JESUS! In Word and Song

WEEK 35

CHRIST, NOW HEAD OF THE CHURCH

The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration was accomplished. According to His promise He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers as a token that He had, as priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed One over His people.¹

“[I]n Messiah Jesus alone dwells the Plenitude of the Godhead, that He is the only Mediator, the only Saviour, the Head of the Church, the Source of life; that whatever celestial beings exist are subjected to Him.”²

“Jesus Christ is preeminent over all creation, Lord over all human rulers and cosmic powers.”³ “Through his sacrificial death, Jesus Christ has conquered Satan, the accuser, and has ransomed people from every nation.”⁴ “World history, including its woes and disasters, is firmly in the control of Jesus, the victorious Lamb.”⁵

“[I]mmortal God and mortal man is the only Saviour of the world.”⁶

“[T]he God of our Lord Jesus Christ seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body” (Eph 1:17,20-23 ESV).

“He is the image of the invisible God. And he is the head of the body, the church, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:15,18,20 ESV).

“Christ is Lord over all creation, including the invisible realm. He has secured the redemption for his people, enabling them to participate with him in his death, resurrection, and fullness.”⁷

“’Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Rev 5:12 ESV).

“It is impossible to overvalue Christ.”⁸

ENDNOTES

(35) King of Kings, JESUS

1. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 39.

2. Arthur S. Way, Letters of Paul, Hebrews and the Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1901, 1981) 164.

3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2290.

4. ESV Study Bible, 2455.

5. ESV Study Bible.

6. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 85.

7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2089.

8. I.D.E. Thomas, ed., Puritan Daily Devotional Chronicles (Oklahoma City, OK: Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd., 1995) 152.

9. “ . . . he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:20 ESV).

10. “ . . . in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, . . .” (Hebrews 1:2 ESV).

11. “ . . . ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Revelation 5:12 ESV).

12. “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion . . . not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:21 ESV).

13. “And he is the head of the body, the church. . . .” (Colossians 1:18 ESV).

14. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 85.

15. Bonar, 232.

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WEEK 34

THE MEDIATOR

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Tim 2:5 ESV).

The Father gave a people to the Son, and the Son voluntarily made Himself responsible to God for them. God the Father said He would grant forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, new life, and a new nature to all who belonged to His Son. The condition was that the Son should come into the world and take human nature and the sin of mankind upon Himself to bear its punishment, stand for them, represent them, and suffer for them.¹

Because we were alienated from God by sin, we needed someone to come between God and ourselves and bring us back to him. We needed a mediator who could represent us to God and who could represent God to us. There is only one person who has ever fulfilled that requirement: ‘There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim 2:5). In order to fulfill this role of mediator, Jesus had to be fully man as well as fully God.²

“The grand end of Christ’s mediation is the appeasing of God’s anger and the securing of His favor. He is the Advocate with the Father on behalf of His sinning people, pleading His righteousness and blood for them.”³

“The Lord Jesus is the anointed Mediator.”⁴ “Christ presents His people before God as those who are inestimably dear unto Him. He not only died for them, but lives for them (Rom 5:10). He died to render satisfaction to God on their behalf; He lives to keep them secure.”⁵

Christ sits at God’s right hand as no silent and inactive Spectator, but as an industrious and mighty Intercessor: to prevent the sins of His people making any breach, to preserve a perpetual amity between God and them. Thus we have ‘a Friend at court’ who spreads before the Father the odours of His merits as the all-sufficient answer to every indictment which Satan prefers against us. He requests not the Father to show mercy at the expense of justice. There is no compromise of holiness in God’s pardoning His children, for Christ made full atonement for all their sins.⁶

[Christ’s] mediation on the throne is as real and indispensable as on the cross. [I]t engages all His time and powers [and] is His unceasing occupation at the right hand of the Father. And we participate not only in the benefits of this His work, but in the work itself.⁷

ENDNOTES

(34) I See a Man at GOD’s Right Hand

1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “God’s Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 3.

2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994) 541.

3. A.W. Pink, 1 John, Part One 1:1-2:11 (Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library, 2005) 123.

4. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Purpose Consummated,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 27.

5. A.W. Pink, 1 John, Part One 1:1-2:11 (Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library, 2005) 120.

6. Pink, 120-122.

7. Andrew Murray, “With Christ in the School of Prayer,” PC Study Bible by Biblesoft, Inc, 2003, twenty-sixth lesson.

8. Horatius Bonar, “I See A Man at God’s Right Hand,” 1872 Hymnary, 20 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/i_see_a_man_at_gods_right_hand.

9. “Oh the Valley,” music and melody, author unknown.

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WEEK 33

APOSTLES DAY

“Then [Jesus] opened [the Apostles] minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in [my] name. You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:45-48 ESV).

The Holy Spirit energized the hearts and minds of the apostles in their ministry, helping them to produce the NT Scripture. The disciples had failed to understand many things about Jesus and what He taught, but because of his supernatural work, they came to an inerrant and accurate understanding of the Lord and His work and recorded it in the gospels and the rest of the NT Scriptures.¹

“The Holy Spirit was to be given them in its fullness, sealing them for their work.”² “So long as they obeyed His word, and worked in connection with Him, they could not fail.”³

The Sent One (Jesus) has now become the Sender, commissioning his followers to serve as his messengers and representatives. All three persons of the Godhead are involved in this commissioning: as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends his disciples equipping them with the Holy Spirit.⁴

“The whole position of the Apostles is that they have something to declare, something to say. They have seen something, they are reporting it. [I]t is a proclamation; there is an urge and an authority behind it.”⁵

“The disciples were to carry their work forward in Christ’s name. Their every word and act was to fasten attention on His name, as possessing that vital power by which sinners may be saved.”⁶

They told that ancient world of certain things which had happened; they talked about a person, and they reported what had happened to Him. And with a very special emphasis, they told people of the amazing fact of the Resurrection; how this person, Jesus of Nazareth—who had been completely misunderstood, not only by the common people, but by the rulers and elders of the people—how He had been put to death. But, they said, God had raised Him from the dead, and He had manifested Himself to them, His chosen witnesses.⁷

“[The Apostles] had the amazing privilege of seeing Him, of hearing Him, of examining Him and touching Him and listening to Him.”⁸

“The authority of the Apostles in the Church was unquestionable from the very beginning. Their powers were derived from Christ Himself. They preached boldly and acted as His representatives, teaching and speaking ‘in the Holy Spirit.’”⁹

ENDNOTES

(33) Stay Close on His Heels

1. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 415.

2. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 30.

3. White, 29.

4. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2070.

5. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 45.

6. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 28.

7. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 316.

8. Lloyd-Jones, 51.

9. Rev. Fr. Andrew G. George, “Feast of the Twelve Apostles,” Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1 September 2021 https://www.goarch.org/-/feast-of-the-twelve-apostles?inheritRedirect=true.

10. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 57.

11. “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” (Ephesians 1:11 ESV).

12. “To the sound of musicians . . . they repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD . . .” (Judges 5:11 ESV).

13. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . .” (Acts 1:8 ESV).

14. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26 ESV).

15. “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5 ESV).

16. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . .” (Acts 1:8 ESV).

17. “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” (Ephesians 1:11 ESV).

18. “’This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,’” (Hebrews 10:16 ESV).

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WEEK 32

THE CROSS STILL STANDS

“Responsive readings can be beneficial because they invoke the congregation in voicing the sacred text.”¹

These paragraphs are to be recited before the start of each verse:

VERSE 1:

“God sent His only begotten, dearly loved Son into this world in order that He might go to the cross. It was God who sent Him. It was God who smote Him and struck Him and gave Him the punishment that we deserved.”²

“Why did God bruise his Son? He did it to resolve the dissonance between his love for his glory and his love for sinners.”³ “The cross of Christ justifies God; he remains holy because He has punished sin in the death, the shed blood, of His Son.”⁴

VERSE 2:

“In the Old Testament the Israelites transferred their guilt to a lamb, and then the lamb was killed.”⁹

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life” (Lev 17:11 ESV).

“God has provided His own sacrifice; it is His own Son.”¹⁰

“[Jesus] carried up to the Cross our sins in His body and offered himself there as on an altar (1 Peter 2:24).”¹¹

VERSE 3:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 ESV).

“The cross tells me that I am a complete failure, and that I am such a failure that He had to come from heaven not merely to teach and preach in this world, but to die on that cross. Nothing else could save us.”¹⁴

“It is the cross alone that saves any one of us from the destruction that is coming to the world.”¹⁵

ENDNOTES

(32) I Will Praise the Cross

1. ¹ ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2575.

2. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Walking With God Day by Day (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) April 23^rd.

3. John Piper, The Pleasures of GOD (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1991, 2000) 161.

4. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 134.

5. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Walking With God Day by Day (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) April 23^rd.

6. Lloyd-Jones, April 23^rd.

7. Lloyd-Jones.

8. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 333.

9. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Walking With God Day by Day (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) April 3^rd.

10. Lloyd-Jones, April 3^rd.

11. Kenneth S. Wuest, The New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1961) 554.

12. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life” (Leviticus 17:11 ESV).

13. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Walking With God Day by Day (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) April 3^rd.

14. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, April 14

15. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, April 11^th.

16. Lloyd-Jones.

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WEEK 31

GOD’S MASTER PLAN

[H]ere are you and I, miserable worms in this world, miserable worms with our arrogance and our pride and our appalling ignorance. We deserve nothing but to be blotted off the face of the earth. But what has happened is that before the foundation of the world this blessed God considered us, considered our condition, considered what would happen to us and planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed.¹

“God’s act of choosing His people in Christ was without the consideration of the fall, nor was it upon the foresight and footing of works, but was wholly of grace, and all to the praise and glory of it.”²

“[I]n love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” (Eph 1:4-5 ESV). “God predestined his elect to redemption and holiness in Christ according to the free council of his will.”³

“God has imputed the believer’s sin to Christ and God imputes Christ’s righteousness to the believer.”⁴ “[We] are pardoned because [our] sin is punished in Christ. And [we] are restored because his righteousness becomes [ours].”⁵

“Christianity rest on an unveiling of the hidden Creator Himself.”⁶ “[B]eing creatures, we cannot know God unless He acts to make Himself known to us. Even Adam in Eden needed direct divine speech to make known to him all God’s will.”⁷ “God created man in his own image. And God blessed them. And God said to them . . . And God said . . . ”(Gen 1:27-29 ESV).

“Revelation does not mean man finding God, but God finding man, God sharing His secrets with us, God showing us Himself.”⁸

It always bothers me when we gather for worship and people say things like, ‘Lord, we invite you into our presence.’ When we should be humbly thanking him for allowing us into his presence. You see, proper worship begins with a proper perspective of who we are and who God is. When we gather to worship, it’s good for us to remember that God is not in our presence, we are in his.⁹

“He is a friend to us, and we to Him, He finding His joy in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving Him thanks.”¹⁰

ENDNOTES

(31) GOD’s Love Self-generated

1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “God’s Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 4.

2. A.W. Pink, “The Mediator Chosen,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 25.

3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2260.

4. ESV Study Bible, 2231.

5. G. I. Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing Company, 1964, 2004) 105.

6. J.I. Packer, God Has Spoken (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979) 45.

7. Packer, 53-55.

8. Packer, 46.

9. Denny Johnson, “The Intimacy of God’s Sovereignty,” NHC sermon notes, 7 February 2021: 4.

10. Packer, 50.

11. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 550-551.

12. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 126-127.

13. “ . . . Jesus Christ—Loyal Witness, Firstborn from the dead, Ruler of all earthly kings” (Rev 1:4-7 MSG).

14. Isaac Watts, “Jesus Shall Reign,” 1719, Hymnary, 19 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_shall_reign_whereer_the_sun.

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WEEK 30

GOD BEFORE THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD

[L]ong ere the day-star knew its place, before God had spoken existence out of nothing, before angel’s wing had stirred the unnavigated ether, before a solitary song had disturbed the solemnity of the silence in which God reigned supreme, He had entered into solemn council with Himself, His Son, and His Spirit and had in that council decreed, determined, proposed, and predestinated the salvation of His people.¹

“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun” (Rom 8:29-30 MSG).

“God chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world according to the purpose of his will” (Eph 1:3-5 ESV).

“God’s great love has been manifested in what He has done for us in and through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”² “God created the world so we could share in the joy of knowing him.”³

“It is a superlative honor that Christ is the channel through which all the grace and glory we have, or shall have, flows to us, and was set up as such from the beginning.”⁴

“[T]he mystery hidden for ages and generations [is] now revealed to his saints. [T]his mystery is Christ in you”(Col 1:26-27 ESV).

To make sure that the FATHER had a people to shower His love on, He selected His elect before He created them, cementing all His purposes in stone before He set up the world—making sure the ones He purchased would not (could not) fall away from Him. Through His Son’s work and drawing His people to accept His plan in faith, He will always have a people to love.

God is able to work out his sovereign will within the distinctive characteristics of what he has created. He moves a rock as a rock, and moves a human heart as a human heart. He does not turn a person into a thing when he brings about his sovereign intentions in a person’s life. Paul describes sanctification as the result of both human effort and ultimate divine enabling. He sees no conflict between divine and human activity. Rather, God is uniquely able to bring about his purposes within human beings so that they are fully engaged as persons and responsible for their own decisions, attitudes, and actions.⁵

ENDNOTES

(30) To GOD Be Glory Forevermore

1. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Covenant in Eternity,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 5.

2. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 517.

3. Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008) 176.

4. A.W. Pink, “The Mediator Chosen,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 27.

5. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2529.

6. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Covenant in Eternity,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 5.

7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2529.

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WEEK 29

BETWEEN RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION

“Christ had finished the work that was given Him to do. He had gathered out those who were to continue His work among men.”¹

They were to work as He had worked, depending on Him for strength. Though their way would be obstructed by apparent impossibilities, yet by His grace they were to go forward, despairing of nothing and hoping for everything. ²

GOD, the FATHER, provided a transition for the confused followers of CHRIST between His resurrection and ascension—“[T]he 40-day period when Jesus prepared the disciples for their witness.”³ “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God”(Acts 1:3 ESV).

This good news about the Kingdom of GOD is called the gospel. “It perceives this as saving acts of God due to the work of Jesus on the cross and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead which bring reconciliation between people and God.”⁴

[T]he gospel in Acts represents the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s kingdom promises. The “kingdom of God” means the present spiritually directed reign of God, gradually transforming individual lives and entire cultures through the power of the Holy Spirit.⁵

[W]hen Christ’s work on earth was accomplished, Christ was exalted to the second highest position of authority in the universe, namely, at the right hand of God, with ruling power delegated to him by God the Father. Then Christ received authority from the Father to send the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself poured out the Holy Spirit on the disciples in a new and more powerful way.⁶

“And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17 ESV).

[T]his powerful new work of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost brought several beneficial results: more effectiveness in witness and ministry, effective proclamation of the gospel, power for victory over sin, power for victory over Satan and demonic forces, and a wide distribution of gifts for ministry.⁷

After the descent of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were so filled with love for [Christ] and for those for whom He died, that hearts were melted by the words they spoke and the prayers they offered. They spoke in the power of the Spirit; and under the influence of that power, thousands were converted. ⁸

ENDNOTES

(29) Far Above What I Could Ever Think

1. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 24.

2. White, 23.

3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2080.

4. “Gospel,” Wikipedia, Wikipedia, 18 February 2021 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_gospel.

5. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2080.

6. ESV Study Bible, 2085.

7. ESV Study Bible, 2081.

8. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 22, brackets mine.

9. “Rejoice in the Lord Always Again I Say Rejoice,” Hymnary, 18 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/rejoice_in_the_lord_always_and_again_i_s.

10. “Rejoice in the Lord Always Again I Say Rejoice.”

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Today starts volume 2 of JESUS! In Word and Song. See SONG in main menu for more information.

WEEK 28

TRINITY SUNDAY

“Trinity Sunday is a day when Christians think of the nature of God rather than, as with other festivals, commemorating historical events of special significance.”¹

“[T]he three blessed Persons in the Trinity divided up the work: The Father planned, the Son put it into operation, and the Holy Spirit applies it.”²

God was so sure of the depth and expansiveness of your sin, of your inability to grasp how desperate your condition is (and, even if you were able, your complete inability to free yourself from it), that he was willing to harness the forces of nature and to carefully control the events of human history so that at a certain point Jesus would come to live the life you could not live, die the death that you should have died, and rise again, conquering death. Why did God go to this elaborate and sacrificial extent? There is only one answer to the question. God the Father planned it, God the Son was willing to do it, and God the Holy Spirit applied this work to your heart and mine because there just was no other way.³

“When God brought His work of revelation to its climax by sending into the World His Son and His Spirit, He thereby showed Himself to be tri-personal—three Persons in one God.”⁴

“God exists eternally as one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person within the Trinity possesses the same essence and attributes of deity and is co-equal in power and glory.”⁵

“While each ‘personage’ is distinct in function, each shares together in the same deity and each reflects the divine attributes of the one living God.”⁶

[T]he Father plans, directs, and sends; the Son is sent by the Father and is subject to the Father’s authority and obedient to the Father’s will; and both Father and Son direct and send the Spirit, who carries out the will of both. Yet this is somehow consistent with equality in being and in attributes.⁷

“All that can be felt of God is in the Holy Spirit; all that can be known of God is in the Son; and all that is of God is in the Father.”⁸

“It requires a whole Trinity to keep a saint of God.”⁹

To him that sits upon the throne,

The great eternal Three-in-One;

To him let saints and angels raise

An everlasting song of praise.¹⁰

ENDNOTES

(28) SPIRIT, FATHER, Son

1. “A Guide to Christian Festivals and Dates,” Church of Scotland, 4 July 2021 https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/festivals-and-dates.

2. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Gods Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 1.

3. Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014) February 29^th.

4. J.I. Packer, God Has Spoken (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1979) 47.

5. New Hope Church Statement of Fatih, “2. God,” Spring 2021 https://www.newhopechurchofoxford.org/statement-of-faith.

6. “Holy Spirit,” 2002-2020, All About God, 17 February 2021 https://www.allaboutgod.com/holy-spirit.htm.

7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2514.

8. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 340.

9. Bonar, 332.

10. J. Swain, “To Him That Loved Us, Ere We Lay,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 17 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/721/.

11. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Covenant in Eternity,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 6-7.

12. Spurgeon.

13. Spurgeon.

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WEEK 27

PENTECOST

Pentecost Sunday is a commemoration and celebration of the official birthday of the Christian church, marked by the receiving of the Holy Spirit by the early believers. Pentecost Sunday is observed on the seventh Sunday after Easter and ten days after Ascension.¹

“[Y]ou will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5 ESV).

The effects are seen in the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost changed all their outlook. The Scriptures were made luminous in the light of the Holy Ghost. The change in their characters was even greater than the change in their knowledge. The Gospels portray these men as proud and contentious, selfish and cowardly; but the first pages of the Acts of the Apostles tell another story. Pentecost transformed them.²

Under the training of Christ the disciples had been led to feel their need of the Spirit. Under the Spirit’s teaching they received the final qualification, and went forth to their lifework. No longer were they ignorant and uncultured. No longer were they a collection of independent units or discordant, conflicting elements.³

“[L]et us recall and realize all the mighty and marvelous signs of this first Pentecost, and its instant and immediate results and effects; of conquered cowardice, of utterance, of courageous speech, of other tongues.”⁴

The preaching of the cross of Christ was the very center and heart of the message of the apostles. It was not the teaching of Christ, nor the example of Christ either. What they preached was His death on the cross and the meaning of that event.⁵

[T]hey were to proclaim to the world the truths entrusted to them. The events of Christ’s life, His death and resurrection, the prophecies pointing to these events, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, the power of Jesus for the remission of sins.⁶

“[T]he gospel must be proclaimed. The wonderful truth that through Christ alone could remission of sins be obtained, was to be made plain.”⁷

[W]e should read the writings of the New Testament as God’s very words, still living and powerful to speak to our hearts today with the authority of God himself. No other words spoken today can ever equal the words of Scripture itself in authority, in purity, or in power.⁸

ENDNOTES

(27) Abiding Miracle

1. Joe Carter, “9 Things You Should Know About the Christian Calendar,” 1 December 2019, The Gospel Coalition, 3 July 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-know-christian-calendar/.

2. Samuel Chadwick, The Way to Pentecost (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2000) 169-170.

3. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 45.

4. W.C. Doanne, “Commentary on Acts 1:2,” 1876, James Nisbet’s Church Pulpit Commentary, 16 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/acts/2-1.html#verse-cpc.

5. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Walking With God Day by Day (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) April 2^nd.

6. Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911) 27.

7. White, 31-32.

8. Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1988) 49.

9. W.C. Doanne, “Commentary on Acts 1:2,” 1876, James Nisbet’s Church Pulpit Commentary, 16 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/acts/2-1.html#verse-cpc.

10. Samuel Chadwick, The Way to Pentecost (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2000) 35.

11. Chadwick, 37.

12. Chadwick, 40.

13. Chadwick.

14. Chadwick 43.

15. W.C. Doanne, “Commentary on Acts 1:2,” 1876, James Nisbet’s Church Pulpit Commentary, 16 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/acts/2-1.html#verse-cpc.

16. Alexander MacLaren, “Commentary on Acts 2:1,” Alexander MacLaren’s Expositions of Holy Scripture, 16 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mac/acts-2.html.

17. MacLaren.

JESUS! In Word and Song

Posted by bonniefaurote

WEEK 26

THE ASCENSION

“Ascension Day commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter although some denominations move it to the following Sunday.¹

“The ascension has been included in every important creed of the church because it teaches the enduring complete humanity of Jesus as the only mediator between God and man.”² “[E]verything that stands between us and God has been dealt with and has been removed.”³

“The ascension is Christ’s return to heaven from earth. Jesus lives, now and forever, as true man and true God to mediate between God and man. He will come again as he left, fully God and fully man.”⁴

“[T]he God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, according to the working of his great might, raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated him at his right hand” (Eph 1:17,19-20 ESV).

“Jesus ‘sits’ to portray the sufficiency of his saving work on earth; he continues a vital, active ministry as he reigns over all creation.”⁵

Christ’s new status as the God-Man meant God gave Him privileges He did not have prior to the incarnation. If He had not lived among men, He could not have identified with them as the interceding High Priest. Had He not died on the cross, He could not have been elevated from that lowest degree back to heaven as the substitute for sin.⁶

Though the full penalty for our sins was paid at the cross, Christ’s priestly work didn’t end there. It continues to this day in heaven, where Christ ‘appears in the presence of God on our behalf’ (Heb 9:24). Our eternal redemption was secured—not simply by Jesus dying on the cross—but through Jesus entering heaven by means of his own blood. In short: no ascension, no salvation.⁷

“[T]he ascension wasn’t simply Jesus going home; it was Jesus being enthroned.”⁸

Christ is a teacher that He may be a king; Christ is an example that He may be a king; Christ is a Savior that He may be a king; this is the great end and object that He has in His life, His death, His resurrection, and His second coming—that He may set up a kingdom among the sons of men to the glory of God.⁹

“Jesus Christ, [is] the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev 1:5 ESV). “O King, live forever, and we shall find our life in Your life, and glory in promoting Your glory.”¹⁰

ENDNOTES

(26) The Savior Lives No More to Die

2. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2517.

3. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Great Doctrines of the Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) I:348.

4. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2526.

5. ESV Study Bible.

6. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 501.

7. Justin Dillehay, “What Jesus’s Ascension Does for Us,” May 30, 2019, The Gospel Coalition 15 February 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/4-reasons-ascension-matters/.

8. Dillehay.

9. Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons on New Testament Men (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications 1994) 115.

10. Spurgeon.

11. Isaac Watts, “Christ’s Victory, Death, and Dominion,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/168/.

12. Watts.

13. Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring, “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” 1851, Hymnary, 15 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/crown_him_with_many_crowns.

14. Isaac Watts, “Christ’s Victory, Death, and Dominion,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/168/.

15. Watts.

16. Samuel Medley, “Because I Live, Ye Shall Live Also,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/751/.

Bonnie's Prayer Affair

Keeping myself in CHRIST

Author: bonniefaurote

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song

JESUS! In Word and Song