I have been stressing the point of Amos 3:3, that for two to walk together they must be in agreement, to walk together as One. As having that which was lost by a man (Adam), now is restored to man by the death of One righteous man, restoring righteousness to those who become conjoined to the One. For this too is what Grace is. Yesterday, I looked at both the Perils of an Empty Heart and Spiritual Fullness which fills that heart with understanding of GOD. Today, I will look at the Fullness of Christ. But first Pastor Hoekstra and his teaching on Grace as our recourse of light, Love and Life through the essence of Christ [in Whom light, Love, Grace, Truth and Eternal Life belongs] restored to our soul [where a sleeping spirit dwells as a seed of man] in which we have awakened to GOD anew. Then using the ESV translation I will look at the Fullness of Christ.
Access to Grace through Humility and Faith"
"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble . . . through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand." (James 4:6 and Romans 5:2)
"Thus far in our daily meditations on growing in the Grace of GOD, we have examined various areas of biblical truth: such as, the Old Covenant of Law, the New Covenant of Grace, wherein GOD's sufficiency for godly living, living by the promises of GOD, and Old Testament saints who lived by GOD's Grace. Have established our pattern for Life by walking with GOD as One. Now, we return to an extended consideration of how we avail ourselves of the glorious riches of GOD's Grace. As noted earlier in our studies, GOD's Grace is accessed through humility and faith.
If we desire [after all the Bible states that we are to be the willing and this usually comes only after our Redemption] to live by God's Grace, we must be willing to renounce pride and to walk in humility. "GOD resists the proud, but gives Grace to the humble." The LORD is opposed to the path of self-sufficiency. When we pridefully assume that we can produce the kind of life GOD calls us to live, spiritual progress is prevented. And we become religious, which is imposed self-pity in that nature. But Humility involves agreeing with GOD's pronouncements concerning our inadequacies. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves" (2Corinthians 3:5). The person who is willing to walk humbly with the LORD-GOD has an accurate understanding of our comprehensive need for the LORD of old to work in and through our lives. "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
Along with humility regarding ourselves, GOD wants us to walk in faith regarding Him. The LORD wants to work in our lives by His incomparable Grace. Faith accesses Grace: "through whom [Jesus our example of this life] also we have access by faith into this Grace in which we stand." The LORD is pleased by the path of our "Christ-dependency." The name or mark of our Patriarch that mankind is to bear as His seal. This is grossly misunderstand and is totally missing in the religious lost folks and lost sinner. The religious pious folks are far more dangerous as the world is witnessing today.
Whenever we face any issue of life by faith in Christ Jesus, we are drawing upon the abounding Grace of the LORD. When we dependently accept that GOD can produce the kind of life He calls us to live, spiritual progress is assured. Faith involves agreeing with GOD's pronouncements concerning Him being our adequacy: "but our sufficiency is from GOD" (2Corinthians 3:5). The person who is willing to walk in faith with the LORD has an accurate understanding of His comprehensive ability to work in and through our lives. "He who abides in Me . . . bears much fruit" (John 15:5).
Also, as noted earlier, humility and faith are relational realities. Neither can be produced by us. They are not the result of human labor. They can only be developed as an increasing reality through a growing relationship with the LORD, Christ Jesus."
The Fullness of Christ,
John 1:14 "The Word, put on flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of Grace and Truth. (this John bore witness about Him, and cried out, "This was He of whom I said, 'He Who comes after me ranks before me, because HE was before me.'") For from His fullness we have all received, Grace for grace. For the Law was given through Moses; Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen GOD; the only GOD, Who is at the Father's side, HE has made Him known."
Ephesians 1:15-23 "For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, "I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which HE has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that HE worked in Christ when HE raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this Age but also in the (where Jesus rules as King for a thousand years) one to come. And HE put all things under His feet and gave Him as Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in All ."
Ephesians 4:7-16 "For Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's generous gift. Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high He led a host of captives (the old testament witnesses, ie.. saints), then He gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He Who descended is the one Who also ascended far above all the heavens, that HE might fill all.) For HE gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of [His] ministry, for building up the (mystical...ie, secret) body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of GOD, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. But rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him Who is the head, into Christ, from Whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
Colossians 1:15-20 and 2:8-15 "He is the image of the invisible GOD, the firstborn (resurrected) of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And HE is before all things, and in Him all things (His people are) hold together. And HE is the Head of the body, His family the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything HE might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of GOD was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace (removed and did away with our enmity) by the blood of His cross."
Colossians 2:8-15 "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human (religious) tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him, Who is the head of all rule and authority. In, by Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh (the seeds shell, a hardness, that surrounded our soul or heart out of which flows the issues of life), by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism (a type of death), in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of GOD, Who raised Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, GOD made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses (satan's sin nature), by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This HE set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him."
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