The world is in turmoil lawlessness and all that goes with birth pains of child bearing, just as the Lord Jesus had said would come upon man. But for those who are Christ Centered, they watch and listen to all mans foolishness spewing from their mouths and actions. Because they are the worldly, earthy and in ignorance that they have chosen for themselves. When we look within us we find Christ's words are our source of comfort as I have covered before. How is this possible? Because it is His Life within our being that makes all the difference to us and the world around us. It is this that I will look at today. But first Pastor Hoekstra and his teaching on Grace, which I have said is the person of Christ as is Truth as John introduced to the world in his gospel. The I will with the use of the ESV translation turn to my chosen subject the Life of Christ. And as always when the LORD gives me utterance I will add it without hesitation.
"Israel's Response to the Law's Demand"
"Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient" . . . Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice." (Exodus 24:7 and Deuteronomy 26:17)
GOD's law demands wholehearted obedience. "This day the LORD your God commands us to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 26:16). When the Israelites heard this summary requirement of their Law, they confidently promised that they would obey. "Today we have proclaimed the LORD to be our GOD, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that they were to and would obey His voice." Forty years earlier, when the Lord first gave His Law through Moses to His people, they responded in a similar fashion. "Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, 'All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient'."
Their intentions were certainly commendable. However, their performance was definitely unacceptable. Even before they had departed from the mountain where the Law was given, they plunged into disobedience. "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it" (Exodus 32:8). Soon after the death of Joshua (who led them into the Promised Land), they repeatedly rebelled against the LORD their God. The book of Judges documents this clearly: "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Judges 3:12); "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Judges 4:1); "Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Judges 6:1); "Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Judges 10:6).
Twelve hundred years later, Stephen would summarize Israel's history of disobedience. "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51). What a sobering evaluation of those who were so confident of obeying the Law of GOD." GOD in His wisdom and foreknowledge brought about a world class transformation, a real revival of His Spirit within mans receptive heart, as Acts is our record of this event.
Christ's Life ours,
Radiant Life:
John 1:1-5 and 5:24-29 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and this life is the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 5:24-29 (Jesus is speaking) "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me has Eternal Life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to (into this) Life. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of GOD, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has Life in Himself, so HE has granted the Son also to have (His) Life in Himself. HE has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out (Matthew 27:51 at the ";" sign through 53, 54, Ephesians 4:7-10, Colossians 1:18-23, 2:8-15; the first fruits resurrection), those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."
Abundant Life:
John 10:1-10, 16 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door (the revelation of Christ, the Light and Life of GOD within us) but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd (such as Paul became) of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens (open the secret things of Christ, the mysteries of Christ). The sheep hear His voice (through His prophets that is to say His pastors and teachers who possess Christ's essence within them, as stated in Romans 8:9), and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all His own, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice (the calling out as seen in Genesis and then Exodus with Noah and Israel and John 10:16, 27-30 and as shown above in the "coming out" and in Acts 2:14-21, 1Corinthians 15:20-58 and 1Thessalonians). A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am (now the only) the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
"I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they Will hear My voice; and they Will become one flock of One Shepherd."
Life for the Dead:
John 11:17-27 "When Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews (the Hebrew elites composed of lawyers, doctors and Priests) had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask from GOD, God Will give You." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes (as the first marriage of Genesis 2) Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."
The Way, the Truth, the Life:
John 14:1-6, 7 (Jesus is speaking) "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I Will come again and Will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him."
Life Everlasting:
Romans 5:18-6:7, 8-11, 12-14 and 1John 1:1-3, 4, 5 "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law (both that of sin and death and Moses Law of condemnation) came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, Grace also might reign through righteousness leading to Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our LORD. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that Grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized (water baptism) into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in Newness of (His) Life. For if we have been united (the "en") with Him in a death (a marriage of two as seen in Genesis 2, in reverse) like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free (by death) from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the Life He lives He lives to GOD. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to GOD in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to GOD (Romans 12:1-2, 3 and Galatians 2:20-21) as those who have been brought from death to Life, and your members to GOD as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under Grace."
1John 1:1-3, 4, 5 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you this Eternal Life, which is with the Father and is made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that GOD is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all."
The Only Source of Life:
1John 5:5-12 "Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of GOD? This is He who came by water and blood (physical death)—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the One Who Testifies, because the Spirit is the Truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of GOD is greater, for this is the testimony of GOD that He has borne concerning His Son. Whoever believes the Son of GOD has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe GOD has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that GOD has borne concerning His Son. And this is the testimony, that GOD gave us Eternal Life, and this Life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has Life; whoever does not have the Son of GOD does not have life."
No comments:
Post a Comment