Acts 2:22-23 "You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know: 23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:" Why would they do this? They neglected to understand that He was the promised Messiah. He proved it for 3 years, but they spurned Him, and neglected even as those who were invited to the wedding feast we just read. Now let’s go over a little further, still in the Book of Acts. So come on over to chapter 24, when Paul has now come on the scene, and let’s drop in at verse 24. Here Paul is being accused, and supposedly being brought to trial.
Acts 24:24 "And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. (now you all know this, I know you do. But I want to give you another thought on it.) 25. And as he reasoned (Felix, this governor or whatever his title may have been, but as he reasoned) of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered. Go your way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for you. 26. He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him:…" What’s Felix doing? Neglecting Salvation. He’s putting it off to his own doom. Oh, the constant reminder in Scripture is, "Don’t put it off" because the Scripture says, "Now is the day of Salvation." Not tomorrow or next year, but now. Now let’s come back to Hebrews chapter 2, and we’ll go on a little further in the verse:
Hebrews 2:3a "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;…" How are we going to miss the doom of the lost and the lawless, if we neglect or spurn or postpone so great a Salvation. Now listen, we're afraid the average well-intentioned church member doesn’t realize what a great Salvation has been offered to the human race. It’s the inhuman understanding. It’s just totally beyond us. Alright now we're going to bring you back again to Romans and this time chapter 1. This is a verse that most of us probably know from memory. Let’s drop down to verse 16. And remember, "How can we escape, and how can the human race escape if they neglect, or treat lightly so great a Salvation.
Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it (the Gospel of His Grace) is the power of God unto salvation to every one that (repents and is baptized? No! Your Bible doesn’t say that and neither does mine, or anything else we can put in there. This great Salvation has now become accessible to everyone that) believes; (It’s faith, it’s trusting this Gospel of God's Grace. So it’s to everyone that believes, or receives the illumination) to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Alright, so great a Salvation. Now let’s go look at Philippians chapter 2. We're going to wear your Bibles out, that we’re going to do a lot of page turning. And the whole idea that we want to keep in our minds is, "this great Salvation." These are verses we use periodically.
Philippians 2:5-8 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; 6. Who, (God the Son as we saw in Hebrews 1. Who) being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (He was God. He was the Creator of everything) 7. But (even though He was the Creator God, He) made Himself (He was forced into it, because of His great Agape Love) of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, (bond slave, the lowest level in the human economy in our humanity) and was made in the likeness of men (for a short period of time): 8. and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death (the ministration of death the final condition of the requirement of the Law), even the death of the cross." Now again our human intellectual mind set cannot comprehend all the depth of this. It’s just beyond us. We can put it together and get a full understanding of all that was in the mind of God when He pre-programmed that horrible death of crucifixion, by our renewing of our minds to spiritual things. We receive all by way of inspiration from within the heart once received we digest it and it then becomes revelation to our mind and understanding or knowledge of things spiritual. See, when we go back into the time of Moses, when the serpents were running rampant through the Hebrews, what did Moses put up in the midst of the camp. Well the brazen serpent. And the whole idea was that if the people would look up at that brazen serpent, then they would be healed of their snakebites. Then we come along to John’s Gospel, and what does he say? "The Son of man had to be lifted up." He had to be lifted up in order to fulfill the type of the brazen serpent. These are the types of spiritual Truths which when put together or eaten as the flesh of Christ and we drink in of the waters of the Holy Spirit the which not only cleans us but are a type of drinking in of the inspiration He then causes us to gain the insight or revelation. Now the Word begins to come to Life by imparting the Life (breath) of God as incorruptible seed received and allowed to grow within the fertile ground of our soul or awakened (quickened) spirit.
So it had to be the death by crucifixion, because no other death would have lifted him up. He had to be the cursed One, because again when we go back into the Old Testament economy, when there was a no good son, and nobody could do anything with him, what had to happen? Well they had to put him to death, but after they had stoned him, what did they do with his body? Hung it on a pole until just before night fall when it had to be removed (Deuteronomy 21:18-23). And again what was the whole picture? Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. So those were all prototypes of what Christ would fulfill in that horrible death by crucifixion. But we see in God’s Sovereign way of thinking, it had to be, as nothing else would have worked. This can only be comprehended by the spirit of faith and truth, with the mind of Christ renewed within in us. Which is only received through dead to sin and self-will in the flesh of man and this is a working of God's power and Authority to which we willing submit and are required to submit.
Now let’s go to I Corinthians chapter 1 and look at a few more verses. We also want to remember that Paul’s letters are directed to us as recipients of God’s Grace, in the Church Age. Not just for us, but rather to us. So in this passage, my, we can just sink our teeth into it, and say, "this is God speaking to me," even though it’s through the apostle’s pen, it’s still God speaking to us as through His Son. We know this throws a curve at a lot of people, but it’s what the Book says.
I Corinthians 1:17 "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, (in other words, not with some fast talking, whatever. We know, even Apollos was a great orator, but it took a couple of little Hebrew lay people to teach him the truth. So he doesn’t come with wisdom of words) lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." Listen, at the heart of everything is that work of the cross. Now verse 18, and remember what we're still harping on, "How great a Salvation." And for the most part mankind is neglecting it, and because they’re neglecting it,(the churches of Christendom [the denominational and nondenominational assembles] are neglecting this Gospel of God's Grace, they have a liberal theology and for years they have been in the throws of an humanistic gospel through the evangelistic humanism of the churches) they’re never going to escape their doom. So don’t lose sight of that.
I Corinthians 1:18 "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; (how true. The average person here in the Bible belt does not feel it’s the cross that makes the difference, they want to remove the word blood and Paul's letters from the Bible) but to us which are saved it (the preaching of the cross, the Blood, resurrection and ascension) is the power of God." It took more power to save this sinner, and us as a sinner, than it did to create the universe." Now we may think that’s a play on words, but listen, who held us chained to our lost estate? Satan did. Satan held every one of us, but Who alone could break that chain? The work of the cross! Now verse 22:
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