Month: September 2023

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 45

IN CHRIST

“[T]hose two New Testament words ‘in Christ’ are very dear.”1

To be in Christ means that we have a saving relationship with Christ and are brought into union and communion with Him in such a way that, as we are in Christ, what is true of Christ becomes true of us. His grace and His resources become our experience and possession.2

Believers have been placed ‘in Christ’ so that whatever has happened to Christ has also happened to them. When Jesus died and rose again, so did we spiritually, and never again will God see a believer as anything other than a new creation in Christ Jesus. We are forever united and joined to Christ, and His history is our history!3

“[Christ] has died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves” (2 Cor 5:24-25 ESV).

Some of us have tried very hard to get rid of [the] sinful life, but we have found it most tenacious; What is the way out? It is not by trying to kill ourselves, but by recognizing that God has dealt with us in Christ.”4

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27 ESV).

“Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE.”5 “[T]he Christian life is becoming (in experience) who you already are (as God sees you).”6

“God’s way of deliverance is altogether different from man’s way. Man’s way is to try to suppress sin by seeking to overcome it; God’s way is to remove the sinner.”7

“To do away with our sinfulness we must do away with our life. Bondage to sin came by birth; deliverance from sin comes by death.”8

“Christ has died for all, therefore all have died” (2 Cor 5:14 ESV).

Christ is the redeemed man’s new environment. He has been lifted out of the cramping restrictions of his earthly lot into a totally different sphere, the sphere of Christ. He has been transplanted into a new soil and a new climate, and both soil and climate are Christ.9 James Stewart

“[B]oth human responsibility and divine sovereignty [is] how we move forward spiritually.”  “God does all, and we do all.”10 Jonathan Edwards

“I toil with all his energy that he powerfully works within me (Col 1:29).”11

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ENDNOTES

(45) In CHRIST

1. Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1977) 46.

            2. Derek Thomas and Steve Lawson, “What Does It Mean to Be ‘in Christ’?” Ligonier Ministries, 26 January 2022 https://www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/what-does-it-mean-to-be-in-christ.

            3. Iain Gordon, “How to Know Your Position in Christ,” Cru, 26 January 2022 https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/spiritual-growth/core-christian-beliefs/the-believers-position-in-christ.html#2.

            4. Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1977) 43.

            5. Watchman Nee, Sit, Walk, Stand (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 1977) 2.

            6. Iain Gordon, “How to Know Your Position in Christ,” Cru, 26 January 2022 https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/spiritual-growth/core-christian-beliefs/the-believers-position-in-christ.html#2.

            7. Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1977) 53.

            8. Watchman, 42.

            9. Dane C. Ortlund, Deeper (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021) 56.

            10. Ortlund, 54.

            11. Ortlund, 55.

            12. “I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous and I am no longer driven to impress God” (Galatians 2:19-21 MSG).

            13. “[I]f anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).

            14. Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1977) 44.

            15. Nee, 40.

            16. Nee, 50.

            17. Nee, 28.

            18. Nee, 59.

            19. “[You] are in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV).

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WEEK 44

OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE

King Saul’s first and last mistake was to listen to his army’s suggestion to leave the choicest spoil to be sacrificed to GOD when he had clear word from GOD to devote EVERYTHING to destruction (1 Sam 15:21). GOD does not delight in sacrifice but desires His followers obey His voice. To obey is better than sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22).

“Do you think all God wants are sacrifices— empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing” (1 Sam 15:22-23 MSG). You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others” (James 2:8-11 MSG).

Our default reaction is to fall back into sacrificing when GOD’s Word has leaked out of

us. When time moves on and we have not disciplined ourselves to open GOD’s Word, the communication between GOD and us no longer exists. If joy is missing and obedience hard it is because we’re ignorant or avoiding what God has designed for us and what that is is to fellowship with Him.

“I’m after love that lasts, not more religion. I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings” (Hos 6:6-7 MSG).

 “The word abide means to remain or stay around. The abiding believer is the only legitimate believer. Abiding and believing actually are addressing the same issue of genuine salvation.”1

When we are too far away to hear the LORD, we are forced to depend on insights of others or our own thinking. Without dwelling in the LORD’s presence we have absolutely no inkling how to live spiritually. And, like Saul, we will always fall into attempting to impress Him by doing something we think He would like.

“[G]ifts and sacrifices can’t really get to the heart of the matter, can’t assuage the conscience of the people, but are limited to matters of ritual and behavior” (Heb 9:6-10 MSG).

“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’” (Matt 9:13 ESV).

True saving faith is supernatural, a gracious gift of God that He produces in the heart and is the only means by which a person can appropriate true righteousness. Saving faith consists of three elements: (1) mental: the mind understands the gospel and the truth about Christ; (2) emotional: one embraces the truthfulness of those facts with sorrow over sin and joy over God’s mercy and grace; and (3) volitional: the sinner submits his will to Christ and trusts in Him alone as the only hope of salvation. Genuine faith will always produce authentic obedience.2

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ENDNOTES

(44) Obedience is Better Than Sacrifice

            1. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 417.

                  2. MacArthur, 508.

                  3. “I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people” (Leviticus 26:12 ESV).

                  4. “[T]hey provoked the LORD to anger. [H]e gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them” (Judges 2:12,14 ESV).

                  5. “Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them” (Judges 2:16 ESV).

                  6. “[W]hen the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the people to Israel, who saved them” (Judges 3:9 ESV).

                  7. “[I]f you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache” (Leviticus 26:14,16 ESV).

                  8. “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38 ESV).

                  9. “We were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ESV).

                  10. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:16 ESV),

                  11. “[W]hoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (James 2:10 ESV).

                  12. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30 ESV).

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WEEK 43

HOUND OF HEAVEN

The Fall of man and the consequential depravity places GOD’s creatures on the edge of a chasm where a retreat to our original condition is impossible. But GOD has better plans. “We have in Christ a full reconciliation with God, and an advancement into higher favour with Him, than the first Adam had in the state of innocency.”1

Because He shuts us all up in our disobedience and unbelief, it enables Him to provide mercy to us all (Rom 11:32). Thus begins the activity of the Godhead to restore His chosen.

This activity of drawing children back to Him can be fierce—a provoking, prodding or forcing (Acts 26:14), or He can do it gently—as a quiet knocking (Rev 3:20).

[W]e may experience either the ecstasy of underserved love or the acute pain of unrequited love, because we know instinctively that love is the greatest thing in the world. It is in such moments as these that Jesus Christ draws near to us and uses his hand to knock or to goad.2

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow [us] all the days of [our] life” (Psalm 23:6 ESV).

Author, Gautrey points out that the Hebrew word here translated by the mild verb ‘follow’ should be rendered more forcefully; for instance, ‘goodness and mercy have hunted me, haunted me, dogged my steps all the days of my life.’ ‘It is a pursuit, patient but purposeful, affectionate but relentless.’3

“If we love Christ, it is because he loved us first. If we are Christians at all, it is not because we have decided for Christ, but because Christ has decided for us. It is because of the pursuit of ‘this tremendous lover.’”4

“’The Hound of Heaven’ is a striking expression invented by Francis Thompson.”5

When we were running full speed the other direction, he chased us down, subdued our rebellion, and opened our eyes to see our need of him and his all-sufficiency to meet that need. We were not drowning, in need of being thrown a life-preserver; we were stone-dead at the bottom of the ocean. He pulled us up, breathed new life into us, and set us on our feet—and every breath we now draw is owing to his full and utter deliverance of us in all our helplessness and death.6

Ultimate reality is an eternal fountain of endless, unquenchable love. A love so great that it could not be contained within the uproarious joy of Father, Son, and Spirit but spilled out to embrace fallen humans into it. Divine love is inherently engulfing, embracing, overflowing. God made you so that he could love you.7

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ENDNOTES

(43) Hound of Heaven

            1. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866,1994) 229.

            2. John Stott, Why I Am a Christian (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press 2003) 31.

            3. Stott, 16.

            4. Stott, 18.

            5. Stott, 15.

            6. Dane C. Ortlund, Deeper (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021) 27.

            7. Ortlund, 70.

            8. Hal Leonard, The Hymn Fake Book (Milwaukee, WI: Hall Leonard Corporation) 194.

            9. John Stott, Why I Am a Christian (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press 2003) 29.

            10. Stott, 30.

            11. Stott, 17.

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WEEK 42

THIS JESUS—

What He Did_2

“It’s easy to forget that nothing we do will make us more acceptable to God. Jesus came to set us free to serve Him in the freshness and spontaneity of the Spirit, and to receive the ABUNDANT blessing God has for us.”1

  • JESUS gave redemption through His blood:(Eph 1:7).

“By it, [the cross of CHRIST] the body of sin is wounded, and wounded fatally. From it, pardon, peace, and holiness flow. And through it, the soul daily rises to God in a holy surrender of itself to His service.”2

  • He became a curse for His spiritual children:(Gal 3:13).

“Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:5-6 ESV).

  • JESUS broke down the dividing wall of hostility:(Eph 2:13).

“Jews and Greeks [have] been transcended by a new entity in Christ: ‘the church of God’.”3

  • He is the high priest:(Heb 7:26).

CHRIST “has become a priest by the power of an indestructible life”(Heb 7:16 ESV). “[T]he high priest acts on behalf of men in relation to God. That is he acts as a mediator.”4 “Jesus’ resurrection from the dead indicates his eternal priesthood. Death could not conquer Jesus; therefore, his priesthood lasts forever.”5

  • JESUS became the Perfecter of Faith:(Heb 12:2).

“Through his atoning work, Christ’s perfection leads to the perfection of his people.”6

  • JESUS abolished death and brought life:(2 Tim 1:10).

“We come to Him for life, or rather, first of all, He comes to us with life.”7

  • He is the wisdom and knowledge of GOD:(1 Cor 1:24).

“Christ is the image of God. God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:4,6).

  • He filled believers with His SPIRIT:(2 Tim 1:14).

“[T]he Spirit does His work not exerting a mere influence, but coming into us and abiding with us; so that being filled with His company, as well as pervaded by His power, we are thoroughly ‘transformed.’”8

  • JESUS became the first-born of the dead:(Rev 1:5).

“Jesus Christ [is] risen from the dead” (2 Tim 2:8 ESV). “He alone came back from death never to die again, being the first of many to triumph over death.”9

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ENDNOTES

(42) JESUS Is Founder of Faith

            1. Roy and Revel Hession, We Would See Jesus (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 1958, 2010) back cover.

            2. Octavius Winslow, “Christ and Sanctification,” Free Grace Broadcaster 215 (2011) : 15, brackets mine.

            3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2265.

            4. Jared Dymond, “Hebrews 5:1-10,” New Hope Church sermon notes, 06 March 2022: 3.

            5. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2371.

            6. ESV Study Bible, 2383.

            7. Horatius Bonar, “Let Us Then Shine,” Free Grace Broadcaster 215 (2011) : 42.

            8. Bonar, 43.

            9. James Burton Coffman, “Commentary on Revelation 1:5,” 1983-1999, Coffman Commentaries on the Bible, 1 March 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/revelation/1-5.html#verse-bcc.

            10. “ . . . Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith . . .” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV).

            11. :Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand . . .” (Romans 5:2 ESV).

            12. “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14 ESV).

            13. “ . . . that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,” (Ephesians 2:15 ESV).

            14. “ . . . Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith . . .” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV).

            15. “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14 ESV).

16. “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,” (Ephesians 1:22 ESV).

            17. “ . . . the church submits to Christ . . .” (Ephesians 5:24 ESV).

            18. “ . . . the Lamb . . . is Lord of lords and King of kings . . .” (Revelations 17:14 ESV).

            19. “ . . . Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:5 ESV).

            20. “ . . . To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18 ESV).