April 4, 2001
Understanding The Truth of The Gospel
Part 6 (and final) - Standing Against All Odds
Erwin W. Lutzer, Pastor
Moody Church, Chicago, IL
We all saw the Rodney King beating on a videotape that was replayed many times on news channels throughout the United States. Every time King tried to stand up, he was beaten down. He wasn't even allowed to crawl without being hit repeatedly.
What a picture of the conflict of the soul! I remember speaking to a young man who had fathered a child and now his girlfriend wouldn't let him see his own daughter. Though the man was a Christian, he was so overtaken with guilt, grief, and despair that it appeared as if he would never be able to walk with his head held high again. I think of those who are overcome with addictions, those who are slaves to pornography, alcohol, or drugs. No matter how many promises are made they are always broken. What does the Bible have to say to believers caught in such sins?
Paul writes, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). But how can we, as sinners, stand before God; and after we have stood to our feet, how do we get up again?
We must return to the theme of Galatians: We are declared righteous by God when we place our trust in Christ alone. Righteousness is a gift that can be applied to any sinner regardless of his sins and crimes.
And of course, this is a permanent righteousness that has paid the debt of our sins, both past, present, and future. That's what Paul means when he says we are "in Christ." Even when we struggle with the flesh and lose, Christ is still our righteousness. That's why we can keep standing.
Twenty-four hours a day God demands absolute perfection from us; but Christ, blessed be His name, as our representative before God, meets every one of those requirements. "Before the throne my surety stands; My name is written on His hands." Thus, when faced with sin and failure, our responsibility is to remember that Christ continually represents us to God the Father, and that His righteousness given to us is all that we need.
But what do we do when we are overwhelmed by our sins? George Spalitin was a co-worker of Martin Luther who had given a friend some advice which he later came to regard as sinful. He was immersed in grief and could not be consoled. When Luther learned of his friend's grief, he did not try to minimize the sin; but rather, he magnified grace. In a letter dated August 21, 1544, he wrote,
"My faithful request and admonition is that you join our company and associate with us who are real, great and hard-boiled sinners. You must by no means make Christ to seem paltry and trifling to us as though He could be our helper only when we want to be rid from imaginary, nominal and childish sins. No, no! That would not be good for us. He must rather be a savior and redeemer from real, great, grievous, and damnable transgressions and iniquities, yea from the very greatest and most shocking sins; to be brief, from all sins added together In a grand total. You will have to get used to the belief that Christ is a real savior and you a real sinner. For God is neither jesting nor dealing in imaginary affairs. But He was greatly and most assuredly in earnest when He sent His own Son into the world and sacrificed Him for our sakes."
Yes, we need a Gospel that is able to save great, hard-boiled sinners. There is no use trying to minimize our sin or to simply reeducate our conscience so that we can cope with guilt. No, we must realize that Jesus Christ died for real sinners, even those who have committed 'damnable transgressions.'
Paul says that we should "no longer be subject again to the yoke of slavery" but to stand in the freedom of Christ. The "yoke of slavery" refers to looking to ourselves to find some reason why God should accept us; or some reason why He should forgive us. Sometimes we do this by making a promise that we shall never commit the same sin again; or we try to think back to times when we were more obedient to God. Or, many people live with guilt, assuming that guilt is punishment by God. All such attempts to establish a relationship with God are futile and greatly encouraged by the devil.
We must not meet the accusations of our conscience by either, a) minimizing the sin, or b) trying to look to something we have done to make ourselves feel better. No, every time we sin we must reaffirm that our acceptance before God has remained unchanged because of the work of Christ on our behalf.
To quote the words of Paul, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather Who is risen again and is even now on the right hand of the throne, Who also maketh intercession for us (Romans 8:33,34).
How do we stand up? Through faith in Christ's complete work on our behalf. We stand because we know we have been completely received by our Heavenly Father independently of any works that we could perform; independently of what we deserved. And when we fall, we cling to the same truth and find comfort in knowing that our acceptance before God has remained unchanged.
Second, Paul says that after we have learned to stand, we should begin to walk. Specifically, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). We are tempted to read the verse this way, "But I say stop carrying out the desires of the flesh and you will walk in the Spirit."
Paul, of course, reverses the order. He knows that we need the fullness of the Spirit up front, even before we can begin to say no to the flesh or walk in the strength of a yielded life. That's why the Holy Spirit indwells every believer; He is available at the very beginning of the Christian life. New Christians and carnal Christians and those of us who may be somewhere in between, all of us must learn to walk in the spirit.
How is this done? By faith. Just as we put our faith in Christ for our acceptance before God, we must exercise the same faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
P. B. Meyer tells about the time he struggled with the filling of the Holy Spirit. Though he had wept at many altars, and through yieldedness sought some kind of special infilling, it simply never seemed to happen. Then, in his weariness he prayed, "Oh Lord, you know that no one needs the filling of the Holy Spirit more than I. Yet, I am too tired to agonize, I am too weary to seek it." Just then, he says, it was as if he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit say, "Just as you have received salvation from the Christ of the cross, in the same way receive the fullness of the Spirit from the Christ of the resurrection." So he began to drink of the Spirit's fullness in faith. And in his words "I have been drinking ever since." The fullness of the Spirit is not a reward for good behavior; the Spirit is given to us as sinners so that we might experience good behavior. The cross enables us to stand and to remain standing: but it is the Spirit who helps us walk in the Christian life. As we appropriate the Spirit's power by faith, we will find that we don't fall as often.
Third, Paul says that we should keep fighting. "For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please" (v. 17). Though Pad doesn't say it here, in Ephesians 6 he refers to us as fighting with the sword "which is the word of God.'
All of us know the fight that goes on between the flesh and the spirit, each desiring supremacy in our lives. These two forces are bitter enemies and each seeks to dominate the other. Paul speaks about the works of the flesh and gives a long catalog of sins, each wanting to take hold in our lives.
Here is hope for everyone! As I conclude these brief thoughts on Galatians, I am reminded of a letter I received from a rapist serving time in prison for raping four women. He wrote, "I have been able to leave my past behind, but my victims have not. It hurts me to be joyous and yet I cannot help them. How can I make amends for those who were my victims? It was sheer terror for me to be under the pressures of sin and addictions for the first one-half century of my life. Since being born again, God has put me through heat - He has turned up the thermostat. When I go through one of those glazing experiences, I forget His ability to get me through. But I'm learning."
Do we have a Gospel that is able to save a rapist? The answer of course is yes. Christ died for sinners, real sinners. He too can stand cleansed by Christ, walk in the Spirit's fullness, and fight by using God's Word. He must stand in the freedom with which Christ made Him free.
God has declared us to be righteous; we are accepted in the Beloved One. In light of that, we can rejoice in our perfect standing. My friend, no matter how far you have fallen, if you believe in Christ alone, He will declare you righteous. He wilt enable you to stand.
Then walk. then fight. You can make It!
Copyright 1997-2000 The Moody Church and The Moody Church Radio Ministries.
www.moodychurch.org
April 11, 2001
Resurrected Hope
By Richard Brown
Luke 24:1-34
Something hit me as I was reading this encounter with our Lord Jesus on the road to Emmaus. The passages tell us of two men who were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They had heard that Christ had risen from His grave, but they continued to doubt and were very sad. These two disciples had believed everything except the essential thing. They believed Jesus was a good man, a prophet, a redeemer, a miracle worker. But they didn't believe He had risen. They were discouraged and sad. After all, the Messiah they had hoped for for so long was dead. All hope was gone.
Obviously God had a other plans for these men, because what started out as a long seven mile journey turned out to be a spiritual journey as well. One of the most detailed accounts of any of Jesus' post-Resurrection appearances involves two virtually unknown men. Cleophas was one of them. He made his appearance in Luke 24. But his traveling companion wasn't even identified! This is Jesus for you. He is not particularly partial to the well-known and famous. This encounter could have easily happened with any of the apostles or Mary or even the Lord's own mother or brothers. But it didn't. By God's divine appointment, this encounter was designed for these men for a particular purpose.
As they discussed the recent events that had taken place, Jesus came up to them and said, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" (v.17) Cleophas replied, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have you not known the things which happened there these days?" (v.18) Now, this is where it really gets interesting. Jesus' reply was, "What things?" (v.19)
Now, the Lord could have easily just told them who He was. But He wanted to draw them to what He already knew they were thinking. As He had done so often with His disciples, He wanted to expose their lack of faith. But even more so, Jesus was giving us, the future readers of this account, an example of how to deal with people steeped in disbelief. He naturally walked with them. He easily conversed with them. He could have easily just told them who He was, but His approach gave Him a chance to, well, witness the Gospel. So what does He do? "And the beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." (v. 27) Jesus preached about Himself from the Old Testament. You'd be surprised to discover how many believers don't understand that the Old Testament is a picture in advance of the Messiah.
I would love to know what Scriptures Jesus opened to them, wouldn't you? Did He preach the gospel from Isaiah 53:6? "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Or did He tell the story of Abraham and Issac on Mr. Moriah, where Abraham was commanded by God to offer his only son as a sacrifice?
As they came to the town of Emmaus, Jesus indicated that He was going further down the road. The footnote in my New King James version translates that He "acted as if" He would have gone further down the road. But the two men insisted that Jesus go with them to Emmaus and stay the night with them. When they arrived at the home (the Scripture didn't tell us whose home it was), they sat down for an evening meal. "Now it came to pass, as He sat down at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight." (vs. 30,31) First Jesus opened the Scriptures to them, then He opened their eyes. But it wasn't necessarily either of these two things that caused them to recognize Him. Read what it says in verse 35: "He was known to them in the breaking of the bread."
He took the bread, blessed it and gave it to them. They took the bread out of the hands of Jesus and what did they see? Nail prints! Can't you just imagine their reaction? Imagine not only seeing the Resurrected Christ, but having Him dine with you! Now just look at the incredible change that took place in their hearts. Think again about their feelings at the beginning of their journey to Emmaus. A few hours ago they were ready to give up on life. Their hopes were gone. Wanna talk about revival?
Keep in mind that these men had endured a long day of travel. They had just traveled seven miles. They had returned home to feed their physically and emotionally exhausted bodies. They dined with our Lord and then He vanished. What then? They were so energized that they got up and made the trip seven miles BACK to Jerusalem that very night, to find the disciples! An hour before, they wouldn't have had the energy or desire to make such a trip. But after seeing Jesus and being revived by His presence, they went back to Jerusalem and found the disciples and told them about their life-changing experience. He was indeed alive! He had risen from the dead! He had also opened the Scriptures to them, opened their eyes and now we see that He opened their mouths! They couldn't stop talking about the One they had seen.
Think about the victory for us and fruitful labor that comes from that victory, all because of the Resurrection. Cleophas and his friend enjoyed both almost 2,000 years ago when Jesus broke bread with them, and it changed their lives forever. The same victory and fruitful labors are offered to us today. And it takes the very same thing for us as it did for them. Opening the Scriptures, having our eyes opened to the nail-scarred hands, and receiving the bread of life. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life" (John 6:47,48).
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow;
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
My life is worth the living just because He lives.
April 18, 2001
Unity In The Body Of Christ
By Lonnie Abraham
Does anyone who claims Christianity know what Jesus meant when He said in John 10:30 "I and my Father are one." These words are of major impact! Well, "How do you know?" you ask. For one thing, it is written in red. Therefore we know it must have been very meaningful. Jesus never ever spoke a meaningless word, which brings us to our focus today.
To understand what unity in the body of Christ means, all we have to do is study the relationship of God and His only Son Jesus Christ.
By studying God�s Word, we know that Jesus had no will of His own, except to do His Father's will. Not one time in His life did He ever do what He wanted to do or what He thought would be right. He continually sought out His Father's will. One example is the prayer He taught His disciples which says, "Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven."
Notice the first thing Jesus does in this prayer, He names whom He is talking to, then He declares God�s holiness by saying "Hallowed be Thy Name". Jesus didn�t lift up His own name, but the name of the Father He served.
Now every Christian should understand this basic unity between God the Father and God the Son, but Jesus takes it one step further. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He assured us that He would send a Comforter. We know the Comforter as the Holy Spirit.
All three Persons here are all working in Unity. Each Person knows what the other is doing. Why? Because all three have the same purpose: They each have separate duties, for the same purpose.
For example, an automobile manufacturing plant has many different jobs for certain skills and duties. The objective is to produce a car that runs to perfection. A car has many parts that do different things but they are made to make the car run in unison. If one part of that car is left out or put in the wrong place, that car will not run effectively and eventually it will break down and not run at all.
It�s the same with the body of Christ.
Right now we have so many different religions and divisions in our churches. How can we have unity in the body of Christ with so many denominations? Not one time is it written in God�s word about the many man-made denominations we have in the world today. God�s word simply calls those who are of God a Christian. Did you realize that there are over 30,000 man made denominations in the world today? And out of these, unfortunately, there are some which seem to lift up their denominations more than they lift up the Word of God.
How can unity abound successfully so many divisions? In everyone of these man-made divisions, people are claiming to be Christians, and granted, I believe most are. God�s word is the same yesterday, today and forever no matter what language it is written in or in whose doctrine it is viewed. So what we need is the understanding of exactly what God�s Word is telling us.
What is a Christian? The Holman's Bible dictionary describes this for the definition of Christian:
CHRISTIAN - The Greek "Christianos" originally applied to the slaves belonging to a great household. It came to denote that adherents are an individual or party. A Christian is an adherent of Christ; one committed to Christ; a follower of Christ. The word I used three times in the New Testament.
1. Believers "were called Christians first in Antioch" because their behavior, activity, and speech were like Christ (Acts 11:26).
2. Agrippa responded to Paul�s witness, "Almost thou persuade me to be a Christian"(Acts 26:28). He spoke of becoming an adherent of Christ.
3. Peter stated that believers who "suffer as Christian" are to do so for the glory of God (1 Peter 4:16). A Christian is one who becomes an adherent of Christ, whose daily life and behavior facing adversity is like Christ.
What? This sounds like unity to me! If you live your life from this description, then I�d say you are one with Christ, Now, if we can have all the denominations to see what this unity is and live it daily, then we can do away with the world's idea of religion & denomination. And we would finally have one body in Christ, if we can agree with one teaching, God�s entire Word, to be infallible and live the Christian life intended for us by Jesus. We certainly wouldn�t have to hear people say "I�m sick of church & religion". Instead, we would hear things like, "there must be something to Christianity. Look at all those people agreeing as one. There is no division among them, no arguing. So many people are coming together as one!"
People will want what we have in Christ. We may only be a small group now, but look out! Hey, Jesus only started out with 12 people, remember? Unity brings results especially when we agree on God�s word and have its full understanding. And we do this by putting scripture like these to use and daily practice: "Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind" (Philippians. 2:2); "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2); "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30).
When we are in Christ we are one with Him and the Father, as revealed in John 14:9-22. The unity here is by God�s word inseparable.
Read it, pray on it, believe it and live it! I encourage everyone to pray and bring it to the church�s attention that "religion" needs to go, and that "denomination" as a thing to be worshipped needs to go. As society has come together for other causes as long as it�s for society's benefit, so why not for God and Unity in the body of Christ?
Is that not worth standing up for? It�s up to us who call ourselves Christians, that is, agreeing, as one, to be Christians (Christ like) is the first step. Then learning how to be more and more like Christ is the next step.
If you truly agree to be one in Christ, Please let us know through, Cross Exam!
Looking forward to growing with you in Christ!
Your humble servant in Christ,
Lonnie Abraham
Christ Centered Prison Outreach
April 26, 2001
Religious Credits That Don't Impress God
By John MacArthur, Jr.
Part 1 of 9
Philippians 3:4-8
We come in this particular message to Philippians chapter 3 and I want to read for you verses 4 through 11, though we will not cover the whole section I want to read it to you and then we will discuss the first half of it this morning and the second half next time and I'll describe what I mean in detail in a moment. Philippians chapter 3 and verses 4-11, Paul writes:
"Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh I far more. Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the law found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."
Now, in those marvelous verses is one of the great personal testimonies in the New Testament. It is also one of the most significant statements on the matter of salvation found in the New Testament. It is Paul's own testimony as to the dramatic attitude that occurred in his mind at the juncture at which he met the living Christ. It takes us into the very heart of the sinner's attitude in conversion.
And you will notice as we read that Paul sees this matter of salvation from the viewpoint of a transaction, or an exchange. He even uses business and accounting terminology. The heart of the passage is in verses 7 and 8 and you will notice in verse 7 the word "gain" is used, kerdos, it means profit. And if you were an accountant you would indicate this as the term to describe the profit column, that's what its use is related to.
You will also notice in verse 7 the word "loss," again that word, zemia, is used in extrabiblical Greek to describe a business loss and so this would be the loss column. So the Apostle Paul is talking about profit and loss. You will notice also in verse 7 the word "counted," that word, hegeomai, means to count or account or reckon.
So, Paul here is talking about a business transaction that involved a profit column and a loss column. There were certain things which he felt were in the profit column which he switched over to the loss column when he met Christ. In fact, he says very clearly in verse 7, "Whatever things were profit, those things I have counted as loss." Now what you have here is a transaction. You have the Apostle Paul spending a life time accumulating spiritual profits and filling up a column of spiritual profit banking on that column of spiritual profit to earn him salvation. That's what he means in verse 9 by the "righteousness of my own derived from the law".
So there he has his profit column filled up by which he hopes to earn salvation. But he encounters Jesus Christ. And upon encountering Jesus Christ he comes across, verse 9, a righteousness not his own, but righteousness which comes through faith in Christ. And instantaneously he counts everything that he once saw as profit as loss and gives it all up in order to gain Christ. He realizes that everything he had been accumulating to buy his way into the Kingdom was rubbish, that's the word he uses in verse 8...rubbish. And he gives it all up for Christ.
By John MacArthur, Jr.
Grace To You
www.gty.org
� 2000 Grace to You