Saturday, September 26, 2009

Greater is He That Is In Me

1 John 4:4

One of my favorite praise songs as a kid had this title and it basically just said it over and over. I don’t know why I enjoyed it so much, because the tune was very simple and the words not at all complex, but I loved it. I remember having a sense of how amazing that it was that Jesus was inside of me and that He was greater within little old me than anything else in the world. That sense of wonder and awe has never really left, and I hope that it never does!

John promises a few important things in this verse, all of which deserve a second look:

1. “Ye are of God” – He just told us in verse 2, “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God”. Notice that he emphasizes ‘Christ’, not just ‘Jesus’. To admit that the Christ has come is to acknowledge the cross and the work that Jesus accomplished there. It makes Jesus more than just a man, a teacher or a historical figure; it makes him the Son of God. You see that and you are “of God”. What a high honor!

2. “little children” – John reinforces sonship, an important characteristic of Christianity. We are not mere slaves or servants to a higher power somewhere. We are sons and daughters of the living God, adopted into His family. The phrase first appears in this book in 2:1, where John tells us what we are to do when we sin (go to our advocate Jesus), as opposed to what a sinner does when he gets saved (confess your sins – 1 John 1:9).

3. “have overcome them” – The ‘them’ here is the false prophets of verse one and the spirit of anti-Christ of verse 3. This spirit of anti-Christ has nothing to do with the Anti-Christ of the Tribulation period, but with a general doctrine that lessens the power and authority of the finished work of Jesus. Even in John’s day, the word was out that Jesus had not accomplished everything at the cross. He warns us of this, and promises us that we have overcome.

4. “because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” – Our overcoming is not wrapped up in our faith, church attendance, Bible study or prayer life, but in the one who lives within each one of us. It is not “greater am I than the world”; it is “greater is He”. All things point to Jesus and His greatness.

Paul made a similar promise in Romans 8:31 when he said, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” How true! If God is on our side, having known us in our sins and loved us anyway, who could ever raise a statement of accusation against the beloved? In every one of our issues and difficulties, “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Friday, September 25, 2009

Grace to the Humble

1 Peter 5:5-7

Peter tells us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, using “therefore” as his way into this statement. “Therefore” what? “For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). Because God resists pride but offers grace to the humble, it makes sense that believers would strive for humility and not pride, knowing that we will be exalted when God sees fit (verse 6).

The sixth verse ends with a colon, meaning that the seventh verse is going to tell us how to humble ourselves: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). When we cast our cares onto Christ, we are humbling ourselves by admitting that we cannot take care of our own issues. Pride causes us to hang on to things that we should let go of, but the casting off of those things onto the finished work of Jesus is a true act of humility.

There is no pride busting message like the message of God’s grace. Pride tries to keep the law to overcome failure; offering religion as a way to defeat sin and vice. The individuals that live this way are mean when they are right and miserable when they are wrong. Only true, radical grace, where a man knows that he cannot save himself and desperately needs the never-ending flow of God’s love and forgiveness, can ever break that wicked pride.

Retaining your cares; thinking that one more day of worrying and working will help you to figure things out, is an insult to the work that Jesus accomplished for you at the cross. When you labor under your own works, you are saying, “I can do this! I don’t need any help; not from man and not from God”. How dare us!

We must humble ourselves, and this does not entail self-beatings and denying ourselves things to curtail the flesh. Humbling ourselves involves giving in to God’s glorious grace; understanding our own hopelessness and uplifting His victory on the cross. As we concentrate more and more on His finished work, we will naturally concentrate less and less on our inabilities and failures. By trusting in Him and His love for us, we are becoming less self dependent and more Christ-dependent. He becomes our everything, with true humility being the result.

He WILL NOT humble you into receiving His gift of grace. You must decide that you will live by His grace and favor. Any other decision is a leaning to our pride and self-sufficiency. Remember that abundant grace is a gift to be received (Romans 5:17). You are humbled naturally when you lift your eyes from you and onto Him and His loveliness.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

A Clean Conscience

Hebrews 9:14

Many of us use the phrase “my conscience is clean” when we know that we have done nothing wrong in a certain situation. However, when we know that we have done wrong, our conscience haunts us and condemns our actions. This causes us to try and work our way back into favor with those that we have wronged; even if that one is God. These works are genuine efforts on our part to make amends for our failures, and they often make us feel better about the issue.

The author of Hebrews pointed out that the blood of Christ obtains eternal redemption for all of us who accept Jesus (Hebrews 9:12). Having paid for our salvation, the blood goes on to do much more than just guarantee us that we are pure; it actually purges our conscience from the need to perform “dead works” (Hebrews 9:14). This means that as we realize just how forgiven and accepted that we are because of the blood of Jesus; we do not try to appease our conscience with works that can change nothing.

Acknowledging the finished work of Jesus will show us that no work on our part could ever even match, much less supersede what great price that He has paid for us on the cross. If a believer has little or no recognition of the finished work, they will live by their conscience, always trying to pay God back for their sins and failures. Satan will exploit this dependency on conscience by heaping on guilt and condemnation, even going so far as to tell the believer that they are not reading enough scripture, or praying enough, or giving enough. Some seemed shocked to think that Satan would actually encourage believers to do these seemingly “good” things, but do not be surprised; Satan wants your focus off of the finished work and onto your own!

Every time that you concentrate on your sin or your failure, you inflame consciousness of sin. Some preach that if the believer is not sin-conscious then they will ignore sin and go deeper into it. The Word teaches the opposite:

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins” (Hebrews 10:1, 2).

If the sacrificial system of the law had made the individual offering them perfect, wouldn’t they have ceased to offer the sacrifices? Of course they would have, but the sacrifices did nothing to change man’s heart, thus he was always guilty. Once they were cleansed they should have no more guilt on their conscience, but we know that they did because the next verse makes that clear:

“But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year” (Hebrews 10:3).

Every time that they brought a lamb they became “sin-conscious”, and every time that they became sin-conscious, their conscience condemned them. Let us become “Savior-conscious” and watch Him purge us of our sin. Then we will have no more reason to be guilty in our conscience and we can live free in His righteousness and true holiness.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Finish the Course

2 Timothy 4:6-8

The final words of the Apostle Paul that the Holy Spirit had him to put down on paper are recorded in 2 Timothy. This last chapter shows us the heart of the great giver of the New Covenant message; his readiness to go home after having finished his Christian walk.

According to the tone of the sixth verse, it appears that Paul could leave this life when he was “ready”. Earlier in his ministry he had stated that he was torn as to whether to stay here or go on to heaven, “For I am in a strait between two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:23, 24). I believe that saints who understand who they are in Christ, and assert their righteousness in Him should expect to see long life and length of days (Proverbs 3:2). When you have lived a full life, ask your Daddy to take you home, “which is far better”.

Paul is reluctant to leave until he has finished his course, showing us yet another instance in the Bible where God’s labor does not cease until it is finished. God finished creation and then He rested on the seventh day. Jesus finished paying for man’s sins at the cross, and then He gave up the ghost. Paul finishes the masterpiece of New Testament writing on the Covenant of Grace and Goodness, and he is ready to go home.

Too often we quit before we are finished, which leads to frustration and discouragement. We have not begun the Christian walk of grace and favor to merely lie down and be content with the knowledge gained. Those who are feeding on His grace and goodness find that they are never again satisfied to merely “be”. They must constantly be growing and expanding; increasing in their knowledge of how wonderful that their Savior truly is.

Are you a chronic quitter? Do you start projects and leave them half-finished? Has it been quite some time since you brought an idea to fruition and saw it through until the very end? There is no satisfaction like finishing what you start; taking it from idea to project to completion. If you find that you have difficulty with this, lean on His grace to supply you in this area that you obviously cannot supply yourself. He is a finisher and you are in Him, thus, you are a finisher too!

When Paul finished the course, he was to receive a crown of righteousness, which is also promised to all of us (2 Timothy 4:9). We are righteous now because of the finished work of Jesus, but we will be crowned with righteousness in glory having been stripped of this mortality. The mortal man is the remaining remnant of the fall and it keeps us from seeing perfect righteousness in every area. Without this “mortal coil”, we will have the perfection of His pure righteousness in body, soul and spirit. Though our lives are great on this earth, what beautiful glory awaits.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Made to be Righteous

2 Corinthians 5:21

This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible because it says so much about what Jesus took for me at Calvary and about what His death provided for me. In a nutshell, God made Jesus to be the bearer of the sins of the world, though Jesus had never committed a sin of His own. This was done so that all who believe on Jesus would be made into the very holiness and goodness of God because of Jesus.

The promise of this verse provides hope and redemption for everyone who believes on Jesus. He literally took all of your sins; past, present and future and bore them in His body on the cross. When He was lifted up, it was so that He could be the lightning rod that drew all of God’s judgment against YOUR SINS, into His body (John 12:32). If God judged Jesus for your sins, He cannot remain just if He judges you for the same sins. You might say, “Pastor Paul, Jesus only covered my past sins, not my future sins”. Really? He died 2000 years before you were born, thus He died before you had committed any sins and yet He still covers them all!

You need not worry about how much righteousness you “perform” as to whether or not you are considered righteous in the eyes of God. Jesus had committed no sins, yet He had all sins placed in Him at the cross. You have committed no righteousness, yet you have all of His righteousness placed in you at conversion. Whereas He took what you deserved; you receive what He deserved. He did not deserve punishment and death; we did. We do not deserve righteousness and blessing; He did. He lived the law to perfection, fulfilling its demands so that we would never again be held accountable for our failures.

View yourself as the righteousness of God in Christ. In fact, I teach my church to say that out loud, everyday, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ!” We do not say it to make it so; we say it because it IS so! Paul said, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13). Do you believe that Jesus bore your sins in His body at the cross so that you can bear His righteousness in you? If you believe it, say it. By putting it out into the world you let all of the forces of darkness know that you are well aware of who you are in Christ.

Praise God that Jesus knew no sin in His own life but was still made to be sin for us. This gives us hope that though we do not know how to perform righteously each and every day, His righteousness is still at work in us. When God looks at us, He does not see our failures or our problems. It is not a matter of God turning a blind eye on those failures, but rather it is a matter of Him seeing only Jesus and His perfection. Paul said, “For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). He didn’t tell you to hide your life with Christ in God; he said that it is already hidden. When God looks at you, He sees Jesus!

Rejoice in the knowledge that you are the righteousness of God in Christ. The more that you become aware of this phenomenon, the more that you will see that righteousness come out of you in every area of your life. We do not live more like Jesus by “trying harder”; but rather by knowing who He is in us and letting Him do the work.

Monday, September 21, 2009

All Things to All Men

1 Corinthians 9:19-22

Paul considered himself free from all men, but he voluntarily placed himself in a position of servitude as it regarded how he treated people. His belief was that we are all in debt to the world to show them the wonderful love of God (Romans 1:14). By placing himself in the position of servant to his fellow man, he was aiming to gain more converts to the cause of Christ.

He tells us of four different kinds of people that he is going after, having found a way to live without offence in front of each one: Jews; those under law; those not under law; and the weak. In no way does Paul advocate hypocrisy, or acting like you are something that you are not. Each one of these is an example of the way people lived, and Paul was determined to live in a way in front of them that would give him credibility when speaking to them.

Paul was a natural Jew, meaning that he was born into a Jewish family, but he did not believe that that was what made you a Jew. His letter to Rome stated that “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6) which indicates that to be a true Jew you had to be one of faith, not blood. When around Jewish people, he maintained their customs, going so far as to circumcise Timothy to appease them (Acts 16:3). By showing his Jewish heritage in front of Jews he knew that he kept from offending them and he opened the door for the gospel of grace.

When around those under the law, Paul acted as if he were under the law. This did not mean that Paul became legalistic around them, but that he observed law and custom when he was with people who did the same. In context, due to the writings of chapter 8, Paul was able to observe dietary laws with men who were convicted of such things, careful not to bring offence to anyone.

If he found himself around those who were without law, he lived without it as well. Again, this is no indicator that Paul acted like a sinner when he was with sinners; for that has nothing to do with living without the law. Instead, Paul was able to show forth the message of grace and goodness to those who knew nothing about the law without offending them by bringing the law into the message.

To those who are weak, he could become as though he were weak. Using the context to give us the definition, he is obviously referring back to a statement that he made in chapter 8, “Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge…their conscience being weak is defiled” (1 Corinthians 8:7). This chapter refers to eating meats that had been offered to idols. Some people felt that it was wrong and their conscience was weak regarding these issues. When Paul was around people who had weak conscience regarding different things, he would not dare do those things that might offend them lest he wound their weak conscience and sin against Christ (1 Corinthians 8:12).

Paul had no delusions that he would see everyone saved, so we should rid ourselves of this as well, but he was also not going to be found guilty of closing the door of evangelism to any single group of people because he refused to see things from their point of view (1 Corinthians 9:22). Might we keep this in mind as we share the glorious good news with those around us?

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Grace Does Super-Abound

Romans 5:20

The purpose for the Law entering the world was to show man his inability to please God through works. Israel was functioning under the Abrahamic Covenant, where God did everything for them and they received great reward. At Mt. Sinai, they decided that they were able to do whatever God required of them and they said as much, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8). In Hebrew, it is more telling as they said, “We are well capable of doing whatever God demands”. This took them out of a covenant of grace and into a covenant of law.

The arrival of law caused a sin explosion within the heart of man, which it will do even after a man is saved (Romans 7:9). This explosion needs something to counteract it, which is where grace comes in. The phrase, “grace did much more abound” is “super-abundant” in Greek, meaning that wherever there is a certain level of sin, grace superior in a super-abundant amount.

Remove the thought that for every sin there is an equal amount of grace, for this is conventional wisdom, but not spiritual revelation. For every sin there is a super-abundant amount of God’s grace. Who are we to think that our sin is greater than the sacrifice of Christ on the cross? His grace is so wondrous, so awesome, that no amount of sin can ever exhaust His ability to pay for it at Calvary.

Sin has reigned since Adam, but grace will reign in us through the righteousness that comes by Jesus Christ. His righteousness is at work in us, and it is His grace that kills sin’s ability to reign. No amount of works on our part could ever do as much to remove sins dominion as the wonderful grace of God. Look at Paul’s argument, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). If sin is dominating you; it is evidence that you are under law in some way, for under grace that domination is stopped.

Sin’s domination stops when you are under grace because sin cannot reign at a higher level than grace. When grace is allowed to flow freely into every area of your life, sin is always washed out by the superior power of grace. Please note that this does not mean that true believers will just sin and think nothing of it; but actually it means the contrary. Under grace, believers may still sin, but they will never be dominated by it and the more that they receive and walk in God’s grace the less that those sins will resurface.

The next time that you hear of a terrible sin in someone’s life, or you see rampant sin in a nation or a culture, just remember that right in the midst of that failure is available grace which is greater than all of it. Only those who recognize the wonderful power of grace have a true heart of compassion for the falling and the failing. That believer knows that thought the person is tripping under the weight of their sin, God’s grace is surrounding them, just waiting for them to say “Yes!” to Jesus. Hallelujah!

Don’t elevate your works to the level of God’s grace today. Nothing stands higher or works with more power than His grace. Since grace is not a doctrine but a person (Jesus), then Jesus stands taller than all of your failure. Place it in His grace and let Him take over.