Still keeping with the "in the beginning, GOD, and can two walk together accept they be in agreement" I am looking again into the Lord Jesus Christ being the same LORD and now Christ of the beginning on through the end of Revelation as the LORD Who has not changed. And just how is it that this younger generation thinks that we know Him one way and they another. When we both have the same words and phrases in our Bibles no matter it's translation. We all read them the same and our brains are no different the only thing that changes is the Age that we are born into. Just as many of the Bible characters were overlapping, with younger with older, but that does not seem the case in many of the books within our Bibles. GOD nor Christ the LORD has changed they and the Holy Spirit remain the same. Because GOD's plan and purpose does not change, meaning there is but One Way, One Truth and One Spirit, just as there are One Body, One Hope, One Faith, One Baptism and One GOD and Father over all of humanity and indeed the universe. HE has not changed nor is there a shadow of doing so within Him. Now the way that I stated these things may upset some because I did not show chapter and verse to establish where these are found as if by doing so means more than our knowing the LORD the living life giving word. Just as the hidden question found in Matthew 11:29 where we find this, Are you ready to take My yoke upon you and learn of Me? This same question was audibly asked of me on August 14th of 2007 while driving my truck homeward after an evening of prayer. Now for Pastor Hoekstra and his teaching on Grace and building faith. And then I will look into Christ man's appointed substitute making use of the ESV translation. All being accomplished through the LORD's Spirit within me for it is no longer the I of sin that lives but Christ's Spirit restored in me having received His Salvation within me, as a light of revelation that brings understanding all that is of Him. Now being a living Epistle of His coming in the flesh my witness of the proof of His Gospel, as each of us are to be. Through the knowledge of Him. To those who voluntary deny the word, they are now His, but those who willfully deny Him be they believers or unbelievers they remain unchanged inside. For they have not put on Christ.
"The Source of Faith"
"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2)
"In order to grow in Grace, we must live by Faith. "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace" (Romans 4:16). We cannot progress spiritually by the use of our natural, Adamic faculties. We must walk by faith in the LORD and His word. "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2Corinthians 5:7). Yet, where do we get faith? What is the source of faith?
Jesus is the source of our Faith: "Jesus, the author . . . of our Faith." If we have saving faith in Christ, it was brought into being by Him. Our faith was authored by Jesus in a revelatory and relational manner. He revealed to us the truth we needed to know (through sermons, personal witnesses, tracts, audio tapes, books, Bible reading, or whatever medium used to transmit His message). Then, He invited us into a relationship with Himself. Not some form of mans many religions but a living and active relationship where we are One with Him Who Is.
First, He tells us the truth about our need. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of GOD . . . For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 3:23 and 6:23). Then, He tells us the truth about His loving work on our behalf. "But GOD demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). All the while, His Spirit was convicting us of the reality of these matters. "And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8). Now this is why there are so many that may call on His name but remain under conviction of sins guilt and shame. Ultimately, Jesus invites us to trust in Him for the gift of His Salvation. "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest . . . the gift of GOD is eternal life in Christ, Jesus our LORD" (Matthew 11:28 and Romans 6:23). Basically, Jesus reveals Himself in us as one who could be trusted to save our souls, so we place our hope in Him. Thereby, He authors faith in us. For HE changes Not.
Now, where are we to go for more faith (for the developing of our faith)? Jesus is the source for this need as well: "Jesus . . . the . . . finisher of our faith." The one who brought faith into being in us now wants to perfect our faith (to bring it on into mature development, as any seed also develops) in the same manner that He began it. Initially, we had to have Jesus revealed to us to have faith authored in us. Now, we must have a continuing revelation of Him through His word, if our faith is to be increasingly built up."
Christ became Man's Substitute, Substitution,
Psalm 69:5-12 "O GOD, You know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from You. Let not those who hope in You be put to shame through me, O LORD GOD of hosts; let not those who seek You be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. For it is for Your sake that I have borne a reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons. For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me."
Isaiah 53:4-6 and 2Corinthians 5: "Surely HE has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by GOD, and afflicted. For HE was pierced for our transgressions; HE was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed (restored, repair, revived as an opened wound to wholeness). All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
2Corinthians 5:20-21 "We are ambassadors for Christ, GOD making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to GOD. For our sake HE made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of GOD."
Galatians 3:10-14 "For all who rely on works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Now it is evident that no one is justified before GOD by the Law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." But the Law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them (self works)." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"— so that in Christ, Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through (His) faith."
Hebrews 2:5-9, 9:23-28 and 1Peter 2:18-25 "For it was not to angels that GOD subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that You are mindful of him, or the Son of man, that You care for Him? (Psalm 8:4) You made Him for a little while lower than the angels (for a short while); You have crowned Him with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5-6), putting everything in subjection under His feet (Psalm 8:6)." Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, HE left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. But we see Him Who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the Grace of GOD HE might taste death for everyone."
Hebrews 9:23-28 "Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of GOD on our behalf. Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then HE would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, HE has appeared once for all at the end of the Ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him."
1Peter 2:18-25 "Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of GOD, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of GOD. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When HE was reviled, HE did not revile in return; when HE suffered, HE did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him Who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed (made whole again). For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
1Peter 3:13 "Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the LORD as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in [through] Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be GOD's Will [plan and purpose], than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that HE might bring us to GOD, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which HE went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison [in the bowls of the earth by ascension], because they formerly did not obey, when GOD's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water (the first known salvation). Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to GOD for a good conscience, through the resurrection [this taking place also within our restored, renewed spirit] of Jesus Christ, Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of GOD, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to Him."
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