‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them’
-- 2 Cor. 5:19
he gift of God is the revelation of Himself, as
seen in the person of Jesus Christ restoring man’s relationship. In Jesus we
have the fullness of God. To know and to love and to walk with God, that is, to
see God in Christ, and us in Christ, is and means reconciliation. Christ’s
sacrifice restores perfectly the relationship between God and humanity. The
atonement is finished!
The source of Life is simply the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. God fulfills each aspect of our life when we experience
Jesus. Jesus is to be our center. He is the source of all Blessing and the Way
to the Abundant Life. The believer must come to Jesus for all their needs; to
believingly apprehend Him as such, and be ready to sit at His feet. Jesus is
our Source for all of God's blessings that the Holy Spirit reveals through
Christ's atonement. In Jesus, we have the fullness of the Godhead. To know and
to love God, and to walk with Him, that is, to see God in Christ, and the Church
in Christ, as the Source, is the means of reconciliation. In order to see God,
we receive the righteousness of Christ.
There is no experience outside of
knowing God that will satisfy us. Anything short of knowing God, glorifying God
for who He is, and enjoying Him, will leave us empty. The relationship we are
to enjoy is to be God-centered. God created us for the purpose of existing for
His own pleasure. We are God's delight and the object of His affection. Our
response to the Cross should be one of Divine affection, to live for Him, and to
do His will. The Holy Spirit calls us to a living relationship with God 'in
Christ'. Jesus is the Source of redemption of all humanity. There is no other
person we need to look unto for our needs in life. He is the Way, the Truth,
and the Life.
In the person of Jesus, we have the
revelation of God Himself. Jesus reveals the Father through his own flesh and
blood. He is understandable, accessible, and desirable. Jesus' life mirrors
the unapproachable light of God perfectly. When we look to Jesus, we see the
knowledge and light of the glory of God, His grace and truth revealed. In the
life of Jesus, we see the Word of God expressing God's thoughts, the exact
expression of His heart, and essence of God's light, His truth.
In Christ, we find who God is and what
He requires of us. There is nowhere else in heaven or earth we can go to
discover the character of God except for the revelation of Christ. Jesus on the
Cross is the personification of God's grace and mercy toward humanity. On the
Cross where Jesus died is the revelation of God that not only makes Him
understandable, but desirable. We need to look no farther than Jesus on the
Cross to see God, to know Him as He really is. There He can meet every need of
our broken heart. At the Cross we see everything that offends God in
ourselves. The Cross supplies every need to put an end to every offense.
In all of God's dealings with us, His
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace is an attribute of God that
reveals His attitude towards humanity. The whole essence of grace is that it is
undeserved in the light of our sinful condition. There is no limit to the depth
of God's grace when we come to Him with a broken and contrite heart. The
struggle is to believe it and be willing to trust God's grace to match our needs
the rest of our days. Grace is the nature of God who is our eternal and only
Source.
In John 8:58, Jesus claimed equality
with the Father when He said, 'Before Abraham was, I AM'. The meaning of the
great name Jehovah is 'I AM'. The special revelation that this name gives is
grace or the nature of God. Jesus is the revelation of grace and the answer to
mankind’s needs; as they arise, He meets them! Our need is the object of God as
I AM. Jesus is the answer to our need. The Holy Spirit will reveal the answer
to our need in the person of Jesus as the need arises. He not only supplies
that need but He reveals Himself in order to fulfill that need. As we come to
Him with our needs, the grace of God is there to fulfill them. We can see God
for who He really is in Jesus’ fulfillment of our needs.
God met our ultimate need in the
person of Jesus. When we look at the compound of Jehovah Shua, we see Jesus,
meaning I AM SALVATION. We are without excuse and without rights. We are all
sinners; but God loved us so much that He has met our need. Where there is a
need, God is there; where there is sin, Jesus is there. His blood was the
answer to it all. It is in seeing our need as sinners that reveal the beauty of
Jesus. Jesus is there in the very moment for every sinner’s need.
A life centered on God leads to the
hidden secrets of men's hearts. The things that concern God the most are the
coldness of our hearts and the independence of our selfish flesh. We need not
look any farther than the Cross to understand that Jesus took our rightful place
so that in Him we have the gift of Eternal Life. We come to the end of self by
rendering the old man dead on the Cross ‘in Christ’ which enslaved us to the
‘flesh’. We look to Jesus for our Source of life and the Source of death to our
corrupt nature. When we bow before a Holy God, in the light of the depravity of
the flesh, He reveals the purpose of the Cross. Jesus reveals the thoughts and
intents of the heart until we faithfully reveal His life in ‘us’. Again, we
look to Jesus to deliver us unto death, when we learn to continually surrender
our life to Him, until Jesus ‘is formed in us’ to give us new life through His
Spirit.
We cannot make things 'work'; work
only leads to bondage. Jesus as our Life will set us frees from every yoke of
bondage to serve Him alone. Walking in the Spirit is the way God brings to life
the words Jesus spoke, ‘Love one another’. Whenever, we focus on our 'doing',
instead of our 'being', we fall short of the Hope of Glory -- which is Christ
in us. We cannot ‘walk in the Spirit’ without Christ living through us, we
must allow Him to live through us by faith.
'In returning and rest shall ye be
saved' -- Isa.30:15. The finished work of the Cross of Christ settles
conclusively mankind’s dilemma. Nothing can add to the atonement; Jesus
sanctifies us by His blood. We overcome every obstacle by the blood of Jesus,
Rev.12:11,12. The life is in the blood and we have received Jesus as our
life-blood. There is no need to go any farther than Christ. He is our Source
of everything we need in Life. The truth is: Christ is our Life!
When we look to God as our only
Source, we find the deeper answers to life in Him. When God is our Source, our
service becomes incidental to our vision of Jesus; the works become a direct
result and consequence of knowing God. When we bow to the will of God, we
experience the depth of His grace and His power to satisfy our hearts with
Himself alone. We have already received Jesus who waits to satisfy our
hearts. God longs to reveal His love for us.
We need to see Jesus and apprehend Him
as the supply of our present needs, the Source, and trustingly receive the Life
of Christ. We look to Jesus to supply our every need. When we acknowledge our
need, the Holy Spirit delights to show us the heart of Jesus as the supply of
just that need. The truth reveals God and when we know ourselves as God knows
us, we will turn to Jesus who is the revelation of all truth to answer our
need. Our basic need is to know ourselves as God does. In learning the truth,
the promise is, 'Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.',
John 8:32. Jesus revealed Himself to be the truth in John 14:6, 'I AM truth...'
To see Jesus as the truth we do not need to look any farther than the Cross. At
the Cross, we see the truth about man's sin and God's grace. We see our needs
met for sin in a new nature and as a new creation of God. The Cross leaves no
doubt about God’s love and grace for humanity.
When we look at Jesus hanging on the
Cross, we see the sentence imposed on mankind's natural behavior. The corrupt
nature is the flesh. Jesus, the Son of God, perfect in every way, came in the
likeness of sinful man to redeem us, Rom. 8:3. Jesus hung in our place and
became sin for us who knew no sin. Jesus took all of God’s righteous wrath upon
Himself for us. The Cross is where we see the truth about man's condition and
the truth about God's love for us. 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them’, 2 Cor. 5:19. 'The Law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.'
When Jesus becomes our life, we come
to the life God has for us. Christ as our Life is only the beginning. We have
found Christ to be our reconciliation. We have the privilege of knowing the
life we now live is for others. The same life we enjoy; this new life in Christ
is a new beginning for them too!
The grace of God unfolds here. The
Way of the Cross reveals the grace of God through the Life of Christ that we
share with others. Letting others see Jesus as our Source is simply making
ourselves available to Him that we may become a channel of His grace and life to
them. This is the Way He walked in relationship with His Father and this is the
Way in which we must walk with Jesus. He said, 'The Son can do nothing of
himself, but what He sees the Father do: for what things so ever He doeth, these
also doeth the Son likewise' (John 5:19). So God calls us to do nothing but what
we see Jesus doing in fulfillment of the 'Promise' to be the Way, the Truth,
and our new Life ‘in Christ’. The Truth will set you free! Will you allow
Christ to set you free today and rest in His finished work?
he revelation of Jesus Christ in us is
fundamental to every believer’s need to approach God. The Word of God, the
Bible, reveals the truth while revelation comes from the Holy Spirit to our
inner man. Hopefully, the work of the Spirit of God will minister to your
specific needs through the following Scriptures. The truth will set you free!
In light of God's Word we know and
understand what is necessary to find victory in life. If we refuse to accept
God's assessment of our life and heart, our relationship with Jesus Christ will
remain superficial. By nature, we want to preserve our lifestyles. We don't
want to change; we just want to avoid pain. It hurts to look at the wickedness
within the depth of the human heart. Most people fight against exposing the
thoughts, intentions, motives, and desires of their hearts. Thus, they never
come to a true knowledge of the sin that dwells in their heart. If we fail to
look, we cannot grow into a true knowledge of God.
To look at God's nature, we need to
expose the carnal nature and ask God to heal us. Until we come to a mature
knowledge of God, we will struggle daily with new surprises about ourselves.
There are going to be outbreaks of temptation and failure. But, Praise God!
There Is No Condemnation For Those Who Are In Christ Jesus! Biblical
Christianity teaches us to turn away from our human identity and discover our
life in Christ Jesus. He Is The Way, The Truth, and The Life!
The Hope Of Glory
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill
up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His
body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the
stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now
has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what
are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. -- Colossians 1:24-27
God Will Reward Those Who Seek Him
But without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him. -- Heb. 11:6
The Reason for all Prophecy
...'for the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy.' -Rev.19:10
"You search the Scriptures, for in them
you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
-- John 5:39
The Scriptures Declare Jesus As God’s Anointed
To The Heirs Of Salvation
God, who at various times and in different ways
spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken
to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He
made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of
His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by
Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say:
"You are My Son, today I have begotten You"? And again: "I will be to Him a
Father, and He shall be to Me a Son"? But when He again brings the firstborn
into the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him." And of the
angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of
fire." But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a
scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You have loved
righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
with the oil of gladness more than Your champions." And: "You, LORD, in the
beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your
hands; They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a
garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But You
are the same, and Your years will not fail." But to which of the angels has He
ever said: "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"? Are
they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will
inherit salvation? --Hebrews 1
God’s Anointed Word Leads Us Into All Truth
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you
have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come,
by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were
not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but
they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not
written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and
that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the
Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the
Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father
also. Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If
what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son
and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us; eternal
life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive
you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you
do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you
concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught
you, you will abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He
appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If
you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices
righteousness is born of Him.-1 John 2:18-29
We Were Chosen By God Who Had Mercy On Us
Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile,
hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk
of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord
is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but
chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a
spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
"Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes
on Him will by no means be put to shame." Therefore, to you who believe, He is
precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders
rejected has become the chief cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling and a rock
of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also
were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people
but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained
mercy. -- 1 Peter 2:1-10
For the word of God is living and Popular, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. -- Hebrews 4:12
A Promise To Those Who Abide By God’s Word
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.-- John 15:7
Six Titles and Six Blessings of the Word
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the
soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of
the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes; The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The
judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are
they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is
great reward. -- Ps 19:7-11
The Word Of The Lord Is Light
For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is
light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life, -- Pro. 6:23
Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your
word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name,
O LORD God of hosts. -- Jer 15:16
The Way To Learn To Grow ‘In Christ’
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in
all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the lord. And whatsoever
you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God the Father through Him. -- Col 3:16-17
.. as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the
word, that you may grow thereby,- 1 Pet 2:2
The Word Of The Lord Is Eternal
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or
the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. "For assuredly, I say
to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means
pass from the law till all is fulfilled. -- Matt. 5:17-18
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words
will by no means pass away. -- Mat. 24:35
God Created The Worlds By His Word
By faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of
things which are visible. -- Hebrews 11:3
For this they willfully forget: that by the word
of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the
water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
But the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same
word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
-- 2 Peter 3:5-7
The Bible Is Not For Private Interpretation
We also have the prophetic word made more sure,
which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day
dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no
prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came
by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit. -- 2 Pet 1:19-21
The Scriptures Are Inspired By God
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for
every good work. --2 Timothy 3:16-17
Scripture Came Through Holy Men And The Prophets
"Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has
visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy
prophets, who have been since the world began, to give light to those who sit in
darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."--
Luke 1:68-70,79
The Gospel Reveals The Power Of God
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew
first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith; as it is written "The just shall live by faith." For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,-- Romans 1:16-18
The Word Reveals The Way To Receive Salvation
But what does it say? "The word is near you,
even in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we
preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the
heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to
salvation. -- Rom 10:8-10
Salvation Is Received By Everyone Who Calls Upon
The Name Of The Lord
For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him
will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the
same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls upon the
name of the LORD shall be saved." -- Romans 10:11-13
The Danger Of Rejecting God’s Word
"He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you
rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me." "Behold, I give you
the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of
the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. "Nevertheless do not rejoice
in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your
names are written in heaven." -- Luke 10:16,19-20
We Are Born Again By God’s Incorruptible Seed
Since you have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another
fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but
incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because
"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The
grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures
forever. "Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. -- 1
Pe1:22-25
The Cost Of Discipleship
Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and
could not approach Him because of the crowd. And it was told Him by some, who
said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You."
But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear
the word of God and do it." -- Luke 8:19-21
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him,
"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. -- John 8:31
Happy Are Those Who Keep God’s Word
And it happened, as He spoke these things, that
a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the
womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!" But He said, "More than
that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" --Luke 11:27-29
Those Who Reject Jesus Will Be Judged
"He who rejects Me, and does not receive My
words, has that which judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last
day. --John 12:48
God Came Into Our Lives Because We Keep His Word
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves
Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him
and make Our home with him. "He who does not love Me does not keep My words;
and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. -- John
14:23-24
God Gave Us To Christ To Keep His Word Alive
"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You
have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they
have kept Your word.- John 17:6
"I have given them Your word; and the world has
hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. "I
do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep
them from the evil one. "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the
world. "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. - John 17:14-17
We
Are All One Spiritually By Our Relationship With The Father and Son
"As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent
them into the world. "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may
be sanctified by the truth. "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those
who will believe in Me through their word; "that they all may be one, as You,
Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world
may believe that You sent Me. -- John 17:18-21
We Can Endure All Things In Christ Through The
Indwelling
Word Of God
This is a faithful saying: For if we died with
Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If
we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He
cannot deny Himself. Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord
not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent
to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings, for
they will increase to more ungodliness. -- 2 Tim 2:11-16
![[Under Construction]](http://abundantprofitclub.com/undercon.gif){kind=small}