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Presented by Barry McCall
Things not Seen
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world, and lost his own soul, or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37) What we strive so hard to attain, we will eventually lose. We came into this world naked, and naked we shall leave it.
Romans 8:24-25
When
we consider “for by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast
(Ephesians 2:8) then we realize that the words “by hope” do not describe the
means, but the manner of our salvation.
Salvation
of our Soul is something that we cannot see.
It is a much larger matter than we have the intelligence to
comprehend. We rejoice in our salvation
that we have obtained by grace through faith.
We work out our own salvation in fear and trembling (Philippians
Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 5:1)
This
polluted world is not our home. We, like
Abraham look for a city, which hath foundations, we have a hope of a better
home whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11) We are saved by hope. By hope we cling to this great salvation.
God
has given us His Word with truths to hold our minds securely, to hold us to
himself, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
We
have the truth as our anchor to hold our vessel secure. When we have the truth on our side as our
anchor we don’t need to use magic tricks and cunning craftiness to cheer us
along the way.
The
devil entertains and seduces his crowd to keep them content, but we do not need
to be drunk with wine when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:18-19)
We
now have a hope, an anchor that gives us peace.
At one time we were without Christ, being aliens from the common-wealth
of
For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us.
We
have saving truth that holds us as firm as an anchor holds a ship when the wind of change blow.
Our God is immutable, which means He does not change.
Wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability
of his council, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as
an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entered into that
within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an
high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 6:17—20)
The Redemption of Our Bodies
Romans 8:10-11
If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.
To
be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The Bible teaches us that we will leave our
bodies for a while. Part of us will
remain in the tomb until the resurrection trumpet sounds, and then our body
will rise. It will rise
a glorified body, fashioned after the body of our redeemer. For Christ shall change our vile body, that
it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself (Philippians 3:21)
It
will be greatly different from what is today.
The diseases of our depraved bodies caused by sickness and age will be
gone in our resurrected body. There will
be no one blind or deaf, maimed or frail, deformed with paralysis, no wasting
away bodies among the glorified believers.
This
body that was sown in weakness will be raised in power. It was sown in corruption; it will be raised
in incorruption. It is sown a natural
body, it is raised a spiritual body. And
so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul: the last Adam was
made a quickening spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:42-45)
The
first Adam was commanded not to eat from the tree in the center of the garden,
but the second Adam has a tree in the midst of the street (that He invites us
to partake of), in a land of no more curse, which bares twelve manner of
fruits, and it yields her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for
the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2)
Job
said, “For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God. (Job 19:25-26)
He Spared Not His Own Son
Romans 8:32
So many times, the world accuses the Christians of misrepresenting the character of God. In numerous instances I am sure their finger pointing is not far off the mark.
We should always use the language of the Bible when we are portraying God. This is where the exact representation of our God is found. And in all of scripture, there is not a better picture of the character of our God than what is found in Romans 8:32. The apostle Paul wrote these inspired words: He that spared not His own son, but delivered Him up for us all.
Consider the overwhelming nature of a God who spared not his own son, but delivered Him up for us all. As Christians this ought to be our message to the world about our God. This was the inspired message of the apostle Paul about our God. This must also be our communication. Paul concluded this verse with the message, that God through Christ will freely give us all things.
I continually have a fear of misrepresenting the decrees and attributes of our God. But we can never be wrong when we quote from the inspired words of the prophets and apostles.
Our message to the world is obligated to be the word of God alone, which has been revealed to us through the Holy Scripture.
Our message to the world is from the ancient prophet Isaiah “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. (Isa. 55:6)
He will open His mercy gate to all who call upon his name, and those who seek him will hear Him say, “Your sins which are many, are forgiven”. (Luke 7:47)
The Problem of Evil
The fact that sickness, disease, pain, and suffering
exist gives people who are in rebellion to God a tool to use to dethrone the
good and gracious Sovereign ruler of this universe. They love to argue that if God was truly Lord
of all He would not allow any evil to exist.
As Christians, we are convinced by the Holy Spirit
that the trouble and sin we face come from us the rebellious creature, and not
from a God, who alone is holy and righteous.
He does not author nor approve of our sin. He is preeminently the Holy One. There is no unrighteousness with God.
We are constantly commanded in the Scripture not to
commit sin, but God permits us to commit evil if we choose to do so. And we all choose to. And God knew that we
all would choose to sin. In His
foreknowledge he saw that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Something about sin that is beyond our understanding
is that our redemption from sin by Christ was not an afterthought with
God. The plan of our salvation can be
traced back into eternity. Our apostasy
did not come as a surprise to Him. He
had a provision for our sin in His master plan from the very beginning. 1 Peter
He does something very strange with our sin. He
separates us from our sin as far as the east is from the wet. We actually gain more through salvation in
Christ than we lost by our fall. He
overrules our sin into something good.
If we had never sinned we would never have known the justice and mercy
of our Holy God. Sin, reveals God's
mercy in His forgiveness of us, and it reveals his justice in the punishment of
the reprobate. God turns what we do for
evil, into something good. Where sin
abounds, God's grace does much more abound.
This grace could never have been shown to us if we had never sinned.
He permits us to sin, but He has no connection with
our sin, it is an abominable thing to Him, which he hates with a perfect
hatred. God has suffered more for our
sin, than we have, because He sent His Son to bare our sins in His own body
upon the cross.
The Holy Spirit convinces us of our sin, and lets us
know that we alone are responsible for what we have done, and sin is something
we need not have committed, but have voluntarily chosen to do so. Since the fall of mankind in Adam, life has
been an unceasing march toward the grave.
Since the fall, mankind has permanently been subject to all the pain and
suffering that our sin has caused, which flow from the righteous displeasure of
God. God told Adam that the ground was
cursed because of our sin, and in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of
your life; Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth, in the sweat of our face
shall we eat of our bread, and we would return back to the ground from where we
came, for dust we are, and dust we shall return.
We appreciate God's grace in a way we never could
have if we had not become victims of our sin.
The prodigal son did not appreciate nor respect his father until he had
experienced the negative effects of his sin and disgrace. After the lame beggar had been healed through
the power of God by Peter and John at the door of the temple, he appreciated
his health as no one who had never been ill is ever able to do, and he entered
into the temple walking and leaping, and praising God, like none who have never
been lame can ever do.
After we are delivered from the power and guilt of
sin we praise and appreciate God's grace, as we could never do otherwise. Paul said, (2 Cor
Quench Not the Spirit
1 Thessalonians 5:19
We are told not to quench the Spirit. Rejoice for evermore, pray without ceasing,
and in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you. Despise not prophesying,
prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain form all appearance of
evil.
We allow the cares of this life to quench the Holy
Spirit, steal our joy, and our communion with God. It is the word of God that is an alive,
powerful, two-edged sword. The word of God
is faithful, it cannot fail. Anything
that comes between God’s word and us quenches His Spirit and blocks the living
water from flowing out of our lives. We
are not to scorn or look down upon the preaching of the gospel, but we are to
prove that which we have been taught by comparing scripture with scripture, and
not allow false teaching to quench the Holy Spirit working in our life. We must never allow our family, our job, and
our quest for fame, position, and pleasure to rob from us the communion of the
Holy Spirit.
Grieve not the Holy
Spirit
Ephesians 4
We read in Ephesians Chapter four, "And grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all
malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you.
The Holy Spirit is very aware to our actions. We are in the habit of offending Him with our
seditious words. So much of the
communication that comes out of our mouths is corrupt. Our shady speech not only grieves the Holy
Spirit but it also corrupts the thoughts of others. Paul told the Corinthians not to be deceived,
evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Corinthians
David prayed to the Lord to set a watch before my
mouth, keep the door of my lips. David
wanted his speech to impart a blessing, not a blot, if a rotten word was found
in his mind, and he asked the Lord to shut the door of his mouth.
Our speech should build up the thoughts of others,
always with grace, seasoned with salt.
Solomon said, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of
gold in pictures of silver (Proverbs 25:11)
Master and Servant
2 Kings 2
Today's society looks down upon any reference to the
term Master and Servant, but we must overlook the disgrace that has caused this
misunderstanding so that we can have a right comprehension of the true biblical
doctrines of the bible.
This master and servant story is a sweet story of
Elijah and Elisha.
The time had come when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a
whirlwind. And Elijah told Elisha to stay in Gilgal, that
the Lord was sending him to
And the prophet’s sons that were at
Then Elijah said to Elisha,
You remain here at
Then the Lord sent Elijah to
And it was when they had crossed over on dry land
that Elijah asked Elisha, what can I do for you
before I am taken away? And Elisha said, I pray; let
a double portion of your spirit be upon me.
Elijah said if you see me when I am taken up, you
shall have it. Elisha
would not leave the presence of his master, and they walked and talked until
behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire
And Elisha saw it, and he
saw Elijah no more, and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him. And the sons of the prophets saw him and said
the spirit of Elijah does rest upon Elisha. And so it was a double portion.
The patriarch Jacob wrestled with a man all night
until the daybreak, and would not let him go until he blessed him. And the man asked Jacob what is your name,
and he said Jacob, and the man said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob,
but Israel (a prince of God) for as a prince hast thou power with God and with
men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob
called the name of the place Pe-ni-el: for I have
seen God face to face and my life is preserved.
Let us never depart from our Master, but hold on to
Him until he blesses us, and when he absents himself from us he will give us a
double portion of His Spirit. Jesus told
his disciples that they would receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you, and you shall be my witnesses unto me both in
The Greatest Sin
Mark
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but
he that believeth not shall be damned.
The sin of unbelief is the offense that sends unbelievers into eternal
torment. Many people have the misconception
that unbelievers will gain eternal rest.
This scripture in Mark makes it abundantly clear that
unbelievers will forever remain in torment.
This scripture is part of the great commission that Christ gave His
remaining eleven apostles after he had upbraided them for their hardness of
heart in the unbelief of the reports that were sent to them of His
resurrection. After the Lord had spoken
to them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And the bible reports that after the day of
Pentecost they then went forth and preached this gospel everywhere, the Lord
working with them. The apostles preached
that we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved from the wrath to come.
Many people boast of their unbelief, in their foolish notions they think they are too intellectual to believe. The fool has said in his heart "NO GOD". The Holy Spirit of God must convict us of our sin before God can bring us to believe in our Savior. Those who profess a belief in Christ without conviction of sin are like the stony ground hearers who spring up for a little while, but soon the cross offends them. When the Holy Spirit convinces us of sin, we cannot rest in unbelief, but we must come to the cross.
The word of God is perfect,
converting the Soul
(Psalm 19:7)
No one has ever been saved apart from the word of
God. When we are filled with the Holy
Spirit we become His witness and proclaim His word.
It is the Word of God that wins the battle against
sin. God cannot lie. It is through the word of God that faith
comes. God speaks, and those that have
ears to hear, hear him speak. It is the word of God that is an alive,
powerful, two-edged sword. The word of
God is faithful it cannot fail.
The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. Gideon conquered evil with the Sword of the
Lord. When the children of
The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and God told
Gideon that he would save
The Lord always uses people filled with His Holy
Spirit to shine the lamp of the word into the darkness, and conquer evil. The twelve apostles appointed seven deacons
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom over business. And the word of God increased, and the number
of the disciples multiplied in
When we are full of the Spirit, we speak not of
ourselves, but of Christ. This gift of
the Spirit, to speak the word of God with boldness cannot be purchased with
money. When Phillip went down to
When the sword of the Lord was used by the disciples
who were filled with the Spirit, the gospel was preached in many villages of
the Samaritans, and unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many
that were possessed with them; and many taken with palsies, and that were lame,
were healed.
Christ taught in the temple, the last day of the
feast, and he stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst let him come to me and
drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This He spake
of the Holy Spirit, which was not yet given, because Jesus had not yet been
glorified. (John 7)
The Holy Spirit dwells in every believer. Every believer is the temple of the Holy
Spirit. If we quench the spirit of God,
rivers of living water cannot flow from us, and Christ is not glorified as he
should be, and the Word of God will not flow from us and into the streets and
homes where the gospel is needed.
GOD IN THREE PERSONS
Many people who try to discredit this
doctrine do so by denying that Jesus is Lord.
But the scripture tell us that Jesus was not made, but he himself is the
maker. John tells us that all things
were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that has been
made. If Jesus created all things, then
that alone makes him divine, because only God can create. The Bible says that in Christ dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. And we
are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.
God commands that we are to have one God, and
we are not bow down ourselves to any other, or serve them, for the Lord will
not share His glory with another. The
scripture proclaims that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
The gospel proclaims that he was born of the seed of David according to
the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God. In His flesh he began to exist born of a
virgin, but according to the word of God, in His spirit he existed from
eternity. The scripture beautifully
leads us to Christ; first revealing him to us as a man, then as the lord of all
creatures, and finally as God.
The Bible also ascribes divinity to the Holy
Spirit. Many people are not
uncomfortable with the Christmas story; they love hearing the explanation about
how God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, but they become
uncomfortable when the person and work of the Holy Spirit is mentioned. The Bible teaches us that no one can say that
Jesus is Lord, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ told Nicodemus that we must be born
anew of the Sprit. Christ spoke
frequently to His disciples of the Holy Spirit existence and power. We know that the Holy Spirit was involved in
creation, because in Genesis we read that the Spirit of God moved upon the face
of the waters. David says is the Psalms
that by the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by
the Spirit of his mouth. David also
understood that the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, because he stated that he could
not flee from the presence of the Spirit.
David asked; where can I go from your Spirit? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there, if
I make by bed in Sheol, you are there. Only God is everywhere, and fills the whole
creation.
Christ sent forth His disciples saying to
them “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The Bible unmistakably reveals that in God
there are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but how they can be we do
not understand, but what the Bible reveals to us is sufficient for now, as we
see through a glass darkly, but one day will will see
God face to face, now we know in part, then we shall know God, even as we are
know of Him. (1 Cor
Grieve
not the Holy Spirit
Ephesians
4
We read in Ephesians Chapter four,
"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day
of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven
you.
The Holy Spirit is very aware to our
actions. We are in the habit of offending Him with our seditious words. So much
of the communication that comes out of our mouths is corrupt. Our shady speech
not only grieves the Holy Spirit but it also corrupts the thoughts of others.
Paul told the Corinthians not to be deceived, evil communications corrupt good
manners (1 Corinthians
David prayed to the Lord to set a watch
before my mouth, keep the door of my lips. David wanted his speech to impart a
blessing, not a blot, if a rotten word was found in his mind, and he asked the
Lord to shut the door of his mouth.
Our speech should build up the thoughts
of others, always with grace, seasoned with salt.
Solomon said, "A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in pictures of silver (Proverbs 25:11)
God
is Omniscient!
O Lord you have searched me, and known me. You know my down sitting, and my uprising; you understand my thoughts from afar off. You compass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo Lord, you know it altogether.
He knows everything about us; He looks down from heaven, from the place of His habitation, He looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashions all of our hearts alike (Psalm 33:13-15) and considers all of our works.
It is important for us to look at ourselves like God sees us. Our human nature would lead us to believe that we have inherit good in ourselves, that is what the humanist of this world say, they say there is some good in everybody, but the Apostle Paul said that in him dwelled no good thing.
Peace Be Unto You
After the
crucifixion, the eleven remaining apostles crouched and cowered behind locked
doors. They were troubled by their conscience, discouraged, and frightened.
All of them had
forsaken and fled from Him, proving their disloyalty and Peter had denied his
Lord with an oath.
The apostles
felt they had fallen so far away from Christ, and had gone so deep into sin by
their denial of a their Redeemer, that they could never be forgiven.
Mary was the
first to bring the apostles the good news that Christ was unmoving in His
kindness and affection for His brethren, and that they
had been liberated. Christ told Mary to go to His brethren and tell them of His
resurrection.
He was no longer
hanging on the cross, nor lying in the grave under the power of death, but He
is a risen Lord over sin, death, hell, and the grave.
He is our
brother who could not stand to see us eternally separated from God, He would
not allow us to perish, but He stepped up and took our place, He took our
misery upon Himself, He gave His life and body for us that we could be
delivered.
When He rose again, he sent his resurrection message by the women who loved Him, first to His unfaithful brothers who were hunkered down in defeat and terror and gave them victory and deliverance.
Weep For Our Sins
Christ did suffer
the death of the cross because he wanted sympathy. He did not suffer to appeal
to our feelings and emotions, and make us weep and lament over his pain. His
death was to pay the ransom for our sins.
At the crucifixion,
there followed a great company of people who bewailed and lamented him.
But Jesus turned to
them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves, and for your children. Have you ever wept for your own sins, and
the sins of your children? This is what Christ commands us to weep over, our
own sins that drove our Savior to the cross.
Christ intends for
us to find peace and strength for our sin sick souls through His suffering.
When we put the
suffering of Christ in the right perspective it will cause us to have a hatred
for our sins and it will lead us into a life of holiness.
The correct
observance of Christ Passion will lead us to cry out for the crucifixion of our
own flesh. (Galatians 5:24) They that belong to Christ have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lust.
The Real Passion of
the Christ is not a movie on a theater screen by a cast of actors and
directors. Christ Passion is a real event to his chosen ones who have been
purchased by His blood. It causes us to deal with real issues in our own lives.
The apostle Paul said, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Peters First Sermon
Peter preached
the first sermon on the passion of Christ on the day of Pentecost to a gathereing of devout men, that were
from every nation under heaven.
A written
account of this sermon is found in Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 11.
Acts 2:23, Peter
preached, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Acts
Now when they
had heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what will we do.
The sufferings
of Christ brought these men to a feeling of great sympathy for our Savior who
suffered pain as no other has ever suffered, and, the Holy Spirit pricked them
to the heart, and guilt was added to their sympathy. This led these men to
repentance.
If the
sufferings of Christ has not pricked us in our heart, and the Holy Spirit has
not brought us to the place of repentance, then we are still in our sins, and
for us Christ has died in vain.
We see that when
Peter preached this first sermon about the crucifixion on the day of Pentecost,
they that received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand souls. And we know that these 3000 souls were true
believers, because they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship.
If we hear the
story of Christ suffering and continue in our old lifestyle without being
pricked in our heart and brought to a place of repentance, then we should fear
and tremble at the hardness of our own heart, for we are guilty of crucifying
to ourselves the Son of God afresh, and are guilty of putting Him to an open
shame.
If in this life
we are not pricked in our heart over the crucifixion of Christ by the Holy
Spirit, then at that last day, we will surely fall into terror, and quake and
tremble, for all that will await us is a certain fearful judgment and fiery
indignation. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
The true work of
Christ suffering is to transform us into a new creature, knowing this, that our
old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin. This we must know,
that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His
death.
The
Peace of God Passes All Understanding
Philippians
4:7 John 16:33
The
peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your
thoughts in Christ Jesus.
These
things Christ has spoken to us, that we might have peace. In the world we shall have tribulation, but
be of good cheer, Christ has overcome the world.
This
peace of Christ is within us. Daily we
suffer misfortune and contention, we are afflicted and harassed by our
adversary, we are punished by the world, we are troubled by the weakness of our
flesh, but be of good cheer, Christ has overcome.
Christ
gives us peace that is different from what peace the world can give us. The
world can only give us temporary external peace, but the peace of Christ is an
inner peace, which removes fear and sorrow, and calms our heart.
This
peace of Christ comes to us not during our times of good fortune, but it comes
to us in the middle of trouble.
This
is the peace God gave to the remaining eleven disciples who were suffering in
great fear behind closed doors, after the Passion of Christ.
God
gave them peace, by raising the crucified Savior from the dead. The disciples
were not able to find peace until Christ showed them His wounds in His hands
and side. This is a peace that goes
beyond understanding. We do not understand
how our peace comes to us through the wounds of Christ; all we know is that by
His stripes we are healed.
On
the inside we find inner peace, even though on the outside opposite conditions
such as sickness, poverty, and sin exist.
These
external conditions are ever present and surround us, but when Christ appears,
through closed doors, He strengthens us and gives us peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit.
This
peace comes to us through Christ's nail pierced hands and wounded side. He
shows us in His word that He was crucified for us, and shed His blood and died
to pay our sin debt, and he makes us one with God.
This
peace is the certainty that we are children of a merciful God and that we have
forgiveness of our sin.
John
20: 19-23
Christ Resurrection is our Peace
It
was evening, the first day of the week, Resurrection Sunday when Christ first
appeared to His remaining disciples after His resurrection. They were all
there, assembled together, except for Thomas.
Christ
first task after His resurrection was to bring His disciples peace and joy.
They
had already heard from the women that Christ had arisen from the dead, but they
were weak and slow of heart to believe.
Their
conscience was troubled because of their cowardly conduct during the trial and
crucifixion, and for fear of the Jews they were hiding behind closed doors.
They
were in fear and terror when suddenly Christ appeared unto them and saluted
them with the friendly greeting, "Peace be unto
you".
This
is Christ message, "Peace be unto you".
Where
Christ presence is, peace, joy, and love and the other fruit of the Holy Spirit
are always felt.
Christ
showed them His hands and His side, and the disciples
were glad when they saw the Lord.
And
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be unto
you" So my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
And
when He said this, He breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy
Spirit.
This
is the joyful, resurrection message from Christ, Receive ye the Holy
Spirit. This resurrection message
delivers to us the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
against such there is no fear.
John 20:20
The Disciples were glad
The
Bible says that the disciples were glad when they saw the nail pierced hands
and side of our Resurrected Lord.
The
greatest joy we will ever experience is when we are quickened by the Holy
Spirit and made to see and recognize our wounded Savior who is alive forevermore
to make intercession for us.
At
one time we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and we had no living
savior. Our former god was the god of
this world, who disorganizes and ruins everything with his evil spirits, and
boisterous servants.
But
now the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, now also rules and reigns
in us, and has quickened us together with Christ Jesus (Romans 8:6,11)
The
gospel not only tells us of a risen Christ, but the gospel also brings us by
the power of the Holy Spirit into His presence.
Christ,
when He dwelt on earth before the world crucified Him was bound by physical
barriers, but the first thing the disciples learned after the resurrection was
that Christ could not be bound by death, hell, or the grave, nor any other
physical property such as a locked door.
Visible,
tangible things can no longer bind him. He is not subject to the laws of
physics, civil governments, or any other power or dominion.
The
laws of no civil government can keep Christ presence from us. The courts of our land think in their
ignorance that they can keep Christ out of our classrooms, courts, and other
public places, but in their vain thinking they do not know that have no power
over Him.
If
death, hell, and the grave cannot hold our Christ, then surely it is vain for
us to think that a locked door, or any other barrier
that we could erect could exercise power over our risen Lord.
Let
us be spiritually minded and recognize that He is to be believed as one who
through His power can reign everywhere, and can be present with us at all
places and times, whenever necessary.
He
can help us because He is not held captive by this world or its power.
Christ
rules in a very orderly way, without causing a big commotion. His mission is to comfort and gladden us; His
Kingdom is not of this world, his methods or not of this world. His kingdom is far above the god of this
world, and His government is far superior to gold and money, or anything else
that belongs to this temporal life.
We
are the Guilty
There is an accusation that the blame
for the crucifixion of Christ should lay with one certain race of people.
That is our natural inclination, not
to place the guilt upon our self where it belongs, but always find someone else to blame for our actions.
When we are told the story of Christ
Passion, our feelings by nature are feelings of sympathy for this man who
suffered without cause. But our feelings must go beyond sympathy, we must be
brought to the place where we not only feel sympathy, but we feel the guilt for
what happened.
King David was guilty of a heinous
double crime, and he felt no guilt until God sent
Nathan the preacher unto him and convinced him of his sin.
Nathan told David a story about two
men in one city. One was rich, and the other poor.
The rich man had many flocks and
herds. The poor man had only one little ewe lamb, which he had brought up and
nourished, and it grew up, together with his family. It did eat of his own
meat, and drank of his own cup, and it lay in his bosom, and was unto him like
a daughter.
And there came a traveler who came
and visited the rich man, and the rich man spared his own flock, but took the
poor mans lamb, and prepared it for the traveler.
When Nathan told David this story,
David felt extreme sympathy for this poor man who had been wronged by this rich
man. And he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, this
rich man that has done this thing shall surely die.
And Nathan said to David, "You
are the Man".
The Holy Spirit used this story told
by the preacher to convict David of his sin.
Likewise, we cannot see our own guilt
of Christ suffering and death until the Holy Spirit reveals to us our guilt.
Christ was bruised for our iniquity,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed.
It was our sins He bore in His own body upon the cross. The Lord hath laid upon
Him the iniquity of us all.
When
the Holy Spirit Convicts us of our Sin
When the Holy Spirit does His work in
our heart of convicting us of our sin, our conscience is terror stricken. We
spend many restless days and sleepless nights walking in doubt and confusion.
At this point, the enemy of our soul
uses all of his power to defeat us. He tempts us with the foolish notion that we can somehow work
ourselves out of our guilt by doing works of righteousness. We must stay close
to God’s word during this time of temptation. The Holy Spirit is faithful to
teach us that the works of righteousness that we can do will never rid us of
our guilt. We can never work our self out of this condition.
The only hope for our guilty soul is
to cast our sins from our self and upon Christ, our sin bearer. With faith we
believe that he carries them and makes satisfaction for them.
Think on scripture passages such as
Isaiah 53:6, which proclaims The Lord, hath laid upon
Him the iniquity of us all. 1 Peter2: 24, who His own self bare our sins in His
body upon the tree. 2 Corinthians 5:21, Him who knew no sin, was
made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.
Upon the scripture must we rely
during periods of doubt and temptation.
If we try to deal with our sin in any
other way we will never become free from despair and doubt. Upon Christ alone
must our faith rest. We believe what Paul said in
Romans 4:25, that Christ was delivered up for our
trespasses, and was raised for our justification. That is, in His suffering He
crucified our sin, and by His resurrection he makes us righteous.
Do you doubt your salvation? Immerse
yourself in God’s word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Don’t try to bear your own sin, you
cannot, you will break down under the load, rest in the fact that The Lord in
His own body has borne your sin.
It is when we do this that we know
that God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son for us.
Weep
For Yourselves
Christ does not need our sympathy. It
is not enough for us to weep and be sorrowful over Christ death. It is not
enough for us to partake of baptism and communion. Our soul must be
regenerated.
When Christ was being led away to
And there followed Him a great
company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him.
But Jesus turned unto them and said, Daughters of
When we view Christ upon the cross,
we must go beyond sympathy. Our own soul must be stricken with terror, it was because of our transgressions that he was
stricken. When the Holy Spirit reveals this to us, then we cry out, what must I
do?
When we see the nails pierce His
hands, we must firmly believe that we drove the nails.
When Peter preached the first sermon
on the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord on the day of Pentecost, the
Bible says that those who heard were pricked in their heart.
The Greek dictionary says this word
pricked in this passage means that they were vexed, oppressed, harassed, worn down with toil. Luther said they were terrified. And
they cried out, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Touch
me not
John
20:17
Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended unto the Father; but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend
unto my Father, and your Father, and my God, and your God.
These are the first recorded words of
our Lord after His resurrection.
These were brief, kind words spoken
first to the one in whom He had cast out seven devils, and she brought these
first words to the disciples to comfort and gladden them out of their woe,
grief, and sorrow.
Mary was the first to the grave to
anoint the body of Christ, and she was the first to
find comfort in our resurrected Lord. She was filled with tears when she could
not find him, and she mistook him for the gardener, but He called her by name
and she recognized His voice.
She knew Him, her Master, and she
fell at His feet to worship Him.
But He restrained her and said, touch
me not. He knew she loved Him. But he did not let Himself be touched at this
time. Luther said He did not allow her to touch him because He wanted to
impress upon her that he was not back with her as He had been before. He was
alive, but not as she had known Him before. He had not risen to walk and dwell
among men as before.
He has risen to ascend to the Father, to ever live and make intercession for us. He has risen to rule and reign eternally. He no longer exists in a bodily form, he now exist in a way that we can only know and possess Him by faith.