abide in Christ, trust His Word, and demonstrate ourselves to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus - for He has promised that we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free.
James calls all fleshly, carnal Christians to repent of their ungodly ways and in humility of heart to receive the implanted Word of God and to act on it faithfully, humbly, and wisely, which causes us to live godly in Christ Jesus.
Tracing the history of God's people from their world-wide dispersion due to their unfaithfulness to God, we arrive at a beautiful passage that begins to peep behind the scene onto the perfect plan of the Father, as He unveils their Messiah - the Lord Jesus Christ - the sin-bearing sacrifice for Israel and humble Saviour of the whole world.
Jesus Christ is not only Saviour of the world but He is King of Israel and Lord of lords, for He was raised from the dead as proof of His pre-eminence among the children of men.
John the Baptist had paved the way, and the time had come for Jesus to be baptised.
The heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended and rested on the Lord Jesus as God pronounced: This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.
But before we can take a breath and spend some time enjoying this moment, we immediately we read: After this, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. After the Jordan blessing came the wilderness testings.
Jesus was not tempted to prove His worth to the Father, for He had already received Divine approval.
Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted of Satan in order to demonstrate His victory over the Devil, who is the enemy of man's soul.
Because the Lord Jesus was victorious over the tempter's wiles, we too can triumph over the devil.
Christ's wilderness experience prepared the Lord Jesus to be our sympathetic High Priest, for He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
For us, and on behalf of all who are in Christ Jesus, He overcame the Devil and all His wicked ways.
The Lord Jesus has broken the power of Satan, sin, and death in our lives, and because we belong to Jesus, the power of His life-giving Spirit has freed us from the power of Satan.
Thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When Christ first came to the earth as Messiah and Saviour, He was rejected by His people, Israel, but as many as received Him, to them gave the power to become sons of God, even to those that believe on the name of Jesus.
And we who trust in Jesus have become the first-fruit of the Spirit, for we were born again as children of God and baptised by Him into the Body of Christ.
We are redeemed in soul, for during our earthly walk we are being sanctified and the Spirit of God has pledged to conform us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus.
But Paul also knew that rejection of the Lord Jesus by his people, Israel, would delay them the salvation God planned for them through Christ, for they did not recognise the time of their visitation.
We are part of the new creation in Christ and are, looking for that blessed hope, and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Blessed Hope in this verse is referring to the Rapture of the Church, when Jesus Christ appears in glory to take those who are members of His mystic Body, from the earth into heavenly places.
This Blessed Hope, when we are taken to be with Jesus, at the resurrection of the dead - the Rapture of the Church, is a right and a privilege that is given for ALL who are saved by grace through faith in Christ.
We believe Jesus Christ is soon to return and have been instructed to look for Him eagerly, longingly, lovingly, and expectantly.
As we see the day of His glorious appearance advancing quickly, in both the physical world and our own walk of faith, may we be those that stand fast and watch intently for His soon return, as we look for that Blessed Hope and the any-day appearing of the glory of our great and gracious God - Who is Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
But the same Tree of Life has reappeared in this final chapter of God's Word, with a promise from the Lord Jesus that He is returning soon to finish the good work He started at Calvary - and to establish in His kingdom of peace and prosperity.
We are not appointed to God's wrath and the Lord Jesus Himself sent His angel to testify to the truth of all that John saw during his astonishing vision - which he recorded in the final book of the Bible.
Those who refused to believe in His Son will be punished, but a multitude without number will call on the name of the Lord and be saved, and the nation of Israel will finally preach the gospel of the kingdom to all the world and then - Jesus will return to save His people from certain annihilation.
Yes, that day is coming when Israel will look on Him Whom they pierced and recognise that Jesus - the root and descendant of David - the bright morning star, will return to earth with His Church to save His people and to set up His kingdom on earth.
But when the time comes for Christ to return with His Bride to set up His kingdom, the Lord Jesus will consume him with the spirit of his mouth.
Today, the Church is being used to restrain evil, but at Christ's return, the Spirit of God and the Bride of Christ will cry, Come Lord Jesus.
And John tells us that the One who testifies to these things is Jesus, Who will reply to the call of the Spirit and His Bride, with the words, Yes, I am coming quickly.
Come, Lord Jesus.
God loved the world so much that in His goodness and grace He purposed to save ALL Who would trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.
We are to occupy until Jesus comes and we are to trust the Word of truth - which teaches that our toil for the Lord will not be in vain.
Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we will also be raised and live with Him forever.
May we keep our eyes on Jesus and finish the good work that God has prepared for us to do - knowing that our toil for the Lord is not carried out in vain, but will receive a great reward when He returns, to take us to be with Himself.
As those that have been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus, we have been made a new creation in Christ.
Knowing the value of our eternal position in Christ and the extent of our supernatural privileges, how vital that we take note of our responsibility to live godly lives in Christ Jesus.
We are to seek peace and to pursue it, and we are to be sanctified unto God and live godly in Christ Jesus which is the Father's will for all His children.
We should be properly prepared to give an answer for the blessed hope we have in our heart and to share the glorious hope that we have in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
The pattern of prayer that Jesus taught His disciples, was to demonstrate that we should reverence Him as our Father in heaven, glorify His holy name, and pray into His perfect plan, His heavenly purpose, and His eternal will.
Jesus was the perfect Son of God and He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin.
Jesus came to call sinners to repentance.
The Pharisees criticised the Lord Jesus for eating with sinners, not realising that from God's perspective there was no difference between the self-righteousness of the Jews and the unrighteousness of the publican whom they so despised, for all missed the standard of righteousness that God requires from man, and all need to repent.
Repentance means to turn away from one's sins, and the act of turning from sin can only result in turning towards Christ Jesus the propitiation for our sins, our only Saviour, and the one Mediator between man and God.
But praise God that Jesus did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance so that we could be made the righteousness of God, through believing IN HIM.
He did not immediately consult with the other apostles in Jerusalem, but travelled to Arabia where he received direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Himself: Then three years later, he writes, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas (i.e.
They had been with Jesus from the beginning.
Paul, on the contrary, kept company with the proud Pharisees that sought to destroy Jesus, and following His crucifixion became the chief persecutor of Christ's followers.
He was given direct revelation from the glorified Lord Jesus during his early years in the Christian faith.
I am sure they discussed the importance of salvation being a gift of God, through faith in Christ and the uniting of Jewish and Gentile believers in the Body of Christ, and I am sure they came to an understanding that Jewish believers are saved in the same way as Gentiles believers, for we read: We are also saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way that Gentiles are... without the encumbrances of the Jewish religious system.
Just as Moses laid out God's law to Israel on Mount Sinai, so we find Jesus, Israel's anointed King, presenting a comprehensive constitution of His coming kingdom which delivers a synopsis of His character and conduct - His mission and mentality.
And so, we find the Lord Jesus presenting His expectations of a believer's relationship with God's perfect law in this important teaching.
On the surface, these hypocrites appeared to be so spiritual, and yet the Lord Jesus recognised them as religious pretenders - and exposed them.
Jesus was the Passover Lamb, the Burnt Offering, the Grain Offering, and the Peace Offering.
The Lord Jesus was the Sin Offering Who was given by God to take away the sin of the whole world.
And as He hung on the Cross as the full and final payment for sin, the full fury of the wrath of the Father was poured out upon Jesus, His dearly beloved Son, so that by faith in Him we might be forgiven of our sins and clothed in His own perfect righteousness.
But Christ Jesus not only died as the one and only perfect sacrifice for sin Whose blood paid the full and final price for our sin and Whose flesh was the veil that was torn for us.
He was the Mediator through Whom the barrier between God and man was forever removed so that by faith in Him we are given access into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus Christ, our perfect sacrifice and eternal High Priest.
There is an incredible contrast between the pre-Cross Aaronic priesthood, which given to Israel through Moses, and the post-Cross Melchizedek Priesthood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and we are given a stark warning not to despise the new and better covenant that came through the atoning work of Christ on Calvary's Cross.
We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, for mercy to find help in time of need.
It is as born-again believers that we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.
In Him, we have the right to enter by a new a living way which the Lord Jesus Himself inaugurated for us through the veil, that is His flesh.
And in the previous verse, John summarises Christ's command to New Testament believers: This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
Paul reminds us: There is laid up in heaven a crown of righteousness, for all who have loved His appearing, there is a crown for all who are eagerly watching for the soon return of the Lord Jesus for his Church.
Let us watch with eager anticipation for the any day return of our Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds so that we too may receive the crown of righteousness, which is laid up for all who love His appearing.
There is no more beautiful name than the lovely name of the Lord Jesus.
But here in Luke's Gospel, we read that His name shall be called Jesus, because He was the one to save His people, Israel, from their sins.
Having been saved by grace through faith in Him, we certainly know that the Lord Jesus came as the Saviour of the world, for we read that God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever trusts in Him would not perish.
But we also know that Jesus came to His own people, the nation of Israel, but they rejected Him and in so doing opening up God's gracious floodgates of salvation to whosoever will, both Jew and Gentile.
The promised Seed passed secretly through the generations, first through Seth to Noah, then from Abraham to the sons of Jacob, via Ruth to David and on and on through the royal line until Christ was born of Mary - and she was to name Him Jesus, for He was both the Stem and the Root of Israel's great king David.
He was great David's greater Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah - the Lord Jesus Christ - Son of God and Son of Mary.
His office may be that of 'Christ' for He is the anointed of God, and His title may be 'Lord' for He is high and lifted up and His train fills the temple; but His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people, Israel, from their sins.
He opens with the genealogy of the Lord Jesus through David and Abraham, which confirms His royal qualification.
With the King's arrival and the authentic testimony of His Messianic claims, the Lord Jesus set about detailing the necessary requirements to enter His coming kingdom and the blessings that would be extended to His subjects.
And Jesus uses the grass of the field as a beautiful illustration of living by faith and not by sight or works: For if God so clothes the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you?
God knows the heart of man and Jesus could recognise fear and fretfulness in its many forms, deep in the hearts of His disciples as He examined each one in this little band of faithful followers.
He reminds us that our salvation is an act of God's goodness and grace, and that we are God's workmanship - created in Christ Jesus to do the good works that He has prepared for us to do.
He reveals to us the mystery of Christ that was hidden from previous generations - that there is neither Jew nor Gentile in the Body of Christ, and Gentiles are fellow-heirs - members of the same spiritual Body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
When the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent, by the Father, to equip the people of God to continue Christ's work on earth, through His empowerment.
They not only saw the risen, ascended Lord Jesus, but were used by God to write the New Testament after Christ's Ascension.
The Bible does not seek to cover up the character flaws of such individuals or whitewash their disagreements but often exposes them, for our learning, so that we may do the good, reject evil, gain wisdom, and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This Old Testament command, to honour your father and mother, is not only repeated by the Lord Jesus in His pre-Cross ministry to Israel, but is also reiterated to the Church by Paul, in both Ephesians and Colossians: Children, be obedient to your parents..
And the Lord Jesus is the King, Whom God the Father has purposed will rule and reign, for ever and ever.
God is long-suffering towards the fallen race of man and is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to faith in Christ Jesus.
Indeed, the gospel of grace has been preached to the nations for almost 2000 years and the invitation to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of our soul and life everlasting has been preached freely to whosoever will come by faith.
Jesus commended this scribe, for both the Law and the Prophets are dependent upon these two commands.
Jesus said, Without Me you can do nothing, but thank God that we can do all things through Christ, Who enables us.
This is His commandment, John writes in this verse, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ AND love one another, just as He commanded us.
And John continues in the following verse: The one who keeps His commandments (by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and loving as He loves) abides in Him, and He in him, and we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit Whom He has given us.
Perhaps the key to the entire book of Proverbs, upon which all every piece of good advice is founded, is the truth that Solomon taught his son in chapter 3: Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
As believers, we are certainly called to prepare ourselves for the imminent return of Jesus, when He comes in the clouds to Rapture His church into His presence at the end of this dispensation of grace, but Peter is also calling us to prepare ourselves for coming persecution in the days ahead.
The time is fast approaching when we must recognise that however old or young a man may be in physical years, we will soon be standing in the presence of the Lord Jesus, to give an account of the life we lived for Christ.
It is turning the eyes of the heart to Jesus each moment of the day.
How important therefore to keep ourselves in the love of God as we look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Paul was keen to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and as he starts to conclude his first epistle to the Corinthian Church we once again find him reiterating the same, simple, saving gospel truth: 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.
It was by the grace of God that Saul, the pathological Christian persecutor, became Paul, a dedicated bond-servant of Jesus the Nazarene: By the grace of God I am what I am, Paul wrote.
Jesus Himself had told the disciples only hours before His death that the Spirit of Truth is WITH you but a day is coming when He will be IN you.
Although Jesus was fully God, He was also fully Man.
Although He was the eternal Son of God Who was the exact representation of the Father, Jesus was also a Man - a perfect Man, but with human limitations, just as we are.
He is able to empathise with our pain and our grief, our disappointments and loss, for Jesus was made in the likeness of human flesh and was tempted in all things just as we are, and yet He was without sin.
There are many examples where the Lord Jesus Christ identified with the frailty of our human flesh and on occasions, we catch a glimpse of His withdrawing to a desert place or retreating to the ocean shore by Himself, helping us to understand that we also need times of mental and spiritual refreshment and demonstrating that we too need times to be alone with the Lord, as we come to terms with some circumstance of life that may be hard to bear.
In this passage, Jesus had just been told of the murder of John the Baptist, His faithful forerunner who had gone before to prepare the way of the Lord.
The death of John must have been a great pain for Jesus to bear, but the plans and purposes of God dictated that this must be so if He were to complete the task that God had called Him to do.
Although Jesus was fully God, He was also fully Man and His life is a wonderful witness of the way that God requires all men to live, looking to Him alone, trusting in no earthly support and relying on no-one but our Heavenly Father to supply our every need and direct our earthly pathway.
If we are to be like the Lord Jesus, we need to die to self so that we can live for Him.
How blessed we are to know that in His humanity, Jesus was able to sympathise with our weaknesses and understood the limitation of this earthly life, but He is also the only one Who can supply our deepest spiritual needs.
Jesus knew that complacency in our Christian walk was a dangerous trait, for we are surrounded by many temptations and trials that can lure us away from the path of righteousness or exhaust our soul, if we are not walking in spirit and truth.
And although our salvation is a free gift of grace that can never be lost, we all need to be aware that we can suffer loss of reward when we at last stand before the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Let us beware of the dangers that can cause our faith in God's Word to flounder and fall, and let us and hold fast that what we have, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Having explained to the Jews who had believed in Him: If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, Jesus continued to explain that those who choose to abide in His Word would: Know the truth and the truth will set you free.
All who receive the Lord Jesus as the Word of God made flesh, are given the right to become children of God, even to those that believe on His name, and there are many who truly believe in Christ as Saviour, many who have trusted Him as their Redeemer, many who have placed faith in the only begotten Son of God for their salvation.
A Christian is not necessarily a disciple of Jesus, but disciples of Christ are certainly Christians.
Believers who have learned and are continuing to learn more and more of Christ Jesus are truly those who can call themselves disciples.
Indeed, Paul writes to Timothy: All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
But here, Paul is exhorting us not to keep our eyes on what suffering in this world is doing in us, but to lift our eyes and fix our gaze on Jesus and the glory that is to be revealed to us.
The 'abyss' is described in Scripture as 'a bottomless pit' in the bowels of the earth, and for Christ's entire 1000-year kingdom rule (during which Israel is restored, Christians reign with Christ, creation is redeemed, and Jesus is installed as God's King on His holy hill of Zion), Satan is incarcerated in the bottomless pit waiting to be released for a very brief time before being fully and finally destroyed in the lake of fire.
Whether this angel is the Lord Jesus Himself, the archangel Michael, or another mighty messenger from the Lord is not revealed, but Satan is no match against the power of the Almighty God.
Satan's attempts to thwart God's redemptive plans and purposes from the beginning can never succeed, and by His grace the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to His servant John, tells us the end from the beginning so that we may KNOW that what God has purposed to do, will indeed take place.
Jesus came to carry out the plan which God had purposed before the foundation of the world.
He came in the Person of Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem, to tear down the immovable barrier between a holy God - Who cannot look on sin - and fallen man who is dead in trespasses and sin.
No word can be uttered to the Father, no prayer offered, no praise extended, other than through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the full and final revelation that God has given to man.
Jesus is the Heir of all things.
Jesus is the Creator of the entire universe of time, matter, and space, Who holds all things together by the might of His power.
Let us earnestly seek to know Him more and offer our lives as a living sacrifice that is holy unto God and honours the Son, and let us permit Him to conform us into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ, with every passing day.
However, one of God's characteristics is truth, and the Lord Jesus Himself, reinstated one very important fact: I AM the way.
When writing to the born-again believers in Rome, Paul reminded them We died with Christ, and goes on to tell them that because of this FACT, we are to reckon ourselves to be dead to the principle of sin, and alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Everyone who has been born of the Spirit, by faith in Christ, has been forgiven of their sins because Jesus took the punishment for our sake.
How important that by faith we trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean on the whole human personality of God, which is seen in the face of Christ Jesus.
How amazing that we are called by God to complete every activity in our life of faith, so that the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ the righteous, might be glorified in each of us.
Jesus identified with our sin, and the death that He died is credited to us so that the sentence of death has been lifted from our account.
He will realign what is twisted in thought, word, and deed: For He Who began a good work in us will finish it until the day of Christ Jesus... and we have the mind of Christ.
He will establish us, as Paul wrote: Now to Him who is able to establish you according to the truth and the preaching of Jesus Christ. He will establish us in truth and not permit us to waver in our faith, as we fix the eyes of our heart of HIM in confidence and in trust.
Christ Jesus is the incarnate Son of God Who came to earth to reveal the love of the Father towards fallen man so that by grace through faith in His death, burial, and Resurrection we might be forgiven of our sins, be brought back into fellowship with our Heavenly Father, and be given God's life, light, love, and compassion in our heart as we abide in Him and He in us.
But His work on the Cross would also invalidate and destroy the works of the devil, transferring all who believe in Him from the kingdom of darkness and death into the kingdom of light and life, only found in Jesus Christ the beloved Son of the Father and Saviour of the world.
The Lord Jesus had the words of eternal life, for He was the Light of the world, the Messiah of the Jews, and the Saviour of mankind Who had come into the world to save sinners from their sins.
However, there were certain of these Jews who did believe the words of the Lord Jesus; that all who believe on the only begotten Son of God are saved by grace through faith in Him and are given the gift of eternal life.
They could: 1) Choose to learn of the Lord Jesus and become His true disciples so that they would grow in grace and become spiritually mature. 2) They could remain in spiritual infancy, born again but not growing.
We can remain babes in the faith, or we can learn of Him and become His disciple, for Jesus Himself said to all who believe in Him: If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
Secondly, he mentioned the love this little group of believers had for the Lord Jesus, as they 'laboured in love' and served Him willingly because of their dear devotion to Him and not simply out of duty.
The third thing that rejoiced his heart, was their enduring hope in Jesus' soon return, and much of this letter touches on the very subject of Christ coming for his people.
The thanksgiving he expressed for their developing faith was clearly designed to encourage them to maintain their faith in the Lord and press on for the upward call we have in Christ Jesus, and so he began this personalised section by telling them: We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers.
Like the Lord Jesus, Paul seems to have developed the desire to live his life in an attitude of prayer, and throughout his writings, we find him encouraging the Body of Christ to pray without ceasing, in every situation to pray with a thankful heart, and having done all, to keep on praying, knowing that our sufficient strength comes from God alone.
Perhaps the prayer that Paul often prayed for these and other believers throughout the middle east could be summed up in the final few verses of this lovely letter: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
For three years, Jesus and His disciples had been teaching the gospel of the kingdom to Israel.
Jesus came to set up His kingdom on earth.
Jesus was the promised Messiah - the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the disciples had their eyes on the positions they hoped to secure in His kingdom.
But as Jesus would reveal to Pontius Pilate, His kingdom was not of this world system.
And so, Jesus started to prepare their hearts for His coming passion and as they travelled up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, He warned them of what was to come: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes.
Jesus clearly outlined the fate that awaited Him, for He knew that He would be rejected by His Jewish brethren.
Jesus told them all these things as they walked along the way towards Jerusalem, but they were more interested in who would be seated at His right hand in His kingdom and missed the meaning of so many of His parables and teachings that were designed to prepare their hearts for the amazing gospel of grace - that God so loved the world that He gave His only son to die, that whosoever believed on Him would be saved - that He came as the sacrificial Lamb of God to redeem the world from Satan's iron grip and sins stifling stranglehold.
Everything that Jesus related to His disciples on their journey was prophesied in Old Testament Scriptures.
And they would discover that everything Jesus told them turned out to be exactly as He had said.
Jesus had to die for our sin for there was no other Man Who was good enough to pay the price of sin.
The future hope and eternal redemption of every pre-Cross saint and all post Cross believers rested on the one, pivotal point in the history of the world about which Jesus was speaking, when the eternal Son of God would die for our sin and become our Kinsman-Redeemer, as He shed His blood on Calvary's Cross.
Daniel was instructed to seal up all his prophetic dreams and visions until the time of the end, but we have been permitted to recognise that the Holy One, Whom Daniel says, Was like unto a Son of Man, was the Lord Jesus. The One Whom Daniel saw was no-less than the incarnate God, Himself, Whose name is Jesus, Who is to save His people from their sins.
But with the additional revelation in New Testament Scripture, and the enlightenment of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we understand that it is to Jesus, the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man, to Whom has been handed the reins of God's authority.
Jesus, the incarnate Son of the Father and Kinsman-Redeemer of mankind, has been endowed with all authority to judge the earth and everything in it.
Today, the Lord Jesus is seated on the right hand of God the Father in heavenly glory, but the great Creator of the universe has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness - through the Man Christ Jesus, Who has been appointed heir of all things.
By grace, He has furnished us with proof that Jesus is indeed His anointed Son, by raising Him from the dead - praise His holy name.
In the previous verse we read: Jesus did not commit Himself to the people.
Even though the crowds were following after Him excitedly and placing their confidence and trust in Him because of the many mighty miracles they witnessed, Jesus knew that this could never become a mutual trust.
Jesus knew that He could not commit His life and His important ministry into their safe-keeping, because He knew that the heart of man is not to be trusted.
Jesus Christ is the perfect example of a man who walked in spirit and truth.
And so we read: Jesus did not need anyone to testify concerning man, because Jesus Himself knew what was hidden deep within the heart of all men.
Jesus did not need men to testify about the morals and attributes of mankind.
Jesus does not need man to instruct Him about anything, especially what is in the heart of a man.
Jesus has full and complete knowledge of all things, for He is the image of the invisible God, the exact radiance of God's glory, and the unalterable representation of His nature.
Every characteristic and attribute of the eternal omniscient Father belongs equally to the Lord Jesus Christ; for He is the eternal, incarnate Son of the Most High God, co-equal and co-eternal.
No surprise therefore that despite the praise and adoration of the surging multitude of people, Jesus did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself already knew exactly what was in man.
And God spoke all things into existence: And the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, and His glory was seen in the Person of Jesus Christ the righteous, to Whom be all glory for ever and ever, amen.
Throughout His Gospel and his letters, the apostle John points to the Lord Jesus Christ as God incarnate: The Word made flesh Who dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
Love of the Lord Jesus and obedience to His commands are the focal points of John's writing so that all who believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God would know, without question, that they have eternal life in Him.
God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, came to earth to reconcile man to the Father through the Son and to give spiritual understanding and godly wisdom to all who would trust in His name.
We can run to win at the office or at the supermarket, for the promised prize is for all who live godly in Christ Jesus and who conduct their Christian life in spirit and in truth.
They were his hope, they were his joy, and they were his crown of rejoicing, for Paul knew that one day they would rejoice together in the glorious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Reverence and godly fear for the Lord should be the unquestionable delight of all believers, but how sad when God all-mighty degenerates into God all-matey and the respect and honour due to our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ deteriorates into self-indulgent 'worship' or irreligious behaviours.
Following Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, where Jesus voluntarily took upon Himself the sin of the world, God changed the way He met with humanity.
Just as Christ only did those things He heard from the Father, so the Church - which is His mystic Body, is to obey the law of the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus.
They were confounded by the supernatural happenings on that special day, and Peter presented Jesus of Nazareth to the astonished crowd in his sermon.
Men of Israel, he cried, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.
The Pharisee's plot to dispose of Jesus quietly, backfired, and news of His crucifixion was being spread abroad.
He used three ways to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God - His miracles, His Resurrection, and His Ascension into heaven.
King David's prophetic words pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The miracles Christ performed, His sacrificial death, His glorious Resurrection, and His Ascension into heaven to sit on the right hand of God the Father, are a few of the prophecies within Peter's sermon, when he quoted David's words about Christ - that God would not abandon His soul to Hades, nor would He allow Christ Jesus, the Holy One of God, to decay in the grave.
May we be ready to witness to those souls that are lost and remain dead in trespasses and sins, so that they TOO may hear the good news of the Gospel of Grace and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and become part of that redeemed multitude that has been saved by grace through faith in Christ.
Jesus is our sufficient strength in every situation, but it is by abiding in Him that we are enabled to access His power through a knowledge of Him Who brought us out of darkness into his glorious light.
He not only wanted to remind us of all the wonderful things he had experienced when he walked with Christ in the way, watched Him perform many mighty miracles, and witnessed His glorious Transfiguration on the holy mount of God, but to emphasise the importance of WHO Jesus was: Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.
Peter didn't simply want us to recall Jesus as the most gifted teacher, the most amazing philosopher, or the greatest of all Rabbis.
In this passage, Peter wanted to stress the unsurpassed honour and unmatched glory the Lord Jesus received from the Majestic Glory (God the Father) when He announced, This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.
Be humble and gentle, patient and tolerant with each other, he exhorts us: Make every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and do everything in love, for the sake of Jesus.
We are aware that Jesus descended to earth at His birth and ascended after His Resurrection from the dead.
The FIRST interpretation is that Jesus came down from heaven at His incarnation.
The SECOND suggestion is that Jesus descended into Hades; a part of the earth which is lower that the plane on which we live.
The THIRD option is that the body of Jesus descended into the sepulchre that Joseph of Arimathea provided when Pilate permitted him to take the dead body of Jesus for burial, the tomb against which was rolled the great stone.
Jesus ascended from the tomb at His glorious Resurrection from the grave.
His threefold 'ascension' qualifies JESUS to be the One to give spiritual blessings to the Church and heavenly gifts to all who will believe on His name.