The Lord said to me several years ago, that "Grace has provided much more than faith has revealed." I wondered at that for awhile as I sought the Lord on it. He began to show me through His Word, all that's available to His family by faith in His grace. It was much, much more than we had entered into.
Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says that, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
As I read the Word through the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit, I began realizing how the preceding scriptures were also what had been done for me by grace. The Holy Spirit spoke about this grace in Ephesians 2:6-7 (Amplified) saying, "And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together (giving us joint seating with Him) in the heavenly sphere (by virtue of our being) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)." Verse 7 goes on, "He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in (His) kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus."
I realized that this "free grace" has already raised us up in the Holy Spirit and gave us "joint seating" with our Lord Jesus at the right hand of God. As you look at this in the light of God's Grace, it staggers the carnal mind and must be accepted by faith.
Men consider this to be "too far out" and have decided it was for when we leave this earth. Our pride got in the way and prevented our accepting the power of God's grace. And, because of our pride, we rejected anyone who even suggested such a thing. Some people acted like we weren't really "Good Christians" and were angry. Others rejected this outright and believed it was for us in heaven only. Our faith was so immature that we couldn't receive what God actually did through Jesus.
We would argue that the scripture was speaking figuratively or legally. Then, we'd add that was wasn't literally for today. We'd become so afraid of being outside the mainstream Christianity, that we never dared to seek God on our own. We accepted what everyone else said about grace as truth and left it there. This faith we have is also the gift of God and is actually the faith of God.
One of my favorite scriptures, Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says that, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God scribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith); As it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
Notice how this faith doesn't end with receiving forgiveness, but now we've been forgiven through faith, we must begin pressing in by faith into what grace has provided by Jesus for us now. Too often, we believed that God would upset or displeased with us if we even dared proclaiming we are now righteous. In reality, God has been waiting for us to receive, by faith, the righteousness His grace has made ours through Jesus. What good is right standing or the right to stand in God's presence through Jesus if it upset God for us to believe in what He did? Why give us the right to come to Him as family and then be offended by our presence?
We can only see the depth of God's grace towards us, by faith. We're to grow in our faith in God through His Word. This faith isn't something that makes us either better or worse a Christian as any other Christian, but is a growing thing in our lives. We constantly struggle in our faith, cognizant of being misled. But, when we don't allow our faith to seek the fullness of God's grace, we have already been misled. Romans 3:3 (Amplified) tells us, "What is some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void of the faithfulness of God and His fidelity (to His Word)?"
Because some don't believe the things grace has provided, doesn't mean that it isn't true. Or, does it mean God no longer honors His Word? Of course not. It simply means that we reigned in our faith instead of allowing it to reveal all things through the Holy Spirit. Romans 3:25 (Amplified) says that, "(All) are justified and made in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus." Romans 5:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore since we are justified (Acquitted, declared righteous and given a right standing with God through faith, let us (grasp the fact that we) the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
What if our faith is weak in this part of grace? Does this mean that we are not justified or made righteous in Jesus? No! It simply means that our faith is immature and we've allowed ourselves to be talked out of or have cheated ourselves out of the precious place of intimacy with God on a personal basis. Grace has provided what faith still struggles with now.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
Lesson 5 Grace and Faith
We find the perfect example of the degrees of grace and faith in Romans 14:1-2 (Amplified). Paul spoke to the church in Rome about unclean and clean meats and food. He spoke the "holy days" under Law, that some still ascribed to even though they were now Christians. In Verses 5-6 Paul said that one day, whether or not we deserve it or do not observe it, it is to the Lord that both people honor God in it.
In today's Church, we find some won't eat pork because it's considered unclean (this is true under the Law) and others believe that under grace, it's permissible to eat. Paul said in Verse 14, "I know and am convinced (persuaded) as one in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is (forbidden as) essentially unclean (defiled and unholy in itself). But (none the less) it is unclean (defiled and unholy) to anyone who thinks it is unclean."
Under grace, we have liberty to eat or not to eat, according to the faith of others. Romans 14:2-3 (Amplified) say that, "One (man's faith permits him to) believe he may eat anything, while a weaker one (limits his) eating to vegetables. Let not him who eats look down on or despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains criticize and pass judgement on him who eats; for God has accepted and welcomed him."
We find varying examples of faith in grace in today's Church too. Such views aren't wrong because those who follow them, do so to honor God. Grace extends much farther than most Christians dare to go. Paul goes on to say to those who go against their faith in such matters, will put themselves in a position that allows condemnation unto themselves because they think they have sinned against their faith.
Grace and faith must work together in all we do or we give the enemy a foothold for condemnation and guilt. When I speak of grace and faith as being the power twins, I'm referring to accepting by faith what grace has made available. This grace has been extended to everyone and the limits of grace are boundless and sufficient for every need at the throne of grace according to Hebrews 4:16.
We find some Christians will observe Christmas and honor God on that day. We also find some Christians who choose not to observe it because they believe it's a pagan holiday. Both are honoring God in what they're doing, but both must do so in faith. If we go against our own conscience because of another, then it's not faith and will allow grounds for the devil to torment you in it. Both are right in what they do, because every day is a day that God has made and should be used for His praise and glory.
I've found in my own walk with my Father, that some view me as "strange" because of the liberty I walk in. I never knew the rituals and regulations that some Christians were taught or raised in. I was born again into such a total state of grace because of this and I never knew anything else. I had never read the Bible or attended church much for any reason. When the Lord saved me and came to me, I then began reading His Word. With no religious background, I had no other choice or reason to not believe what He said in His Word.
God's grace carried me into a place of actually leaving my old self behind and embracing the new man He made me to be. I began seeing what it meant when God said that "Old things have passed away and all things have become new." I took the Word of God at face value and began doing what the Word instructed me to do. I began laying hands on people where I worked and God healed them. If the Word said that, "These signs will follow those who believe," then I knew I believed and so they followed me.
Long before I ever knew the statements others made about how "These things have passed away" or "These things were only for the disciples" and many other such declarations, I was in the flow of God's grace with faith in His grace. The liberty I was walking in was something some came to "spy out" in Galatians 2:4. Some people were angry, others were in disbelief, and some thought that because of who I had been before, God would never allow me to walk in this place with Him. Being ignorant of religious training, I thought all Christians were walking in this because God made it so available to us all.
It was many years later, that I learned what I'm sharing with you now. Grace has been extended to all who will receive it, but it must be received by faith. If your faith condemns you or your knowledge of the Word prohibits you from accepting what grace has done, then you will never walk in it. 2Peter 1:2-3 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full, personal, precise, and correct) knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord for His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that (are requisite and suited) to life and godliness, through the (full personal) knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue)."
We find in Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) that, "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
Although salvation is offered to all men who will believe, by God's grace, if we don't put our faith in this gift, then it will not work for us. Many things grace has provided are never received because we've allowed ourselves to be talked out of it by different means. Grace has provided everything we will ever need on this side of heave and all heaven is and can provide on the other side also. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed) through the way of faith that arouses to more faith as it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
In today's Church, we find some won't eat pork because it's considered unclean (this is true under the Law) and others believe that under grace, it's permissible to eat. Paul said in Verse 14, "I know and am convinced (persuaded) as one in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is (forbidden as) essentially unclean (defiled and unholy in itself). But (none the less) it is unclean (defiled and unholy) to anyone who thinks it is unclean."
Under grace, we have liberty to eat or not to eat, according to the faith of others. Romans 14:2-3 (Amplified) say that, "One (man's faith permits him to) believe he may eat anything, while a weaker one (limits his) eating to vegetables. Let not him who eats look down on or despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains criticize and pass judgement on him who eats; for God has accepted and welcomed him."
We find varying examples of faith in grace in today's Church too. Such views aren't wrong because those who follow them, do so to honor God. Grace extends much farther than most Christians dare to go. Paul goes on to say to those who go against their faith in such matters, will put themselves in a position that allows condemnation unto themselves because they think they have sinned against their faith.
Grace and faith must work together in all we do or we give the enemy a foothold for condemnation and guilt. When I speak of grace and faith as being the power twins, I'm referring to accepting by faith what grace has made available. This grace has been extended to everyone and the limits of grace are boundless and sufficient for every need at the throne of grace according to Hebrews 4:16.
We find some Christians will observe Christmas and honor God on that day. We also find some Christians who choose not to observe it because they believe it's a pagan holiday. Both are honoring God in what they're doing, but both must do so in faith. If we go against our own conscience because of another, then it's not faith and will allow grounds for the devil to torment you in it. Both are right in what they do, because every day is a day that God has made and should be used for His praise and glory.
I've found in my own walk with my Father, that some view me as "strange" because of the liberty I walk in. I never knew the rituals and regulations that some Christians were taught or raised in. I was born again into such a total state of grace because of this and I never knew anything else. I had never read the Bible or attended church much for any reason. When the Lord saved me and came to me, I then began reading His Word. With no religious background, I had no other choice or reason to not believe what He said in His Word.
God's grace carried me into a place of actually leaving my old self behind and embracing the new man He made me to be. I began seeing what it meant when God said that "Old things have passed away and all things have become new." I took the Word of God at face value and began doing what the Word instructed me to do. I began laying hands on people where I worked and God healed them. If the Word said that, "These signs will follow those who believe," then I knew I believed and so they followed me.
Long before I ever knew the statements others made about how "These things have passed away" or "These things were only for the disciples" and many other such declarations, I was in the flow of God's grace with faith in His grace. The liberty I was walking in was something some came to "spy out" in Galatians 2:4. Some people were angry, others were in disbelief, and some thought that because of who I had been before, God would never allow me to walk in this place with Him. Being ignorant of religious training, I thought all Christians were walking in this because God made it so available to us all.
It was many years later, that I learned what I'm sharing with you now. Grace has been extended to all who will receive it, but it must be received by faith. If your faith condemns you or your knowledge of the Word prohibits you from accepting what grace has done, then you will never walk in it. 2Peter 1:2-3 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full, personal, precise, and correct) knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord for His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that (are requisite and suited) to life and godliness, through the (full personal) knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue)."
We find in Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) that, "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
Although salvation is offered to all men who will believe, by God's grace, if we don't put our faith in this gift, then it will not work for us. Many things grace has provided are never received because we've allowed ourselves to be talked out of it by different means. Grace has provided everything we will ever need on this side of heave and all heaven is and can provide on the other side also. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed) through the way of faith that arouses to more faith as it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Lesson 4 Grace and Faith
Hebrews 4:11 (Amplified) says, "Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest (of God, to know and experience it for ourselves), that no one may fall or perish by the same land of unbelief and disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell)."
At first glance, we think the above scripture must be a misprint to say, "Labor to enter rest." We see how those in the wilderness wouldn't believe and accept the fact that God had already taken care of everything for them. On the same token, we're always setting religious standards and things we must to in order to be acceptable to God. Because of this, we can never seem to rest in our approach to Him.
The Apostle Paul summed this up in a letter to the Church in 1Timothy 6:12 (Amplified) which says, "Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and (for which) you confessed the good confession (of faith) before many witnesses.
The fight of faith was the struggle against the desire of the flesh (the human effort) to do something on our own to gain acceptance to God. Grace has provided everything that's needed to walk upright and acceptable to our Heavenly Father. Our past life in religion and worldly thinking has made "resting" in this grace very difficult to do.
Man has had a problem appeasing his gods for thousands of years. We made our own gods and our own ways of coming to them. In most cases, we made gods in the image of demons and devils. It seems like we mostly created them as angry and hard to please. These invented gods were made from our own conscience and sense of unworthiness in our own selves. And, in many cases, these gods demanded the lives and blood of the children in order to be satisfied.
These gods always demanded more and more sacrifice. Even God's children of the old covenant, viewed Him as a stern and hard taskmaster. They held an Image of One Who was never pleased. This was the Image they had in their hearts and minds. They never understood that it was Love Who would take the life in the blood of animals to give back life to those who were spiritually dead. Even in the wilderness when God actually led them out by grace, without sacrifice, without separation and without Law, they still wanted to make a golden calf and burn sacrifices to it for their protection.
The Word says in Hebrews 4:2-3 (Amplified) that, "For indeed we have had the glad tidings (Gospel of God) proclaimed to us just as truly as they (the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them) but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness) by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones (Joshua and Caleb) who heard (did believe)." Verse 3 says, "For we who have believed, (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those (who did not believe) should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest; and this He said although (His) works had been completed and prepared (and waiting for all who would believe) from the foundation of the world."
In many Christian circles today, we've had a problem entering in by faith into God's grace like they did in the days of old. We continue struggling with a sin conscience and the sins of our past. Even after receiving Jesus, we still feel a sense of unworthiness that keeps peace from our hearts. Even after hearing the message like the Israelites did, we don't mix faith with the message and fall short of the benefits of salvation.
Without faith, the grace offered now, does no good to those who hear. Grace for salvation has been offered to the entire world according to John 3:16, but it's not beneficial to those who will not put faith in the message.
As Christians, we still have the age old struggle of the flesh to achieve right standing with God by by our own works. We don't mix faith with the message of coming "Boldly to the throne of Grace" found in Hebrews 4:16. Even after hearing the gospel, we want to abide by religious rituals to approach God instead of faith in His grace.
Many of His children have lived and died far short form the benefits of God's covenant of grace. We've felt unworthy to receive (and we were) and we allowed ourselves to remain outside of the fullness of grace. We worked at doing things to become worthy, but the harder we worked at becoming worthy, the further we fell away from rest and grace. It became a total frustration of perfection in our lives. The enemy always kept us looking at ourselves and our failures instead of Jesus and His victory.
Grace has provided rest from all our works and rituals. Faith has provided entry into this rest. Jesus has been made the "Door into the very presence of God," according to John 10:7. When we enter into God's presence by the "Door," through faith, we can rest on the other side of the Door. Grace is the throne just on the other side of this Door of entry. All that's left for us to do...is to enter.
Once we enter in by Jesus, everything we could ever need is provided by His grace. We still seem to struggle understanding what the Word is telling us. We cannot seem to accept, by faith, what grace has done. We still feel like there must be something we can do to make it better. We still feel like man has the ability to improve on God's perfection. Romans 3:24 (Amplified) tells us that we were made to be righteous in Him and in Him. Thus, it says, "(All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
How can we ever improve on this righteousness? It is the righteousness of Jesus Himself. How can we ever hope to become more righteous than He is? But, we still won't rest in the righteousness that grace has provided through Jesus. We say that we believe in what He has done to restore us back into right standing (righteousness). But, then we don't put faith and mix it with what we hear and continue standing outside the throne room of His grace.
We rob ourselves of so many things that are ours through Jesus when we don't put faith in His grace. We continue allowing the enemy to keep us out of God's presence even though we have entered in by the Door. We constantly allow the lying devil to rob us of moving from the outer court into the very Holy of Holies.
The Word tells us in Romans 6:10-11 (Amplified) that, "For by the death He died, He died to sin (ending His relation to it) once for all; and the life that He lives; He is living to God (in unbroken fellowship with Him)." Verse 11 goes on, "Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God (living in unbroken fellowship with Him) in Christ Jesus."
Through faith, God has provided in what Jesus has done which is the grace that delivered us from all the bondage of the world. Romans 8:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the Spirit."
This is how your rest in Him. But, without faith in what the grace has offered, we will still struggle under the same old bondage of shame, guilt and unworthiness of our past life and won't live in the liberty grace has supplied in our new life with Him.
Hebrews 4:11 tells us to "Labor to enter into rest." That's followed by 1Timothy 6:12 (Amplified) which says, "Fight the good fight of faith." Faith in His grace will provide the "rest" that your fleshly works can never bring (right standing with God). Your flesh will never let you rest in Him. This comes only by faith. That's why Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfied to Him. For whoever would come near to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him (out)."
Whoever tries approaching God on his own terms instead of by faith in what God has done through Jesus, is of no avail. Without faith in God's grace through Jesus, we cannot draw near to a Holy God. We must be cleansed and made holy through faith in our Lamb. Any other way is by works and not grace and is not an acceptable entry to Him. Don't allow the life of your past rob you of the truth of your present life in Him. Labor to enter into this rest by faith in Him.
At first glance, we think the above scripture must be a misprint to say, "Labor to enter rest." We see how those in the wilderness wouldn't believe and accept the fact that God had already taken care of everything for them. On the same token, we're always setting religious standards and things we must to in order to be acceptable to God. Because of this, we can never seem to rest in our approach to Him.
The Apostle Paul summed this up in a letter to the Church in 1Timothy 6:12 (Amplified) which says, "Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and (for which) you confessed the good confession (of faith) before many witnesses.
The fight of faith was the struggle against the desire of the flesh (the human effort) to do something on our own to gain acceptance to God. Grace has provided everything that's needed to walk upright and acceptable to our Heavenly Father. Our past life in religion and worldly thinking has made "resting" in this grace very difficult to do.
Man has had a problem appeasing his gods for thousands of years. We made our own gods and our own ways of coming to them. In most cases, we made gods in the image of demons and devils. It seems like we mostly created them as angry and hard to please. These invented gods were made from our own conscience and sense of unworthiness in our own selves. And, in many cases, these gods demanded the lives and blood of the children in order to be satisfied.
These gods always demanded more and more sacrifice. Even God's children of the old covenant, viewed Him as a stern and hard taskmaster. They held an Image of One Who was never pleased. This was the Image they had in their hearts and minds. They never understood that it was Love Who would take the life in the blood of animals to give back life to those who were spiritually dead. Even in the wilderness when God actually led them out by grace, without sacrifice, without separation and without Law, they still wanted to make a golden calf and burn sacrifices to it for their protection.
The Word says in Hebrews 4:2-3 (Amplified) that, "For indeed we have had the glad tidings (Gospel of God) proclaimed to us just as truly as they (the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them) but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness) by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones (Joshua and Caleb) who heard (did believe)." Verse 3 says, "For we who have believed, (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those (who did not believe) should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest; and this He said although (His) works had been completed and prepared (and waiting for all who would believe) from the foundation of the world."
In many Christian circles today, we've had a problem entering in by faith into God's grace like they did in the days of old. We continue struggling with a sin conscience and the sins of our past. Even after receiving Jesus, we still feel a sense of unworthiness that keeps peace from our hearts. Even after hearing the message like the Israelites did, we don't mix faith with the message and fall short of the benefits of salvation.
Without faith, the grace offered now, does no good to those who hear. Grace for salvation has been offered to the entire world according to John 3:16, but it's not beneficial to those who will not put faith in the message.
As Christians, we still have the age old struggle of the flesh to achieve right standing with God by by our own works. We don't mix faith with the message of coming "Boldly to the throne of Grace" found in Hebrews 4:16. Even after hearing the gospel, we want to abide by religious rituals to approach God instead of faith in His grace.
Many of His children have lived and died far short form the benefits of God's covenant of grace. We've felt unworthy to receive (and we were) and we allowed ourselves to remain outside of the fullness of grace. We worked at doing things to become worthy, but the harder we worked at becoming worthy, the further we fell away from rest and grace. It became a total frustration of perfection in our lives. The enemy always kept us looking at ourselves and our failures instead of Jesus and His victory.
Grace has provided rest from all our works and rituals. Faith has provided entry into this rest. Jesus has been made the "Door into the very presence of God," according to John 10:7. When we enter into God's presence by the "Door," through faith, we can rest on the other side of the Door. Grace is the throne just on the other side of this Door of entry. All that's left for us to do...is to enter.
Once we enter in by Jesus, everything we could ever need is provided by His grace. We still seem to struggle understanding what the Word is telling us. We cannot seem to accept, by faith, what grace has done. We still feel like there must be something we can do to make it better. We still feel like man has the ability to improve on God's perfection. Romans 3:24 (Amplified) tells us that we were made to be righteous in Him and in Him. Thus, it says, "(All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
How can we ever improve on this righteousness? It is the righteousness of Jesus Himself. How can we ever hope to become more righteous than He is? But, we still won't rest in the righteousness that grace has provided through Jesus. We say that we believe in what He has done to restore us back into right standing (righteousness). But, then we don't put faith and mix it with what we hear and continue standing outside the throne room of His grace.
We rob ourselves of so many things that are ours through Jesus when we don't put faith in His grace. We continue allowing the enemy to keep us out of God's presence even though we have entered in by the Door. We constantly allow the lying devil to rob us of moving from the outer court into the very Holy of Holies.
The Word tells us in Romans 6:10-11 (Amplified) that, "For by the death He died, He died to sin (ending His relation to it) once for all; and the life that He lives; He is living to God (in unbroken fellowship with Him)." Verse 11 goes on, "Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God (living in unbroken fellowship with Him) in Christ Jesus."
Through faith, God has provided in what Jesus has done which is the grace that delivered us from all the bondage of the world. Romans 8:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the Spirit."
This is how your rest in Him. But, without faith in what the grace has offered, we will still struggle under the same old bondage of shame, guilt and unworthiness of our past life and won't live in the liberty grace has supplied in our new life with Him.
Hebrews 4:11 tells us to "Labor to enter into rest." That's followed by 1Timothy 6:12 (Amplified) which says, "Fight the good fight of faith." Faith in His grace will provide the "rest" that your fleshly works can never bring (right standing with God). Your flesh will never let you rest in Him. This comes only by faith. That's why Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfied to Him. For whoever would come near to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him (out)."
Whoever tries approaching God on his own terms instead of by faith in what God has done through Jesus, is of no avail. Without faith in God's grace through Jesus, we cannot draw near to a Holy God. We must be cleansed and made holy through faith in our Lamb. Any other way is by works and not grace and is not an acceptable entry to Him. Don't allow the life of your past rob you of the truth of your present life in Him. Labor to enter into this rest by faith in Him.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Lesson 3 Grace and Faith
Romans 5:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us (grasp the fact that we) have (the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) through Him also we have (our) access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's favor) in which we (firmly and safely) stand; And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God."
We find here that it's by faith we enjoy and rest in the grace that came through and by Jesus. John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For our of His fullness (abundance) we have all received (all had a share and were all supplied with one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift (heaped) upon gift." Verse 17 says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus."
These scriptures tell us there are a number of degrees grace that grace has supplied. And, they tell us about a number of degrees of favor and blessings that have been made available through the progression of our faith. When we come into our faith through salvation, we begin with the forgiveness of our sins. This is the state of God's grace that's now opened the door to all grace. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
The grace that's completely a gift of God through Jesus, extends into all things that the cross, death and resurrection of Jesus substituted perfectly for us. We've allowed Jesus to be our sin substitute, but we've mostly stopped there. If we can understand that by His becoming our sin substituted, then it has removed the barrier now to all of the favor and blessings of sonship. This is exactly what we see in John 1:16-17 where we read, "We were supplied with one grace after another and blessing and favor upon one blessing and favor after another." One grace after another means that by accepting (by faith) the grace for forgiveness, the door to the throne of God's grace for all things needful has been opened. Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly by faith draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners) that we may receive mercy (for our failures) and find grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well timed help, coming just when we need it)."
This is the throne we came to when we called for forgiveness as sinners and it's the throne we have access to after we're forgiven. This is why it's one grace after another. We came to and were forgiven by faith and now we come as the redeemed of the Lord to receive more grace for whatever we encounter in life. This grace is more than going to heaven when we die in this natural body. It's bringing heaven to earth in this natural body while we're here on earth.
Each portion of God's grace is approached only by faith. It's been made available to all who will receive, but it depends on our faith in His will to do it. John 1:16 (Amplified) says that, "We have all received (all have a share and were all supplied with) one grace after another." Again, it's to all who will believe and receive, it has been made available. Some have walked farther into this doorway of grace and some have stopped at being forgiven. We've mostly thought about grace when we've messed up and we believe that grace will forgive and cover our mistakes. But, grace goes much farther than that. It does cover our mistakes, but faith in this grace has opened all the doors into God's very presence.
The throne of grace is actually where our Father Himself is seated and is the Holy of Holies. Whatever faith will reach for and believe for, grace can and will supply. The faith that we have isn't our faith, but His faith. Romans 12:3 (Amplified) says, "As God dealt to every man the measure of faith." God has given us enough faith to receive everything that Jesus went to the cross to obtain for us. All that God promised in His covenant is wrapped up in His grace. Faith is the key that opens all the doors to the throne of His grace.
We all know someone who has taken his walk with God into a deeper realm than other Christians. Many times we feel like we were left out or that this isn't for all of us. We have even become angry suggests that we weren't "as good a Christian" as someone else. It really has nothing to do with being a good Christian, but with being an informed Christian. 2Peter 1:2-3 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full personal, precise and correct) knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." Verse 3 goes on, "For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that (are requisite and suited) to life and Godliness, through the (full, personal) knowledge of Him, Who called us by and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue)."
The amount of faith we have in Him depends on our knowledge of Him and what He has done. Our journed into grace depends upon knowing what has been made available to us. Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So faith comes by hearing (what is told) and what is heard comes by the preaching (of the message that comes from the lips) of Christ )the Messiah Himself)." The more we see what grace has done on our behalf, the more we can go from faith to faith and from glory to glory. Reread 2Peter 1:2 which says, "May grace be multiplied unto you through the full knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ." Remember Romans 1:17 (Amplified) which tells us, "For in the gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith) as it is written, the man who through faith just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
Grace and faith are the power twins that feed one another. Everything grace has supplied, faith has a right to through the child of God in Jesus. We have faith Jesus said, "To say unto this mountain to be removed and it will obey us." We just lack the knowledge of Him in His free gift of grace, as to what is available to us by our faith.
We find here that it's by faith we enjoy and rest in the grace that came through and by Jesus. John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For our of His fullness (abundance) we have all received (all had a share and were all supplied with one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift (heaped) upon gift." Verse 17 says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus."
These scriptures tell us there are a number of degrees grace that grace has supplied. And, they tell us about a number of degrees of favor and blessings that have been made available through the progression of our faith. When we come into our faith through salvation, we begin with the forgiveness of our sins. This is the state of God's grace that's now opened the door to all grace. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
The grace that's completely a gift of God through Jesus, extends into all things that the cross, death and resurrection of Jesus substituted perfectly for us. We've allowed Jesus to be our sin substitute, but we've mostly stopped there. If we can understand that by His becoming our sin substituted, then it has removed the barrier now to all of the favor and blessings of sonship. This is exactly what we see in John 1:16-17 where we read, "We were supplied with one grace after another and blessing and favor upon one blessing and favor after another." One grace after another means that by accepting (by faith) the grace for forgiveness, the door to the throne of God's grace for all things needful has been opened. Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly by faith draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners) that we may receive mercy (for our failures) and find grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well timed help, coming just when we need it)."
This is the throne we came to when we called for forgiveness as sinners and it's the throne we have access to after we're forgiven. This is why it's one grace after another. We came to and were forgiven by faith and now we come as the redeemed of the Lord to receive more grace for whatever we encounter in life. This grace is more than going to heaven when we die in this natural body. It's bringing heaven to earth in this natural body while we're here on earth.
Each portion of God's grace is approached only by faith. It's been made available to all who will receive, but it depends on our faith in His will to do it. John 1:16 (Amplified) says that, "We have all received (all have a share and were all supplied with) one grace after another." Again, it's to all who will believe and receive, it has been made available. Some have walked farther into this doorway of grace and some have stopped at being forgiven. We've mostly thought about grace when we've messed up and we believe that grace will forgive and cover our mistakes. But, grace goes much farther than that. It does cover our mistakes, but faith in this grace has opened all the doors into God's very presence.
The throne of grace is actually where our Father Himself is seated and is the Holy of Holies. Whatever faith will reach for and believe for, grace can and will supply. The faith that we have isn't our faith, but His faith. Romans 12:3 (Amplified) says, "As God dealt to every man the measure of faith." God has given us enough faith to receive everything that Jesus went to the cross to obtain for us. All that God promised in His covenant is wrapped up in His grace. Faith is the key that opens all the doors to the throne of His grace.
We all know someone who has taken his walk with God into a deeper realm than other Christians. Many times we feel like we were left out or that this isn't for all of us. We have even become angry suggests that we weren't "as good a Christian" as someone else. It really has nothing to do with being a good Christian, but with being an informed Christian. 2Peter 1:2-3 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full personal, precise and correct) knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." Verse 3 goes on, "For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that (are requisite and suited) to life and Godliness, through the (full, personal) knowledge of Him, Who called us by and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue)."
The amount of faith we have in Him depends on our knowledge of Him and what He has done. Our journed into grace depends upon knowing what has been made available to us. Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So faith comes by hearing (what is told) and what is heard comes by the preaching (of the message that comes from the lips) of Christ )the Messiah Himself)." The more we see what grace has done on our behalf, the more we can go from faith to faith and from glory to glory. Reread 2Peter 1:2 which says, "May grace be multiplied unto you through the full knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ." Remember Romans 1:17 (Amplified) which tells us, "For in the gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith) as it is written, the man who through faith just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
Grace and faith are the power twins that feed one another. Everything grace has supplied, faith has a right to through the child of God in Jesus. We have faith Jesus said, "To say unto this mountain to be removed and it will obey us." We just lack the knowledge of Him in His free gift of grace, as to what is available to us by our faith.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Lesson 2 Grace and Faith
The Lord told me some time ago that "Grace has provided much more than faith has obtained."
As I thought on that and began studying about grace, I began seeing what God was telling me. Under the Law, it was all about faith in our own selves to meet the requirements of the covenant. Grace covered what man couldn't do on his own and God kept them from being destroyed when He accepted their sacrifice on a daily basis. Even then, no man could keep the Law and obtain right standing with God on any permanent basis.
When Jesus came, He brought grace and truth and more according to John 1:17 (Amplified) which says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ." Jesus is grace and truth because, "He is the Word of God in the flesh."
There's been much debate through the years among God's people about His Word. Some say that this means only spiritual blessings that only available after we die and enter the spiritual realm. The problem with this is that we are already spirit beings who are living in a flesh and blood body like Jesus did.
The other problem with this is that, because we still make mistakes in this body, our salvation isn't complete until we die. Either way, we've put off what grace came to do in our lives while we remain here on earth.
Grace without faith doesn't do you much good on earth. God has already provided salvation to the whole earth by Jesus' sacrifice. John 3:16 (Amplified) says, "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."
Grace provided a way of salvation for the entire world if they will believe. Grace has come, but we see so many people who haven't received the salvation offered to them. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
Faith to come to God, without grace, becomes works of the flesh and not a gift and is no no avail. Grace, without faith, is no good to those who won't accept the free gift by their faith and try obtaining salvation through their own means.
We hear various doctrines about faith and we hear all kinds of different doctrines about grace. One without the other will not bring salvation to a person. Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him (out)."
God has a prescribed way to approach Him and no other way is acceptable to Him. We must, by faith, believe that by His grace, He has provided a way of approaching Him through faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There is no other way to have the right standing with Him. Grace has provided the way and faith must follow the path of righteousness for His Name's sake. Psalm 23:3 (Amplified) tells us that, "He refreshes and restores my life ( my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness (uprightness and right standing with Him-not for my earning it, but) for His Name's sake."
We have to come to a portion of understanding about this, but not according to His Word. By faith, we have believed (to some extent) that our sins are forgiven by God's grace through Jesus. However, we continue struggling with our past and doubt our righteousness. Our faith remains so immature in this area that it prevents us from being able to walk in constant fellowship with Him. We still see ourselves like we were more than who we are now in Jesus. Our faith has been hindered by the lies of the adversary to the point where we are resisting and frustrating the grace of God. Galatians 2:21 (Amplified) says, "(Therefore, I do not treat God's gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose) I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God."
When we put aside grace and replace it with works, we nullify and frustrate God's grace and separate ourselves from His blessings that are provided by grace. We mean well and try doing good. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do good things, but we shouldn't try obtaining favor and God's blessings by what we do. We should receive them because of what Jesus did.
We've put off much of what God intended us to have through salvation until after we've left this earth. God intended for us to have them now by His grace and favor. We continue walking in the old teachings of the past. This has been a way to get men born again, but it was never God's best for us.
We just read in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by grace through our faith. We've placed faith in our forgiveness of sin (to some degree), but we haven't extended our faith into what grace has provided. The word "saved," according to Strong's Concordance (#4982, 83,84 and 91) means, "to save, i.e. deliver or protect (lit. or fig.) heal, preserve, save (self) do well, be (made) whole, the body (as a sound whole)used in a very wide application (lit. or fig.) bodily, body, corporal or physical-bodily, rescue or safety (phys. or morally) deliver, health, salvation, save, saving."
This is the salvation that grace has now provided through faith. How much faith have we applied to this salvation other than forgiveness or our sins and going to heaven when we die? Grace has provided all these things for us, but each one must be appropriated by our faith in them. They are already ours, just like salvation is already provided for the entire world, but without believing and receiving them, they lay dormant in our lives. We've sold short the glory of what God's grace has done for those who will put their faith in His grace. Ephesians 3:20-21 (Amplified) says, "Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the (action of His) power that is at work within us, is able to (carry out His purpose and) do super abundantly, far over and above all that we (dare) ask or think (infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams) to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever Amen (so be it)."
Grace has provided us with more than we can think, ask, pray or even imagine, in our salvation in Jesus. We've limited grace to only the forgiveness of sin and the reward of heaven when we die. God wants us to extend our faith to receive His grace and favor here in this life as well as the next. I'm not talking about a "get rich scheme" or some other kind of foolishness. I'm talking about what our Father has made available to us by faith in His abundant grace and favor.
Please, don't sell God short in His complete sacrifice on our behalf. Everything that we can even ask for or think has been already provided by our faith in Jesus. We've put faith in Him for our forgiveness of sin, so why not put faith in Him for all the rest He has provided? We are saved by grace through faith. Without faith in God's grace, we would still be dead in trespass and sin. We must learn to trust in His grace for our complete salvation. We have to learn to grow from faith to faith and from glory to glory.
We've been taught in error about our Heavenly Father for centuries. It's difficult to unlearn some things in order to learn them correctly. We need to get back into God's Word and allow the real teacher of the Church to teach us correctly. When we see Jesus, we see the truth about our Father. Jesus said that, "I only do what the Father does, He and I are One. When you see Me, you have seen the Father." Jesus never turned anyone away or failed to heal all who came to Him. Hebrews 1:1-3 (Amplified) says, "In many separate revelations (each of which set forth, a portion of the truth) And in different ways, God spoke of old to (our) forefathers in and by the prophets." Verse 2 says, "(But) in these last days He has spoken to us in (the person of a) Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time (He made, produced, built, operated and arranged them in order)." Verse 3 goes on, "He is the sole expression of the glory of God (the Tight being, the out raying of radiance of the divine) He is the perfect imprint and very Image of (God's) nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty Word of power, When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on High."
He is the One we put our faith in for grace. If Jesus did it, then it is done. Grace has provided.
As I thought on that and began studying about grace, I began seeing what God was telling me. Under the Law, it was all about faith in our own selves to meet the requirements of the covenant. Grace covered what man couldn't do on his own and God kept them from being destroyed when He accepted their sacrifice on a daily basis. Even then, no man could keep the Law and obtain right standing with God on any permanent basis.
When Jesus came, He brought grace and truth and more according to John 1:17 (Amplified) which says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ." Jesus is grace and truth because, "He is the Word of God in the flesh."
There's been much debate through the years among God's people about His Word. Some say that this means only spiritual blessings that only available after we die and enter the spiritual realm. The problem with this is that we are already spirit beings who are living in a flesh and blood body like Jesus did.
The other problem with this is that, because we still make mistakes in this body, our salvation isn't complete until we die. Either way, we've put off what grace came to do in our lives while we remain here on earth.
Grace without faith doesn't do you much good on earth. God has already provided salvation to the whole earth by Jesus' sacrifice. John 3:16 (Amplified) says, "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."
Grace provided a way of salvation for the entire world if they will believe. Grace has come, but we see so many people who haven't received the salvation offered to them. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
Faith to come to God, without grace, becomes works of the flesh and not a gift and is no no avail. Grace, without faith, is no good to those who won't accept the free gift by their faith and try obtaining salvation through their own means.
We hear various doctrines about faith and we hear all kinds of different doctrines about grace. One without the other will not bring salvation to a person. Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him (out)."
God has a prescribed way to approach Him and no other way is acceptable to Him. We must, by faith, believe that by His grace, He has provided a way of approaching Him through faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There is no other way to have the right standing with Him. Grace has provided the way and faith must follow the path of righteousness for His Name's sake. Psalm 23:3 (Amplified) tells us that, "He refreshes and restores my life ( my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness (uprightness and right standing with Him-not for my earning it, but) for His Name's sake."
We have to come to a portion of understanding about this, but not according to His Word. By faith, we have believed (to some extent) that our sins are forgiven by God's grace through Jesus. However, we continue struggling with our past and doubt our righteousness. Our faith remains so immature in this area that it prevents us from being able to walk in constant fellowship with Him. We still see ourselves like we were more than who we are now in Jesus. Our faith has been hindered by the lies of the adversary to the point where we are resisting and frustrating the grace of God. Galatians 2:21 (Amplified) says, "(Therefore, I do not treat God's gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose) I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God."
When we put aside grace and replace it with works, we nullify and frustrate God's grace and separate ourselves from His blessings that are provided by grace. We mean well and try doing good. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do good things, but we shouldn't try obtaining favor and God's blessings by what we do. We should receive them because of what Jesus did.
We've put off much of what God intended us to have through salvation until after we've left this earth. God intended for us to have them now by His grace and favor. We continue walking in the old teachings of the past. This has been a way to get men born again, but it was never God's best for us.
We just read in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by grace through our faith. We've placed faith in our forgiveness of sin (to some degree), but we haven't extended our faith into what grace has provided. The word "saved," according to Strong's Concordance (#4982, 83,84 and 91) means, "to save, i.e. deliver or protect (lit. or fig.) heal, preserve, save (self) do well, be (made) whole, the body (as a sound whole)used in a very wide application (lit. or fig.) bodily, body, corporal or physical-bodily, rescue or safety (phys. or morally) deliver, health, salvation, save, saving."
This is the salvation that grace has now provided through faith. How much faith have we applied to this salvation other than forgiveness or our sins and going to heaven when we die? Grace has provided all these things for us, but each one must be appropriated by our faith in them. They are already ours, just like salvation is already provided for the entire world, but without believing and receiving them, they lay dormant in our lives. We've sold short the glory of what God's grace has done for those who will put their faith in His grace. Ephesians 3:20-21 (Amplified) says, "Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the (action of His) power that is at work within us, is able to (carry out His purpose and) do super abundantly, far over and above all that we (dare) ask or think (infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams) to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever Amen (so be it)."
Grace has provided us with more than we can think, ask, pray or even imagine, in our salvation in Jesus. We've limited grace to only the forgiveness of sin and the reward of heaven when we die. God wants us to extend our faith to receive His grace and favor here in this life as well as the next. I'm not talking about a "get rich scheme" or some other kind of foolishness. I'm talking about what our Father has made available to us by faith in His abundant grace and favor.
Please, don't sell God short in His complete sacrifice on our behalf. Everything that we can even ask for or think has been already provided by our faith in Jesus. We've put faith in Him for our forgiveness of sin, so why not put faith in Him for all the rest He has provided? We are saved by grace through faith. Without faith in God's grace, we would still be dead in trespass and sin. We must learn to trust in His grace for our complete salvation. We have to learn to grow from faith to faith and from glory to glory.
We've been taught in error about our Heavenly Father for centuries. It's difficult to unlearn some things in order to learn them correctly. We need to get back into God's Word and allow the real teacher of the Church to teach us correctly. When we see Jesus, we see the truth about our Father. Jesus said that, "I only do what the Father does, He and I are One. When you see Me, you have seen the Father." Jesus never turned anyone away or failed to heal all who came to Him. Hebrews 1:1-3 (Amplified) says, "In many separate revelations (each of which set forth, a portion of the truth) And in different ways, God spoke of old to (our) forefathers in and by the prophets." Verse 2 says, "(But) in these last days He has spoken to us in (the person of a) Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time (He made, produced, built, operated and arranged them in order)." Verse 3 goes on, "He is the sole expression of the glory of God (the Tight being, the out raying of radiance of the divine) He is the perfect imprint and very Image of (God's) nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty Word of power, When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on High."
He is the One we put our faith in for grace. If Jesus did it, then it is done. Grace has provided.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Grace and Faith
While teaching Sunday morning at church, the Lord moved upon me to expand on Grace and Faith. These are the power twins of the covenant. Grace is able to supply everything that faith can conceive. We've had such a limited view of the real truth of our Father, that we've limited Him greatly in what He has provided for us and what He wants to do through us. We've looked upon matyrdom as the ultimate sacrifice and expression of our walk with Him. God doesn't need people to die for their faith, but ultimately to live for their faith in Him.
When God spoke to the Apostle Paul in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified), we really missed what God said to him about grace. Religion has mostly looked at Paul's troubles and has even conjured stories of how God blinded him, made him sick and humbled Paul for his pride. This has nothing to do with what the scripture said at all. What God did tell him was that whatever arose, no matter what it may be, grace could and would take care of it.
Many of us have been where Paul was in his ministry. We couldn't understand how if we were doing what God called us to do, then why was it so difficult. At the time Paul was undergoing his trials and difficulties, he was the only man on the planet who had the revelation of what the new birth was all about. In Paul's Epistles, we learn about our being joint heirs with Jesus. We discover that we were made righteous with Jesus' righteousness. We find out who we are now as the redeemed of the Lord. Paul received this revelation from the Father Himself. Read the 12th chapter of 2Corinthians and you'll find that he received this revelation while caught up into the very presence of God Himself.
Because no one else had this revelation, satan needed to stop Paul from speaking it forth before people could hear it. Romans 10:14 (Amplified) says, "But how are people to call upon Him when they have not believed (in whom they have no faith, upon whom they have no reliance)? And how are they to believe in Him (adhere to, trust in, and rely upon Him) of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?"
Without the truth being preached, we (the gentiles) would never have known about salvation. It was the downfall of satan when this revelation was declared to the world. Satan had no choice but to stop Paul any way he could and shut Paul up before we heard and believed. Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So faith comes by hearing (what is told) and what is heard comes by the preaching (of the message that came from the lips) of Christ (the Messiah Himself)."
The message that came from the Messiah was, and is, the truth of grace. Grace has made salvation available to all the world, by faith in Jesus. Salvation was even made available to the gentile, if we would accept this grace by faith. Jesus told Paul that we could enter into covenant and fellowship with (what had formally been) the God of the Jews. Now, through Jesus, grace had take the place of Law and grace had included all men and not just the Jew.
Satan assigned a messenger to Paul in 2Corinthians 12:7 (Amplified) to keep him from speaking the truth to the world. This messenger tried everything he could to shut Paul up. Paul went into all the known world with this message and declared the new birth to those outside the covenant. Jesus confined His ministry to the "House of Israel" and only in very few instances ministered outside the covenant. Jesus took His Word to the gentiles only after the Jews refused to hear Him.
As Paul was going about doing the will and call of God on his life, satan was busy trying to stop the preaching of this new covenant. In the midst of all his trials and hassles, Paul did exactly what most of us would have done and became discouraged. He asked God what in the world was going on, and God answered him in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified) saying, "My grace (My favor and loving kindness and mercy) is enough for you (sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully) for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in (your) weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!"
Grace wouldn't only sustain Paul, but would assure the very presence of Christ would rest upon him as a tent of provision. The very strength and power of Christ was ever present in this grace. Like many of us, Paul started out doing what God called him to do, but in his own ability. He thought that teaching and preaching this message would be simple enough. However, what he didn't take into consideration was the enemy of the cross didn't want this truth to get out. When Paul spoke of his tribulations and trials, it was almost always about things the Church struggles with even today.
Ephesians 6:11-12 (Amplified) says, "Put on God's whole armor (the armor of a heavey-armed soldier which God supplies)." This is what God's grace supplied for Paul when he asked, "That you may successfully stand up against (all) the strategies and deceit of the devil." Verse 12 goes on, "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood (contending only with physical opponents) but against the depotisms, against the powers, against the powers, against (the master spirits who are) the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere."
These "spirit forces" were something Paul had not encountered in his past life. He found that in his own human strength, he had no way of combatting them. This new warfare (this messenger of satan) that was hindering him, was new to Paul. When he called out to God (three times) to deliver him, God's answer was, "My grace is sufficient for every need." Now Paul understood that flesh and blood couldn't war against spirit forces. Paul declared that (by the Holy Spirit in his life), he was glad when his natural forces and human strength wasn't enough because that's when grace would take over and supply everything needed to complete the task.
All the power of God was wrapped up in this grace. All of His power to deliver, to hear, to work miracles and even to raise the dead to life, was wrapped up in this grace. Even when satan stirred up the people and had Paul thrown into the prison of Rome, grace provided a way through Paul's letters to reveal the glory of the new birth.
When God spoke to the Apostle Paul in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified), we really missed what God said to him about grace. Religion has mostly looked at Paul's troubles and has even conjured stories of how God blinded him, made him sick and humbled Paul for his pride. This has nothing to do with what the scripture said at all. What God did tell him was that whatever arose, no matter what it may be, grace could and would take care of it.
Many of us have been where Paul was in his ministry. We couldn't understand how if we were doing what God called us to do, then why was it so difficult. At the time Paul was undergoing his trials and difficulties, he was the only man on the planet who had the revelation of what the new birth was all about. In Paul's Epistles, we learn about our being joint heirs with Jesus. We discover that we were made righteous with Jesus' righteousness. We find out who we are now as the redeemed of the Lord. Paul received this revelation from the Father Himself. Read the 12th chapter of 2Corinthians and you'll find that he received this revelation while caught up into the very presence of God Himself.
Because no one else had this revelation, satan needed to stop Paul from speaking it forth before people could hear it. Romans 10:14 (Amplified) says, "But how are people to call upon Him when they have not believed (in whom they have no faith, upon whom they have no reliance)? And how are they to believe in Him (adhere to, trust in, and rely upon Him) of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?"
Without the truth being preached, we (the gentiles) would never have known about salvation. It was the downfall of satan when this revelation was declared to the world. Satan had no choice but to stop Paul any way he could and shut Paul up before we heard and believed. Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So faith comes by hearing (what is told) and what is heard comes by the preaching (of the message that came from the lips) of Christ (the Messiah Himself)."
The message that came from the Messiah was, and is, the truth of grace. Grace has made salvation available to all the world, by faith in Jesus. Salvation was even made available to the gentile, if we would accept this grace by faith. Jesus told Paul that we could enter into covenant and fellowship with (what had formally been) the God of the Jews. Now, through Jesus, grace had take the place of Law and grace had included all men and not just the Jew.
Satan assigned a messenger to Paul in 2Corinthians 12:7 (Amplified) to keep him from speaking the truth to the world. This messenger tried everything he could to shut Paul up. Paul went into all the known world with this message and declared the new birth to those outside the covenant. Jesus confined His ministry to the "House of Israel" and only in very few instances ministered outside the covenant. Jesus took His Word to the gentiles only after the Jews refused to hear Him.
As Paul was going about doing the will and call of God on his life, satan was busy trying to stop the preaching of this new covenant. In the midst of all his trials and hassles, Paul did exactly what most of us would have done and became discouraged. He asked God what in the world was going on, and God answered him in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified) saying, "My grace (My favor and loving kindness and mercy) is enough for you (sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully) for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in (your) weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!"
Grace wouldn't only sustain Paul, but would assure the very presence of Christ would rest upon him as a tent of provision. The very strength and power of Christ was ever present in this grace. Like many of us, Paul started out doing what God called him to do, but in his own ability. He thought that teaching and preaching this message would be simple enough. However, what he didn't take into consideration was the enemy of the cross didn't want this truth to get out. When Paul spoke of his tribulations and trials, it was almost always about things the Church struggles with even today.
Ephesians 6:11-12 (Amplified) says, "Put on God's whole armor (the armor of a heavey-armed soldier which God supplies)." This is what God's grace supplied for Paul when he asked, "That you may successfully stand up against (all) the strategies and deceit of the devil." Verse 12 goes on, "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood (contending only with physical opponents) but against the depotisms, against the powers, against the powers, against (the master spirits who are) the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere."
These "spirit forces" were something Paul had not encountered in his past life. He found that in his own human strength, he had no way of combatting them. This new warfare (this messenger of satan) that was hindering him, was new to Paul. When he called out to God (three times) to deliver him, God's answer was, "My grace is sufficient for every need." Now Paul understood that flesh and blood couldn't war against spirit forces. Paul declared that (by the Holy Spirit in his life), he was glad when his natural forces and human strength wasn't enough because that's when grace would take over and supply everything needed to complete the task.
All the power of God was wrapped up in this grace. All of His power to deliver, to hear, to work miracles and even to raise the dead to life, was wrapped up in this grace. Even when satan stirred up the people and had Paul thrown into the prison of Rome, grace provided a way through Paul's letters to reveal the glory of the new birth.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Redemption
As Christians, we've mostly read the Word of God as a future tense book and not a now tense book. We read the Word as though we're still sinners who are waiting for all these things to happen in our lives. We continue walking mostly by our senses and not our spirit. We still "feel" unworthy and still walk under the condemnation of who we were more than who God has made us to be. Our five senses are more in charge of our lives than the truth of God's Word.
This has been where most of us have made our stand for God and our walk in His covenant. Few have reached into the truth that's revealed by the redemption provided by the Blood of Jesus. When we read His Word through the eyes of redemption, the whole of His Word takes on a new light. We read the scriptures, we mentally understand the words, but because His Word is Spirit and truth, our minds don't receive the revelation of the Spirit.
Paul wrote in Romans 12:2 (Amplified), "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs) but be transformed (changed) by the (entire0 renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude)." I believe that when we begin seeing ourselves like God sees us, we will begin changing into who we are and cease seeing ourselves as who we were. In order to do this, we must begin looking into the Word of God as a mirror that reflects the new man who is the redeemed of the Lord.
Since we are in a new covenant and are a new creation, new things are ours by this covenant. Everything under this new covenant is received by faith. Everything in this new covenant is for everyone who will be born again, but to each of us, it must be something that's believed and received by faith.
Every person who is born again is a new creation according to 2Corinthians 5;17 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation ( a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away, Behold, the fresh and new has come."
Every believer is now a new creation. We've all read this scripture and have believed it, but only to a point. Because it's the Word of God, some will say, "Yes, it is true," but will not accept it as a "now" things by faith. Although it's clearly in the "now," we put it off to a future event. Even though it's theirs now, if they will not mix faith with this scripture, then they do not walk it as a "now" thing. So, this new creature continues to walk in the same state of mind. Even though he has been born again, he still sees himself as the "old man of the flesh."
When we actually believe what the Word says about us in the now sense, then we can begin walking in the manifestation of our new lives. When Paul wrote to the Church in Rome by the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit, he gave an invitation to use our faith from salvation into the rest of the truth about our sacrifice. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith, and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith) as it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
We, by faith and grace, are now just (or justified by faith in Christ). Romans 3:24 (Amplified) says that, "(All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
According to this scripture, we who believe in Christ Jesus are already justified and righteous before God by His grace through Jesus. This is not a future tense scripture, but a now scripture to the believer. Everyone who has been born again is now already counted as righteous and justified by God. If we will put faith in this scripture and renew our minds by the Word, then it will change every part of our relationship with our Father.
When Jesus rose from the dead and was received into the presence of God, "All who are in Christ Jesus (by faith in salvation) were raised and received with Him at the same time." Because this is done in the spirit realm, we make the mistake that it's still in the future tense. If this was true, then our sins would not be forgiven until we die,our prayers wouldn't be effective because we're still dead in trespass and sin and we wouldn't be the sons of God until we die.
When we see ourselves like God sees us, then we have boldness (by faith) to believe what Jesus did on our behalf and can receive what God has made available for us. Paul writes in Romans 4:24-25 (Amplified), "But (they were written) for our sakes too (Righteousness, right standing, acceptable to God) will be granted and credited to us also who believe in (trust in, adhere to, and rely on) God, Who raised Jesus from the dead, Who was betrayed and put to death because of our misdeeds and was raised to secure our justification (our acquittal) (making our account balance and absolving us from all guilt before God."
According to Paul's writings, those of us who believe are now counted by God, as righteous, justified and free from sin and guilt and our account of debt before God is balanced. If we dare believe (and we say that we are believers), then all that Jesus did for us is a done deal. By faith in Christ Jesus, we are now already righteous, justified, new creations, son, joint heirs, in His favor, already in His blessing, already redeemed, already raised by His Spirit and now are seated with Him.
These aren't future events for the believer. We have put off what Jesus has done as something that isn't attainable until we die. Because of this, we have walked far below the place where children of the Most High were ever called to be. We've still allowed the devil to tell us that even though Jesus went to the cross for us, it didn't help us until after we die, thus making everything Jesus did for in the future.
We still see ourselves as those who have to be redeemed instead of those who are redeemed already. We've allowed the enemy to blind our eyes to who God has made us to be. What good would the sacrifice (even under the old covenant) that was offered up be if it was only counted to your credit until you die? Would it make you any closer to God here? If all that Jesus did for us is only to be counted to us after we leave here in death, then nothing on this earth was changed by His sacrifice. We're still unrighteous, condemned and unable to receive until some future time.
How we ever allowed the Blood of Jesus to be counted lower than the blood of a bull, I will never understand. Even by the blood of a bull, the old covenant people had faith that God was on their side and they could walk in peace and harmony with Him. They had confidence that their sacrifice gave them right standing with God (at least on a temporary basis).
Perhaps, because we've never been taught to see God's Word as a "Now Word," we still walk in darkness. Even now, some will read this and declare that it's untrue just like those in Jesus' day did. They are still unsure of the future events that are to come. We struggle and fight about what Jesus has done and then say we believe in His finished work.
Romans 6:11-12 (Amplified) says, "Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God (living in unbroken fellowship with Him) in Christ Jesus." Verse 12 says, "Let not sin therefore rule as King in your mortal (short lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions."
Even though we're still dwelling in this natural body, we are now living in the Spirit and not the flesh. As far as God's concerned, you have already died. As a matter of fact, God considered us dead already in trespass and sin. Ephesians 2:1 (Amplified) says, "And you (He made alive) when you were dead (slain) by (your) trespasses and sins."
We've always looked at life from our viewpoint and not God's. And, because we still see life from the flesh and not the spirit, we still see our redemption in the future after we die. The two kinds of death described in the Bible aren't something we've given much thought to. Unfortunately, we have never been taught on this subject.
When Adam transgressed in the Garden, he died or was separated from life (Who is God). Genesis 2:17(Amplified) tells us, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 5:5 (Amplified) says, "So altogether Adam lived 930 years, and he died." 930 later, Adam's body succumbed to death too. The reason we miss the truth of what God has done is we still see things from the natural instead of the spiritual. We think of this life as being "real" and what we call "the next world" as being a somewhat life after death experience.
The real you is spirit because you were created in God's Image and likeness and God is Spirit. You are a spirit, you live in a body and you have a soul. Your mind, your will and your emotions make up the soul of a being.
2Corinthians 1-5 (Amplified) says, "For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building, a house not made with human hands, external in the heavens." Verses 2-4 say, "Here indeed, in this (present abode, body) we sigh and groan inwardly, because we yearn to be clothed over (we yearn to put on our celestial body like a garment). So that by putting it on we may not be found naked (without a body) For while we are still in this tent (body) we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed) not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit) but rather that we would be further clothed, So that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life (after the resurrection)."
So, we see that the real you is the spirit which lives in this tent or mortal body. You're a spirit just like God's a Spirit. You live in this body (your earth suit) in order to stay here. When this earth suit decays and passes away, your spirit will be given a glorified body like Jesus has now. It'll be immune from sickness, death, hell and the grave like Jesus'. While He was in His fleshly body (His house of flesh), Jesus' body was alive to God because He was sinless. Jesus became sin with our sin and that's what caused His body to die. As Jesus walked about in His body, He lived by His Spirit. He always lived (even in the body) as One led by the Spirit.
We've been trained throughout the years to look at this life as the real life. The Word says that the spirit is the real and world and this life is sustained by the Spirit. Once we were separated from God (from His life), we were considered dead. When we received Jesus as our Lord, God restored life to us. And, now that we're alive to Him, we can walk in the Spirit.
We've looked upon life from a backward point of view, so it's difficult to see our redemption as a "now thing." We look at the Word as something that's going to happen and God looks at it as something that has already happened. We look at it as something for after we die and God looks at it as though we've already died. Romans 6:2-3 (Amplified) says, "Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? Are you entered from the first, before the fall of Adam."
Jesus was the perfect example of how a Spirit Man lives in a flesh and blood body. This is how we are now supposed to live in our new birth. As the redeemed of the Lord, we are to be led by the Spirit. Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Only those who are born again can be led by the Spirit of God. Those who are unsaved are spiritually dead and separated from God by sin.
Jesus was always led by the Holy Spirit even when the flesh opposed Him. He was the Last Adam and would have lived forever in His flesh and blood body like God intended Adam to do. Jesus was without sin and He would not have died even in His flesh body. Romans 5:12 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as a result of sin, so death spread to all men (no one being able to stop it or to escape its power) because all men sinned."
Since the wages of sin is death, until Jesus yielded Himself to take our sin, He was exempt from death like the first Adam was. When Jesus yielded Himself to take our sin, death entered in and sin caused Him to die in His flesh and blood body. He was separated from the Father (with our separation) because of sin. This separation because of sin, brought about death. Had Jesus not take our sin, death could not come to Him.
This has been where most of us have made our stand for God and our walk in His covenant. Few have reached into the truth that's revealed by the redemption provided by the Blood of Jesus. When we read His Word through the eyes of redemption, the whole of His Word takes on a new light. We read the scriptures, we mentally understand the words, but because His Word is Spirit and truth, our minds don't receive the revelation of the Spirit.
Paul wrote in Romans 12:2 (Amplified), "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs) but be transformed (changed) by the (entire0 renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude)." I believe that when we begin seeing ourselves like God sees us, we will begin changing into who we are and cease seeing ourselves as who we were. In order to do this, we must begin looking into the Word of God as a mirror that reflects the new man who is the redeemed of the Lord.
Since we are in a new covenant and are a new creation, new things are ours by this covenant. Everything under this new covenant is received by faith. Everything in this new covenant is for everyone who will be born again, but to each of us, it must be something that's believed and received by faith.
Every person who is born again is a new creation according to 2Corinthians 5;17 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation ( a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away, Behold, the fresh and new has come."
Every believer is now a new creation. We've all read this scripture and have believed it, but only to a point. Because it's the Word of God, some will say, "Yes, it is true," but will not accept it as a "now" things by faith. Although it's clearly in the "now," we put it off to a future event. Even though it's theirs now, if they will not mix faith with this scripture, then they do not walk it as a "now" thing. So, this new creature continues to walk in the same state of mind. Even though he has been born again, he still sees himself as the "old man of the flesh."
When we actually believe what the Word says about us in the now sense, then we can begin walking in the manifestation of our new lives. When Paul wrote to the Church in Rome by the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit, he gave an invitation to use our faith from salvation into the rest of the truth about our sacrifice. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith, and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith) as it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
We, by faith and grace, are now just (or justified by faith in Christ). Romans 3:24 (Amplified) says that, "(All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
According to this scripture, we who believe in Christ Jesus are already justified and righteous before God by His grace through Jesus. This is not a future tense scripture, but a now scripture to the believer. Everyone who has been born again is now already counted as righteous and justified by God. If we will put faith in this scripture and renew our minds by the Word, then it will change every part of our relationship with our Father.
When Jesus rose from the dead and was received into the presence of God, "All who are in Christ Jesus (by faith in salvation) were raised and received with Him at the same time." Because this is done in the spirit realm, we make the mistake that it's still in the future tense. If this was true, then our sins would not be forgiven until we die,our prayers wouldn't be effective because we're still dead in trespass and sin and we wouldn't be the sons of God until we die.
When we see ourselves like God sees us, then we have boldness (by faith) to believe what Jesus did on our behalf and can receive what God has made available for us. Paul writes in Romans 4:24-25 (Amplified), "But (they were written) for our sakes too (Righteousness, right standing, acceptable to God) will be granted and credited to us also who believe in (trust in, adhere to, and rely on) God, Who raised Jesus from the dead, Who was betrayed and put to death because of our misdeeds and was raised to secure our justification (our acquittal) (making our account balance and absolving us from all guilt before God."
According to Paul's writings, those of us who believe are now counted by God, as righteous, justified and free from sin and guilt and our account of debt before God is balanced. If we dare believe (and we say that we are believers), then all that Jesus did for us is a done deal. By faith in Christ Jesus, we are now already righteous, justified, new creations, son, joint heirs, in His favor, already in His blessing, already redeemed, already raised by His Spirit and now are seated with Him.
These aren't future events for the believer. We have put off what Jesus has done as something that isn't attainable until we die. Because of this, we have walked far below the place where children of the Most High were ever called to be. We've still allowed the devil to tell us that even though Jesus went to the cross for us, it didn't help us until after we die, thus making everything Jesus did for in the future.
We still see ourselves as those who have to be redeemed instead of those who are redeemed already. We've allowed the enemy to blind our eyes to who God has made us to be. What good would the sacrifice (even under the old covenant) that was offered up be if it was only counted to your credit until you die? Would it make you any closer to God here? If all that Jesus did for us is only to be counted to us after we leave here in death, then nothing on this earth was changed by His sacrifice. We're still unrighteous, condemned and unable to receive until some future time.
How we ever allowed the Blood of Jesus to be counted lower than the blood of a bull, I will never understand. Even by the blood of a bull, the old covenant people had faith that God was on their side and they could walk in peace and harmony with Him. They had confidence that their sacrifice gave them right standing with God (at least on a temporary basis).
Perhaps, because we've never been taught to see God's Word as a "Now Word," we still walk in darkness. Even now, some will read this and declare that it's untrue just like those in Jesus' day did. They are still unsure of the future events that are to come. We struggle and fight about what Jesus has done and then say we believe in His finished work.
Romans 6:11-12 (Amplified) says, "Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God (living in unbroken fellowship with Him) in Christ Jesus." Verse 12 says, "Let not sin therefore rule as King in your mortal (short lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions."
Even though we're still dwelling in this natural body, we are now living in the Spirit and not the flesh. As far as God's concerned, you have already died. As a matter of fact, God considered us dead already in trespass and sin. Ephesians 2:1 (Amplified) says, "And you (He made alive) when you were dead (slain) by (your) trespasses and sins."
We've always looked at life from our viewpoint and not God's. And, because we still see life from the flesh and not the spirit, we still see our redemption in the future after we die. The two kinds of death described in the Bible aren't something we've given much thought to. Unfortunately, we have never been taught on this subject.
When Adam transgressed in the Garden, he died or was separated from life (Who is God). Genesis 2:17(Amplified) tells us, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 5:5 (Amplified) says, "So altogether Adam lived 930 years, and he died." 930 later, Adam's body succumbed to death too. The reason we miss the truth of what God has done is we still see things from the natural instead of the spiritual. We think of this life as being "real" and what we call "the next world" as being a somewhat life after death experience.
The real you is spirit because you were created in God's Image and likeness and God is Spirit. You are a spirit, you live in a body and you have a soul. Your mind, your will and your emotions make up the soul of a being.
2Corinthians 1-5 (Amplified) says, "For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building, a house not made with human hands, external in the heavens." Verses 2-4 say, "Here indeed, in this (present abode, body) we sigh and groan inwardly, because we yearn to be clothed over (we yearn to put on our celestial body like a garment). So that by putting it on we may not be found naked (without a body) For while we are still in this tent (body) we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed) not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit) but rather that we would be further clothed, So that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life (after the resurrection)."
So, we see that the real you is the spirit which lives in this tent or mortal body. You're a spirit just like God's a Spirit. You live in this body (your earth suit) in order to stay here. When this earth suit decays and passes away, your spirit will be given a glorified body like Jesus has now. It'll be immune from sickness, death, hell and the grave like Jesus'. While He was in His fleshly body (His house of flesh), Jesus' body was alive to God because He was sinless. Jesus became sin with our sin and that's what caused His body to die. As Jesus walked about in His body, He lived by His Spirit. He always lived (even in the body) as One led by the Spirit.
We've been trained throughout the years to look at this life as the real life. The Word says that the spirit is the real and world and this life is sustained by the Spirit. Once we were separated from God (from His life), we were considered dead. When we received Jesus as our Lord, God restored life to us. And, now that we're alive to Him, we can walk in the Spirit.
We've looked upon life from a backward point of view, so it's difficult to see our redemption as a "now thing." We look at the Word as something that's going to happen and God looks at it as something that has already happened. We look at it as something for after we die and God looks at it as though we've already died. Romans 6:2-3 (Amplified) says, "Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? Are you entered from the first, before the fall of Adam."
Jesus was the perfect example of how a Spirit Man lives in a flesh and blood body. This is how we are now supposed to live in our new birth. As the redeemed of the Lord, we are to be led by the Spirit. Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Only those who are born again can be led by the Spirit of God. Those who are unsaved are spiritually dead and separated from God by sin.
Jesus was always led by the Holy Spirit even when the flesh opposed Him. He was the Last Adam and would have lived forever in His flesh and blood body like God intended Adam to do. Jesus was without sin and He would not have died even in His flesh body. Romans 5:12 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as a result of sin, so death spread to all men (no one being able to stop it or to escape its power) because all men sinned."
Since the wages of sin is death, until Jesus yielded Himself to take our sin, He was exempt from death like the first Adam was. When Jesus yielded Himself to take our sin, death entered in and sin caused Him to die in His flesh and blood body. He was separated from the Father (with our separation) because of sin. This separation because of sin, brought about death. Had Jesus not take our sin, death could not come to Him.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Lesson 3 Knowing Him
If we will simply stick with God's Word and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, then we can come to know our Father in the same way that Jesus knows Him. The Apostle Paul spoke to the Colossian Church about this in Colossians 1:9-10 saying, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it (their) love in the (Holy) Spirit have not ceased to pray and make (special) request for you, (asking) that you may be filled with the full (deep and clear) knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom (in comprehensive might into the ways and purposes of God) and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things." Verse 10 goes on, "That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God (with fuller, deeper, and clearer oinsight, acquaintance, and recognition)."
It is God's will that we know Him in His Love and grace and that we understand Him. His intent was that we could now (through Jesus) be reconciled back to Him as His family. He desires to talk and walk with us like any other Father would with their own children. Despite everything He's done to restore us back to Himself, man made doctrines still keep us separate from Him. Through religion and lies of satan, man continues acting like his sin still separates him from God.
Despite what we read in God's Word, without the Holy Spirit revealing it to us, we still hold back from our Father. Colossians 1:21-22 (Amplified) says, "And although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind. Verse 22 says, "Yet now has Christ (the Messiah) reconciled (you to God) in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His (the Father's) presence."
By not learning to actually knowing the Father as "Father," we have not only robbed Him of the joy of His family." We act like sin is still a problem and that God is still "just God." We act like that in spite of Jesus, we're unworthy of His love. All of these things come from not knowing God as Father.
He is so ready and willing to bless and reveal Himself to us, yet we continue to insist on being separated from God in an attempt to appear humble and pious. What would be the purpose of Jesus' sacrifice if we are still in the same state we were in before His coming? Why send a Savior Who didn't save? Or a deliverer Who didn't deliver? Jesus did everything needed to reconcile us back to the Father. All that is needed for us to do is receive what He has done by grace.
We should make it priority #1 to learn the heart, will and love of our Father. He has revealed Himself to us in so many ways that only the lying devil could cause us to miss it. If God didn't want us to know about Him (like some doctrines insist), then all He had to do was...nothing. We would never know Him if He didn't reveal Himself to us.
We search online to sites like FamilyTree.com for our ancestory, but we won't go to the Holy Spirit or God's Word in search of our Father. As the Church, we've so poorly misrepresented Him in our own lives and the eyes of the world, that the people don't know what to believe. It's difficult for them to see God when they see us. Jesus said that, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father."In John 17:26 (Amplified) Jesus said, "I have made Your name known to them (the name Father) and revealed Your character and Your very self, and I will continue to make You known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me May be in them (felt in their hearts) and that I (Myself) may be in them."
Jesus preached a "New Covenant Father" to an old covenant people and many saw a very different kind of person in God. As they watched Jesus, they not only saw Jesus, but God in entirely new light. Jesus preached grace to a people under Law. On the other hand, we have preached Law to a people under grace.
It is God's will that we know Him in His Love and grace and that we understand Him. His intent was that we could now (through Jesus) be reconciled back to Him as His family. He desires to talk and walk with us like any other Father would with their own children. Despite everything He's done to restore us back to Himself, man made doctrines still keep us separate from Him. Through religion and lies of satan, man continues acting like his sin still separates him from God.
Despite what we read in God's Word, without the Holy Spirit revealing it to us, we still hold back from our Father. Colossians 1:21-22 (Amplified) says, "And although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind. Verse 22 says, "Yet now has Christ (the Messiah) reconciled (you to God) in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His (the Father's) presence."
By not learning to actually knowing the Father as "Father," we have not only robbed Him of the joy of His family." We act like sin is still a problem and that God is still "just God." We act like that in spite of Jesus, we're unworthy of His love. All of these things come from not knowing God as Father.
He is so ready and willing to bless and reveal Himself to us, yet we continue to insist on being separated from God in an attempt to appear humble and pious. What would be the purpose of Jesus' sacrifice if we are still in the same state we were in before His coming? Why send a Savior Who didn't save? Or a deliverer Who didn't deliver? Jesus did everything needed to reconcile us back to the Father. All that is needed for us to do is receive what He has done by grace.
We should make it priority #1 to learn the heart, will and love of our Father. He has revealed Himself to us in so many ways that only the lying devil could cause us to miss it. If God didn't want us to know about Him (like some doctrines insist), then all He had to do was...nothing. We would never know Him if He didn't reveal Himself to us.
We search online to sites like FamilyTree.com for our ancestory, but we won't go to the Holy Spirit or God's Word in search of our Father. As the Church, we've so poorly misrepresented Him in our own lives and the eyes of the world, that the people don't know what to believe. It's difficult for them to see God when they see us. Jesus said that, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father."In John 17:26 (Amplified) Jesus said, "I have made Your name known to them (the name Father) and revealed Your character and Your very self, and I will continue to make You known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me May be in them (felt in their hearts) and that I (Myself) may be in them."
Jesus preached a "New Covenant Father" to an old covenant people and many saw a very different kind of person in God. As they watched Jesus, they not only saw Jesus, but God in entirely new light. Jesus preached grace to a people under Law. On the other hand, we have preached Law to a people under grace.
Lesson 2 Knowing Him
Satan has fought against revelation from the start. It's been his input that's caused all of the dissension and strife in the Church for centuries. Every time the Holy Spirit brings further revelation of Jesus, satan tries stopping it before such knowledge as speaking of tongues, healing of our bodies, the truth or grace, the acceptance by faith into salvation and even the forgiveness of sin can be accepted. All of these things are revealed (and many more) by the Holy Spirit to the Church.
In Matthew 16:15-18 (Amplified), Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do you say that I am? Peter declared, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus said that it wasn't man, but God Who had shown Peter this." In Verse 18 Jesus goes on, "On this rock (of revelation) I will build My Church." The rock Jesus was going to build His Church upon wasn't Peter, but it was the revelation given to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Even these has been controversial in the Church for years. Some say that Peter was the rock on whom the Church would be built. Others say it was revelation knowledge that would build the Church. Still others say that Jesus (the understanding of Who He is) is the foundation the Church is built on. God will reveal to us, by His Word and His Spirit, the truth of His Word.
Peter is the one who describes what this rock or stone is in 1Peter 2:6-9 ((Amplified) saying, "For thus it stands in scripture behold, I am laying in Zion a chosen (honored) precious chief cornerstone and he who believes in Him (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him) shall never be disappointed or put to shame."
Peter says here that this stone or rock is the truth that what God told him is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Even Peter himself shares with us what this rock or stone really is. It is the revelation knowledge, but not just revelation knowledge, but this knowledge is revealed. The knowledge of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God is the foundation of the entire body (or structure) of the Church. This stone has been a stumbling block to many and without this revelation, they try to build on some other foundation.
Many religions in the world have been built on some other foundation than Jesus as the Christ. Peter writes in 1Peter 2:8 (Amplified), "And, a Stone that will cause stumbling and a rock that will give (men) offense; they stumble because they disobey and disbelieve (God's) Word, as those (who reject Him) were destined (appointed) to do."
Because some reject the revealing of Jesus as the Cornerstone of salvation and try building their own beliefs, many will be turned away. So you see, that without revelation knowledge (that which the Holy Spirit reveals from God's Word), we stay in a child-like state or baby stage as Peter describes in Verses 1-5 (especially verse 2) saying, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, (which is the Word of God) that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto (completed) salvation. Since you have (already) tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord."
The only way to know our Heavenly Father is through fellowship with Him in His Word. Jesus, Who is the Word, will now reveal the Father to us. The Holy Spirit will tie the "Man" Jesus to the "Word" Christ and the Father. When we allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into a closer place with Jesus, we will then know and become more knowledgeable of Who our Father is.
So many times, we have blamed our suffering and hard times on God because we don't know Who He really is. We don't know the heart or nature of God and then blame everything on Him.
Ephesians 4:17-25 (Amplified) speaks about men who try building their own way without the foundation of Jesus as their cornerstone to build from. Verses 20-21 say, "But you did not so learn Christ, assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as (all) truth is in Jesus (embodied and personified in Him)."
We differ in our relationships with our Father based on our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. For many of us, we were content with just knowing Him as One Who forgives our sins. Praise God for Jesus bearing our sin, but is that as far as you want to know Him? Anyone who would die for me and love me that much, is someone I wish to know better. Some have come to know God further by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They believe that we have arrived because we speak in tongues.
The Day of Pentecost wasn't the end, but the beginning of the Church. Speaking in tongues wasn't the ultimate, but the start. For some, speaking in tongues is like a badge of maturity. That isn't really true. This was the entry into the place of knowing our heavenly Father in a way that had never been possible before. 1Corinthians 14:2 (Amplified) tells us, "For one who speaks in an (unknown) tongue speaks not to man but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning because in the (Holy) Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things (not obvious to the understanding)."
One of the best ways that God has made available to His children to come to know Him is the restoration of a heavenly language that bypasses their understanding. God appointed and ordained this method of communication we we can reach into the very depths of God's nature and learn about Him. We can only ask of God what we can understand in the natural language. But, with the gift of new language of the Spirit, we can now call upon Him in the realm of His Spirit.
Romans 8:26-27(Amplified) says, "So too the (Holy) Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness, for we do not know what prayer to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads on our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance." Verse 27 goes on, "And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the (Holy) Spirit (what His intent is) because the Spirit intercedes and pleads (before God) in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will."
Many times we take Verse 28 out of context and apply it to cover all the things that happen in our lives as being God's will for His children. This is one more thing man has devised because we don't know the Father.
In Matthew 16:15-18 (Amplified), Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do you say that I am? Peter declared, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus said that it wasn't man, but God Who had shown Peter this." In Verse 18 Jesus goes on, "On this rock (of revelation) I will build My Church." The rock Jesus was going to build His Church upon wasn't Peter, but it was the revelation given to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Even these has been controversial in the Church for years. Some say that Peter was the rock on whom the Church would be built. Others say it was revelation knowledge that would build the Church. Still others say that Jesus (the understanding of Who He is) is the foundation the Church is built on. God will reveal to us, by His Word and His Spirit, the truth of His Word.
Peter is the one who describes what this rock or stone is in 1Peter 2:6-9 ((Amplified) saying, "For thus it stands in scripture behold, I am laying in Zion a chosen (honored) precious chief cornerstone and he who believes in Him (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him) shall never be disappointed or put to shame."
Peter says here that this stone or rock is the truth that what God told him is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Even Peter himself shares with us what this rock or stone really is. It is the revelation knowledge, but not just revelation knowledge, but this knowledge is revealed. The knowledge of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God is the foundation of the entire body (or structure) of the Church. This stone has been a stumbling block to many and without this revelation, they try to build on some other foundation.
Many religions in the world have been built on some other foundation than Jesus as the Christ. Peter writes in 1Peter 2:8 (Amplified), "And, a Stone that will cause stumbling and a rock that will give (men) offense; they stumble because they disobey and disbelieve (God's) Word, as those (who reject Him) were destined (appointed) to do."
Because some reject the revealing of Jesus as the Cornerstone of salvation and try building their own beliefs, many will be turned away. So you see, that without revelation knowledge (that which the Holy Spirit reveals from God's Word), we stay in a child-like state or baby stage as Peter describes in Verses 1-5 (especially verse 2) saying, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, (which is the Word of God) that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto (completed) salvation. Since you have (already) tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord."
The only way to know our Heavenly Father is through fellowship with Him in His Word. Jesus, Who is the Word, will now reveal the Father to us. The Holy Spirit will tie the "Man" Jesus to the "Word" Christ and the Father. When we allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into a closer place with Jesus, we will then know and become more knowledgeable of Who our Father is.
So many times, we have blamed our suffering and hard times on God because we don't know Who He really is. We don't know the heart or nature of God and then blame everything on Him.
Ephesians 4:17-25 (Amplified) speaks about men who try building their own way without the foundation of Jesus as their cornerstone to build from. Verses 20-21 say, "But you did not so learn Christ, assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as (all) truth is in Jesus (embodied and personified in Him)."
We differ in our relationships with our Father based on our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. For many of us, we were content with just knowing Him as One Who forgives our sins. Praise God for Jesus bearing our sin, but is that as far as you want to know Him? Anyone who would die for me and love me that much, is someone I wish to know better. Some have come to know God further by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They believe that we have arrived because we speak in tongues.
The Day of Pentecost wasn't the end, but the beginning of the Church. Speaking in tongues wasn't the ultimate, but the start. For some, speaking in tongues is like a badge of maturity. That isn't really true. This was the entry into the place of knowing our heavenly Father in a way that had never been possible before. 1Corinthians 14:2 (Amplified) tells us, "For one who speaks in an (unknown) tongue speaks not to man but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning because in the (Holy) Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things (not obvious to the understanding)."
One of the best ways that God has made available to His children to come to know Him is the restoration of a heavenly language that bypasses their understanding. God appointed and ordained this method of communication we we can reach into the very depths of God's nature and learn about Him. We can only ask of God what we can understand in the natural language. But, with the gift of new language of the Spirit, we can now call upon Him in the realm of His Spirit.
Romans 8:26-27(Amplified) says, "So too the (Holy) Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness, for we do not know what prayer to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads on our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance." Verse 27 goes on, "And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the (Holy) Spirit (what His intent is) because the Spirit intercedes and pleads (before God) in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will."
Many times we take Verse 28 out of context and apply it to cover all the things that happen in our lives as being God's will for His children. This is one more thing man has devised because we don't know the Father.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Lesson 1 Knowing Him
Romans 12:2 (Amplified) says, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs), but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude); so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you)."
Through the years, we've come to a place where we're content to know our Father through someone else's relationship with Him. We've settled for creeds and doctrines that were taught to the family of God by others. Some of these things are right and some are not. Even those teachings that are right, can't replace your personal relationship with God. We've known about Him by testimony and word, but we need to know Him.
The Apostle Paul sought a more intimate relationship with the Lord, even after he was taken into the third heaven and received the revelation of the new covenant. Paul's was a continued journey into the personal relationship with Jesus. Many times, we receive Jesus as Savior and stop there at just being saved. Praise God for this, but our relationship with Him isn't supposed to stop there.
I've spent the last forty years of my life (ever since I got born again) sharing how God is your answer and not your problem. For some, this is contrary to everything they've learned over the years. Many choose to believe that God uses problems to teach and show them things, instead of using His Word or the Holy Spirit. Mostly, they've come to know God through creeds and doctrine instead of personal relationship.
The only way to know Him in the light of truth is through a personal journey of faith. I'm overjoyed that people are born again and have come to salvation. Some have looked upon this as everything that is needed and I suppose that's true in the overall sense. But, it still leaves a void in the life of the believer. It's unthinkable in my mind, to have no personal relationship with one who loves you as much as our heavenly Father does.
I was never someone who's content with what someone told me about another person. The way some react to you might be because of the way you act to them. I've also found over the years, that they might be reacting to what they've heard about you from others. I had coffee with a man who was speaking about "the preacher down the street." Little did he know, but I was that preacher. While he was telling me why he didn't like that preacher, I was thinking how, "If I was really like that preacher, then I wouldn't like me either." I asked him if he'd ever met that preacher and his answer was, "No, and I hope I never do!" I paid for his coffee without ever telling him who I was. I've thought about that conversation many times and have wondered how someone's opinion could bring such reproach into another person's life.
I began to understand a little more about why it was so difficult to share Jesus with some people. Their view of our Father was slanted by what some other people thought and not from their own relationship with Him. Some had even believed that God killed their spouse or their child or had given them some terrible disease or sickness to teach them a lesson.
Preachers were sent to lead the people to God through Jesus. Teachers were given to teach the people how to have a personal relationship with Jesus after becoming saved. The Church wasn't supposed to stand on the Pastor's relationship with God, but through the Pastor, gain a relationship with God of their own. I'm not called to love my wife based on who she is. The same is true about Jesus and the Church. Ephesians 5:32 (Amplified) says, "This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relationship of) Christ and the church." Every man should love his own wife based on a personal relationship in their lives. This same principle is true of our relationship with Jesus and our Father.
Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10 (Amplified), "(For my determined purpose is) That I may know Him (that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly) and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection (which it exerts over believers) and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed (in spirit into His likeness even) to His death (in the hope) that if possible I may attain to the (spiritual and moral) resurrection (that lifts me) out from among the dead (even while in the body)."
According to what Paul said, we can (as he did) go on into a relationship with Jesus that will bring us into a much deeper understanding and a personal place with our Lord Jesus. Paul proceeded to say in Verse 12 that he "Hadn't yet attained this, but was now pressing on into this place with Jesus."
Some of us have pressure place on us by others to stop where they are in their relationship with God. We aren't always encouraged to pursue a further understanding of Christ by others. We need to have guidance into the scriptures by teachers, but not in order to stifle our search for truth. Many teachers are concerned that further searching will lead to error. The heart of the teachers are right for not wishing to bring error into our lives. The motive and heart is correct before God. But, the greatest teacher of all is the Holy Spirit.
John 16:13 (Amplified) says, "But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the truth giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth (the whole, full truth) For He will not speak His Own message (on His Own authority) but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father, given to Him) and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future)."
We must learn to trust the Holy Spirit as our teacher and allow Him to reveal things to us about our Lord. Mans truth is still limited to our own limited knowledge. Once we've reached the end of our knowledge, we don't allow revelation knowledge to carry us further into God. We always think that we "have arrived" in our own thinking when we find a truth in God's Word. Such men as Martin Luther came into a new revelation when he was shown that "The just shall live by faith."
This was revolutionary to those living under mans idea of justification instead of God's idea. In most Christian circles today, this is sound doctrine and truth. Yet, some Christian circles do not altogether accept this. Some are still trying to justify themselves by works and good deeds. This is a thing God will sort out and take care of on His Own. My job or my calling, is to bring the Church into a place where we're not afraid to know or trust our Father.
Through the years, we've come to a place where we're content to know our Father through someone else's relationship with Him. We've settled for creeds and doctrines that were taught to the family of God by others. Some of these things are right and some are not. Even those teachings that are right, can't replace your personal relationship with God. We've known about Him by testimony and word, but we need to know Him.
The Apostle Paul sought a more intimate relationship with the Lord, even after he was taken into the third heaven and received the revelation of the new covenant. Paul's was a continued journey into the personal relationship with Jesus. Many times, we receive Jesus as Savior and stop there at just being saved. Praise God for this, but our relationship with Him isn't supposed to stop there.
I've spent the last forty years of my life (ever since I got born again) sharing how God is your answer and not your problem. For some, this is contrary to everything they've learned over the years. Many choose to believe that God uses problems to teach and show them things, instead of using His Word or the Holy Spirit. Mostly, they've come to know God through creeds and doctrine instead of personal relationship.
The only way to know Him in the light of truth is through a personal journey of faith. I'm overjoyed that people are born again and have come to salvation. Some have looked upon this as everything that is needed and I suppose that's true in the overall sense. But, it still leaves a void in the life of the believer. It's unthinkable in my mind, to have no personal relationship with one who loves you as much as our heavenly Father does.
I was never someone who's content with what someone told me about another person. The way some react to you might be because of the way you act to them. I've also found over the years, that they might be reacting to what they've heard about you from others. I had coffee with a man who was speaking about "the preacher down the street." Little did he know, but I was that preacher. While he was telling me why he didn't like that preacher, I was thinking how, "If I was really like that preacher, then I wouldn't like me either." I asked him if he'd ever met that preacher and his answer was, "No, and I hope I never do!" I paid for his coffee without ever telling him who I was. I've thought about that conversation many times and have wondered how someone's opinion could bring such reproach into another person's life.
I began to understand a little more about why it was so difficult to share Jesus with some people. Their view of our Father was slanted by what some other people thought and not from their own relationship with Him. Some had even believed that God killed their spouse or their child or had given them some terrible disease or sickness to teach them a lesson.
Preachers were sent to lead the people to God through Jesus. Teachers were given to teach the people how to have a personal relationship with Jesus after becoming saved. The Church wasn't supposed to stand on the Pastor's relationship with God, but through the Pastor, gain a relationship with God of their own. I'm not called to love my wife based on who she is. The same is true about Jesus and the Church. Ephesians 5:32 (Amplified) says, "This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relationship of) Christ and the church." Every man should love his own wife based on a personal relationship in their lives. This same principle is true of our relationship with Jesus and our Father.
Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10 (Amplified), "(For my determined purpose is) That I may know Him (that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly) and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection (which it exerts over believers) and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed (in spirit into His likeness even) to His death (in the hope) that if possible I may attain to the (spiritual and moral) resurrection (that lifts me) out from among the dead (even while in the body)."
According to what Paul said, we can (as he did) go on into a relationship with Jesus that will bring us into a much deeper understanding and a personal place with our Lord Jesus. Paul proceeded to say in Verse 12 that he "Hadn't yet attained this, but was now pressing on into this place with Jesus."
Some of us have pressure place on us by others to stop where they are in their relationship with God. We aren't always encouraged to pursue a further understanding of Christ by others. We need to have guidance into the scriptures by teachers, but not in order to stifle our search for truth. Many teachers are concerned that further searching will lead to error. The heart of the teachers are right for not wishing to bring error into our lives. The motive and heart is correct before God. But, the greatest teacher of all is the Holy Spirit.
John 16:13 (Amplified) says, "But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the truth giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth (the whole, full truth) For He will not speak His Own message (on His Own authority) but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father, given to Him) and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future)."
We must learn to trust the Holy Spirit as our teacher and allow Him to reveal things to us about our Lord. Mans truth is still limited to our own limited knowledge. Once we've reached the end of our knowledge, we don't allow revelation knowledge to carry us further into God. We always think that we "have arrived" in our own thinking when we find a truth in God's Word. Such men as Martin Luther came into a new revelation when he was shown that "The just shall live by faith."
This was revolutionary to those living under mans idea of justification instead of God's idea. In most Christian circles today, this is sound doctrine and truth. Yet, some Christian circles do not altogether accept this. Some are still trying to justify themselves by works and good deeds. This is a thing God will sort out and take care of on His Own. My job or my calling, is to bring the Church into a place where we're not afraid to know or trust our Father.
Lesson 4 REDEEMED
If we understand the power of blood in our covenant with God, then we can fully walk at peace with Him and with ourselves. The Blood of Jesus (which is God's Own Blood) is so complete, so pure, and so without blemish that it's total and complete life itself.
Hebrews 9_12-14 (Amplified) says that, "He (Jesus) went once for all into the (Holy of) Holies (of heaven) not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves (by which to make reconciliation between God and man) but His Own Blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us)." Verse 13 says, "For if (the mere) sprinkling of unholy and defiled person with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body." Verse 14 says, "How much more surely shall the Blood of Christ, Who by virtue of (His) eternal Spirit (His Own pre-existant divine personality) has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the (ever) living God."
Hebrews 10:12-14 (Amplified) tells us that, "Whereas this One (Christ) after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins (that shall avail) for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet, For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy."
The power of the redeeming virtue and life of His Blood, has, by this single offering of His Blood, cleansed and perfected we who have been consecrated and made holy. Because we haven't understood (or simply disbelieved) the power of His Blood, we have never viewed ourselves the way the Father does.
We are received into God's presence as pure as Jesus' Blood that has redeemed us. We've been so religious minded rather than Christ minded, that we try walking as though there is more that we can do to redeem ourselves. We read the Word of God like we are outsiders who are trying to enter. But, the Blood has brought us in. Hebrews 10:18-19 (Amplified) says, "Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty) of these (sins and lawbreaking), there is no longer any offering made to atone for sin." Verse 19 goes on, "Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the (Holy of) Holies (by the power and virtue) in the Blood of Jesus."
Our redemption is as sure as the power of the Blood. Remember what 1Peter 1:19 (Amplified) says about our faith, "But (you were purchased) with the precious Blood of Christ (the Messiah) like that of a (sacrificial) Lamb without blemish or spot."
1Corinthians 6:19-20 (Amplified) says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as a gift) from God? You are not your own." Verse 20 says, "You were bought with a price (purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His Own) So then, honor God and bring Glory to Him in your own body."
Our redemption is so complete that we were BOUGHT and PAID FOR by the BLOOD OF JESUS. We weren't put on a credit card that has to be paid for later. We weren't put on "Lay Away," Paypal, or Bill-me-later or paid for as we go. Our redemption is already perfect (just as perfect as His Blood can make you). To declare otherwise is to dishonor Jesus' Blood, refuse His sacrifice and look for something else to work. Whatever the total price mankind owed, Jesus' Blood paid in full.
Only faith in the redeeming power of His Blood will set you free in your mind. We believe that "someday" our redemption will be final. As far as your Father is concerned, IT"S FINAL NOW. How else could your body be the Temple of the Holy Ghost if you were still unholy? How could a Holy God live in an unholy body and still be holy?
When we understand that we're already redeemed, then we can read God's Word from the viewpoint of the redeemed instead of those seeking redemption. We've been reading His promise to us in the light of "some day." This "some day syndrome" has kept us in bondage even though we have been free all the time. We read about Elijah from James 5:17-18 (Amplified) which says, "Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have, (with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours) and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain feel on the earth for three years and six years and (then) he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops (as usual)." Verse 16 says that the "Earnest (heart felt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (dynamic in its workings)."
Many wish to be the righteous man Elijah was so that they could have this power available in their prayer time. Once we realize how complete our redemption is, we know that it has made us righteous in Jesus. Romans 3:24 (Amplified) says that, "(All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which (is provided) in Christ Jesus."
The redemption by Jesus' Blood and His sacrifice has paid all the penalty and all the debt that satan had a legal right to expect and demand before he legally had to declare man no longer indebted to him through Adam. Even now, although the debt is paid and satan has no legal hold over us, if we are ignorant of our legal rights as the redeemed of the Lord, then satan will still (although it's illegal) try to remain lord over us.
We have the legal rights of our redemption and we have the vital part of our redemption. The legal right is what God did for us in Christ. The vital is what God does in us in Christ. There is a legal and vital side to the fall of man. The legal is what satan did to us in Adam and the legal is what satan does in us when by nature we are the children of wrath. Vitally, we weren't in the Garden with Adam, but legally, his death, his bondage, his judgement and everything that spiritual death made him, became ours. Adam's judgement became the judgement of every man according to Romans 5:19 (Amplified) which says, "For just as by one man's disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners."
The legal factor of identification with Adam put all of us under this judgement. The vital side is what was done to us because of it. If the lordship of satan was due to our identification with Adam in his humanity and therefore, gave him authority over humans in this crime of high treason. Legally than, it's possible for the works of satan to be destroyed by the identification of the human race with Jesus, our last Adam.
In the legal sense, Jesus became identified with the human race. John 1:14 (Amplified) tells us, "And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we (actually) saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), Such glory as an only begotten Son receives from His Father, full of grace (favor, loving kindness) and truth." On the legal side of redemption, Jesus identified with the flesh and on the cross He identified with the spirit of man because in death, He was separated from God's nature and was made to be sin with our sin. 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) says, "For our sake He made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)."
We became identified with Adam, in the legal sense, even though we weren't there with him. We became identified with his sin nature. We also became identified with Jesus in the legal sense, even though we weren't there with Him on the cross and in the grave. So, our identification and the plan of redemption revolves around this two fold identification with Adam and with Jesus. If we can be identified with Adam and his trespass, then we can be identified with Jesus in His identification. This is the legal side of our redemption. Legally, we were raised together with Jesus and all claims that had been laid upon us by our identification with Adam, have been met and paid for. Through Jesus, we could be (and were) restored back into newness of spirit (or a new spirit) and a new creation.
Jesus became so identified with us in our sin nature, that He now was to be justified when our penalty had been paid. 1Timothy 3:16 (Amplified) says, "And great and important and weighty, we confess is the hidden truth (the Mystic secret) of Godliness. He (God) was made visible in human flesh, justified and vindicated in the (Holy) Spirit, was seen by Angels, preached among nations; believed on in the world, (and) taken up in glory."
The redemption that we now experience is legal and vital. As we were identified with Adam and his sin and death, we are identified with Jesus in His life and righteousness by His justification and resurrection.
Hebrews 9_12-14 (Amplified) says that, "He (Jesus) went once for all into the (Holy of) Holies (of heaven) not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves (by which to make reconciliation between God and man) but His Own Blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us)." Verse 13 says, "For if (the mere) sprinkling of unholy and defiled person with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body." Verse 14 says, "How much more surely shall the Blood of Christ, Who by virtue of (His) eternal Spirit (His Own pre-existant divine personality) has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the (ever) living God."
Hebrews 10:12-14 (Amplified) tells us that, "Whereas this One (Christ) after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins (that shall avail) for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet, For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy."
The power of the redeeming virtue and life of His Blood, has, by this single offering of His Blood, cleansed and perfected we who have been consecrated and made holy. Because we haven't understood (or simply disbelieved) the power of His Blood, we have never viewed ourselves the way the Father does.
We are received into God's presence as pure as Jesus' Blood that has redeemed us. We've been so religious minded rather than Christ minded, that we try walking as though there is more that we can do to redeem ourselves. We read the Word of God like we are outsiders who are trying to enter. But, the Blood has brought us in. Hebrews 10:18-19 (Amplified) says, "Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty) of these (sins and lawbreaking), there is no longer any offering made to atone for sin." Verse 19 goes on, "Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the (Holy of) Holies (by the power and virtue) in the Blood of Jesus."
Our redemption is as sure as the power of the Blood. Remember what 1Peter 1:19 (Amplified) says about our faith, "But (you were purchased) with the precious Blood of Christ (the Messiah) like that of a (sacrificial) Lamb without blemish or spot."
1Corinthians 6:19-20 (Amplified) says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as a gift) from God? You are not your own." Verse 20 says, "You were bought with a price (purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His Own) So then, honor God and bring Glory to Him in your own body."
Our redemption is so complete that we were BOUGHT and PAID FOR by the BLOOD OF JESUS. We weren't put on a credit card that has to be paid for later. We weren't put on "Lay Away," Paypal, or Bill-me-later or paid for as we go. Our redemption is already perfect (just as perfect as His Blood can make you). To declare otherwise is to dishonor Jesus' Blood, refuse His sacrifice and look for something else to work. Whatever the total price mankind owed, Jesus' Blood paid in full.
Only faith in the redeeming power of His Blood will set you free in your mind. We believe that "someday" our redemption will be final. As far as your Father is concerned, IT"S FINAL NOW. How else could your body be the Temple of the Holy Ghost if you were still unholy? How could a Holy God live in an unholy body and still be holy?
When we understand that we're already redeemed, then we can read God's Word from the viewpoint of the redeemed instead of those seeking redemption. We've been reading His promise to us in the light of "some day." This "some day syndrome" has kept us in bondage even though we have been free all the time. We read about Elijah from James 5:17-18 (Amplified) which says, "Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have, (with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours) and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain feel on the earth for three years and six years and (then) he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops (as usual)." Verse 16 says that the "Earnest (heart felt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (dynamic in its workings)."
Many wish to be the righteous man Elijah was so that they could have this power available in their prayer time. Once we realize how complete our redemption is, we know that it has made us righteous in Jesus. Romans 3:24 (Amplified) says that, "(All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which (is provided) in Christ Jesus."
The redemption by Jesus' Blood and His sacrifice has paid all the penalty and all the debt that satan had a legal right to expect and demand before he legally had to declare man no longer indebted to him through Adam. Even now, although the debt is paid and satan has no legal hold over us, if we are ignorant of our legal rights as the redeemed of the Lord, then satan will still (although it's illegal) try to remain lord over us.
We have the legal rights of our redemption and we have the vital part of our redemption. The legal right is what God did for us in Christ. The vital is what God does in us in Christ. There is a legal and vital side to the fall of man. The legal is what satan did to us in Adam and the legal is what satan does in us when by nature we are the children of wrath. Vitally, we weren't in the Garden with Adam, but legally, his death, his bondage, his judgement and everything that spiritual death made him, became ours. Adam's judgement became the judgement of every man according to Romans 5:19 (Amplified) which says, "For just as by one man's disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners."
The legal factor of identification with Adam put all of us under this judgement. The vital side is what was done to us because of it. If the lordship of satan was due to our identification with Adam in his humanity and therefore, gave him authority over humans in this crime of high treason. Legally than, it's possible for the works of satan to be destroyed by the identification of the human race with Jesus, our last Adam.
In the legal sense, Jesus became identified with the human race. John 1:14 (Amplified) tells us, "And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we (actually) saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), Such glory as an only begotten Son receives from His Father, full of grace (favor, loving kindness) and truth." On the legal side of redemption, Jesus identified with the flesh and on the cross He identified with the spirit of man because in death, He was separated from God's nature and was made to be sin with our sin. 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) says, "For our sake He made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)."
We became identified with Adam, in the legal sense, even though we weren't there with him. We became identified with his sin nature. We also became identified with Jesus in the legal sense, even though we weren't there with Him on the cross and in the grave. So, our identification and the plan of redemption revolves around this two fold identification with Adam and with Jesus. If we can be identified with Adam and his trespass, then we can be identified with Jesus in His identification. This is the legal side of our redemption. Legally, we were raised together with Jesus and all claims that had been laid upon us by our identification with Adam, have been met and paid for. Through Jesus, we could be (and were) restored back into newness of spirit (or a new spirit) and a new creation.
Jesus became so identified with us in our sin nature, that He now was to be justified when our penalty had been paid. 1Timothy 3:16 (Amplified) says, "And great and important and weighty, we confess is the hidden truth (the Mystic secret) of Godliness. He (God) was made visible in human flesh, justified and vindicated in the (Holy) Spirit, was seen by Angels, preached among nations; believed on in the world, (and) taken up in glory."
The redemption that we now experience is legal and vital. As we were identified with Adam and his sin and death, we are identified with Jesus in His life and righteousness by His justification and resurrection.
Lesson 3 REDEEMED
As we continue our study about redemption, we come to some new revelation about who we are now, because of Jesus. Most of us have heard about redemption, but few have bothered finding out what it means and what it is. We consider ourselves "the redeemed of the Lord," but never really walk much in the light of our redemption. Once we understand redemption and what Jesus has done by redeeming us, it takes on a whole new meaning in the Word of God.
When we read the Bible with the understanding of redemption, it takes on a whole new meaning to the believer. Because we haven't understood what redemption means for us, we still walk like it never happened. We think of redemption as something for the future and walk as mere men instead of men whose redemption was bought and paid for. Remember, we were bought with a price and purchased by Jesus' Blood. 1Peter 1:18-19 (Amplified) says that, "You must know (recognize) that you were redeemed (ransomed) from the useless (fruitless) way of living inherited by tradition from (your) forefathers, not with corruptible thing (such as) silver and gold." Verse 19 says, "But (you were purchased) with the precious Blood of Christ (the Messiah) like that of a (sacrificial) Lamb without blemish or spot."
Redemption was purchased, bought, ransomed, ransomed in full, delivered and saved. When we're redeemed from the debt of sin and death, the redemption was in full and paid for by the very death of Jesus Himself. Because we have been redeemed by the very Blood of Jesus, it has been and is complete. Romans 3:23-24 (Amplified) says, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives (All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
The redemption provided by the Blood of Jesus, has paid the entire debt that Adam acquired in his fall from grace. The cost of our redemption was death. This wasn't only physical death, but spiritual death as well. Since God is life and without Him there is no life, when Adam sinned and was separated from God, he was separated from life. Therefore, the wages of Adam's sin was death in both realms.
We see that this redemption will include the full restoration of our physical bodies and the total restoration of man in Romans 8:23 (Amplified) which says, "And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the first fruits of the (Holy) Spirit (a foretaste of the blissful things to come) groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies (from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal) our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons)."
Romans 8:19-22 (Amplified) also tells us that redemption went so far as to even include creation itself. When Adam gave the Authority and dominion that the Father had given him, over to satan, it included all of the earthly dominions that were his. Genesis 3:17 (Amplified) says, "And to Adam He (God) said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat (of the fruits) of it all the days of your life, thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field."
There are those who are even now walking in the light of redemption to the point of making (or allowing) nature to produce as it was intended. We've underestimated the power of the Blood by leaps and bounds. The redeeming power of the Blood of Jesus has opened up God's creation to the righteous in Christ Jesus. Once again, the earth has been redeemed to those who know. Genesis 4:10-12 (Amplified) says, "(Speaking to Cain) And (the Lord) said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground." Verse 11-12 go on, "And now you are cursed by reason of the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's (shed) blood from you hand when you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth (in perpetual exile, a degraded outcast)."
If the blood of Abel could cry out from the ground and the sin of his murder cause the curse of the earth at Cain's hands, then do we have any reason to believe the Blood of Jesus, when it fell to the earth, does not cry out redemption to the earth and those who have been redeemed? If one sinner could be cursed (by reason of the earth according to Genesis 4:11), then can't one believer (Christian) be blessed by the earth because of the Blood of Jesus?
We read that Jesus is the High Priest Who lives forever in Hebrews 7:25 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore He is able also to save the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them."
Our price of redemption was the Blood of Jesus. Leviticus 17:11 (Amplified) says, "For the life is in the blood, And I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; For it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life (which it represents)."
The life is in the blood! The Blood of Jesus, which it without sin, is constantly crying out from the Holy of Holies like Abel's blood cried out from the ground. Now, though, the Blood of Jesus cries out as it intercedes for us from the altar and the Mercy Seat. His Blood and His life which is in the blood, calls from the Mercy Seat as an intercessor on our behalf to the Father. It cries Mercy, forgiveness, grace, holiness, righteousness, Love, redemption, justification, reconciliation and restoration on our behalf.
The Blood speaks from heaven in the presence of the Father at all times on our behalf. This Blood bought redemption is so complete and whole according to Ephesians 1:8(Amplified) which says, "In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His Blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses) in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor Which He lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding (practical in sight and prudence)."
We have redemption through the Blood of Jesus according to Colossians 1:13-14 (Amplified) which says, "(The Father) has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love In Whom we have our redemption through His Blood, (which means) the forgiveness of our sins."
When we read the Bible with the understanding of redemption, it takes on a whole new meaning to the believer. Because we haven't understood what redemption means for us, we still walk like it never happened. We think of redemption as something for the future and walk as mere men instead of men whose redemption was bought and paid for. Remember, we were bought with a price and purchased by Jesus' Blood. 1Peter 1:18-19 (Amplified) says that, "You must know (recognize) that you were redeemed (ransomed) from the useless (fruitless) way of living inherited by tradition from (your) forefathers, not with corruptible thing (such as) silver and gold." Verse 19 says, "But (you were purchased) with the precious Blood of Christ (the Messiah) like that of a (sacrificial) Lamb without blemish or spot."
Redemption was purchased, bought, ransomed, ransomed in full, delivered and saved. When we're redeemed from the debt of sin and death, the redemption was in full and paid for by the very death of Jesus Himself. Because we have been redeemed by the very Blood of Jesus, it has been and is complete. Romans 3:23-24 (Amplified) says, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives (All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
The redemption provided by the Blood of Jesus, has paid the entire debt that Adam acquired in his fall from grace. The cost of our redemption was death. This wasn't only physical death, but spiritual death as well. Since God is life and without Him there is no life, when Adam sinned and was separated from God, he was separated from life. Therefore, the wages of Adam's sin was death in both realms.
We see that this redemption will include the full restoration of our physical bodies and the total restoration of man in Romans 8:23 (Amplified) which says, "And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the first fruits of the (Holy) Spirit (a foretaste of the blissful things to come) groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies (from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal) our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons)."
Romans 8:19-22 (Amplified) also tells us that redemption went so far as to even include creation itself. When Adam gave the Authority and dominion that the Father had given him, over to satan, it included all of the earthly dominions that were his. Genesis 3:17 (Amplified) says, "And to Adam He (God) said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat (of the fruits) of it all the days of your life, thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field."
There are those who are even now walking in the light of redemption to the point of making (or allowing) nature to produce as it was intended. We've underestimated the power of the Blood by leaps and bounds. The redeeming power of the Blood of Jesus has opened up God's creation to the righteous in Christ Jesus. Once again, the earth has been redeemed to those who know. Genesis 4:10-12 (Amplified) says, "(Speaking to Cain) And (the Lord) said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground." Verse 11-12 go on, "And now you are cursed by reason of the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's (shed) blood from you hand when you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth (in perpetual exile, a degraded outcast)."
If the blood of Abel could cry out from the ground and the sin of his murder cause the curse of the earth at Cain's hands, then do we have any reason to believe the Blood of Jesus, when it fell to the earth, does not cry out redemption to the earth and those who have been redeemed? If one sinner could be cursed (by reason of the earth according to Genesis 4:11), then can't one believer (Christian) be blessed by the earth because of the Blood of Jesus?
We read that Jesus is the High Priest Who lives forever in Hebrews 7:25 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore He is able also to save the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them."
Our price of redemption was the Blood of Jesus. Leviticus 17:11 (Amplified) says, "For the life is in the blood, And I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; For it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life (which it represents)."
The life is in the blood! The Blood of Jesus, which it without sin, is constantly crying out from the Holy of Holies like Abel's blood cried out from the ground. Now, though, the Blood of Jesus cries out as it intercedes for us from the altar and the Mercy Seat. His Blood and His life which is in the blood, calls from the Mercy Seat as an intercessor on our behalf to the Father. It cries Mercy, forgiveness, grace, holiness, righteousness, Love, redemption, justification, reconciliation and restoration on our behalf.
The Blood speaks from heaven in the presence of the Father at all times on our behalf. This Blood bought redemption is so complete and whole according to Ephesians 1:8(Amplified) which says, "In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His Blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses) in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor Which He lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding (practical in sight and prudence)."
We have redemption through the Blood of Jesus according to Colossians 1:13-14 (Amplified) which says, "(The Father) has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love In Whom we have our redemption through His Blood, (which means) the forgiveness of our sins."
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