Today I am starting on a new venture while at the same time staying with Gods Promises that effect those who are "en" Christ. As stated before and because of its extreme importance I repeat it again here. The whole of the Bible is the Revelation of the foundational bedrock of Christ for it is His Building His Church not ours or any other man organization or institution. Christ's Church is a living breathing organism in which He is the fabric and substance within us and we become its living stones just as He told Peter in Matthew 16. I will leave this discourse for now to get back to my intended subject, the Power of GOD to do through His Christ all that is both negative and positive in nature to establish His people from among the nations and people groups of the earth as promised those of the seed likeness of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 12, 18, 22 and 26. But first Pastor Hoekstra and his teaching on Grace and then with the use of the ESV translation I will delve into the targeted subject matter.
"An Attitude Carried About by Earthen Vessels"
"Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." (2Corinthians 4:10)
"As earthen vessels, we are to live by trusting in the treasure (the Lord Christ Jesus) who dwells within us: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." (2Corinthians 4:7) Also, we are to give Him all honor and glory as He sustains us day by day through the trials of life: "that the excellence of the power may be (is) of God and not of us." In addition, to help us magnify the treasure who lives in us, there is to be an attitude (an outlook) carried about (embraced) by the earthen vessels.
This particular attitude that results in magnifying the treasure is the perspective we hold concerning the death and Life of Christ: "Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." This is about dying in order to live. Jesus taught this. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it" (Luke 9:24). Those who hold on to the life they received from Adam lose what they are trying to guard and develop. They never find true life.
However, all who renounce their sinful natural life and trust GOD in Jesus find a New Life abundant Life from Him. This is the attitude that followers (believers) of Christ are to carry with them. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Day by day, our perspective is to include a rejection of any life that we could produce on our own ("deny himself"). We are to agree with God that the self-life always deserves the cross of Christ ("take up his cross daily"). This leaves us with only one option: pursue after Christ Jesus for the life that He alone can provide ("and follow Me"). In cleaving onto Him Who is Life.
Such confessions are in harmony with what actually happened to us at the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism [that is, through identification, not by water] into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). When we place our trust wholly in the Lord, His faith and resurrection as our death and resurrection! This is to be our confidence continually. "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:11).
When we carry about this attitude, we are actually trusting the ascended LORD Christ Jesus (the treasure who dwells within us) to live in and through our "earthen vessels," our humanity: "that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."
GOD our Strength:
Exodus 15:1-18 "Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, "I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my (Rock of His) salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him. The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is His name. "Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of Your majesty You overthrow Your adversaries; You send out Your fury; it consumes them like stubble. At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.' You blew with Your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. "Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them. "You have led in Your steadfast love the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them by Your strength to (become) Your holy abode. The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of Your arm, they are still as a stone, till Your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom You have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on Your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which You have made for Your abode, the sanctuary, O LORD, which Your hands have established. The LORD will reign forever and ever." 2Samuel 22:31-38 "This God—His way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him. "For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip; I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, and did not turn back until they were consumed."
Psalm 28:6-9 "Blessed be the LORD! For He has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him. The LORD is the strength of His people; He is the saving refuge of His anointed. Oh, save Your people and bless Your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever."
Psalm 46:1-3 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling."
Psalm 73:25-28 "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to You. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the LORD GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works."
Psalm 81:1-5 "Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob! Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob.
He made it a decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a language I had not known."Psalm 84:5-7 "Blessed are those whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion."
Psalm 89:19-29 "Of old You spoke in a vision to Your godly ones, and said: "I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David, My servant; with My holy oil I have anointed him, so that My hand shall be established with him; My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him. I Will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and My steadfast love shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted. I Will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.' I Will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I Will keep for him forever, and My covenant will stand firm for him. I Will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens."
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