Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Ephesians Lesson 17 of 39 part 3

Picking up at Romans chapter 3 verse 24:

Romans 3:24-25a
"Being justified freely (without any demands) by his grace through the redemption (ransom paid where we receive our down payment of the Holy Spirit and He developing righteousness within us) that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (as death of the physical body consummates natural life) through faith in his blood (this speaks of the full action of the completed work of death through ascension in newness of Life),..."
Now His blood couldn't be shed until He died for the sins of the world as the promised redeemer of Genesis 3:15. His shed blood (is of the promised new covenant as held within Genesis 3:15 and that of newness of Life within Jeremiah 31) and His death (as Isaac as the promised and born son of man was offered, a symbol of Adam and the second Adam in one person) are synonymous. So we have to place our faith in the fact that the blood of Christ literally became our Passover and our marriage to Him in one action of His will. We pass through His blood by way of the hours of His passion, the taking aright of the Last Supper and the illumination of our being counted as IN Him through it all, because of the first Covenant on through even His ascension. We are now free from the fear of death and eternal doom, because now we're under the blood, we're clothed in Christ. But it isn't just the blood by itself, it's coupled with our faith in HIM. And that's why we have to know what the Bible says in order to have faith. What has God said? God has said in so many words, "When I see the blood I'll past over!" And death can't touch us, nor can the curse and it hasn't changed. The whole Old Testament format just comes marching along and comes to fruition then when we get to Paul's Gospel based on His death, burial, and His resurrection and our taking of Him a right. 

Romans 3:25b
"...through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"
All the way up through the New Testament Scriptures we have that constant reference to the blood and the pass errors as a bygone thing. Now we're going to take you all the way over to even Peter's little epistle.

I Peter 1:18-19
"Forasmuch as ye know (it's not "I hope so", it's not "I think so", but rather it's a "I know so".) that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conservation (former manner of living) received by tradition from your fathers; (and how many people are soaked with traditions today, the religion of reason and we guarantee it's going to fail them) But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot:"
What was the whole process leading up to the killing of the Passover lamb? They had to take it out of the flock, and isolate it for three days. And in that three day period they were to look at the lamb real good to see if there was any kind of a flaw or blemish. And if the lamb wasn't perfect they couldn't use it for the sacrifice. Well the analogy again is, How long was Christ on public view? Three to Three and one-half years. And there was no sin found in Him, so what could He fulfill? The Passover lamb. And as His blood was shed and applied to the door of our hearts the death angel passes over us. We don't have to shake in our boots when death faces us. Or when we see the day of wrath near the door. We don't have to wonder, "Am I going to make it?"

We've all heard some of the most horrible stories about that. One gentlemen told us that his father-in-law was an evangelist for a particular denomination for twenty-five years, and yet as he faced his own death, he paced the floor worrying out loud, "Am I going to go to heaven when I die?" Now isn't that sad? Oh, that's so sad, and then we have to think about the people that he preached to. They must have been left with that same dilemma. But oh listen, that's not what the Scripture teaches. The Scripture says, "that we know" John writes in his little epistle, "we know we have passed from death unto life, when we love the brethren." There's that changed heart and attitude as He infuses us with His very nature all over again. Now let's come back to the Book of Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2:13
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
The blood of Christ makes all the difference in the world, and it's our faith in that shed blood, as we've shared, The power of His Resurrection, which brings about New Life, and from that New Life God is looking for fruit. His nature, not Satan's. Now verse 14.

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