There is no more effective way to release the power
of God into any ministry than by proclaiming His word. God’s word cuts through
every situation and I’ve seen people radically healed, delivered and saved
through no other means than by proclaiming His word.
Isaiah 55:10-11 says
“For as the rain and
snow come down from the heavens, and return not there again, but water the
earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower
and bread to the eater,11 So shall My word be that goes forth
out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any
effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in
the thing for which I sent it.”(AMP)
One of the ways that the Bible teaches us is to take everyday
situations and use them as examples in a Spiritual application. Some examples
are a farmer sowing his seed, a soldier putting on his armor, a fisherman
catching fish with a net and a bride preparing for a wedding. Today I want to
focus on the example of constructing a building. There are at least 17 examples
of building a house used in scripture and at least 41 concerning building in
general.
In Jude,
verse 20-21 it says, “But
you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in
the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God,
waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” (NASB)
This passage first tells us that we
build ourselves up on faith, by
praying in the Spirit. It is our job
to build ourselves up.
In Ephesians 2:21-22, it tells us “in
whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy
temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built
together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
These verses tell us that we (the
body, collectively) are being built into a Holy temple, a dwelling for God in
the Spirit.
In 1 Peter 2:4-5, it says, “And
coming to Him(Jesus) as to a living stone which has been rejected by men,
but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you
also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual
house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ.”
(NASB)
Here we are compared to living stones being built
together into a Holy temple which God is going to inhabit.
And in Acts 20:32,
Paul is speaking to his dear friends, the Ephesian elders, bidding them
farewell, telling them they’ll never see him again (in this life anyway), and
in closing his farewell address he tells them “And now I commend you to God and to the
word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you
the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Here Paul reiterates to the elder of the church at
Ephesus that the primary way for us to be built up is through the word of God,
the scriptures. Not only does the word of God build us up but it prepares us to
inherit the Kingdom with all those that are sanctified.
In any building, no matter what the building material, whether it be concrete or wood or whatever, the most vital element of construction is the foundation. The foundation of a building determines the type of structure that can built upon it and sets the limits on what the structure can tolerate and bear. This is also true in the Christian life. We cannot build more of a Christian life than our foundations will permit. Have you laid or are you laying the right foundation? There is only one foundation that is adequate for supporting the proper
Christian life, the temple that God will inhabit. That foundation is the living
stone, Jesus Christ.
When Paul writes to the Christians at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 3:9, he uses an
agricultural metaphor and a building metaphor in the same line, saying “For we are God’s fellow
workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
Paul continues with the
construction metaphor in verse 10, “According to the grace of God which was
given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is
building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For
no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.”
The word for ‘master builder’ in
Greek is the same as our meaning for the word “architect”, one who plans, designs and oversees a construction
project. Here, Paul states very clearly
that there is only one foundation for the Christian life and that foundation is
Jesus Christ. Any church that calls itself Christian must have as their foundation of the full teachings and Gospel of
Jesus Christ. Anything less will not hold up to the test of time or trials yet
to come. Likewise every individual Christian must access their own beliefs to
assure that they are built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. Do you have
a personal relationship, awareness and knowledge of Jesus? The question of
laying a solid foundation in Christ is crucial to the Christian faith. So, how
do we get this foundation of Jesus in our lives?
In Matthew
16:13-18, it says “Now
when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His
disciples, “Who
do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others,
Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He *said to them, “But who
do you say that I am?” 16 Simon
Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
This is a crucial moment in the
life of Peter, the disciples and the whole of Christianity, why? Well, Jesus
sums it up in the next line, verses
17-18 “And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon
Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 I also say to you that you are Peter , and upon this rock I
will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
Verse
18 is one of the most misunderstood
and mistaught verses in all of scripture – and this is partially due partially to
ignorance of the original Koine Greek. When Jesus says to Peter in verse 18, “I also say to you that you
are Peter, this is petros in the Greek),
and upon this rock (petra in the
Greek) upon this rock I will build My church” he does NOT mean that He will
build His church on Peter. If the church was built on Peter it would be such a
weak foundation that it would have collapsed multiple times before and after
Christ’s death and resurrection. Peter was so influenced by the demonic at one
point (Matthew 16:23) that Jesus
personally rebuked him saying, “Get
behind me Satan” and during Jesus’ trial Peter denied Him three times.
After Jesus was resurrected Paul sternly rebuked Peter for compromising the
truth of the Gospel when preaching to his Jewish brethren. The intention of verse 18 is to say that the church is
built on the revelation that was given to Peter from the Father, by the Holy
Spirit, that Jesus was the Messiah. Isn’t this exactly what happens to every
single believer at salvation? THAT is what the church is built on – the
revelation of who Jesus truly is.
We get a clearer picture of this
when we look at the original Koine Greek. Peter in the Greek is Petros, meaning a single, small stone or
rock. This is the word that was used for Peter in verse 18. Further, the Greek
word petra means a ledge or cliff of
solid rock, a bedrock. This was the word used for ‘rock’ in verse 18. A petros is a stone or small boulder that
can easily be moved or dislodged, whereas petra
is a solid mass of rock, a firm foundation that cannot be moved. Petros
was used to describe Peter because he manifested the characteristics of a small
stone – easily moved, swayed – not a firm foundation but a small stone that is
not permanent in nature. The foundation
of the Christian church is based what happened to Peter before his now famous
line in scripture. Peter had a personal relationship and a divine revelation that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah and our
Savior. The experience of Peter is relived in every single believer at
salvation.
If we analyze it, the experience of Peter can be
surmised in four steps:
1) A
Personal Encounter – Jesus and Peter came face to face.
There was no mediator; no priest, no Pastor, no ceremony and no special prayer
– nothing between you and Jesus. There is but one way to the Kingdom of Heaven
and that is through the door, which is not a church or doctrine but only by
entering through Jesus.
You can join a church, go through a
class or religious ceremony and repeat a special prayer of salvation and come
out exactly the same as you were before the process. But, when you truly
encounter Jesus personally, you cannot help being totally and completely
changed.
2) A
Personal Revelation – Every true believer will experience a
personal revelation granted from God the Father, by the Holy Spirit as to the
truth of who Jesus is. In Matthew 16:17, Jesus explains that this revelation is
not given by flesh and blood but from the Father. We cannot perceive this
revelation by way of our natural senses, instinct, intellect or intuition. This
is a revelation that cuts through like a knife, a bolt of lightning and
instantly makes perfect sense.
No one can truly know Jesus without
a personal revelation. You can go to a seminary or Bible college and study til
your blue in the face and even come out a minister and minister for years – but
without a personal revelation of Jesus and who He truly is in your life you
cannot know Him. This is the leading element and reasoning behind Jesus telling
the ones that cast out demons and healed the sick, when they stand in front of
Him for judgment, “I never knew you” It is absolutely imperative that each of
us experience this personal revelation – which comes from the Father, by the
Holy Spirit and through the Son.
3) A
Personal Response – We must acknowledge what the Holy
Spirit has revealed to us. This is not automatic but voluntary. It requires
action on our part.
4) A
Public Confession – We must publicly confess our faith in
Jesus. This is exactly what Peter did when he confessed Jesus as the Messiah
and the Son of God. While there are hundreds of thousands of underground
churches and millions of ‘secret believers’ around the world today, when put to
the test as Jesus did with His disciples, the true believer will publicly
confess Jesus as Lord, even in the face of death.
In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus very clearly states “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before
men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But
whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in
heaven.” If we fail to confess Jesus as Lord in an
appropriate situation (i.e. under threat of death or ridicule) then He will
deny us before God the Father.
I’ve always been
the sort of person that makes my beliefs and intentions clear up front. Even as
a non-believer I was that way and when it comes to my faith in Jesus as Lord
and Savior I’m even more adamant about letting people know where I stand. That
doesn’t mean pushy, it just means that if your around me for any amount of time
you’re going to know what I believe. That way when something comes up in my
everyday life I won’t waffle around about it and those that know me really
don’t even have to ask me what my thoughts and beliefs are. I’ll get questions
from curious unbelievers, but if they know me at all they know that my answer
will always come from scripture, so when they do ask me something they’ll
almost always precede the question with “What does the Bible say about…” I
think it’s better to be brutally honest up front because it leaves no room for
doubt or wiggle room to make my answers conform to the beliefs of the person
I’m addressing. It’s much harder to try and explain yourself after the fact,
after side-stepping or avoiding the issue, than to be honest up front and let
the chips fall where they may. You may have less friends but the ones you have
will appreciate you for it. I really believe that every chance we get to
witness about Jesus we should take it. We should never hear someone tell us
that they had no idea that we were Christian. It should be a known fact – a
part of who we are in our everyday walk. This is how we lay the foundation of
Jesus in our lives.
Can
We Know Jesus The Same Way That Peter and the Disciples Did?
Did you ever
hear someone say “I wish I was around when Jesus walked the Earth. That must
have been fantastic.” Well, I’ve got news.
Since the true identity of Jesus was revealed to Peter as a gift from
God the Father by the Spirit, then we today know exactly the same Jesus that
the disciples did and we can have just as close a relationship with Him as they
did. It doesn’t matter that He isn’t here in the flesh, that’s not the point.
Jesus wasn’t revealed to Peter as the son of a carpenter. That’s the flesh. The
revelation was that this carpenter was also the son of the living God, Yeshua
Hamashiach! His name literally means ‘Jesus the Messiah’ or ‘Anointed One’. How do we know that we can have the same
relationship with Jesus that the men who walked with Him and witnessed all the
miracles personally? Because, Hebrews 13:8
tells us that “Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today
and forever.” He never changes. In
addition, the Holy Spirit is called the “eternal
Spirit”, meaning the same thing, He never changes but is the same Spirit
throughout eternity. So, if both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the same for all
of eternity and Jesus was revealed to Peter as the son of God by way of the
Holy Spirit, then when we come to salvation we are introduced to exactly the
same Jesus that the disciples knew. Who introduces us? The Holy Spirit! Who
introduced the true identity of Jesus to Peter? The Holy Spirit!
Building
On the Foundation of Jesus
Matthew
7:24-27 gives us the parable
of the wise and foolish builders and says this,
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of
Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house
on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods
came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been
founded on the rock.
(This is petra, the
bedrock). 26 Everyone
who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish
man who built his house on the sand.(In
the Greek this is ammos, like
sand heaped up on the beach) 27 The rain
fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house;
and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Now, notice that
both houses were tested in exactly the same way. The storm that hit the house
built on the firm foundation also hit the house built on sand. As we walk in
Christian discipleship, we are constantly hit with storms. I’m talking about
those that are actively engaged in doing Kingdom work. The storms I’m referring
to are demonic attack. Do you know that if you do nothing to further the
Kingdom of God on earth, the devil will pretty much leave you alone? You might
get an occasional disruption but it’s when we begin to do Kingdom work that we
really become a demon magnet. This is why there is such a disparity and lack of
understanding of the demonic in the church today. We’ve got some people who
have accepted everything that God has for them and are actively engaged in
battle, but the vast majority are not – and they have no comprehension of what
it is to do battle of even come under attack, in any form. It’s true.
In Acts 14:22 what Paul and Barnabas were
preaching to the churches of Derbe, Lystra,
Iconium, and Antioch was that the road of discipleship that leads to the
Kingdom of God is laid on pavement of tribulation. The Message version says “Anyone
signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times.”
That’s pretty plain. Just like the houses in Matthew 7, each and every true
disciple will be hit by the same storms. Derek Prince once said rather
matter-of-factly that “if you’re on a road with no tribulation, it’s
questionable that it leads to the Kingdom of God.” We must, through much
tribulation, enter the Kingdom of God.
So, if you’re
going through tribulation in your life, you’re doing something right. Don’t be
dismayed. When you come out the other side you’ll find that God has taught you
things that you wouldn’t have learned as quickly in any other way. (Tell about
being shut down in TN and the lessons of love, humility in the face of
opposition)
So then, how
does the wise man build? Very simply by hearing and doing the word and letting
the Holy Spirit be your guide. We must not only be hearers of the Word but
doers as well, as James states in James
1:22. But why must we be doers of the Word? Why, as James states, are those
that only listen and don’t do deluding themselves? Because the word makes no
promises to the hearer only, but for the doer there are promised blessings.
If you read on
in verses 23-24 in James 1, it
states “For if anyone is a hearer of the
word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a
mirror;
24 for once
he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind
of person he was.”
Here James
states that the hearer of the word is
self-deceiving, like a person who looks in a mirror and then goes away without
thinking further about his or her appearance. That sounds to me like a warning
against a false presumption of salvation; that if we are not doers of the word
it is as if we got saved, then just went on our own merry way, forgetting the
entire experience and the follow-up that is essential! In other words, if I
hear the word of God but do not do what it says, I am treating the word as if
it were useless. I am deceiving myself about the very nature and purpose of the
word of God. I am basically slapping God in the face and saying ‘what you have
to say to me isn’t important enough for me to carry it everywhere I go and
speak it with every breath I take!’ Do you think God would take exception to
that? Scripture is full of examples stating that He would and does. Moses hit
the rock instead of speaking to it and never stepped foot in the Promised Land.
In Luke 6:46, which tells the same parable of the wise builder, there
is a very important addition. Jesus says
““Why do you call Me,
‘Lord Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” so it is totally
contradictory to call Jesus Lord and not
do His word. This is as if to
say ‘how can you say you’re saved, call me Lord and NOT do as I command?’ The
very title of Lord, means “someone who is to be obeyed”. This is from the
original Koine Greek. The personal name of God, Yahweh, in Greek is kurios or kyrios and when translated into English is Lord or Master. It is an
exercise in futility to call Jesus Lord and not follow His examples and His
commands and this statement in Luke warns against simply having a verbalized
confession with no influence on how you live your life. This says quite plainly
that believing, knowing who Jesus is isn’t enough. James 2:19 tells us that “even the demons believe and shudder”. Is
a demon saved? Why not? It says that they believe? If we believe aren’t we
saved? Romans 10:9 says that if we
confess Jesus as Lord and believe that He was raised from the dead, then we’re
saved, right? The demons know that
Jesus was raised. In Mark 1:24 the demon in the man at the
synagogue confesses Jesus as the Holy one of God? Are you thinking? What’s the
difference?
The difference
is this: Receiving Jesus as Master or Lord means that our constant overriding
goal in absolutely everything we do is obeying ALL His commands.
And nothing
else matters. Jesus’ last command in Matthew
28 is to “Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We
are to obey, observe and to teach ALL of Jesus’ commands or we are incomplete.
Jesus goes on to
say in Luke 6: 47-49, “47 Everyone who comes to
Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 he
is like a man building a house, who dug
deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the
torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been
well built (Founded on the bedrock
– petra)
49 But the one who has heard and has not
acted accordingly, is like
a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent
burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was
great.”
Without a solid foundation built on
Jesus and His commandments we are doomed to failure. John 3:36 says that, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not
obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
There is another thing different
about this telling than that found in Matthew 7. It says that the man who laid
his foundation on the rock (petra) had to dig deep. He had to clear a lot of
pebbles and debris out of the way in order to reach the bedrock. The same is
true with a lot of Christians as well, especially those that were raised in a
nominal Christian culture. In a way the person that has had no Christian
upbringing at all has an advantage on grasping the solid foundation when they
come to truth. They will definitely have challenges but the challenges they
have are different than the person that has a lot of badly taught clutter in the
basement. They will have to break through the concrete covering that they
thought was the bedrock to get through to the real bedrock. We all, no matter
what our backgrounds, must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He speaks and
guides us on our way to laying a solid foundation.
I want to give you five obstacles
that we need to dig out of the way in order to get to the bedrock foundation.
They are:
1) Bad
Traditions – A ‘bad tradition’ is any tradition that is not in
line with scripture. In Mark 7:13 Jesus tells us that we nullify or invalidate
the word of God by our bad traditions that have been handed down through generations.
This is true not only of the Jewish people but also of Christians in the things
we do and the words we speak at times – not to mention the celebration of
Christian holidays with strictly pagan backgrounds, but I’m not going there.
2) Prejudices
–
Here I’m talking about a variety of prejudices – racial, cultural,
denominational, social prejudice, personal prejudices, etc. When we prejudice
we put people in a box. When we hear someone is a Catholic, for example, we
immediately develop an attitude against them without even meeting them as an
individual. I’ve been just as guilty as anyone when it comes to denominational
prejudices. There are social and personal prejudices. We all have our quirks,
and likewise we all have our personal prejudices. Some people automatically don’t
like people with red hair or very short people. There are all kinds of personal
prejudices. What command of Jesus does
being prejudiced break? Being judgmental! Luke 6:37 states clearly that if we
judge we will be judged harshly; condemn and we will be condemned. We must get
past our prejudices and pardon so that we are pardoned. But we automatically
start thinking ‘this guy is going to be this way or that and it’s just so
wrong’ and so on. But the rule of thumb should be not to judge anyone until
you’ve met them…then judge away! J Just kidding.
But being non-judgmental and treating people openly and giving them a chance will
yield plenty of surprises I guarantee you.
3) Pre-conceptions
– The first cousin to prejudice, a preconception is a partiality that prevents
objective consideration of an issue or situation, which is based on some prior
experience with something or someone of the same type. But I want you to think
in terms of how people relate to being a Christian here. Non-Christians have
some preconceived ideas when defining Christians. They thing we’re all stiff
and miserable mainly because that is what the non-loving Christian shows them.
I’m talking about the Christian that shows up at a gay rally with placards with
Bible verses on them telling everybody they’re going to hell. While that’s true
it certainly isn’t the way to lead them to Christ. I believe the best way to
handle any situation is to ask yourself, ‘What would Jesus do?’ I know that
sounds clichĂ© but it’s the only way we can act in a manner that shows
non-Christians the love of Christ, amen? So, don’t be one that feeds the
misconceptions of what Christians are about.
4) Unbelief
– This is one of if not the most dangerous condition to be in. When we met for
prayer before the meeting tonight one of the first things I did was to renounce
and cast out any spirit of unbelief. Unbelief
is crippling to any body and spreads like cancer.
5) Rebellion
– We are all rebels. Every single descendant of Adam is born with a rebellious
spirit that we must overcome in order to be saved and accept all of Jesus’
commandments. Do you know what the remedy for rebellion is? Death! The fact of
the matter is that the execution of rebellion took place at a place called
Golgotha going on 2,000 years ago. But we still have to recognize the
rebellious spirit in us and come to the foot of the cross and lay it down at
the feet of Jesus, and He will deliver us instantly. The key is that we must
willingly submit to execution.
There are obviously more than these five but you get
the picture. I would certainly add rationalization to this list.
Rationalization is so common a crutch in mankind that we can hardly go a day
without making several excuses why we can’t do something. In Luke 14:15-35
Jesus tells us in four short parables; the feast, the tower, the king preparing
for battle and the salt, that those who make excuses for not committing to Him
will be ‘thrown out’- and He ends it with “He who has ears to hear, let him
hear”. We must hear and do or we will not ‘endure to the end’.
Our
Relationship With The Word of God
How do you relate to the Word of God? When somebody
asks me a question about just about anything, the answer I give is usually
scriptural. You know why? Take a look at John
10:34-35. The complete context isn’t important right now but in brief the
Jews were about to stone Jesus after insisting that He tell them that He was
the Messiah and He answered by explaining that He had been telling them such
through His works (miracles, signs and wonders). The problem was, as He
explains in verses 25-30, that they
were not listening. He goes on to make the statement “I and my Father are one”,
which really blows them away and they began to collect stones to kill Him for
blasphemy, saying, in verse 33, “You, being a man, make yourself out to be
God” and He answers starting in verse 34, “Jesus answered them, “Has it
not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? (reference Psalm 82:6) 35 If he
called them gods, to whom the word of God came and the Scripture cannot be
broken…”
First, understand that what Jesus
was referring to was the fact that if the OT uses the word “Gods” (Psalm 82:6 - Elohim – plural) when
referring to men who were representatives of God, then the Jews shouldn’t
oppose Him for calling himself the Son of God. But the most crucial line here
is at the tail end of verse 35, “If he called them gods, to whom the word
of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken”.
Here
Jesus uses the two principle words for the Bible: (1) The Word of God, and (2)
scripture. Jesus states that the Bible is the direct Word of God, from the
Father through the prophets, to us the hearer. The word scripture means “that which has been set down in writing”.
Understand that obviously every word that came from Jesus’ mouth wasn’t
recorded in writing, we only get the important stuff that God the Father wanted
us to have. And here Jesus makes one, all-encompassing statement that “the scripture, that which has been set down
in writing, cannot be broken”. The Word of God is absolutely authoritative
and everything in it will be totally fulfilled! Hallelujah! You can take a
stand against it, you can deny, but you cannot break it! In fact if you deny it
will ultimately break you! The scripture cannot be broken! If
there is one thing that Satan wants to accomplish it is to undermine your faith
in the Word of God! But if we treat it like Jesus did, we simply say to Satan
‘The scripture cannot be broken!’ Turn to someone and say ‘the
scripture cannot be broken!’
And, of course, Jesus is the living
Word of God! John 1:1 tells that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.” John
1:14 says that “And the Word
became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the
only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” So, if we combine
the two concepts, we end up with ‘Jesus cannot be broken!’ Turn to your
neighbor and say ‘Jesus cannot be broken!’ This is what Jesus was, in essence
saying to the Pharisees about to stone Him – “I cannot be broken” You may kill
this body but you cannot stop me! You cannot break the Word of God almighty for
I am Faithful and True and I have a name which is The Word of God and I’ll be
back!! :)
Revelation
19:11-13 tells us exactly this. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white
horse, and He who sat on it is
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His
eyes are a flame of fire, and
on His head are many diadems
(crowns); and He has a name written on
Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in
blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”
Jesus was the Word, is the Word and will always be the Word –
the same yesterday, today and forever!
Now
here’s something I want you to pay attention to please.
There is total agreement between Jesus and the Bible. Your attitude toward one
is exactly the same toward the other. Arguing with the Word of God is the same
as arguing with Jesus. Not believing the Word of God is not believing in Jesus.
You cannot believe in Jesus and disbelieve the Bible!
In
Closing
I want to close by giving you seven vital promises
that Christ gives us in His Word. They are all found in John 14. Here Jesus is
telling His disciples that He is going to be leaving them for a bit. The
disciples were a bit overwhelmed and saddened by this news and it was a very
traumatic time for them. But Jesus comforts them by making these promises to
them.
1) John 14:2
- Christ guarantees us a place in Heaven
“In My Father’s house are
many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to
prepare a place for you.”
2) John 14:3
– Christ promises His return and our reunion with Him. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
3) John 14:12
– Christ promises that IF we believe,
will do all the miracles that He did and even greater ones. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes
in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because
I go to the Father.”
4) John 14:13
– Christ promises that IF we
ask in His name, whatever we ask for, He will do anything. He will answer our prayers. “Whatever you ask in My name,
that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
5) John 14:16
– Christ promises that He will not leave us as orphans but will send us the
Holy Spirit to be our helper, teacher and guide forever, IF we keep His commandments. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you
another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” In John 16:7 Jesus says that it is to the disciple’s advantage that He
leaves because if He stays the Holy Spirit will not come.
6) John 14:23 – Christ promises the love of God
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit will dwell in us IF we keep His Word.
**It is
important to understand that this scripture was in answer to Judas question, in
verse 22, regarding Christ’s
statement, in verses 19-21, that He
would manifest Himself to the disciples but not to the world. Judas asked how this
would be done.
(This is not
Iscariot, as noted in scripture, but Judas
Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus and the brother
of James and half-brother of Jesus.)
“Jesus
answered and said to him, “If
anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We
will come to him and make Our abode with him.”
There are six vital
truths given in this scenario:
1) Jesus
said He will reveal Himself to His disciples, not to the world.
So, what separates disciples from the world?
2) The
distinguishing mark between true disciples and the world is keeping the Word of
Jesus. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word “ You are distinguished by
how you relate to the Word of God. This is what marks you or prevents you from
being a true disciple of Jesus – your relationship with His Word. Christ goes
on to say in Verse 24 that 24 He
who does not love Me does not keep My word”
Keeping God’s word is the supreme test
of love for all disciples. “If any man
loves me He will keep my word” This love is the motivation for obedience,
which is the key to everything.
3) If
we keep the Word, we are rewarded with love from the Father.
God loves the whole world but He has a special love for those that keep His
word. For true disciples He jacks His love up a notch to a level that those
that don’t keep His word will never know and enjoy! We all know that there are
ranks in heaven right? Matthew 16:27 tells us “For the Son of Man is going to come in the
glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man
according to his deeds.” (Also Matthew 25:14-30; Romans 2:5-6; 1 Corinthians
3:11-15; Proverbs 24:12; Daniel 12:3; 2 John 4-10)
4) Christ
manifests Himself through His Word.
It is by keeping His word that He manifests Himself to us…whoa! This is the
most basic way that Jesus reveals Himself to all believers.
5) It
says “and We (Elohim - plural) will come to him and make Our abode
with him “ IF we love
Jesus and keep His Word, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit will ALL dwell in
us! Do you grasp the magnitude of that statement? The truth that Elohim,
the Trinity, want to come and dwell in us is awesome! Likewise, if we
don’t keep His word, He will not make His dwelling place in us.
2
John 1:8-10 kind of sums it up rather
sternly:
“Watch yourselves, that you do
not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone
who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have
God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
10 If
anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a
greeting”
7)
John
14:27
– Christ promises us His peace in place of our fears. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to
you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be
troubled, nor let it be fearful.” As disciples we are not motivated by fear
but by the love and peace of God. A child that is motivated by fear will change
the moment he or she is out of the house and on their own. But the child that
is motivated by love will remain constant in the peace that yields.
Now, did you notice how many of these promises are
conditional? The word IF creates a
condition. IF we do this, Jesus will
do that. IF we love Jesus we keep
His Word. IF we keep His Word
THEN He will keep these
promises to us. You see, with discipleship comes responsibility.
You don’t love God more than you love His Word.
Loving His Word is the gauge of how much you love God and that’s how God gauges
how much you love Him.
It’s not complicated. You need ask yourself but one
question. How big a place does the Bible have in my life? How much time do I
devote to Bible study? I’m not talking about memorizing scriptures without them
having meaning to you. I know a lot of people that can quote scripture at the
drop of a hat but the words have no meaning. I’m talking about digging deep and breaking
through the basement floor to the bedrock of the Word and really studying it.
Therein lies the heart, will and love of God.
God bless you.
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