he Holy Bible reveals the only true God. It
is the inspired resource which God gave us for our daily comfort and
encouragement. The Scriptures withstand the test of time. The prophetic
nature challenges every reader with its accuracy for the times we live in
and from times passed. The Scriptures reveal the very self-centered nature
of man while contrasting it to the holiness of God's nature. The Truth
reveals God’s plan for man’s redemption.
The first two chapters of the
Bible deal with a world which God created for mankind. The rest of the
Bible deals with God's intervention to restore His relationship with
humanity. The Word reveals the only exception in the last two chapters that
describe God creating a new heaven and a new earth for Him and mankind's
eternal reconciliation.
Before man sought out his own
will, He was in the likeness of God. After mankind rebelled breaking the
relationship there was only one way for God to restore it. The Bible is a
love story of God, who beyond any scope of our imagination, chose to
sacrifice His Son for His creation. The Bible is first and foremost a love
story.
What is man that God is mindful of
him? We have been wonderfully and fearfully made by God. Psalm 139 is a
beautiful passage of scriptures that refers to the creation of the inner
man, the spirit of man, the soul of man, and physical being. God
individually creates us for His pleasure, and it is His express desire to
show His love for us individually.
The first man Adam was created in
the image and likeness of God, (Gen. 1:26). Adam was able to communicate
freely with God because God created man in His image and likeness. In
Gen.5:3, Adam became the father of a son of his own likeness and in his own
image. The fall of Adam and Eve left mankind separated from God because of
their sin. They had died spiritually to God and had lost the true knowledge
of God. Fortunately, God made a promise to all of mankind to redeem mankind
through the seed of the woman in Gen. 3:15. This promise refers to the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who has reconciled every believer to God
through the Cross. Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. God
has restored our relationship with Him through Christ, and has given us this
ministry of restoring relationships. In other words, God was using Christ
to restore His relationship with humanity. Since we are a new creation in
Christ, we have received of His Spirit, so we can freely receive everything
we need through Christ. Since we are a new creation, why aren't we all like
Christ?
We are a new creation in Christ.
We were dead to God in our sin because we were born after the likeness of
Adam, but now we have been born again after the likeness of Christ. We now
have the Spirit of Christ in us, the hope of Glory. Unfortunately, we are
conceived in sin and born after the likeness of Adam. So until we receive
the Spirit of Christ we learn to do everything after the nature we were born
with, a corrupt nature. The corrupt nature must become crucified with
Christ so that the Spirit of Christ can live in us. Then, we will become
like Christ. We can freely communicate with God because we have the Spirit
of God living in us. Next we need further transformation into the image of
Christ through the renewing of our mind. The Holy Spirit does this through
God’s Word, which announces everything that Christ accomplished for us and
continues to do through us. God personally created you for good works to
walk into. He creates us for His good pleasure, and to bestow the riches of
Christ upon us.
God alone created your inner
being. He knit you together inside your mother. God miraculously and
amazingly creates us. Nothing can hide from God. He creates in us -- body,
soul, and spirit. God knows your thoughts and the intents of your heart.
Yes, God knows and still has a plan for your life!
Just as our bodies have many
parts, in the same way, we are many individuals. Not all of us do the same
things, but Christ makes us one body and God connects us to one another
through Him. God in His richness gave each of us different personalities,
and all have different gifts to build up the body of Christ. We are all
unique. Everything we have, God gives to us. God keeps nothing for our
good from us. The mystery of Christ in us is God's greatest revelation in
mankind's promised redemption.
Since we receive a new nature,
what causes us to be so easily upset in doing the will of God? The corrupt
nature is dead. Unfortunately, most Christians do not understand this. God
set us free from this corrupt nature to walk in the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ that sets us free from the law of sin and death. However,
God wants to heal us and renew our minds so that we can see that it is His
entire 'doing' that we are a new 'being'.
The old man, also called the
carnal or corrupt nature, and the flesh, is the result of the fall, and of
the environment that our parents rear us in. We are the product of
everything that happened to us before coming to the knowledge and acceptance
of Christ. The events that led up to our redemption all had an affect on
our personality. Damage has been done.
Before our corrupt nature was
crucified with Christ, we could only walk according to the pattern of this
world. Our sinful nature alienated us from God. We were born after Adam;
now we have been born again after the likeness of Christ. Our mothers bore
us with a carnal nature; now we have a spiritual nature. The problem is
that we still relate to the carnal nature more that we do our spiritual
nature. Yet we know God is faithful, and He will complete the work He began
in us until the day of Christ Jesus when God totally redeems us.
God reconciled the world to
Himself through Christ. God uses the church as His body on earth, and we
are members individually of this body. 'In Christ', God unites us for His
purpose of reconciling the world to Himself. The church represents Jesus
Christ and has the power and authority through Him to do the works that we
see Him doing.
The Word of God testifies of the
works of Christ. He came into the world to save sinners by destroying the
works of the devil. Jesus commissions us to do the same work of reconciling
sinners to God. The Great Commission is the real calling of every
believer. We all have a role to play and different gifts to use to bring
about this great work. The question is, 'Does every one come to Christ the
same Way?' Every one came in their own way to acknowledge Jesus Christ as
their Lord and Savior. God speaks to hearts individually. He often uses an
individual to witness to Christ's work on the Cross. Then we made our
personal commitment to God through faith in Jesus Christ. What about you?
Would you like to understand the person looking at you from the other side
of the mirror?
There are two births and two
deaths. The first birth's result is a person with a carnal nature as part
of their heredity. The second birth is spiritual producing a new nature.
The "rebirth" is for renewal. Being "born again" is a spiritual birth that
restores spiritual life and the blessings of God. The first death results
in the removal of our carnal nature. The second death is part of the
judgment against humanity for refusing to accept Jesus Christ's
substitutionary death that will result in everlasting life with God.
A person has
to lose their life in order to be 'born again'. This happens when we accept
Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death as our own. When we do this we escape
the second death and have eternal life. The evidence of a person's rebirth
is a gradual transformation in their life. The transformation begins as
God's Word regenerates our mind so that we can live a life of righteousness
and true holiness in Christ. We begin to grow into the full stature of our
Lord and receive a spirit of love, power and a sound mind. As newborn babes
we can begin to worship God and give Him praise with thanksgiving for such a
glorious and wonderful salvation. As children of God, we receive the peace
of God surpassing all understanding and the joy of knowing He loves us just
as we are. We have this assurance knowing that while we were still sinners,
He died for us, so that we would be able to enter the kingdom of God. There
is a way that seems right, in the mind of man, that leads to death. Then
there is God’s way, the same way in which His Son was obedient, even unto
the death of the ‘Cross’. Will you let Christ live His life through you and
experience the Kingdom of God?
The Kingdom Of God
For indeed, the kingdom of God is within
you.; for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For God has not given us a spirit of
fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. For the kingdom of God
is not in word but in power. - Luke 17:21; Romans 14:17; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1
Corinthians 4:20
We Need To Be Born Again To See God
Jesus answered and said to him, "Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God." "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. "That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. -- John
3:3,5-6
"But the hour is coming, and now is, when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the
Father is seeking such to worship Him. "God is Spirit, and those who worship
Him must worship in spirit and truth." -- John 4:23-24
Jesus Became The Ransom For Obtaining The
New Covenant
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, "that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have eternal life. "For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life. "For God did not send His Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved. -- John 3:14-17
The Old Testament was a shadow of
the New Testament revealing a better 'covenant'. God's Word is an expression
of God's love and reveals His plan for humanity. The Word reveals God's
plan to restore our relationship with Him based on love. Our Lord's loving
sacrifice paid for our salvation. He came into the world to reveal His
identity by doing the will of the Father, not by proclaiming to be the
'Messiah'. His final act of obedience on the Cross of Calvary paved the way
for ‘whosoever’ to find salvation.
Jesus Came To Do God's Will
But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been
working until now, and I have been working." Therefore the Jews sought all
the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said
that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered
and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of
Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also
does in like manner. "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things
that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that
you may marvel. "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them,
even so the Son gives life to whom He will. "For the Father judges no one,
but has committed all judgment to the Son, "that all should honor the Son
just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor
the Father who sent Him. -- John 5:17-23
Through revelation of the Holy
Spirit we understand the love between the Father and His Son. This is the
type of revelation, enlightenment, that comes to the obedient who are born
of the Spirit. There is freedom for those who hear the Word of the Lord and
obey it. They develop a relationship based on trust and love. There is
liberty and freedom in Christ to do what is right through His life-giving
Spirit.
The Lord Is Waiting For Mankind To Repent
"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put
away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to
do good; seek justice, reprove the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead
for the widow. "Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD,
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and
obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword"; for the mouth of the LORD has
spoken. -- Isaiah 1:16-20
Assurance Of Forgiveness And Everlasting
Life
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears
My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not
come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. -- John 5:24
On the last day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come
to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of
his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning
the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit
was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. -- Jn 7:37-39
Jesus’ Authority Over Death
"I am the good shepherd; and I know My
sheep, and am known by My own. "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the
Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. "And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice;
and there will be one flock and one shepherd. "Therefore My Father loves Me,
because I lay down My life that I may take it again. "No one takes it from
Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." --
John 10:14-18
Our Shepherd’s Authority Keeps Our Souls
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,
and they follow Me. "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never
perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father's hand. "I and My Father are one." -- John 10:27-30
Jesus Is The Resurrection Unto Eternal Life
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two
miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and
Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she
heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the
house. Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother
would not have died. "But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God
will give You." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha
said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last
day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. "And whoever lives and
believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes,
Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into
the world."
But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour
has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. "Most assuredly, I say to
you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains
alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. "He who loves his life will
lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life. "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My
servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. "Now My
soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'?
But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." Then
a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify
it again." Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had
thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." Jesus answered and
said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. "Now is the
judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. "And
I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." This
He said, signifying by what death He would die. -- John 12:23-33
Jesus Left To Prepare A Place For Us
"Let not your heart be troubled; you
believe in God, believe also in Me. "In My Father's house are many mansions;
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you
to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. "And where I go you know,
and the way you know."