Yesterday we looked at the Abundance of Spiritual Food the GOD in His Wisdom has provided for those who would become His and believers and then receivers of His Revelation. And how this plays for our living by the Spirit. And how the Law dealt mainly with mans flesh, with our learning that it is not by our own fleshly power and its works that will cause us to please Him. And how the Afflictions are used as a means of measurement of our commitment to Him as well as the means of His perfecting our spirit in its conformity to that of Christ. That part of man that was lost to man in the garden through mans deception by the use of a twisted falsehood of words. The very commandment spoken to him so clearly by GOD. And so it that I will again pull from my E-Sword program the ESV translation and Pastor Hoekstra's teaching on the Failure of the Law to accomplish that which I have just stated (I will again edit Pastor Hoekstra's writing). Because Israel as a whole did not mix His words with clarity of sight or by spiritual means. They attempted to do all in the physical and natural realm by self works or their remaining earthy. Which caused them great harm by their becoming worldly and unable to see or hear GOD. In the end this led them to spiritual and moral idolatry.
"The Inability of the Law to Justify"
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by Faith in Jesus Christ . . . But that no one is justified by the Law in the sight of GOD is evident, for "The just shall live by faith." (Galatians 2:16 and 3:11)
"Our great initial need before GOD is to be justified, to have GOD Himself declare us not guilty, to have the LORD pronounce us righteous in His sight. At first glance this appears to be an impossible situation for man. GOD, our Judge, is Holy. Man's flesh is innately unholy. "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).
The consequences of such ungodliness are inevitably universal and appropriately severe. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of GOD" (Roman 3:23). "For the wages of sin is death." (Roman 6:23). The just sentence for all of humanity, in light of their sins against a Pure and Holy GOD, is death, everlasting separation from GOD.
The Law of GOD given through Moses offers no help and provides no hope of remedying this dire situation. People are "not justified by the works of this Law." Trying one's best to measure up to this Law never produces a verdict of not guilty. In all the history of humanity, not one person could ever perform sufficiently before GOD's Law to achieve a declaration of being righteous. "No one is justified by the Law in the sight of GOD."
Vows and pledges of personal improvement offer no hope. Asking others how to strive more earnestly provides no assistance. Only faith supplies the necessary remedy. "A man is not justified by the works of this Law but by (through) Faith in Christ Jesus." Trusting in our own best efforts leaves us guilty before GOD. Trusting Christ's perfect work on the cross leaves us justified before GOD. "The just shall live by faith."
The open mystery of Christ Being the Bread of Life:
John 6:26-34, 35-40, 41-51, 52-58 "Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to Eternal Life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him GOD the Father has set His seal." Then they said to Him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of GOD?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of GOD, that you believe Him Whom HE has sent." So they said to Him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of GOD is He Who came down from heaven and gives life to (for) the world." They said to Him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My Own Will but the Will of HIM Who sent Me. And this is the Will of HIM Who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that HE has given Me, but raise it (the All just mentioned, the mystical Body / Church / Family of GOD) up on the last day. (John 3:16's the whosoever is the same) For this is the Will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes Him should have Eternal Life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
So the Jews grumbled about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me—not that anyone has seen the Father except He Who is from GOD; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes (this Gospel) has Eternal Life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh (receives My revelation words as food) and drinks My blood (the cup of fellowship in Afflictions) has Eternal Life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.(our only Memorial of remembrance in 1Corinthians 10 and 11) Whoever feeds on My flesh (revelation) and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the Living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."
Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as He taught at Capernaum."
No comments:
Post a Comment