Thursday, July 28, 2011

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Based on God’s Word, we can know that we have eternal life.
Assurance of salvation and security of the believer has nothing to do with our feelings, but everything to do with the integrity of God. He wants to save us and He is trustworthy. He has done everything possible to save us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The moment we believe on Christ and receive Him as our Savior, we can rest on His Word and the witness of the Holy Spirit. “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:12-13).
In God’s mind, once a son, always a son. God chose to adopt us, and that is a permanent relationship with Him. Once you are a child of God, you are always His child. Once you are in the family of God by faith in His Son, you are there to stay forever.
In this majestic stately prayer Jesus reminds us that every believer has been “given” to Christ by the Father. It is a just description of every child of God. The Father through the Holy Spirit has drawn us to Christ. Our Great High Priest goes before the throne of God bearing the names of His people upon His breastplate. None of His are omitted. We are continually remembered before the throne.
Both the Father and the Son equally esteem believers. Believers are the Father’s property. He has made them His by adoption; He has confirmed His interest in them by regeneration; He esteems them as His peculiar treasure. Moreover, Jesus has an equal propriety in the believer. Will Christ lose the purchase of His blood, and suffer His own members to perish, for want of continual intercession and protection?

WE ARE ETERNALLY SECURE IN THE SON

Jesus was praying for His disciples the night before He went to the cross. Jesus was not praying for the lost on this occasion. He will reach the world through His disciples. Everything will depend upon them after He ascends to heaven. This is a crisis moment in the dawn of world redemption. God’s eternal purpose is at stake. The crucial hour has arrived. No wonder He is praying for the steadfastness of His disciples. The future of the Church depends upon it.

The Father and the Son are mutually interested and involved in redeeming the lost world. “And all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them” (v. 10). Albert Barnes gives us the sense of the passage, “Those who are my disciples are Thine. That which promotes My honor will also promote Thine. I pray, therefore, that they may have needful grace to honor My gospel, and to proclaim it among men.” “All I have” refers to “those You gave Me” in verse nine. The disciples are a mutual possession of the Father and the Son. “All that is Yours is Mine, and Mine is yours.” “I pray for them because they belong to You.” Jesus repeatedly asserts, “They are Yours.”
“I have been glorified in them” (v. 10). Jesus’ glory has already shone in His disciple’s faces, imperfect as they are. That offers us hope, does it not? Not only is the reflection seen, but Jesus uses a verb tense in the original language that says and this will remain (perfect tense). Their goal is to glorify Christ. “I have been glorified in them.” And when He is glorified the Father is also glorified.
Now it is true that when Jesus was praying, “I am no longer in the world” He was in the midst of His disciples, probably in the Mount of Olives, and perhaps before He prayed the agonizing prayer, “Not My will; Thy will be done.” Perhaps the paradox can best be stated, “I am, as it were, no longer in the world,” or “very shortly I will no longer be in the world.” The departure of Jesus is so near that He can use the present tense to express the future. Even though His work will be completed tomorrow on the cross when He declares, “It is finished,” He can pray tonight with conviction that His work in the world is done. Jesus speaks as if Calvary has already taken place. It is a certainty in His mind and will. In His thought His work is now finished and He is on His way back to the Father. What a Savior!
He was leaving the disciples to return to heaven. They would be left in a hostile world system that was opposed to the kingdom of God. The emphasis Jesus made in His great high priestly prayer was that all whom the Father has given to Him would come to Him; none will be lost. “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled” (John 17:11-12).

Jesus prays for the disciple’s security

“I am not praying for the world” (v. 9), meaning those who are in opposition to God. Here He is specifically praying for those whom the Father has entrusted to Him for keeping. What would we expect Him to ask for their future needs? Will He ask for financial security, personal honor, a special place in heaven, or political influence? No. He prays “that they will be kept from evil, separated from the world, qualified for duty, and brought home safely to heaven. Soul prosperity is the best prosperity . . . is only real when it is in proportion to the prosperity of the soul,” says Marcus Rainsford. The apostle John summed it up wisely, “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2). That is the emphasis that is needed in our day. Are you prospering spiritually as well as you are financially?

Jesus was keeping the disciples

“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your Name.”
F. F. Bruce says, “In themselves they were weak indeed, but the Father’s enabling grace and the guidance and illumination of His Spirit, they would fulfill the mission with which they were now being entrusted and bring glory to their Master in fulfilling it. So confident of this is He that He speaks in the perfect tense: ‘I have been glorified in them’” (John, p. 331).
Jesus says in His prayer, “I was keeping them in Your Name” (v. 12). The “Name” is the LORD God’s covenant name, Jehovah or Yahweh. In the Old Testament the “Name” of God denotes His character and His power. The Name refers to everything God is in His covenant relationship with His people. Jesus had guarded the disciples as a treasurer the Father had entrusted to him. He kept the disciples who had been with Him for three years in the Father’s authority and power.
“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled” (v. 12).
Remember these words of Jesus in John 6:37, 39-40? “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. . . This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given to Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished . . . “ (v. 12). Jesus literally said, “I continued to keep.” I continuously kept watch over, protected, or shielded them (cf. vv. 6, 11, 12, 15).
Imagine the magnitude of what Jesus is praying. The future of the Christian church depended on those eleven men being kept steadfast in the faith. This keeping ministry of Jesus went on from day to day. Jesus kept them true to the Father’s name.
“To keep watch over,” and “to keep an eye upon” are synonymous here reinforcing the protection of the disciples. Perhaps the Shepherd allegory is in mind (10:28).

What about Judas?

Does the case of Judas teach that a born-again person can be eternally lost? No. Judas never belonged to Jesus. “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. . . for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me” (John 17:6, 8). Judas was not one of those who believed.
Jesus called Judas the “son of perdition.” The word “perdition” means ruin, loss, not extinction. Jesus is referring to Judas’ character rather than his destination. Judas was characterized by “lostness,” not that he was predestined to be “lost,” to catch the play on words in the original language in verse twelve. The true disciples are in safe keeping because they are in Christ. They need not fear being lost. Phillips tries to catch this play on words in regard to Judas when he translates, “not one of them was destroyed, except the son of destruction.” The New English Bible also tries to bring this out, “Not one of them is lost except the man who must be lost.”
E. W. Bullinger notes, “the son of perdition” is referring to the person thus spoken of as “belonging very emphatically to that which they are said to be ‘the sons of’ . . .” Here “the one who is lost is in a very emphatic and terrible sense.” Raymond Brown says, “the son of perdition” is referring “to one who belongs to the realm of damnation and is destined to final destruction.” Judas had the character of a “destroyer.” He was a traitor and murderer, utterly lost and given over to evil. The terrible thing about Judas’ character was his deceit and deception. He could kiss and kill at the same time.
Some of the Scriptures that could possibly be referring to the fulfillment in this passage are Psalm 41:9, 10; 109:4-13; 69:25; 55:12-15; Isaiah 57:12, 13.
Leon Morris stresses that Jesus is not saying that Judas was an “automaton.” “He was a responsible person and acted freely. But God used his evil act to bring about His purpose. This is combination of the human and the divine,” but here the emphasis is on the divine. “God’s will was done in the handing over of Christ to be crucified” (Morris, NIC, John, p. 728).
John Calvin said, “It would be wrong for anyone to infer from this that Judas’ fall should be imputed to God rather than to himself, in that necessity was laid on him by the prophecy.”
F. F. Bruce writes, “Judas was not lost against his will but with his consent. . . he chose to respond instead to the great adversary. Jesus has no responsibility for Judas’ fatal decision. Judas, like the other disciples, had been given by the Father to the Son, but even among those so given apostasy is a solemn possibility” (p. 332).
However, “It does teach what would happen if God did not regenerate the person dead in trespasses and sins and then keep them regenerated,” says Boice. If it were not for God, who could stand? Who could stand against the onslaught of the world if God did not keep us? Note the use of “son of destruction” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
Are you “in Christ”? Have you believed on Him as your Savior? The apostle Paul wrote, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). Has he begun the good work of salvation in your life? If you are not in Christ now is the time to trust Him as your personal Savior. He died for you on the cross to give you eternal life with the Father.

WE ARE ETERNALLY SECURE IN THE FATHER

What Jesus was offering those disciples and us is double security. None of the disciples were lost. Jesus kept those whom the Father gave Him. Now Jesus recommits the disciples to the Father’s safe keeping.

Jesus gives them back to the Father

Now before His death Jesus prays, “Holy Father, keep them in Your Name” (v. 11). Apart from the Father’s perseverance they would all be lost. God does the keeping. What a great relief to know that our salvation does not depend upon us for saving or for keeping.
Jesus prays, “Holy Father.” Godet says the holiness in God the Father is the “free, deliberate, calm, immutable affirmation of Himself who is the good, or of the good which is Himself.” It “draws a deep line of demarcation between us . . . and the world.” God is frequently spoken of as the Holy One. He is exalted far above all the creatures. It contrasts with the world which is unholy. Lenski notes, “God is holy in that He is absolutely separated from and actively opposed to all sin.” He is utterly the opposite of anything associated with Satan and his world system.
“Holy Father, keep them.” The word tereo is translated, “keep, hold, reserve, preserve someone” or “something” unharmed or undisturbed by or through something. Here it probably means to keep them from evil, even though the object is not stated. George Turner suggested to keep the disciples “from” sin and “in” fellowship with God. Jesus wants the Father to stand guard over the disciples and protect them in His power. The believer lives in a sphere of effective power to protect Him and keep Him safe. We are kept by the personal protection of the Father.
All of the disciples died as martyrs, with the exception of the apostle John who was exiled to the island of Patmos. But none of them were lost.
The writer of Proverbs describes our safety in the Father as being in a strong fortress. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe” (Prov. 18:10). Can anything touch us when we are safe in God’s fortress? Can anything touch us when we are safe in Him? During graduate school Ann and I lived in New Orleans. We would take a Saturday afternoon off and enjoy visiting an old Spanish island fortress with its dungeons, gun wells, towers, etc. It was fun imagining what the soldiers must have experienced in those strong stone towers. Nothing can touch us when we are safe in the Father’s arms.
Raymond Brown suggests the disciples are to be “both marked with and protected by the divine name that has been given to Jesus. . . . Jesus asks God to keep the disciples safe with the divine name that has been given to Him. . . . If we are right in our contention that for John the name is ego eimi, ‘I AM’, we have an example of how this name protects the disciples in John 18:5-8; for when Jesus says ego eimi, those who have come to arrest Him fall down powerless, and Jesus demands that they allow His disciples to leave unharmed.” The great I AM then permitted Himself to be bound and led away (cf. John 10:17, 18).
G. Campbell Morgan asked, “What name?” “God has only one name according to the Biblical revelation. God, is not a name. It is a designation. The Lord is not a name; it is a title. He has only one name, and His name is Yahweh—Jehovah as we now render it. Jesus had borne that name, linked with the thought of salvation; Jesus the Greek for Jehoshua, Jehovah-salvation, merged into one. ‘I have manifested Thy name.’ That first group of men, as Hebrews, knew that God had one name. God had said this is My name, My memorial name to all generations. Now said Jesus, ‘I have manifested Thy name’ to them.”
The purpose of this commitment to safekeeping is “that they may be one,” or “that they may keep on being one.” That unity is demonstrated by their common love for Christ and for one another. The apostle Paul stressed that this unity can be possible only as believers are indwelt and controlled by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:3). It is brought about when God’s people abide in the truth of His Word and are Spirit-filled both individually and corporately.

Our security is with God

Harry Ironside candidly said, “you may be sure that whenever the Father gives any one to Jesus, He gives him for time and eternity. Such a one will never be lost. People call this the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, but I rather like to think of it as the perseverance of the Savior. He says, ‘Those that You gave Me I have kept.’ If I had to keep myself, I would be hopeless of getting through. . . . Something would happen to me to lose my hold on Christ and be lost. But it is His hold on me in which I rely. None can pluck the believer out of His hand. I receive great comfort from those words.”
When all the saints chosen of God arrive in heaven, Jesus will be able to say to the Father, “Those that You gave Me I have kept, and none of them is lost.” Ironside adds, “You may think you know of exceptions to this; but it will be made manifest in that day that these apparent exceptions were like Judas himself, never really born of God.”
James Boice writes, “We are safe, not because of ourselves (for we are weak), but rather because we are kept by the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father.”
There will always be those who will reply that this is just an excuse for sinning. “You are just going to give people an excuse for sinning,” is the usual cry of the legalists.
Let it be very clearly stated with the apostle Paul that if you are eternally secure, because you have been born again, you really want to love the LORD God with all your heart. The last thing you want to do is use grace as an excuse for sinning. When we know the Father is all for us we want to guard our heart from all evil. We want to please Him with all our heart because He loves us so much.
There are no hopeless cases with God. He will not allow it to be hopeless for us. Our heavenly Father is faithful. We can trust Him with our lives for now and eternity. He is our keeper, and He will keep us safe.

WHEN WE ARE SPIRITUALLY INSECURE

Why do sincere people doubt their salvation?

There is sin in their lives

Sin in the lives of believers always produces feelings of separation from God. It makes us feel isolated, alienated and out of fellowship with Him. “If sin is the constant bent of your life, you should wonder about your salvation,” writes Stanley. The apostle John said, “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9).
If you sin and feel absolutely miserable that is a good sign that you belong to Christ. It should cause you to stop immediately and ask God to forgive you and repent. The true child of God experiences a loss of fellowship when he sins. God has provided us with a spiritual bar of soap that always restores fellowship with Him. Use it frequently. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

There is an overemphasis on appearances and performances

There is usually an emphasis on performance to keep your salvation. You aren’t working hard enough, or long enough, or good enough, or doing the right things to keep your salvation. You aren’t perfect enough. How will you ever know when you have worked hard enough or done the right kind of works? You can’t. Some religious leaders use this to control and manipulate their people.

There is an overemphasis on emotions

You either don’t have enough feelings or the right kind of emotions. If you place the emphasis on emotions rather than the teachings of God’s Word you will not have assurance of salvation. You cannot live on emotions. You live by truth.

They are not abiding in God’s Word

The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved.” Why do you want to add to it, or change it? Is God trustworthy? Do you accept His integrity? Then take all of His Word seriously.

Satanic attacks

Satan will be more than happy to whisper in your ear, or have someone else do it for him, “You really are not good enough to be a true Christian.” “Look at you, you are not worthy to be called a Christian.” He is constantly pointing his finger and accusing us. Who is the accuser of the brethren? It is not the Holy Spirit.

SOME ABIDING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

When we accept the promise of the Savior we have double security in the Father and the Son.

The words of Jesus in John 10:26-30 summarize beautifully what He prayed the night before He died. He begins by referring to the Pharisees, “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.” Then Jesus gives several characteristics of true believers. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
His sheep are in the habit of listening to His voice because He knows them personally and they are in the habit of following Him. When the Good Shepherd gives His sheep eternal life they will never ever perish. Jesus put a strong emphasis on the negative when He said, “they shall never perish.” It is a double negative in the Greek. Furthermore, He said, “No one shall snatch them out of My hand.” “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” And if that is not enough Jesus adds, “I and the Father are one” in essence or nature.

When you choose to take God at His word you will have a sense of perfect peace with God and security.

God has demonstrated His trustworthiness and integrity over and over again down through the centuries. God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). That is why Jesus Christ gave His life as a ransom for sinners (Matt. 20:28). “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus Christ died in our place so we could spend eternity with Him. The Father desires that all men be saved by simple faith in Christ. He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He has provided everything we need for Him to save us. All that we need to do is believe. That is our responsibility. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). The apostle John said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.” Do you believe? Have you asked Him to be your Savior? “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).
Put your own name in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world (____________), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever (that you, me, anyone) believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
What an awesome thought that God knows everything about me and still loves me and wants me to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
Charles Stanley writes: “Based on His wonderful Word—all of it—we can know that we have eternal life. It has nothing to do with feeling. But it has everything to do with the trustworthiness of God. He wants us saved. He has done everything possible through Christ to make that happen. Once we receive Him as our own, we can rest on the Word of God and in the witness of the Spirit. Once you’re in the family of God, by faith in His Son, your name is written in the Book of Life” (The Glorious Journey, pp. 143).

Three sincere questions

Ask yourself these three questions:
Do I believe the Word of God? Are you willing to take God at His Word—all of it?
Do I have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit that I am saved? The apostle Paul stressed that the Holy Spirit would bear witness that we are believers. “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16).
Am I walking like a believer in Christ? Has Christ made a difference in my life? Our salvation is not a feeling, or an emotional state; it is a fact based on the finished work of Jesus Christ at Calvary. “Once a family member, always a family member.” “Once a son, always a son.” Then live like a member of His family.
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
Let’s go back to our opening verses from the First Epistle of John. “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:12-13). Have you been born again? Do you know that you have eternal life? If you have lingering doubts you can settle it once and for all right now. Just stop and get on your knees and pray this thing through with God. Acknowledge to Him your insecurity, confess all known sin to Him, claim the shed blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse you of all sin, and if you have never done so ask Jesus Christ to be your Savior. He will save you right now if you will trust Him alone for salvation. If you already know Him He will make your heart right with God, and restore the broken fellowship.

Count Your Blessings, Abraham

9:16 PM 5 comments

When God called Abraham in Genesis 12:1–3, he received several promises. The final element of the blessing is found in these words: "And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Genesis 4:12b). It reaches back into the families being divided by sin in Adam's fall (Genesis 3), the deluge and the confusion of the languages at Babel. The curse of sin will be replaced by blessings. It will be a blessing so great that its effect will extend to "all the families of the earth."

Abraham took God at His word and believed Him. "For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3).

Let’s bear in mind that Abraham did not merit God’s special blessings. There was nothing in Abram that commended him to God. “There is no one righteous, not even one” declares the Word of God. Abram had an idolatrous background (Joshua 24:1-3). Even though he had a pagan ancestry God in mercy and grace reached down to Abram. The great blessings of God always begin with His grace. God saved him by grace.

This blessing can be thought of only in connection with the promised Savior. This promise to Abraham is definitely messianic and determines that the Messiah is to emerge from the line of Abraham. Only in the idea of the Messiah does the depth of the thought adequately display itself. All of the promises that followed in the Hebrew Scriptures were merely expansions, closer definitions and identifications of the salvation held out to the whole human race in this promise.

The Gospel writer Matthew, writing to Jewish people, began with these words from "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1).

When the Messiah arrived He declared to a group of teachers of the Law, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and He saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). Abraham was overjoyed to see the fullness of time when the Messiah would indeed be a spiritual blessing. The unbelieving Jewish leaders responded to Jesus, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am" (John 8:57-58). The ultimate fulfilment of the promises of God is made to rest upon the divine promise and the person of the Messiah rather than upon human faithfulness. The great “I AM” was speaking to them (Exodus 3:14). That day came when Jesus Christ died on the cross to take away the sins of every individual who will believe on Him as their personal Savior. Have you received the joy of our father Abraham? The LORD God of Abraham is ready to bless you right now.
Abraham was the first of a great remnant who believed God's promises regarding the coming of the Messiah. The writer of Hebrews says, "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13).
You can't find a better summary than the following by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:6–9:
“Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as Righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
Paul's whole point to the Jewish people is that the real spiritual sons of Abraham are those who believe as he did, "they which be of faith" (Rom. 3:26; 4:16; 14:23). They are not God's people out of blood ties with Judaism. "Abraham believed and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Our father Abraham was justified by faith alone. God chose him out of His rich grace. Abraham did not earn it. He did not merit it. Yahweh reached down to Abraham and called him to be the father of His chosen people. Abraham believed the promise. He took God at His word and God reckoned Abraham as righteous.
We who have come to know Christ by faith are blessed with Abraham. God's blessings are limitless, and they are ours just like they were Abraham's. This is part of Paul's whole argument of justification by faith. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. God reckons us as righteous by our faith in Christ.

"Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ. . . . And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise" (Galatians 3:16, 29).

The physical seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is Christ, and the spiritual seed of Abraham includes every true child of God who receives Jesus Christ by faith. Abraham's blessings have become our blessings. "And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." The gospel of salvation through faith is for all nations. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:13-14).

While preaching in the Temple complex Peter brought a message to a dramatic conclusion with these powerful words: "And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways" (Acts 3:24–26). There weren't any questions in the mind of the Apostles as to who this person was.

The most astounding mystery in the Bible is found in Colossians 1:26–27. Paul writes of "the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." A Jewish God residing in a Gentile heart! That was revolutionary to Peter and Paul. It is still the most revolutionary message in the entire universe.

That is how much the Lord God loves you and me. "For God so loved the world" (the families of the earth), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:16–18, italics mine).

There is a sense in which the call that Abraham responded to comes to each one of his believing children. It is a call to absolute trust in the Lord. God the Holy Spirit speaks to us regarding the truths of God’s Word and we must step out in simple faith in Christ. Biblical faith is simply believing God and acting on His Word.

If you have never put your trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, please do so right now. The very moment that you believed on Christ you fulfill the great promise God gave to our father Abraham centuries ago!

Isn't it wonderful being a part of God's history? If you are a completed Hebrew, you have a double blessing! However, God's blessings are not just for our Jewish friends, it includes us non–Jews, too. "And in you" Abraham, "all the families of the earth shall be blessed!" Oh, praise the LORD God!

Abraham is called “God’s friend,” and you can be one, too.

The Parable of the four wives

11:48 PM 2 comments

There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best. He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He's very proud of her and always wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant is always in great fear that she might run away with some other men. He too, loved his 2nd wife. She is a very considerate person, always patient and in fact is the merchant's confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his 2nd wife and she would always help him out and tide him through difficult times. Now, the merchant's 1st wife is a very loyal partner and has made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her. One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told himself, "Now I have 4 wives with me. But when I die, I'll be alone. How lonely I'll be!" Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word. The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant's heart. The sad merchant then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you so much for all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is so good over here! I'm going to remarry when you die!" The merchant's heart sank and turned cold. He then asked the 2nd wife, "I always turned to you for help and you've always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?" "I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd wife. "At the very most, I can only send you to your grave." The answer came like a bolt of thunder and the merchant was devastated. Then a voice called out : "I'll leave with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go." The merchant looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny, almost like she suffered from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the merchant said, "I should have taken much better care of you while I could have !

God's Powerful Word

2:28 AM No comments

Looking for solutions to life’s problems? All of the solutions are in God’s powerful Word, the Bible.

When we were dead in our sins and trespasses, God wrapped up His powerful Word in human flesh and gave Him to us in Bethlehem that everyone who trusts in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

God put His powerful Word into our hands to win for us forgiveness of sins, salvation and eternal life. By the cross of Jesus, God freed us from the power of sin, death and Satan.

Satan is no match for God’s powerful Word. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11 ESV).

After Jesus had fasted forty days, Satan tempted Him in three ways:

1) Use your power to turn these stones into loaves of bread. But

Jesus answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " Jesus came to feed you by His powerful Word.

2) Throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple. God’s angels

will raise you up. Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.' " God’s Word is not to be thrown down from the temple to perform miraculous stunts. God’s powerful Word is to fill the temple of your heart with grace and truth.

3) Bow down and worship me and I will give you the kingdoms of the

world and their glory. Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, " 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.' " Jesus brought the powerful Word to us to give us the kingdom of heaven and its glory. This current heaven and earth will pass away and God will create a new heaven and earth where righteousness reigns and Jesus Christ rules over all. Therefore, hear God’s powerful Word and worship Him only.

Jesus, the powerful Word of God, rebuked Satan, “It is written…” The Word is powerful to resist temptation, to forgive, to lead, to comfort, to confront, to exhort, and to fill your life with every blessing. The Word answers life’s important problems. Read it. Use it. Let it fill you with God’s power and love. Amen.

Exceedingly Rich in Christ

7:48 PM No comments

Susanna was brought up in an English parsonage, the youngest of the Annesley family, which numbered twenty-four. Her father, Dr. Samuel Annesley, was the pastor of the Puritan meeting house of the little St. Helen's church in London.

Susanna was a pretty girl, said to be the most beautiful of her family. She was slim and graceful and even retained her figure to her old age. She was cultured, gracious and had a good measure of wit. She had her convictions and fearlessly stuck to them.

Susanna married and settled down tending to her family. She had few idle moments. Mehetabel or Hetty arrived during the first year, followed in rapid succession by five other babies, all of whom died. Susanna lost nine of her nineteen children before they reached maturity.

Susanna and Samuel's home was like a beehive. As soon as her children could speak they were taught the Lord's prayer, and they were made to recite it at rising and bedtime. They were taught to be still at family prayers, and to ask politely for what they wanted. According to modern American standards we would call it a rigid home with lots of rules.

Yet, nowhere is there a record of resentment on the part of the Wesley children. All the children point to a mother who trained them in the Word of God. There was not a greater force upon the nation of England than her sons John and Charles Wesley. John Wesley "represents the force which has most profoundly affected English history" in the 18^th century. Her son Charles probably wrote more hymns than any other composer of Christian music did.

Susanna Wesley wrote, "I am content to fill a little space if God be glorified."

Mothering may be old fashioned and out of date for some modern people. It is ashamed that many fulltime mothers are made to blush and feel ashamed when asked to state their occupation. There is no higher honor or occupation than that of being a full time mom.

Someone said motherhood takes 180 movable parts, 3 pairs of hands, 3 sets of eyes and the grace of God. My mother's daily prayer when I was a teen was, "God help you if you ever do that again!" When our daughters were young my wife was often accused of having eyes behind her head.

There is no greater thrill in life, than to point to your wonderful mother and be able to say with all your heart to all the world, "That's my mother!"

My mother was always sacrificing. It is a characteristic of a graceful mother. She is always giving. A mature mother's love reminds me of grace. The very essence of divine grace is sacrificial giving. The story of redemption is indispensably linked to the subject of giving. The appropriate test of love is self-sacrifice. It always puts our love to test and proves it. Christ gave Himself for you; therefore you may well be expected to sacrifice yourself for others.

THE MOTIVE OF OUR GIVING IS THE GRACE OF GOD.

"You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . " (v. 9a).

Our English word grace comes from a family of words largely translated love, mercy, kindness, favor, thanksgiving and pity. They reflect some aspect of "grace." The word Greek word charis always means love, charm and beauty. It is a lovely thing. A charming woman is a graceful loving person. It describes "a free gift freely given." It is something given in the overflowing love from the heart. The recipient does not deserve it, and could never earn, or achieve the gift. The "grace" is the "unmerited, spontaneous love" of Jesus Christ for the sinner. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the basis of our salvation, a right relationship with God that comes to the believer as an unearned gift. It is the sheer generosity of the love of God to the believing sinner. Christ gave Himself for us.
The very perfection of grace is summed up in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we thank of the grace of giving no one has ever demonstrated such grace in comparison. He who was rich gave it all up and became exceedingly poor that He could bestow it upon undeserving recipients.
The beauty of His life is He held back nothing. You know the "grace," the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know the beauty of the undeserved love of God that has been given to you, which you could never earn. The grace of the Lord Jesus was manifested by His becoming poor on our behalf.
What is that "grace," that beauty, charm and loveliness of our Lord Jesus Christ? It is the free, divine, unmerited favor of God bestowed upon sinful and undeserving man. God gives us what we do not deserve. "Our Lord" is the supreme and absolute Lord who is the sovereign of the universe. He is "our Lord." Because we belong to Him, He belongs to us in that He provides care, protection and support to His people. He is our God anointed Savior.

Unselfish giving mothers

Not only is Christ our savior, but He is also the perfect model of sacrificial giving in motherhood.
There must be a certain loveliness in the Christian mother. There is no beauty like giving. And there is nothing more beautiful than a gracious mother. There is no charm more attractive than an unselfish generous heart of a loving mother. The most beautiful mothers are those who are constantly giving "undeserved generosity." How often we do not deserve being treated with the unmerited generosity of our mothers.

Mothers who are loved and cherished are those who are always unselfishly giving. The kind of love we are thinking about here is that which always seeks the highest good in the other person. It is a selfless love. It is the love of a mother when she hurts, and is weary and exhausted. It is the love she has when she has to discipline the rowdy and disrespectful.

No greater example of that perfect love can be found anywhere than in the act of Jesus Christ becoming a servant.

A RICH MAN BECAME A PAUPER

Jesus was rich.

"Though He was [exceedingly] rich, yet for your sake He became poor" (v. 9b).

Jesus as the pre-incarnate Son of God had everything. He was rich in power. He could do anything with the universe He had created. He was rich in glory which He had with the Father (John 17:5). The angels were "constantly bowing down" to worship Him and crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts" (Isaiah 6:3). As the Son of God, the Second Person of the Godhead, Jesus was rich in "the actual and constant possession of all divine prerogatives" (Charles Hodge). Even though in Him was the fullness of the Godhead with all of its rights and possessions, He chose on His own to become poor. It was His own volitional choice. He chose to do the Father's will. Cf. Philippians 2:6.

"Jesus Christ is the Son who was sent, the One who came, into the world, the Word who became flesh, the Lord who for our sakes impoverished Himself" (Philip Hughes, Second Corinthians, p. 301).

Jesus became poor.

Jesus "became [extremely] poor." He made Himself a beggar. It is the idea of cowering in the abject condition of poverty.

Jesus became poor in the act of becoming man. Paul has in mind the incarnation of Christ, and probably including His death. The greatest of His condescension is in the fact that He should have been born. "Though He shared the Father's glory before the world was created (John 17:5), nevertheless He temporarily laid aside this glory in order to 'be found in fashion as a man'. He did not lay aside His divinity; for there is no doctrine of kenosis, or emptying of His Godhead, to be found here any more than in Philippians 2:7" (R. V. G. Tasker, Second Corinthians, p. 115). Jesus laid aside the glory of His divine majesty. He did not lay aside His deity. He laid aside the manifestation of it while in His incarnate visitation on this earth for 33 years. He was fully God; He was fully man; He was God–man. Jesus laid aside the constant use of His divine attributes, not their possession. "He so far laid aside the glory of His divine majesty, that He was to all appearance a man, and even a servant, so that men refused to recognize Him, as God, but despised, persecuted, and at last crucified Him, as a man. He who was rich in the plentitude of all divine attributes and prerogatives thus became poor, "on your account," out of love to you" (Charles Hodge, Second Corinthians, p. 201). His purpose of becoming poor was that through His poverty you might become rich. He did it because He wants what is best for you. Isn't that the heart of a mother! As parents, we love our children and we want what is the very best for them.

"The Lord was manifested in human flesh in order to take away sin (1 John 3:5); and the taking away of sin involved His taking upon Himself the role of the suffering Servant, and being the Son of man who had nowhere to lay His head (Luke 9:58), and who was to die without a single possession; even the clothes He wore were stripped off Him by the soldiers responsible for His execution" (Tasker, p. 115).

Jesus gave it all up. Instead of being worshipped, "He was despised and rejected by men . .. we esteemed Him not… he was stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:3-4). Jesus was obedient to death. There were "no reserves, no half-measures, no conditions, no holding back." Jesus gave His all. Jesus poured out everything He had in a demonstration of His love for the sinner. It was a demonstration of His love for His enemies. He freely gave all that He had, not expecting anything in return. He descended from highest heaven to the grave. No one was richer than He was; none became poorer than He did.

When "all His disciples left Him and went to their own homes, Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives." He had no place to go, no table, no bed on which to lay His head. He became the poorest of paupers.

Jesus held nothing back. He poured out everything He had on the cross at Calvary. All that He could call His own He gave up for you and me. "Having loved His own [disciples], He loved them unto the end" (John 13:1). And one of those whom He loved to the very end was Judas. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8-10). We were God's enemies, we were helpless sinners and He came to give Himself for us.

He sacrificed Himself for us. We were rebels at heart, hostile toward God, living selfish lives, and He died for us. Can you think of a more profound mother's day gift? Oh, mothers, this is how much God loves you. Never again question God's love for you. He has demonstrated it once and for all. Christ came and died for you. In deed, after Jesus rose from the dead we find the mother of Jesus, who had suffered so terribly watching Him die on the cross, with a group of 120 believers. She is worshipping Him as her Savior and God.

Ray Stedman asked an inditing question in our day, "Is it not strange that we who call ourselves Christians seek to live as kings, but He who was the King of Kings lived like a pauper?" How much does it cost us to give? It cost Jesus everything.

THE PAUPERS BECAME RICH

The purpose of Jesus' poverty was to make paupers rich.

"Though He was [exceedingly] rich, yet for your sake He became [extremely] poor, so that by His poverty you might become [exceedingly] rich (v. 9b, c). "Believers have become rich in the possession of that glory which Christ laid aside, or concealed" (Hodge). It was by His poverty that we have been made rich.

You have become rich.

For every individual who accepts by faith the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for their sins there is the blessed assurance that "one day they share in the very glory which He had laid aside precisely in order that He might die the death by which alone He could redeem them" (Tasker).

You are rich in His grace and mercy. You are rich in an intimate love relationship with God. You are rich in the Holy Spirit indwelling in you, filing you, guiding you, empowering you. You are rich in His love. Cf. Romans 8; Ephesians 1:3. You are exceedingly rich! We have been made rich as partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). It is divine because of its source and its nature. Jesus said in John 17:22, "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one." Romans 8:17 tells us since we are His children, we are "heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ." Wow! Paupers, no! Exceedingly rich, in deed.

Why has He been so generous in making us exceedingly rich?

We have become exceedingly rich, so that we too might become extremely poor in order to make other people exceedingly rich.

This is how grace transforms us. When the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ captures our hearts and we yield ourselves to Him, we suddenly realize that though we are rich, yet for the sake of others we choose to become poor that they through our poverty might be rich. Anything else is cheap grace. Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).

No one can enter into the meaning of this great verse without being willing to sacrifice himself for others. Cf. 1 John 3:17. If Christ's self-sacrificing love has arrested the believer then it is unnecessary to command anyone to give. Grace transforms giving into a joyous privilege. Paul doesn't have to command the Corinthians to give because they are constrained by the love of God. No one has to tell you to sacrifice for your children, or your family, or your church. When you are overwhelmed by the grace of God, you can do no other.

Perhaps I speak to a mother who has given, and given, and given and you are close to depleting all your emotional, spiritual and personal resources. You feel weary and worn. You know what it is like to love the unlovely. You have entered into the pain of being despised and rejected by the ones you love. You don't deserve the pain and emotional suffering you are going through, but you keep reaching out in unmerited love. To a limited extent you have entered into the suffering of Christ. In a limited way you have entered into and understand His suffering and what He goes through with each of us.

That is what the grace of God does to the prodigal son, daughter, mother and father.

We see your beauty when you listen to our hurts and when you hear what we don't say. We see your beauty when you laugh under pressure, even though it is inappropriate. We see your beauty when your smile covers the pain of a thousand worries and concerns.

How do you keep on giving where there is no more to give?

How do you continue to give when mothering wears thin! "Don't become weary in well doing." Come back to the cross and the resurrected Christ and draw more strength by abiding in Christ. You can only make others rich by drawing from the deep well of God's grace to you. Because He has made you rich in His grace you can give and give and give, even when you have exhausted your supply of strength.

You and I need the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ daily. I get that supply of grace by exchanging it by handing my need over to Him. I give Him my anxiety and He gives me His peace and security. God's grace is always coming to my heart and life in a very wonderful and blessed experience.

Allan Redpath said, "Yesterday's grace is totally inadequate for the burden of today, and if I do not learn to lay hold of heavenly resources every day of my life for the little things as well as the big things, as a Christian I soon become stale, barren, and fruitless in the service of the Lord. . . This is the moment in which God's grace is available to me, in any emergency and in any situation. Thank heaven that whatever the surprises, disappointments, and problems that may come to me at any moment of any day, I do not have to look back and say, 'What did the preacher say last Sunday that I should do at this moment?'" (Alan Redpath, Blessings out of Buffetings, p. 112-113). Christ gives the believer a daily supply of grace that never runs out.

How do you do it mothers? Charles Inwood said, "It is a constant appropriation of a constant supply from Jesus Christ Himself. As I believe, I receive; and as I go on believing, I go on receiving." Draw daily, moment by moment from your riches in Christ. If you don't you will become barren, stale, worn out emotionally and spiritually and take it out on everyone else. You will wind up taking it out on your kids, your spouse and loved ones rather than giving them more grace.

Because you are rich in the grace of Christ you have grace sufficient at every moment to meet every need. Moment by moment lay hold of the heavenly supply of your riches in Christ. As you give yourself away, you are renewed day by day in the inner person. When you have come to the end of your day of giving yourself away each night you go to bed so poor that you have not one drop of grace left. All the grace of God for that day has gone and you are exhausted and without any reserve for tomorrow. When you get up the next morning to be filled again with God's daily grace and you are once again can give and give and give again. As Redpath wrote, "in the process of being poor, he is making many rich: and though he possesses apparently nothing, yet he has access to the treasure in heaven, and nothing can ever touch that or ever take it away" (p. 117). This is the principle upon which God dispenses His grace. Jesus set the example. He gives to you and you become rich so that you can become poor by giving it away so others can become rich.

God watches you in the kitchen, He watches you in the home, He watches you with your spouse and longs to make you rich through His poverty so that you can invest those riches in those you come in contact with so they can become rich through your poverty. He does this so you will daily come back to Him for more grace. He is always ready to give you more grace.

Some Abiding Principles for Today

When we give ourselves in total abandonment to Jesus Christ we will be abandoned to accomplish His will in our homes. Christ made a total commitment, a total surrender, to do the will of God in the provision of our salvation, what more can we do than give our total self in total abandonment to accomplish His will?

Only when we permit the Holy Spirit to ignite the fire in our hearts that comprehends the love shed abroad by the Holy Spirit will we rise to the challenge and opportunities God has given to us. That is true in our individual lives as well as our church.

With such a tremendous example of giving before us in the person of Jesus Christ, how can we possible hold back from giving our very best in sacrificial giving?

Philip Hughes said it well: " . . . if He did all this for me, then nothing I give or do for Him can be too much; such love constrains me; redeemed at incalculable cost, I am no longer my own; all that was mine is now His, for Him to make of us in accordance with His holy purposes" (p. 300).

When the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ captures our hearts and we yield ourselves to Him, we suddenly realize that though we are exceedingly rich, yet for the sake of others we choose to become extremely poor that they through our poverty they might be exceedingly rich.

Do you know someone who needs an extra touch of grace? God has made you rich in His grace to give yourself away. In His grace we can give, and give, and give again.

The Secrets of a Spiritually Prosperous Life

9:17 PM 1 comment

What are the essentials of a growing mature intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ?

Christ is the author of God’s kind of life in the believer. It is the normal Christian life.

Vance Havner once said, “We are so subnormal that if we came up to normal, the world would think we were abnormal.” And so it does.

In order to have God’s kind of life we must become acutely aware of our spiritual need.

THERE MUST BE AN AWARENESS OF OUR SPIRITUAL NEED.

Has the Holy Spirit made me aware of my spiritual poverty?

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:30). Jesus used a powerful word for “poverty” meaning such a person would literally starve to death if he doesn’t get immediate sustenance. The person described is an absolute pauper; he is the lowest kind of beggar. His life depends upon his begging for every piece of food.

Of course, Jesus wasn’t speaking of physical needs, but spiritual poverty. We can’t even become Christians without a sense of our spiritual poverty. Every individual must come to a deep consciousness of his sinfulness and a realization that without Christ he is lost and does not know the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Therefore, we must each one turn from our sins and unbelief and ask Jesus Christ to be our Savior. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

This is how our new life in Christ begins, but it does not end there. It is only the beginning. Jesus came to give us more than an insurance policy. He came to give us abundant life which is the kind of life God has.

Are you thirsty?

Moreover, this principle of realizing our spiritual poverty is not only true of the person who has never become a Christian, but it is also true of believers. We grow spiritually as we become aware of our personal needs and turn them over the Christ. John 7:37 refers to Jesus in the Temple on the last day of the great feast of the Tabernacles. On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:37-39).
Psalm 63:1-2, vividly reminds us of this truth.

Oh God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.

Do you have this spiritual hunger to be more like Jesus Christ? Do you thirst for a more intimate fellowship with Christ? Hungering and thirsting leads us to true happiness.

THERE MUST BE AGONY OF THE SOUL BECAUSE OF THE AWARENESS OF OUR NEED.

Have you mourned over your spiritual poverty?

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Jesus used a strong word meaning to mourn as if one is mourning for the dead. The conviction of spiritual need becomes so powerful in the soul that the individual mourns over his condition. It is to feel the pain, sting, and hurt of the realization that I am not as good as I thought I was. There is a sense of spiritual poverty and the agony of it.
Have you died to self-interest, selfishness and arrogant pride? Dying to self is a painful process. But death to self is the way to the fullness of life in Christ.

There is no other way but the way of the cross. Have I grieved and mourned over my spiritual condition? Do I see myself as a dead man? Do I mourn spiritually over my spiritual need as one who mourns over the death of a loved one? “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). Previously Paul had stated, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (2:20).

Not only must we become aware of our spiritual need, and grieve over it, we must abandon ourselves to Jesus Christ. There is awareness of our need, agony over it and abandonment to Christ as our only hope.

THERE MUST BE ABANDONMENT TO THE SAVIOR.

Has the Holy Spirit brought you to the place where you are sick of self? Our narcissistic filled society puts the emphasis on I, me and mine. We must come to the end of our selfishness. Our fleshy, sinful nature wants to worship self rather than the Lord Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul in Romans 6:13 says, “do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

One of the verses I first memorized after I committed my life to Christ was Romans 12:1-2. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Such a spiritual transformation comes through an intense hunger and thirst for God. Do I hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness? Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). It is to have such an intense hunger and thirst that you want the whole thing. You want the last bit of bread and the last drop of water because you are so thirsty. Do you want the righteousness of God in like manner?

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Do Christ and His righteousness have the highest priority in my life? Do I want at all personal costs to be in a right relationship with God?

There must be a wholehearted unreserved abandonment to Jesus Christ. Am I willing to get serious with God and the Christian life? The normal Christian life is one in which the Holy Spirit is appropriated by faith to reveal Christ at work in us.

What is the spiritual need the Holy Spirit keeps pointing to in my life? Am I willing to agonize and grieve over the awareness of that need? Have I abandoned myself to Jesus Christ as the only hope for spiritual vitality? Am I willing to appropriate the presence of the Holy Spirit moment by moment?

THERE MUST BE THE APPROPRIATION BY FAITH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

It is not legalism.

Our fellowship with the Spirit of God is by faith, and not by works. “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:2) One of the great lessons we learn in Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia is that the Spirit does not respond to methods, programs and man’s gimmicks. He is a person and He must be treated as a person.

It is a daily blessing.

It is not a “second blessing” type of experience. It is a daily blessing. It is our response to the Holy Spirit creating in our lives a hunger for Christ to be preeminent. Has the Holy Spirit revealed Christ in you? Has He revealed Christ deep in your inner soul?

The apostle Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus that God “would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” Then at that point Paul just breaks out with a great doxology. “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:16-21).

Paul couldn’t find words fast enough to communicate what was flashing through his mind. Literally, “But to Him who is able above all things to do exceedingly above . . .” God’s blessings exceed some number or measure, over and above, more than necessary. It is intensified by adding a preposition ek, adding “the idea of exhaustlessness,” and huper, “above.” His grace goes “beyond all things, superabundantly, and over and above.” Marvelous is God’s provision. And just to think, these promises are good forever. This grace will never come to an end.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be severely tested. He was tempted to use the power of the Spirit to change stones into bread to satisfy His real hunger. Why did Jesus refuse to do so? He knew that the power that filled Him was power to do the Father’s will, not His own will. The presence of the Holy Spirit equipped Him to triumphantly complete the mission His Father had given Him to do, even if that involved hunger, pain and suffering. He had nothing to prove and nothing to lose.

Simon the magician in Acts 8:9-23 was a crude dude who wanted lights, camera, and action. Now he would have done just the opposite of Christ. He would have been prime time news tonight.

By simple faith we receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit equips us to fulfill God’s eternal purpose in our lives. In that equipping process He conforms us to the image and likeness of Christ so that we can be His messengers to a lost and dying world.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 3:5). This “gentleness” of which Jesus speaks is strength. It is the strength of a wild stallion under perfect control of its bridle. It is the absence of pride. It is power under control. Such a person is a God–controlled man. He is under the control of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit–controlled life is a complete breach with the old ways of life dominated by our sinful nature. It demands faith and commitment to Christ. It is a call to continual reliance on the Holy Spirit for daily living. On the negative side, the crucifixion of the flesh is not something any one of us can do by ourselves. We need help. The Helper comes along our side to give us His strength.

The exchanged life is a life of faith.

Just as we were saved by faith in Christ, we also live the Christian life by faith in Him. It is by simple faith that we live from day to day the kind of life that pleases Him.

The apostle Paul in Romans 8:13 said, “If you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Paul is reminding us that this is a continual reliance on the person of the Holy Spirit who dwells within our bodies because we are now His temples. Moreover in Galatians 5:16-25 Paul tells us that we are to “walk in the Spirit” (v. 16). If we are to continually walk in the Sprit we must be “led by the Spirit” because He does the leading (v. 18). He leads and we walk with Him hand in hand. That is what it means to “live in the Spirit” (v. 25). Therefore, He is in control of our lives. That is what it means to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). When someone is “filled” with wine he is under the influence, or control of the alcohol content. When we are “filled” with the Spirit we are under His control. It is a daily, moment-by-moment, relationship with Him. When He is in control we experience Spirit–controlled worship (vv. 19-21), Spirit–controlled home life (vv. 5:22-6:9) and Spirit–controlled warfare and witnessing (vv. 10-20). It is a walk of faith.

“I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). The one who justifies us by faith also sanctifies us. He gives us His strength, joy, love, steadfastness, and self-control. As we give Him our weakness, He gives us His strength. We hand over our guilt and He gives us His forgiveness. He sustains us with His peace as we hand over our stress, anxiety and inner struggles. We hand Him our faithlessness and He gives us faith. He gives us His power in place of our weakness.

"And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, ‘I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people’" (2 Corinthians 6:16, NET). How do we live in His abundance? “I will live in them and will walk among them.”

Following this appropriation by faith of the Holy Spirit there is a moment-by-moment abiding by faith in Christ.

THERE MUST BE AN ABIDING BY FAITH IN THE SAVIOR.

This is a mutual abiding.

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).

Lord Jesus, will I see You today? Remind me of Your steadfast presence. “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” That is the hardest lesson for most Christians to learn. And there is no other way to live the Christian life.

Abiding is obedience to His will.

“The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (1 John 3:24). If I love Him I will have no problem with my attitude toward keeping His commandments. It is a matter of the heart. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). When the heart is right we abide in Him and we sense His presence.

Abiding is not striving or struggling.

“Remain in Me and I in you,” said Jesus. This is a living relationship. It is not striving or struggling. It is resting in the Him. It is a matter of surrender. It is making ourselves available to Him so that He can live His life in and through us. This is a life of obedience responding to His love.

Hudson Taylor’s says it best: "When my agony of soul was as its height a sentence in a letter was used to remove the scales form my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before . . . “But how do you get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.” As I read I saw it all! “If we believe not, He abideth faithful.” I looked to Jesus and saw and when I saw, oh, how the joy flowed!) that He had said, “I will never leave you.” “Ah, there is rest!” I thought. I’ll strive in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me––never to leave me, never to fail me? And, He never will!"

Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus.

The Amplified Bible on Hebrews 12:1-3 reads as follows:

Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance––unnecessary weight––and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher, [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [Ps. 110:1]. Just think on Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself––reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials––so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.

THE EXCHANGED LIFE IS A LIFE OF ABUNDANCE.

How quick we are to try to put the cart before the horse. You can’t get happiness, joy, abundance without first receiving His righteousness. Happiness is a byproduct. Joy is the outcome of His life in us. Abundance in spiritual life is the result of Christ in us. It is not doing, it is receiving. J. B. Phillips paraphrased Philippians 4:13, “I am ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within me.” That is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” I am sufficient because Christ lives in me.

Jesus compared it to a river overflowing.

John 7:37-39, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

It is full of abundance. John 10:10b, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” The secret is that His sheep hear His voice and obey Him. “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4). Am I sensitive to His voice? Is my ear quick to hear the sound of His presence? Who knows what He will say or where He will lead us if we only make ourselves available to Him.

We become invincible.

Jesus described the change in our lives when we are allowing Him to exchange our inadequacy for His all sufficiency. He said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:9-12).

That is the only way we can ever be salt and light in a spiritually dark and corrupt world.

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