Beautiful Jesus…

Some quick thoughts while reading Romans 8:29-30.

Preliminary to understanding Romans 8:29-30 is to understand that God’s eternal purpose is very simple. God’s will is only one thing… “Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him:” (Ephesians 1:9-10)

God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, by His infinite wisdom, and by His foreknowledge of our turning to His "great salvation" (Hebrews 2:3). “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29) We are destined to be "conformed to the image" of “His dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). The only begotten Son has become the first begotten “among many brethren.”

“Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” (Romans 8:30) He has called us and justified us by "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son" (1 John 1:7). But that is not His end goal for us, it is only the beginning… “them He also glorified.” “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:3-4) One with the Son, we cannot die. For we are already "dead with Christ" (Romans 6:8). Death has no more power over us. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1)

Our eternal sanctification is as good as finished in the eyes of our heavenly Father. When all hope was lost, when we were “alienated and enemies” (Colossians 1:21) of God. We “were by nature the children of wrath”(Ephesians 2:3)… “But God” – what an unexpected and remarkable phrase – “BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins… HATH quickened us together with Christ!” (Ephesians 2:5) This is how the Father views his Children: “And HATH raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus!” (Ephesians 2:6) Christ is “bringing many sons unto glory… For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them… BRETHREN.” (Hebrews 2:10-11)

The Life of the Lord Jesus in Romans 8

8:1 – walk after the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter by the Lord Jesus in the book of John. He is also called the Spirit of Truth several times in the same book. In John 17 Jesus says that the Words of God are Truth. We know that Jesus is the Living Word of God (John 1). John shows us that Jesus is the Bread of Life, The Living Water, The Way to the Father, our Good Shepherd, and the Resurrection and the Life. He is made Wisdom to us, and our sanctification, and our redemption (I Cor 1). He is everything. We must walk in the Spirit that He has given to us, our New Life.

8:2 – The law of the Spirit of life. The law of sin and death, and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. He delivers us from one law by introducing another. What is a law? A law is not a theory, it is not a “maybe” or an occasional occurrence. It is something that is tested and tried. It is something that has been proven true. It is something that has no contradictions. Sin and death worked in me. I could not stop sinning, and eternal death was inevitable. There seemed to be no way out. But another law was introduced by God, and that law was the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The new law has overcome the old!

8:3-7 – The carnal mind cannot be subject to the law of God.
Everything about you must be submitted to the cross. Your talents, your preaching, your personality.

We see someone and think “if only THAT man would come to Christ”, they could be greatly used of God. This is fleshly thinking. That man is unregenerate. His entire being is of this world. None of those things that you see in him come from the Spirit of God. Those actions or personalities are not born of God.

8:8-13 (11-13) – The Christian life is not uselessness of this body that you are in. It is a matter of the source of your actions and energy. The source of everything must be the Spirit. The source of your life before conversion was your natural soul, the carnal ‘I’, but now it is the Spirit of Christ that controls your actions, energy, and motives - 8:14

8:14-17
God desires for His Son to have brethren. One grain of wheat has died and many grains will spring up. The first grain was once the only grain, but now it is the first of many:
Joh 12:24
(24) Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

We are Christ’s brethren and sons of the Father:
Heb 2:9-11
(9) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
(10) For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
(11) For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

The Lord Jesus in Romans 7

Rom 7:1-3
(1) Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
(2) For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
(3) So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Paul now uses an illustration of a wife and husband, and a potentially better husband… The husband is the law, and we are the wife. The law is a very demanding husband, and in fact seems to be very mean at times. But this husband is not sinful. He demands perfection. He demands complete perfection, but he does not help us to accomplish it. We are miserable under the law. But, there is a better husband who desires to be married to us. He is just as perfect, but he does not leave us to be perfect on our own. He accomplishes in us what He requires of us. He loves us, and does not want out destruction. Oh, what an amazing husband… but He is not ours! We are bound to our first husband as long as he liveth. Paul tells us that if the husband dies, then we are loosed from the law of our husband.

So you think you know where Paul is going with this illustration. It seems like he is leading into the logical conclusion: our old husband must die so that we can be married to the better husband. But Paul gives us an unpredicted twist in verse 4:

Rom 7:4
(4) Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

You are the one who dies! The Law is not going to die. The husband will continue to live. The wife is the one who dies. She is now dead and loosed from her husband. Christ has included us in His death; we are dead to the law, dead to our old life.

You become a Christian, and you try to live for God. You know that God has included you in Christ’s death, and you reckon it so. But you continue to fail to live for Him. You sin and try to overcome, but you can’t. You get victory for maybe two weeks, and then you sin again. What is wrong?

You are doing something of yourself. Your attempts at living for God are rooted in your flesh. So often we try to drive our life with willpower or our reasoning. 7:18 – in my flesh dwelleth no good thing! Do you see that in yourself, and not just in Romans 7? Do you see that it is so easy to talk about wordly things, to think selfish thoughts. But when it comes to prayer, your body resists - you get sleepy, etc. Do you see that you are utterly helpless to serve God?

How did you get forgiveness of sins? Praying? Bible reading? Church attendance? No. We looked to Jesus Christ and His work of the cross. And deliverance from sin comes in exactly the same way.

Look how the chapter ends. Thank God… Jesus Christ, says Paul at the end of Rom 7, because it’s not him that does anything. God knows that I am completely sold out to sin. It isn’t until I’m completely finished with my attempts to keep the law and/or live for God, that He can do anything for me.

Romans 6: "Buried with Him"

So, what is baptism? When and why should someone be baptized? To someone like myself, who’s grown up in a Christian home, baptism is just the thing to do after you become born-again. There’s no real thought put into it. America is not like many other countries, where baptism is done publicly in a river, and could very well mean rejection and excommunication from lost family members. In America most people are baptized in a climate-controlled church building filled with people who are happy for them. Over the past few years I’ve come to understand a little bit of what baptism really is (But there is a lot that I don’t understand, and probably won’t know until eternity). It’s not just “the thing to do” after you are regenerated… it’s much much more than that. Baptism is about the Lord Jesus, just as everything about salvation and the Christian life is about the Lord Jesus.

What is baptism? Well, do you remember when you were regenerated by the Spirit of God? What happened that day? Jesus was everything to you. God did all of the work; you only had to respond to Him in repentance and faith. The blood of the Lord Jesus paid for your sins. And His work on the cross struck much deeper than that, by taking you, the sin factory, out of the way. You knew that He was your only hope, and you reckoned it so. Then you acted in faith and accepted His gift. Now He became your life. You were included in Christ’s death. Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

Your life after salvation should be no different than this. Now that you are saved it is not up to you to live your life with God’s help. He is now your life. You have been included in His death, you are dead. You were crucified in Christ. Romans 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Victory over sin is not found in our determination or ability to live a holy life. This is simple, foundational Christianity that we so often miss. Romans 6:7 “For he that is dead is freed from sin.” But this is not the end of the story. Romans 6:8 “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:” Romans 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Our death in Christ is not a figure, it is a fact. God says that it is so, and therefore we must reckon it so. Not only have we been crucified in Christ, but we were buried with Him and now we are alive through His resurrection. His life has taken over where our life has died. When we know and reckon this, Romans 6:13 will follow automatically.

Colossians 2:12 “Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.” Baptism is a burial. With baptism, some people try to die by getting buried. How foolish. Burial is for those who are already dead. You will never allow someone to be buried unless you are sure that they are dead. So with baptism, you should be baptized when you understand that you are dead. Romans 6:3-5 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” Do you see that we are buried with Him by baptism into death? We should therefore walk in newness of life. Baptism is not only a picture of what Christ has done. It is more than that. It is a picture of what God has done to us in Christ. It is our understanding of what God has already done to us in Christ. God has put us into Christ’s death and resurrection, and so we must submit to burial.

Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” How can the world be crucified unto you and you unto the world? Peter gives us an illustration to help us understand: 1 Peter 3:20-21 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:” The story of Noah’s ark is an incredible picture of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. The eight souls in the ark were saved from their old world by the power of God. Their old world was drowned, never to be seen again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” They passed to a new world, a new kingdom. Everything was new. Colossians 1:13 “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:” Does baptism save us? The verse says that it is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is alive. He has risen, and we are risen with Him. He is alive in us. Because of His life in us, we are saved from our old world, our old kingdom. Baptism is a burial. When once we understand that we are already dead to ourselves, to our natural man, we submit to burial.

Do you see it? Baptism is about the Lord Jesus. Christians can get so caught up in the side-points of baptism. “Baptism is the first step of obedience after salvation” you may say. Of course it is, but that is not the main point. “Baptism joins you to the church” almost like its initiation into a fraternity, like swallowing a goldfish. But in a way, baptism unites you to the brethren. You are publicly joining the ranks of the saints. “Baptism is by immersion”, well of course it is, and this becomes clear when we are focusing on the main point – Death with the Lord Jesus, burial with the Lord Jesus, and LIFE WITH THE LORD JESUS!

Jesus Only, Jesus Everything: Me-ward – Romans 6

In Romans 6 we see the power of the cross to destroy our old life. The Christian life is not a changed life, but an exchanged life.

This chapter is jam packed with the power of the cross, but we’re just going to look at it in a nutshell. We already know that the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus Christ. Throughout the Christian life 1) the Holy Spirit reveals to us something about our Lord, 2) in faith we accept what He has said and count it to be so, 3) then our life begins to exemplify what we have accepted. This is the Christian life; this is growth in Jesus Christ. And this is what we see here in Romans 6.

1) KNOW (6:1-10) “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (6:6) “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him” (6:9). The heart cannot be cleansed. It must be crucified. We just saw this in the last blog article, however very briefly. The old nature cannot change; it must be put to death. And God provides this death through the Lord Jesus’ work on the cross. Romans 6:6 and 6:8 – we WERE crucified with Him. It is a fact. You have died; just as much a fact that He has died on the cross. It is nothing we do, or try to do, or work into. It is done. God has done it.

We cannot overcome sin, only the life of Jesus Christ can overcome sin. When I came to salvation, it was because God revealed Jesus Christ to me – that is the know stage. Now that I’m saved I might say “I need more strength to overcome my sin” But that is not God’s way. The sinner must be put to death, not fixed.

2) Reckon (6:11) “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:11). Sin, the old master, is still around. But the sinner, the slave who served him, has been put to death. Satan is very successful at lying to us. He always tries to tell us that we are very much alive. And if we look at our day to day experiences we will probably think that he is correct. But what did God say here in Romans 6? He said that we are dead to the power of sin. We must reckon it so in spite of what we may think. We are dead, not in ourselves, but in Christ. The work of God is done not in ourselves, but in Christ. Reckoning is a definite attitude that we must have. God does not remove the sin, but the sinner. He doesn’t give us victory over sin, he puts away the sinner.

3) Yield (6:12-13) “…yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead…” (6:13). You will yield yourself to God if you know and reckon that your old man is dead. You yield yourself, as alive from the dead. He is our life. Your old man was crucified with Him, now you are raised from the dead with Him. Alive unto God, and not unto yourself. When it came to salvation God revealed Jesus Christ to me, and immediately I reckoned it so and yielded to Him. It happened quickly. You might say that someone can know the gospel for a time before they reckon it true and yield to it. But knowing is not just an intellectual knowing, but an opening of the eyes by God. But if you know that you have a check for one million dollars in your pocket, it won’t be long before you reckon it so and yield to walk cautiously and with one hand in your pocket on that money.

So, when I know that I am crucified with Christ, then I will reckon myself dead (vs. 6 & 11), and when I know that I am raised with him, then I will reckon myself alive unto God (vs. 9 & 11). In death the focus is “I in Christ” and in resurrection the focus is “Christ in me”. When we know and reckon with this, then the outcome will be yielding to His life; for now our life is dead, and Christ is our life (Colossians 3:3-4). He is the source of our life. Holiness is separation unto Him. Holiness is simply being wholly His.

Jesus Only: The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-23 - We walk in the Spirit; it is not a work. The works of the flesh are all of these evil things… The flesh cannot work for God, it can only sin. Verse 17 tells us that the flesh and Spirit war against each other. It is the Spirit that fights the flesh. The Spirit must be the one who gains victory over the flesh, not our old man.

The fruit of the Spirit is singular. Christ is made these things in us. God has only given one gift to meet all our needs. God has only one answer to every need: Christ Jesus. Do you pray for wisdom? I Cor 1:30 Christ is our wisdom. Do you pray for love or peace or meekness? God will not give us meekness apart from Christ. It is Christ who is the answer to your need, not just one of His character qualities.

Anything you want to know about God, you must learn it through Jesus Christ. Do you want to know about God’s view of sin? Look to Jesus Christ on the cross. You want to know about God’s love? Look at Jesus Christ and the price he paid for all of us when we didn’t love him. You want to know about God’s wrath? Look to Christ. You want to see God’s mercy? Look to Christ. You want to see God’s power? Look to the resurrection of our Lord.

He is the fruit of the Spirit. Do you think you need more love? Do you think you need more Joy? More longsuffering? More gentleness? No, you need more of Christ. Jesus Christ is the fruit of the Spirit. He is what you need. All nine qualities come together with the Savior. The Holy Spirit doesn’t give us anything new. He only points us to our Lord and to what He has said and done already.

What is fruit? What is the purpose of fruit? To taste good? Fruit is good to eat, but it also contains a seed. The seed has life in it. Fruit gives more life, abundantly more. The fruit of the Spirit is the life of Christ, and that life must come out through us. That life will produce abundantly more of itself.

We are crucified in Him - Rom 6:6, we are quickened in Him - Eph 2:5-6, and we are complete in Him - Col 2:10

I Cor 1:30 - we are IN Christ Jesus

Easy-Believism vs. Lordship Salvation: Who’s Preaching Jesus?

It seems like everyone loves to label everyone else. People have told me to stay away from certain believers because they preach an “easy-believe”, false Gospel. They are said to be sending people to hell with false assurance of salvation. This is also known as “easy-prayerism”. On the other hand, the “easy believers” tell me that those doing the name-calling are the ones preaching the false Gospel of Lordship salvation. This false Gospel is said to require people to name every sin they’ve ever committed and turn from each one or else God will not accept them. Basically, God won’t accept you until you change your life.

After talking to many believers on “both sides”, and comparing their teaching to the Bible, I’ve come to some conclusions. Here it is… both extremes are guilty of the same thing – preaching a humanistic salvation of works.

Those on the extreme “easy believe” side of the spectrum will meet a person, ask them if they want to be saved, and then lead them in a prayer. Basically it is just a choice to go to heaven. They leave out the Spirit of God in the work of regeneration. They make salvation no more than a prayer - magic words of asking Jesus into your heart. The ‘client’ might not even understand what is going on. They don’t want to go to hell so they repeat a canned prayer. The soul-winner gives them a handshake and moves on, never to see that person again. But John 16 says that Holy Spirit evangelism will convince of sin, righteousness and judgment. Good preaching will drive someone to Jesus Christ as their only hope. I’m glad to say that I know people who are labeled “easy-believers”, yet they are in fact preaching a true Gospel.

On the other hand, many who preach against “easy-believism” are guilty of preaching a works Gospel. They preach a hyper-repentance-ism that causes a person to look to themselves and fall into despair. Their message does not point someone to the Lord Jesus Christ, but to the person’s ability to repent and believe. A person can become so focused on having the right ingredients of repentance and faith that they take their eyes off of the Savior. A person in this condition of despair may remain there for days, months, or years, or maybe for their entire life. They live in misery, knowing that they are sinful and separated from God, but unable to repent and believe enough to be accepted of God. Yet others may respond to this preaching by “getting saved” (notice this lingo doesn’t say anything about Jesus Christ). Since their salvation was a result of their focus on themselves (their correctly measured amounts of repentance and faith), they try to live the Christian life by their own abilities. This either results in pride of their Christianity or a realization of failure of their own power to live for God. Since their salvation was based on their own works, they reject their salvation experience and ‘try again’. Anyway, advocates of this teaching are usually known as preachers of Lordship salvation. Again, I can say that I know people with this label who are not to this extreme and are actually preaching a true Gospel.

Jesus Christ is the message of the Gospel. When we lose sight of this, we fall into errors like ‘easy-believism’ and ‘impossible-believism’. Preach sin, righteousness, and judgment and the Holy Spirit will drive men and women to the cross as their only hope of salvation.