If Jesus Came Today into your house, What is your reaction? Read Luke 19;1-10
Most of us are familiar with the story of Zacchaeus if for no other reason, at least for the children's song about a wee little man. He was a man who was "little of stature" or today we would call him 'vertically challenged'. There are a number of other things we learn about him from our passage: he was wealthy, he was a tax-collector, and, most importantly, he desired to see Jesus.
I would like for us to focus on one phrase in our text this morning. Note verse 5, "And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house." Did you catch that? Jesus said, ' to day I must abide at thy house." In the words of my childhood it would be this, "Ready or not here I come!" Jesus tells Zacchaeus to come down from the tree, because He was coming to visit his house. We aren't really told why Jesus said this, but we do know that Jesus went home with Zacchaeus that day, and his life was never the same. May I interject this morning that if Jesus comes to your house, so to speak, your life will never be the same again! Perhaps you have heard this poem before. It asks the question, what if Jesus came to your house today?
[2] If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do
I know you'd give your nicest room, to such an honored guest And the food that you serve Him, Would be the very best
You'd keep assuring Him, you're glad to have Him there That serving Him in your own house, is joy beyond compare
But when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door With arms outstretched in welcome to your Heavenly Visitor?
Would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in? Or hide some magazines, and put the Bible where they'd been?
Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out? Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?
And I wonder...if the Savior spent a day or two with you, Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right on saying the things you always say? Or would life for you continue as it does from day to day? [3]
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you go? Or would you maybe change your plans for just a day or so?
Would you be glad to have Him meet your closest friends? Or would you hope they stay away until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on? Or would you sigh with great relief when he at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know, the things that you would do, If Jesus came in person, to spend some time with you.
What if Jesus came today? Have you thought about that? If Jesus came today, let me share some thoughts from the Scripture about what would happen.
I. First of all, Jesus is Coming Back!
A. Who: Jesus
Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
B. When: Soon
[4]
Re 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. C. How: Literally
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
D. Why: He Promised
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
E. What is taking so long?
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
II. What if Jesus Came Back Today?
A. The dead in Christ will be raised.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: [5]
1. Note the phrase 'dead in Christ'.
2. Paul is talking about those who have accepted Christ and then pass away.
3. For the believer, death is only a passing from this world to be with God.
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
4. The grave for the believer is not a place of despair…it is a place of hope.
5. When the Lord returns, He will resurrect all those who are the 'dead in Christ'.
B. Living believers will escape death.
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1. Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible, lived 929 years…but he didn't escape death.
2. Solomon, the wisest man in the Bible, but he wasn't smart enough to escape death.
3. Samson, the strongest man in the Bible, but he wasn't strong enough to escape death.
4. Only two people, Elijah and Enoch, were taken to heaven before they died.
5. But the Bible teaches us that those who are alive when Jesus returns at the rapture will be changed…transformed…without death!
1Co 15:51-52 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
C. Unbelievers will be lost forever.
1. That is a sobering thought…as death finds us, so shall eternity.
2. Many jokes about dying and then negotiating with St. Peter about entering into heaven.
3. But the truth is…there will be no hope for those who die without Christ.
4. And there will be no hope for those who are unbelievers, when Jesus comes.
2Th 2:11-12, "…God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
5. No second chances for those who have heard the truth and rejected it.
6. That is why it is so important this morning to place your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
7. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior…do not delay!
Jesus told Zacchaeus that He was coming to his house. Note his response…
Lu 19:6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
Folks, Jesus is coming…will we do as Zacchaeus and joyfully receive Him? Come today.
Christian, are we ready for the Lord to return? Is our life and walk with God what it needs to be? Come today
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
Friday, December 14, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
jesus and the Samaritan woman
Give me this water read; john 4
The place of worship was a subject of contention and controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans in the time of Jesus, as we see in the account of Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in John 4. As He spoke of the living water, the woman looked at Him with wonder. "Sir," the woman said to Him, "give me this water, so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water" (John 4:15).*
Jesus then abruptly changed the topic of conversation. He knew that before the woman could receive this gift, she must be convinced of her sin and her need for a Savior. Thus He put His finger on some of the secrets of her life (vss. 16-18).
The woman was amazed. She wondered who it was that could read the secrets of her sinful life. But then she turned the conversation: "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is Jerusalem" (vs. 19).
Worship was closely linked to a sacred place; to a Samaritan, it was Mount Gerizim, and to a Jew, Jerusalem. The Samaritans had many grounds on which to base their claims that Mount Gerizim was a sacred location. It was here that God first appeared to Abraham after he entered Canaan (Gen.12:6,7). It was here that Jacob first dwelt (Gen. 33:18). It was here that Joshua read the blessings and curses (Josh. 8:33). And it was here that the Israelites buried the bones of Joseph (Josh. 24:32). The Samaritans built a rival temple here and worshiped in accordance with Mosaic rituals. And even after their temple was destroyed by enemies, they still clung to their own traditions and forms of worship.
Responding to the woman's question Jesus said, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem" (vs. 21). Eventually all religious distinctions as to places of worship would be abolished. True worship would no longer be confined to any one place or nation. Jesus knew that she did not need to trouble herself about the place of worship because, in a little time, Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed and not one stone would be left upon another. Now with no temple either at Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem, all peoples would then lift up holy hands, praying and offering up spiritual sacrifices in every place.
"My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations" (Mal. 1:11).
No Restrictions
The worship of God is not restricted to any particular locality-Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, Mount Gerizim, Mecca, the Vatican, or elsewhere. It is not where but how one worships that counts. The time is coming when it will be realized that the aspect which gives genuineness to worship is spiritual, not locality.
Jesus continued, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Jesus drew the woman's thoughts from the place of worship to the Person worshiped, and from the form to the spirit of worship. God is seeking genuine, not formal worshipers, those who worship Him in truth, rendering Him the obedience of faith with a filial spirit.
In the following passages Ellen White highlights the real concept of worship:
"Not by seeking a holy mountain or a sacred temple is man brought into communion with heaven. Religion is not to be confined to external forms and ceremonies. The religion that comes from God is the only religion that will lead to God. In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify the heart and renew the mind, giving us a new capacity for knowing and loving God. It will give us a willing obedience to all His requirements. This is true worship."
"Wherever a soul reaches out after God, there the Spirit's working is manifest, and God will reveal Himself to that soul. For such worshipers He is seeking. He waits to receive them, and to make them His sons and daughters."
The linking of spirit with truth throws light on the meaning of "true worshipers." These are genuine worshipers, as opposed to those who merely appear to be so by participating only in outward rituals. The same distinction between true worship and the forms of worship is clearly stated by the prophet Micah (Mic. 6:7, 8).
"God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth," said Jesus (John 4:24). These words contain one of the most simple, yet most profound truths. They show that God is absolutely free from all limitations of space and time and is therefore not to be localized in temples. God is not material, as idolaters may contend; He is not an abstract force, as many philosophers think. He is a Being lifted above all need of temples, sacrifices, etc., which are a benefit to humans, but not to God.
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else" (Acts 17:24,25).
The Adventist church gives no preference to one place of worship above another with respect to holiness and acceptance by God. In China, according to government statistics, there are about 15 million Christians in the registered churches. However, for every person worshiping in registered churches, there are at least six to eight believers who worship in homes commonly known as "house churches," where it is estimated that 90-100 million people worship in the house churches every week. These believers, even without magnificent buildings, worship in all sincerity, with purified hearts and renewed minds. Their praises, thanksgivings, and singing are not limited to certain places. Their acts of worship are surely acceptable in the eyes of God.
"For where two or three come together in my name," Jesus promised, "there am I with them" (Matt.18:20). The presence of God is important when we come to worship Him. If God is not in your heart, wherever you are, wherever you go, God is not there. If God is in your heart, then wherever you are, He is with you. God is not confined to a certain place, even to His heavenly sanctuary. God's presence depends on our seeking. If our hearts depart from Him, He will surely abandon His sanctuary and destroy it (Jer. 7:1-15).
Adventists are brought together in unity through worship. We have different cultures, backgrounds, languages, races. We worship God in different styles, forms, and places. But there is no difference before God. The genuineness of worship is determined by its spiritual nature, not by style or the geographical location of the place of worship. Just as Jesus said: "The time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks" (John 4:23).
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
The place of worship was a subject of contention and controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans in the time of Jesus, as we see in the account of Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in John 4. As He spoke of the living water, the woman looked at Him with wonder. "Sir," the woman said to Him, "give me this water, so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water" (John 4:15).*
Jesus then abruptly changed the topic of conversation. He knew that before the woman could receive this gift, she must be convinced of her sin and her need for a Savior. Thus He put His finger on some of the secrets of her life (vss. 16-18).
The woman was amazed. She wondered who it was that could read the secrets of her sinful life. But then she turned the conversation: "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is Jerusalem" (vs. 19).
Worship was closely linked to a sacred place; to a Samaritan, it was Mount Gerizim, and to a Jew, Jerusalem. The Samaritans had many grounds on which to base their claims that Mount Gerizim was a sacred location. It was here that God first appeared to Abraham after he entered Canaan (Gen.12:6,7). It was here that Jacob first dwelt (Gen. 33:18). It was here that Joshua read the blessings and curses (Josh. 8:33). And it was here that the Israelites buried the bones of Joseph (Josh. 24:32). The Samaritans built a rival temple here and worshiped in accordance with Mosaic rituals. And even after their temple was destroyed by enemies, they still clung to their own traditions and forms of worship.
Responding to the woman's question Jesus said, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem" (vs. 21). Eventually all religious distinctions as to places of worship would be abolished. True worship would no longer be confined to any one place or nation. Jesus knew that she did not need to trouble herself about the place of worship because, in a little time, Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed and not one stone would be left upon another. Now with no temple either at Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem, all peoples would then lift up holy hands, praying and offering up spiritual sacrifices in every place.
"My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations" (Mal. 1:11).
No Restrictions
The worship of God is not restricted to any particular locality-Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, Mount Gerizim, Mecca, the Vatican, or elsewhere. It is not where but how one worships that counts. The time is coming when it will be realized that the aspect which gives genuineness to worship is spiritual, not locality.
Jesus continued, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Jesus drew the woman's thoughts from the place of worship to the Person worshiped, and from the form to the spirit of worship. God is seeking genuine, not formal worshipers, those who worship Him in truth, rendering Him the obedience of faith with a filial spirit.
In the following passages Ellen White highlights the real concept of worship:
"Not by seeking a holy mountain or a sacred temple is man brought into communion with heaven. Religion is not to be confined to external forms and ceremonies. The religion that comes from God is the only religion that will lead to God. In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify the heart and renew the mind, giving us a new capacity for knowing and loving God. It will give us a willing obedience to all His requirements. This is true worship."
"Wherever a soul reaches out after God, there the Spirit's working is manifest, and God will reveal Himself to that soul. For such worshipers He is seeking. He waits to receive them, and to make them His sons and daughters."
The linking of spirit with truth throws light on the meaning of "true worshipers." These are genuine worshipers, as opposed to those who merely appear to be so by participating only in outward rituals. The same distinction between true worship and the forms of worship is clearly stated by the prophet Micah (Mic. 6:7, 8).
"God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth," said Jesus (John 4:24). These words contain one of the most simple, yet most profound truths. They show that God is absolutely free from all limitations of space and time and is therefore not to be localized in temples. God is not material, as idolaters may contend; He is not an abstract force, as many philosophers think. He is a Being lifted above all need of temples, sacrifices, etc., which are a benefit to humans, but not to God.
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else" (Acts 17:24,25).
The Adventist church gives no preference to one place of worship above another with respect to holiness and acceptance by God. In China, according to government statistics, there are about 15 million Christians in the registered churches. However, for every person worshiping in registered churches, there are at least six to eight believers who worship in homes commonly known as "house churches," where it is estimated that 90-100 million people worship in the house churches every week. These believers, even without magnificent buildings, worship in all sincerity, with purified hearts and renewed minds. Their praises, thanksgivings, and singing are not limited to certain places. Their acts of worship are surely acceptable in the eyes of God.
"For where two or three come together in my name," Jesus promised, "there am I with them" (Matt.18:20). The presence of God is important when we come to worship Him. If God is not in your heart, wherever you are, wherever you go, God is not there. If God is in your heart, then wherever you are, He is with you. God is not confined to a certain place, even to His heavenly sanctuary. God's presence depends on our seeking. If our hearts depart from Him, He will surely abandon His sanctuary and destroy it (Jer. 7:1-15).
Adventists are brought together in unity through worship. We have different cultures, backgrounds, languages, races. We worship God in different styles, forms, and places. But there is no difference before God. The genuineness of worship is determined by its spiritual nature, not by style or the geographical location of the place of worship. Just as Jesus said: "The time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks" (John 4:23).
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
feedback about the adoration 12/10/07
I was really enjoyed the adoration,I felt I got a lot out of it and I feel much better and peaceful with myself.
DEBBIE
DEBBIE
feedback about the adoration 12/10/07
I was very canfortable and I really anjoying the pracence of the Lord
Saggestion;Momentes of soft music for inner reflaction
Stefan cassar
Saggestion;Momentes of soft music for inner reflaction
Stefan cassar
feedback about the adoration 12/10/07
the adoration is a time when I can really get closer to god, when i can really speak to him freely and honestly.Its a great experience
Rachel{achie}
Rachel{achie}
feedback about the adoration 12/10/07
Adoration was just so indescribable,I enjoy it so mach! I always learn something new about god or what he wants me to do when I come here....... a real well done to all who make the adoration happen
KARLA
KARLA
Friday, October 12, 2007
FILL YOUR GARS WITH WATER
the gifts of power, which are faith , gifts of healing and working of miracles.
We can divide all the miracles of Jesus into faith, working of miracles, and gifts of healing. It is almost impossible to understand the miracles of Jesus without a good understanding of these three gifts. The human mind cannot fathom the powerful ways of the Holy Spirit. And yet, we are granted a small view, just enough to participate in this supernatural manner of serving and healing. Here are some thoughts based upon my years of experience with these powerful gifts:
1 - Faith is the first of the power gifts. This type of faith is a move of the Holy Spirit in a situation or person, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. It gives the person faith above and beyond what they already have. It is actually a supernatural increase of faith. When such faith fills your soul, anything can happen. In Luke 8:48, Jesus said to the woman with a flow of blood, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” The faith Jesus saw in her was above and beyond. It was a move of the Holy Spirit in the life of this woman.
2 - We are familiar with the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” However, the gift of faith found in I Corinthians 12:9 is a different kind of faith. It is a special faith which begins in heaven and is imparted by the Holy Spirit. It is a move of God to a person, for a person and in a person. Its main purpose is to produce a miracle. The faith of the centurion in Luke 7:1-10 caused Jesus to say, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel” (v. 9, NIV). The gift of faith is the key for every other gift to operate. It convinces you that what has been revealed by the Holy Spirit will be accomplished.
3 - In every example in the scripture where this type of faith is manifested, a clear indication occurs: the heart of the person involved in the miracle has qualities that distinguish him or her above others. In the case of the woman with the flow of blood, her insistence to touch Jesus in the midst of a pressing crowd reveals special faith. After the miracle had occurred, Jesus waited for her to manifest herself and He then blessed her even more. The centurion not only distinguished himself as a man of integrity, but he spoke to Jesus using faith terms: “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Luke 7:7). Not only did special faith move here, but the centurion was praised by Jesus.
4 – The Holy Spirit appears with special faith not only when there is need for healing, but also when there is need for a supernatural movement to create and establish a situation beyond human capability. A miracle can be physical, mental, or situational. Remember the definition of God’s attributes according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 4:17- “He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed - the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (NIV).
5 - This powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit is easily detected in someone. When the gift of faith is operating, it has a way of letting you know that something is happening in front of you. When Jesus met the synagogue ruler, Jairus, there was something extraordinary about him that let the Lord know that He would be going to Jairus’ house. His faith, his demeanor, his heart, and his desire to believe was above and beyond. The Holy Spirit works powerfully when the heart of someone believes and will not doubt.
6 – Finally, environment is crucial to the manifestation of special faith from the Holy Spirit. An environment of praise and worship, unity, humility, and brokenness invites the Holy Spirit to distribute this gift of faith amongst the congregation. Faith opens the door for all of the other gifts to operate. In Mark 6:5-6 we read, “And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief.” If we want to experience a manifestation of this special faith given by the Holy Spirit, we must create an environment which is “Holy Spirit friendly.”
QESTIONS AND ANWSERS
What is the discernment of spirits? Discernment simply means seeing as the Holy Spirit of God sees, knowing what the Holy Spirit knows, and hearing what the Holy Spirit says. It is not a far-fetched idea. If discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit, anyone who has the Holy Spirit should be able to hear and to respond to God in the act of ministry. What helps the most is the fact that the Holy Spirit has a methodology of action. Here are some simple facts about this great gift of discernment:
1 - The Holy Spirit speaks through pre-determined channels of communication. These pre-established ways to communicate are distinct in themselves and powerful in revealing the will of God for a situation. Once you have learned the basic ways in which the Holy Spirit speaks, it will help you to develop your prayer life and hear from God more accurately.
2 - After learning the pre-established ways in which the Holy Spirit communicates, you will recognize the manner in which He speaks. His ways will become second nature to you in the act of prayer and no other method will replace hearing from the Holy Spirit.
3 - I Corinthians 12:10 lists the discernment of spirits as one of the gifts of revelation given by the Holy Spirit. Discernment is a pre-established communication tool used by the Holy Spirit to introduce information into your act of ministry, your prayer for someone, your preaching or even your teaching. The primary function of discernment is to bring you information pertaining to the moment as you engage yourself in ministry of some kind. Discernment of spirits points toward the type of spirits, good or bad, that you must deal with. Discernment always applies to the moment; it pertains to what you have in front of you at the present time. What is discerned in the situation you are confronted with will determine the direction of your prayer or act of ministry.
4 - While a word of knowledge pertains to people, places, things, situations, or events past and present, discernment relates to the moment, the “now.” If you want to know the direction for your prayer, discernment is the first clue. You may not be able to finish your prayer with what you have heard, but you will be able to start your prayer with accuracy. This is a good thing. As you move in faith based upon what you have heard from the Holy Spirit, it is confirmed by the person in front of you and faith immediately intensifies between you, the person, and God. What a wonderful interference from God!
5 - When God reveals something through discernment, He reveals the beginning of it and not the end. It is not that the information is incomplete or that the movement was wrong. It is simply a characteristic of this powerful gift. Discernment will reveal only a portion of the information needed, so that you will need to move in faith. As you do, another part of the information will come to you. Notice that the initial information is not the end but the beginning of healing and restoration to the person receiving the prayer.
6 - The manifestation of discernment of spirits is not a license to act. As you go on in ministry and are exposed to many situations involving prayer, you will tend to recollect this information at times and may try to apply it to another situation. However, due to the seriousness of the information received, the Holy Spirit will usually not allow you to recollect detailed information to be used again. The prompting of the Holy Spirit is always on time and it will not act upon your wish or desire. This is actually a positive aspect of discernment because it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit and not a gift which you “possess” to use at your whim. Every gift is a manifestation of a holy God and you are simply the carrier of the information to be put into action.
“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?” (1 Corinthians 2:11)
Discernment is activated when you realize that God speaks to you. If you can hear just a little from the Holy Spirit and begin to move in faith and obedience, you will begin to pray more accurately and begin to see amazing results in your prayer and ministry.
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
We can divide all the miracles of Jesus into faith, working of miracles, and gifts of healing. It is almost impossible to understand the miracles of Jesus without a good understanding of these three gifts. The human mind cannot fathom the powerful ways of the Holy Spirit. And yet, we are granted a small view, just enough to participate in this supernatural manner of serving and healing. Here are some thoughts based upon my years of experience with these powerful gifts:
1 - Faith is the first of the power gifts. This type of faith is a move of the Holy Spirit in a situation or person, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. It gives the person faith above and beyond what they already have. It is actually a supernatural increase of faith. When such faith fills your soul, anything can happen. In Luke 8:48, Jesus said to the woman with a flow of blood, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” The faith Jesus saw in her was above and beyond. It was a move of the Holy Spirit in the life of this woman.
2 - We are familiar with the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” However, the gift of faith found in I Corinthians 12:9 is a different kind of faith. It is a special faith which begins in heaven and is imparted by the Holy Spirit. It is a move of God to a person, for a person and in a person. Its main purpose is to produce a miracle. The faith of the centurion in Luke 7:1-10 caused Jesus to say, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel” (v. 9, NIV). The gift of faith is the key for every other gift to operate. It convinces you that what has been revealed by the Holy Spirit will be accomplished.
3 - In every example in the scripture where this type of faith is manifested, a clear indication occurs: the heart of the person involved in the miracle has qualities that distinguish him or her above others. In the case of the woman with the flow of blood, her insistence to touch Jesus in the midst of a pressing crowd reveals special faith. After the miracle had occurred, Jesus waited for her to manifest herself and He then blessed her even more. The centurion not only distinguished himself as a man of integrity, but he spoke to Jesus using faith terms: “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Luke 7:7). Not only did special faith move here, but the centurion was praised by Jesus.
4 – The Holy Spirit appears with special faith not only when there is need for healing, but also when there is need for a supernatural movement to create and establish a situation beyond human capability. A miracle can be physical, mental, or situational. Remember the definition of God’s attributes according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 4:17- “He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed - the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (NIV).
5 - This powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit is easily detected in someone. When the gift of faith is operating, it has a way of letting you know that something is happening in front of you. When Jesus met the synagogue ruler, Jairus, there was something extraordinary about him that let the Lord know that He would be going to Jairus’ house. His faith, his demeanor, his heart, and his desire to believe was above and beyond. The Holy Spirit works powerfully when the heart of someone believes and will not doubt.
6 – Finally, environment is crucial to the manifestation of special faith from the Holy Spirit. An environment of praise and worship, unity, humility, and brokenness invites the Holy Spirit to distribute this gift of faith amongst the congregation. Faith opens the door for all of the other gifts to operate. In Mark 6:5-6 we read, “And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief.” If we want to experience a manifestation of this special faith given by the Holy Spirit, we must create an environment which is “Holy Spirit friendly.”
QESTIONS AND ANWSERS
What is the discernment of spirits? Discernment simply means seeing as the Holy Spirit of God sees, knowing what the Holy Spirit knows, and hearing what the Holy Spirit says. It is not a far-fetched idea. If discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit, anyone who has the Holy Spirit should be able to hear and to respond to God in the act of ministry. What helps the most is the fact that the Holy Spirit has a methodology of action. Here are some simple facts about this great gift of discernment:
1 - The Holy Spirit speaks through pre-determined channels of communication. These pre-established ways to communicate are distinct in themselves and powerful in revealing the will of God for a situation. Once you have learned the basic ways in which the Holy Spirit speaks, it will help you to develop your prayer life and hear from God more accurately.
2 - After learning the pre-established ways in which the Holy Spirit communicates, you will recognize the manner in which He speaks. His ways will become second nature to you in the act of prayer and no other method will replace hearing from the Holy Spirit.
3 - I Corinthians 12:10 lists the discernment of spirits as one of the gifts of revelation given by the Holy Spirit. Discernment is a pre-established communication tool used by the Holy Spirit to introduce information into your act of ministry, your prayer for someone, your preaching or even your teaching. The primary function of discernment is to bring you information pertaining to the moment as you engage yourself in ministry of some kind. Discernment of spirits points toward the type of spirits, good or bad, that you must deal with. Discernment always applies to the moment; it pertains to what you have in front of you at the present time. What is discerned in the situation you are confronted with will determine the direction of your prayer or act of ministry.
4 - While a word of knowledge pertains to people, places, things, situations, or events past and present, discernment relates to the moment, the “now.” If you want to know the direction for your prayer, discernment is the first clue. You may not be able to finish your prayer with what you have heard, but you will be able to start your prayer with accuracy. This is a good thing. As you move in faith based upon what you have heard from the Holy Spirit, it is confirmed by the person in front of you and faith immediately intensifies between you, the person, and God. What a wonderful interference from God!
5 - When God reveals something through discernment, He reveals the beginning of it and not the end. It is not that the information is incomplete or that the movement was wrong. It is simply a characteristic of this powerful gift. Discernment will reveal only a portion of the information needed, so that you will need to move in faith. As you do, another part of the information will come to you. Notice that the initial information is not the end but the beginning of healing and restoration to the person receiving the prayer.
6 - The manifestation of discernment of spirits is not a license to act. As you go on in ministry and are exposed to many situations involving prayer, you will tend to recollect this information at times and may try to apply it to another situation. However, due to the seriousness of the information received, the Holy Spirit will usually not allow you to recollect detailed information to be used again. The prompting of the Holy Spirit is always on time and it will not act upon your wish or desire. This is actually a positive aspect of discernment because it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit and not a gift which you “possess” to use at your whim. Every gift is a manifestation of a holy God and you are simply the carrier of the information to be put into action.
“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?” (1 Corinthians 2:11)
Discernment is activated when you realize that God speaks to you. If you can hear just a little from the Holy Spirit and begin to move in faith and obedience, you will begin to pray more accurately and begin to see amazing results in your prayer and ministry.
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
Monday, October 1, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Feedback 3
Adoration was out of the world, its like total bliss, just God’s presence. Everyone’s feelings and expressions inspired.
Jean
Jean
Feedback 2
Really Cool! In that hour and a half, I was able to let go of any worries or doubts. It’s really relaxing, after a whole month adoration is very helpful. Gets you back on track! The chapel is beautiful, and when you see everyone focused on God in that lovely atmosphere, with really nice songs, it hekk makes me fell really good inside, don’t ask :P. Thanks Lawrence and Julie :) our God is a Awesome God!!
Amy
Amy
Feedback
This adoration was amazing! Well, God made it so! At first, I had a difficulty to really accept that he is so loving, so merciful! When I got to know the title of the adoration, it still didn’t hit home! But then tonight I just got it! My sins are forgiven! And I really felt God telling me to forgive myself and start afresh! I must accept myself as I am and accept the fact that I’m forgiven! His blood just washes us totally and we can forget all our sins and let him love us! I think it’s not because we’re someone different from the others (as in we’re higher than all the other people) but cause he’s so amazingly good! So I encourage everyone to do the decision to let God love us and wash us! After I decided that. I felt so so free and thankful! Aleluiah to God.
Maria Angela
Maria Angela
Friday, September 21, 2007
your sins are forgiven
ONLY Jesus Christ's Sacrificial Blood Has The Power To Cleanse Your Sins
Because Jesus Christ was the only perfect man who never sinned, His crucifixion is the only Perfect Blood Sacrifice, and it is only through His intercession that we are allowed atonement (at-one-ment) with God.
John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Acts 4:12 (NIV) Salvation is found in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
John 3:36 (NIV) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
Because Jesus' Blood is completely precious, completely powerful, and completely pure, it has the ability to cover a compilation of the most heinous, despicable sins instantly; just as quickly as it covers the smallest, most minute sin.
Psalms 103:12 (NIV) as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Matthew 1:21 (NIV) She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew 9:1-8 (NIV) Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." 3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" 4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . ." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7 And the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
Mark 2:1-12 (NIV) A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
Matthew 26:26-28 (NIV) While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 1:76-77 (NIV) And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
Luke 5:20 (NIV) When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
Luke 7:48-49 (NIV) Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
John 1:29 (NIV) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 8:24 (NIV) I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."
Acts 10:43 (NIV) All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
Acts 13:38-39 (NIV) "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
Romans 5:9 (NIV) Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
Ephesians 1:7 (NIV) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV) For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1 John 1:7 (NIV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Your Sins Are Forgiven?
Is it possible to be deceived, thinking God is pleased with us when he is not? Matt. 7:21-23 says there are many people who think they are doing wonderful works in Jesus' name, but they will be surprised in the judgment when He rejects them! What about you and me? Will we be among that number? What must we do to be sure this does not happen to us? Jesus answers this question in verse 21. We must do the will of the Father.
What does the Father require us to do to be forgiven of sins? Jesus said all people must be taught the gospel, and "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:15,16). To be sure we are saved, then, we must hear the gospel, believe it, and be baptized. Notice that baptism, according to God's word, does not come after salvation, but is an essential step in order to receive salvation.
Later, in Acts 2:38, Peter preached about Jesus, then he commanded: "Repent, and be baptized ... for the remission of sins..." This shows that hearing, repentance, and baptism are essential to forgiveness. Again we note that remission is a result that follows from baptism. It does not come before baptism.
Finally, Romans 6:3,4 says we are buried by baptism into Jesus' death. Now Jesus' death is what provides forgiveness, and this passage says we contact that death in baptism, not before. Furthermore, the passage teaches that baptism is a burial or immersion, not a sprinkling or pouring. And since people must hear the gospel, believe, and repent before they are baptized, it follows that baptism is not for babies.
What about you? Have you done the will of the Father, or will you be one of the many people who will find out too late that God is not pleased with them? Have you heard the gospel, believed it, repented of your sins, and been Scripturally baptized? Was your baptism an immersion in water, and did you do it for the purpose of receiving forgiveness of sins?
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
Because Jesus Christ was the only perfect man who never sinned, His crucifixion is the only Perfect Blood Sacrifice, and it is only through His intercession that we are allowed atonement (at-one-ment) with God.
John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Acts 4:12 (NIV) Salvation is found in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
John 3:36 (NIV) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
Because Jesus' Blood is completely precious, completely powerful, and completely pure, it has the ability to cover a compilation of the most heinous, despicable sins instantly; just as quickly as it covers the smallest, most minute sin.
Psalms 103:12 (NIV) as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Matthew 1:21 (NIV) She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew 9:1-8 (NIV) Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." 3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" 4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . ." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7 And the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
Mark 2:1-12 (NIV) A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
Matthew 26:26-28 (NIV) While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 1:76-77 (NIV) And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
Luke 5:20 (NIV) When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
Luke 7:48-49 (NIV) Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
John 1:29 (NIV) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 8:24 (NIV) I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."
Acts 10:43 (NIV) All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
Acts 13:38-39 (NIV) "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
Romans 5:9 (NIV) Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
Ephesians 1:7 (NIV) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV) For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1 John 1:7 (NIV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Your Sins Are Forgiven?
Is it possible to be deceived, thinking God is pleased with us when he is not? Matt. 7:21-23 says there are many people who think they are doing wonderful works in Jesus' name, but they will be surprised in the judgment when He rejects them! What about you and me? Will we be among that number? What must we do to be sure this does not happen to us? Jesus answers this question in verse 21. We must do the will of the Father.
What does the Father require us to do to be forgiven of sins? Jesus said all people must be taught the gospel, and "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:15,16). To be sure we are saved, then, we must hear the gospel, believe it, and be baptized. Notice that baptism, according to God's word, does not come after salvation, but is an essential step in order to receive salvation.
Later, in Acts 2:38, Peter preached about Jesus, then he commanded: "Repent, and be baptized ... for the remission of sins..." This shows that hearing, repentance, and baptism are essential to forgiveness. Again we note that remission is a result that follows from baptism. It does not come before baptism.
Finally, Romans 6:3,4 says we are buried by baptism into Jesus' death. Now Jesus' death is what provides forgiveness, and this passage says we contact that death in baptism, not before. Furthermore, the passage teaches that baptism is a burial or immersion, not a sprinkling or pouring. And since people must hear the gospel, believe, and repent before they are baptized, it follows that baptism is not for babies.
What about you? Have you done the will of the Father, or will you be one of the many people who will find out too late that God is not pleased with them? Have you heard the gospel, believed it, repented of your sins, and been Scripturally baptized? Was your baptism an immersion in water, and did you do it for the purpose of receiving forgiveness of sins?
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
I am the bread of life 31-08-07
I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE / SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS
The Sacrifice of Christ
The Eucharist
Jesus, Our Priest
The Sacrifice of Christ
The Son of God came down to earth in order to die. The cross is His masterpiece. Not everyone can appreciate the glory of the cross; many consider it a scandal or even foolishness, but Christians never cease to boast in the cross of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
To better understand the significance of Christ’s death it is worthwhile having a closer look at the ceremonies performed during the Old Testament. Through Moses, God gave instructions to His people in Israel concerning the tabernacle, the priesthood and various sacrifices.
The tabernacle consisted in two sections: the holy place and the Holy of Holies. The glory of God’s presence shone in the Holy of Holies. Nobody was allowed entrance into this sacred place except the high priest. A veil separated the two sections from each other, signifying, among other things, that sin debars us from the presence of the thrice-holy God.
From among the Jewish nation certain men were appointed by God to serve as priests, whose ministry was to represent the people before Him. Thus God teaches us that we cannot approach Him by ourselves.
The priests used to offer different animal sacrifices on the altar every day. Once a year the high priest used to kill the animal, take some of its blood in a container and enter beyond the veil in the Holy of Holies. God is righteous and His justice demands due punishment for every transgression of the law. The death of countless animals reminds us what the punishment is for our disobedience. The wages of sin is death, as God had forewarned man from the beginning.
Old Testament sacrifices also show us the way we can get rid of our sin’s punishment. The Lord instructed His people: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The blood makes “atonement” or “covers” the sin. Elsewhere the Scripture declares that “without shedding of blood is no remission.”
See how marvellous God’s grace is. His justice requires the full punishment for sin: death, but in order to deliver the sinner from the necessary punishment, God has provided for him a substitute to die in his place. The blood of the animal is shed on the altar; its life is taken so that the sinner would not have die.
The Old Testament rites were only a picture of Christ and His work as Redeemer. Scripture calls these things a “copy and shadow,” and “shadow of the good things to come.” “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Christ is the true Lamb of God who bears upon Himself and takes away the sin of the world.
Christ, The Priest and Sacrifice
Sin separates us from the holy God, and arouses His anger and wrath, but God, who is rich in mercy, was pleased to deliver His people from their sins. The Father appointed the Son as High Priest to intercede for them. The eternal Son of God became a human being so that He could represent us before the Father.
Christ is both the priest and the sacrifice. Jesus, as priest, offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Do take time, then, to meditate upon the significance of the cross.
The apostle Peter explains to believers: “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed... For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Jesus died on the cross instead of His people, that they would not suffer eternal death in hell. He suffered the punishment that was properly and rightly theirs, therefore they are no longer liable to hell’s punishment.
The apostle Paul reminds us of the misery and peril because of sin. “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” The Law convicts us of sin, condemns us, but has no power to deliver us. There is only one way that effectively delivers us from God’s wrath. “Christ has redeemed (freed) us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” Believers are free because the curse on their heads was transferred to Christ, their Redeemer.
With good reason Christ feared and was sorrowful in the garden of Gethsemane! He who knew no sin was willing to drink the cup of divine wrath so that His people would be saved and enjoy fellowship with God. His cry during that hour of darkness is as meaningful as could be, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” On the cross, Christ endured and experienced the punishment of hell instead of those whom the Father had given! How blessed are they who are able to praise Christ from their heart: “By your cross and your death you have redeemed us.”
I Am the Bread of Life
Christ is the Saviour of the world, but it cannot be implied that every human being will be saved. Many will hear their terrible condemnation on the great and awesome Day of the Lord: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” They were never delivered from their curse. Who then has the right the say to the Lord Jesus: “You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation”? Who is actually saved?
In John’s gospel we have a satisfactory explanation. Jesus compares Himself with bread: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” Jesus offered His sacred body and shed His precious blood as a sacrifice for sin. Now how can a sinner actually benefit from His sacrifice? Quite obviously bread will neither nourish nor satisfy if it is not eaten and digested. Even so the body of Christ, given on the cross, and His shed blood will be unprofitable if we do not actually participate in His infinite merits. Jesus explains: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Such a step is absolutely necessary to obtain eternal life, but how can we eat this divine bread? How can we drink Christ’s blood? His audience murmured greatly when they heard this the first time, and protested, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” Their carnal misunderstanding of Jesus’ words was merely a cloak for their unbelief. He had already explained, but they were hard-hearted and refused to listen. Those who wilfully persist in unbelief will find their hearts even more callous and insensitive to divine truth.
When Christ said, “I am the living bread,” He was using a metaphor to explain profound spiritual truths as He was accustomed to do. In the same gospel, Jesus uttered similar expressions:
“I am the light of the world” - His disciples follow Him.
“I am the door” - whoever desires to be saved must enter through Him.
“I am the good shepherd” - His sheep listen to and obey His voice.
“I am the true vine” - Christians are vitally united to Him as branches are to the vine.
Nobody would dare suggest that Christ is literally light, or a door, or a shepherd, or a vine. Neither are His followers sheep or branches. They do not follow Him by walking literally after Him; neither do they enter through Him literally. In the same manner, we would be in serious error if we take His speech about eating His body in a literal way.
How then are we meant to eat His body and drink His blood in order to obtain eternal life? Several times the Lord Jesus gives us a direct and uncomplicated answer in His same speech. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” Jesus’ answer cannot be missed: He grants eternal life to all who believe in Him. Eating and drinking is believing in Christ.
The Jews desired eternal life. They rested in the law. They trusted in their own good works, in circumcision, in Moses and in their genealogical line going back to the patriarchs. But this was not God’s requirement. God simply wanted them to believe on the One whom He had sent. He who believes in Christ has eternal life. Think this crucial issue through: on whom are you depending to have eternal life? In your obedience to God’s commandments, in your own holiness and good performance, in baptism or in Mary and the saints? Christ leaves us in no doubt as to God’s requirement: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
Once for All
Was the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary sufficient to save all those who trust in Him? Was that offering for sin enough to obtain eternal redemption? Was the death of Christ enough to actually and really cancel out sin? Was His sacrifice effective so that by it He sanctifies His people and makes them perfect? How many times did Christ have to do it? The following quotations from the letter to the Hebrews give us a plain answer:
With His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Christ’s sacrifice is an accomplished historical fact. It need not be repeated because His purpose was fulfilled. He gained His people’s redemption, the cancellation of their sin, their holiness and their perfection in glory. It was a thoroughly perfect sacrifice: He has no need to go through it again.
The Catholic Church affirms that Jesus offered one sacrifice once for all. We cannot but be disappointed to discover that Rome’s doctrine of the Mass contradicts this blessed truth. You may retort: “Why do you say this? The Mass is the remembrance of the Lord and a proclamation of His death.” If it were so, we would find no difficulty whatsoever, but the official teaching of the Catholic Church goes far beyond this. The Catechism teaches: “As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead.” Not only so, but the Catholic Church insists that the Mass is the same sacrifice of Christ on the cross: “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice... In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered Himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner.”
How can today’s Mass be the same sacrifice that occurred two millennia ago? If they are the same, where are the cross, the crown of thorns, the nails, the suffering, the shedding of blood and the death of Christ? We all know that is impossible for Christ to die again: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” Now since He cannot shed His blood or die once more, what is the value of such an “unbloody” sacrifice in the light of Scripture’s affirmation that “without shedding of blood there is no remission”?
Yet the Catholic Church insists that “the Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross” and that Christ instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice “in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again.”
Since they could not take away sins, the sacrifices of the Old Testament were offered repeatedly year after year and even day after day. Not so in the New Testament. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” For as long as the Catholic Church insists on the necessity of renewing and perpetuating the sacrifice of Christ, she is doing nothing less than bringing Christ’s offering of Himself to the level of animal sacrifices of the Old Testament.
Continuing or Finished?
What is the truth? Is Jesus still offering the same sacrifice daily on the Catholic altars? Scripture answers: “Every priest (in the Old Testament) stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” Christ’s uniqueness consists in not having to continue offering the same sacrifice. He completed His mission successfully because His sacrifice is effective in every way. Neither is He a victim on earthly altars, but is exalted and glorified in heaven. He “sat down” because His sacrificial work is complete and finished.
The Holy Spirit also affirms Christ’s perfect sacrifice. Referring to the partakers of New Covenant blessings, He says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” The author’s reasonable conclusion is pointedly powerful: “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” Since all believers’ sins are wiped away, what need remains for the sacrifice of the Mass?
Christ Himself commented on His own redeeming work. Should it continue to be offered throughout time? While still hanging on the cross, Christ uttered a triumphal cry: “It is finished!” The debt is settled; redemption accomplished; forgiveness is obtained. One offering, effective for all time and eternity!
To enter before God’s holy presence, you need a bloody sacrifice to cleanse you from sin. What will be your choice? Will it be the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass? Or will it be the perfect sacrifice offered on Calvary once for all?
The Eucharist
Our Lord Jesus is true God and true Man. Just before ascending into heaven, the Lord promised His disciples: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He is able to keep such a promise because He is divine and therefore everywhere present. Christ is spiritually present with His people, but He is absent physically. Jesus told His disciples: “For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.” The Lord Jesus is now in heaven. He promises the Church, “Surely I am coming quickly,” and His bride eagerly replies, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
But before departing He left His disciples a memorial feast. “The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”
Just like in apostolic times, evangelical Christians today celebrate the Lord’s Supper with joy and thanksgiving (“Eucharist” comes from a Greek word which means thanksgiving). We share the bread to remember how Christ loved us and gave His body as a sacrifice for us. Similarly we drink of the fruit of the vine in commemoration of the blood shed on Calvary for our justification and our peace with God. We are exhorted to examine ourselves properly before partaking of the holy elements. “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” - in the same way that if a nation’s flag is burned it signifies contempt and disdain for the nation it symbolizes.
Transubstantiation
Throughout church history several interpretations of the Lord’s Supper have vied for acceptance. Some Church Fathers, such as Cyril of Jerusalem and Ambrose, interpreted the words of Jesus, “This is My body... this is My blood” rather literally, but many others continued to propose a symbolical and spiritual significance. Eusebius and Augustine of Hippo were among those who expounded the words spiritually, though their language was never trivial or frivolous when they spoke of this holy ordinance.
In the ninth century Paschasius Radbertus strove with might and main to see the literal interpretation prevail. He was opposed principally by Ratramnus, a contemporary monk at the monastery of Corbie. It was only in the Lateran Council (1215) that the literal interpretation was declared as official dogma of the Catholic Church. Doctor Duns Scotus admits that this doctrine was not an article of faith before the thirteenth century.
The Catholic Church teaches: “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.’” “By the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.” “Transubstantiation” means a change in substance. Hence the bread does not remain bread and the wine does not remain wine; they become the body and blood of Christ respectively, even though in appearance they still look and taste like bread and wine. I invite you to compare this Catholic dogma with the Bible’s teaching.
The Bread and Fruit of the Vine
In ordinary speech, as well as in Scripture, the words “this is” could be used either in a plain literal sense or in a figurative sense (i.e. “this represents”). By looking at the context it is usually not difficult to determine the intended meaning.
I can introduce you to an elderly man and say, “This is my father.” But if I show you a photograph, and repeat the same words, “This is my father,” now you will not take my words literally. In this case “this is” means “this represents” my father because the photo is his likeness, not my father in person. Similarly, when Jesus uttered the words of institution, “This is My body,” He was physically present with His disciples. It was only natural for the disciples to take His words figuratively – the bread represents the body which they could still touch with their hands and see with their eyes. Christ gave the disciples a symbol because He was about to leave them.
Perhaps an illustration from Scripture will be fitting. It is told how three brave men once risked their lives and passed through the Philistines’ armies to bring David some water from a well. Seeing the water, the king responded: “Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” He called the water in the vessel “blood,” not because it was transubstantiated, but simply because it represented the danger to the lives of those three men who brought it.
Furthermore, though Christ spoke about “My blood,” He made it unmistakably clear that the wine still remained wine. “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.” After speaking about the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the apostle Paul explains its import, and affirms that the bread remains bread: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.” The bread remains bread; the wine remains wine.
In Remembrance of Me
If transubstantiation is true, the consecrated host should be worshipped. But Jesus simply said: “Take, eat... drink from it, all of you.” Nowhere are we instructed to bow down on our knees and adore the host. In apostolic times, Christians used to meet and break bread together, not worship the bread. The Catholic Church goes beyond Scripture and encourages the worship of the sacrament. When her members adore the Eucharist, in reality they are worshipping bread. That is idolatry.
Besides all this, Catholic doctrine disregards the biblical truth about the humanity of Christ. Jesus arose from the grave with a real glorified body. The disciples trembled and feared when He met them after His resurrection for they thought that they saw a phantasm, but He reassured them: “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” The question naturally arises: How can Christ be a real human being, with a fleshly body, and yet be in thousands of places at the same time? Jesus’ human body must be either in heaven or on earth, and since we confess in the Apostles’ Creed that “He ascended into heaven, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come again to judge the living and the dead”, it is inconsistent to believe in His bodily presence on earth.
Finally, in insisting upon a real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Catholic tradition goes well beyond Christ’s intention. He simply said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the Lord’s Supper, Christians remember Him because He is physically absent, and they continue to do so until He comes again. The memorial celebration implies our eager expectation that someday in the future we will be united with our Saviour.
Jesus, our Priest
Do we still need the priest’s ministry as the people of God had during the Old Testament? Without hesitation we must answer, “Yes, we do.” We say so because we cannot approach God’s majestic presence with our sin’s defilement. We need a priest who is competent to intercede for us and bring us to God.
The Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament has been laid aside. Actually there has been a change in the priesthood. Who then is our priest today? The epistle to the Hebrews is replete with references to Jesus Christ as our High Priest. We are exhorted to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” Further on, “seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”
Our High Priest has offered one perfect sacrifice on the cross. God the Father accepted His offering and, to make His approval evident, raised Him back to life the third day. After forty days, the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven where He is glorified by the Father and the hosts of heaven.
There the Lord Jesus, our priest, intercedes for His people before the Father. “Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Christ represents His people and intercedes for them on the basis of the infinite merits of His sacrifice. “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” All those who sincerely trust Him have the privilege to enter boldly and reverently into God’s presence. “Having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” At Christ’s death the veil of the temple was torn apart from top to bottom, a token that through Christ we may now enter the Holy of Holies, in the very presence of God.
Other Priests?
The Word of God invites us to draw near to the Father through His Son, whom He has constituted as our Mediator and Priest. Is Christ sufficient or do we need other priests just as Israel had their Levitical priests?
In the Catholic religion, the clergy is sharply distinguished from the rest of the faithful, the laity. The common Catholic depends upon the ministry of the priests to offer the sacrifice of the Mass on their behalf and to receive absolution from their hands. The Catechism teaches that Christ “instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of His death and Resurrection, and commanded His apostles to celebrate it until His return; ‘thereby He constituted them priests of the New Testament.’” The Catholic Church warns: “If anyone says that by the words ‘Do this as a memorial of me’ Christ did not establish the apostles as priests or that He did not order that they and other priests should offer his body and blood, anathema sit.”
It is hard to understand why the words, “Do this as a memorial of me,” must be interpreted as the appointment of the apostles to a new priesthood to continue offering sacrifice for sin. As we have already observed, Christ’s sacrifice occurred once for all. It is a historically unique event, and therefore it can neither be renewed nor perpetuated. Christ left us a memorial, not a sacrifice.
For the sake of argument, let us suppose that Christ appointed the apostles as priests, and these in turn consecrated others to continue offering sacrifice for sin. In that case, we would reasonably expect this fundamental doctrine to be evident in Scripture. In the New Testament the term “priest” (hiereus, and words from the same root) refer to the following: Jewish priests, a pagan priest, all Christians, Christ, and Melchizedek (an Old Testament king and priest prefiguring Christ). The church’s leaders are denominated by various terms: presbyters (elders), overseers (bishops) and shepherds (pastors). Curiously enough, they are never called priests. The presbyter or elder was generally a married man; his call consisted in teaching the Word and affording spiritual protection to the flock of God. It is never intimated that his principal duty is to offer a sacrifice for sin. Similarly the apostles were entrusted with the preaching of the gospel. We never find them re-presenting the sacrifice of Christ. Do read the New Testament for yourself and see how glaringly true this observation is.
Priests to God
In the New Testament no mention is made of a priesthood, distinct from the laity, with the purpose of offering sacrifice for sin. Not only so, the apostles Peter and John teach us that all Christians are priests. Addressing ordinary Christians, Peter says: “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The people of God do not offer sacrifice to atone for sins. This type of sacrifice was offered once for all by Christ, their High Priest. Only He was qualified to do that. His people are made priests because they have been granted confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Christ, and have boldness to draw near the throne of grace. All of Christ’s disciples are “priests to His God and Father.” As priests, Christians are called to offer themselves, their goods, the praise of their lips, and their contributions to the poor, as proper and pleasing sacrifices. They are not expected, nor are they competent, to offer sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.
Christ, The Priest of the New Covenant
In the letter to the Hebrews, the author contrasts the Levitical priesthood with the unique priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Levitical priests were constrained to transfer the priesthood from one generation to another because they were mortal, but Jesus, “because He continues forever, has an unchangeable (untransferable) priesthood.”
They used to serve in a temple built with human hands. By contrast, “Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Levitical priests were sinful just like the rest of the people; consequently they were obliged to offer sacrifices for their own sins as well. Not so Christ: “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”
Old Testament priests used to offer the same sacrifices daily, while Christ offered one sacrifice, once for all.
Catholic priests are nothing better than Levitical priests, for they too are sinful, serve in earthly temples, daily offer the same sacrifices, and die. God did not abrogate the Levites in order to establish an order of priests just as weak. Rather, the Old Testament priesthood was laid aside and discontinued because a better, effective and enduring priesthood was established: that of Christ. He lives forever; He is perfect, and has entered into heaven itself on behalf of His people on the infinite merits of His sacrifice on Calvary.
Through whom then will you approach God? Through a mortal, sinful priest, appointed by men, who repeatedly offers the same sacrifice in a building of stone? Or through the priest, who lives forever, chosen by the Father, who offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice once for all, and who is now interceding for His own in heaven?
The Word of God presents us with Jesus Christ, the unique and competent High Priest. There is no other. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
The Sacrifice of Christ
The Eucharist
Jesus, Our Priest
The Sacrifice of Christ
The Son of God came down to earth in order to die. The cross is His masterpiece. Not everyone can appreciate the glory of the cross; many consider it a scandal or even foolishness, but Christians never cease to boast in the cross of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
To better understand the significance of Christ’s death it is worthwhile having a closer look at the ceremonies performed during the Old Testament. Through Moses, God gave instructions to His people in Israel concerning the tabernacle, the priesthood and various sacrifices.
The tabernacle consisted in two sections: the holy place and the Holy of Holies. The glory of God’s presence shone in the Holy of Holies. Nobody was allowed entrance into this sacred place except the high priest. A veil separated the two sections from each other, signifying, among other things, that sin debars us from the presence of the thrice-holy God.
From among the Jewish nation certain men were appointed by God to serve as priests, whose ministry was to represent the people before Him. Thus God teaches us that we cannot approach Him by ourselves.
The priests used to offer different animal sacrifices on the altar every day. Once a year the high priest used to kill the animal, take some of its blood in a container and enter beyond the veil in the Holy of Holies. God is righteous and His justice demands due punishment for every transgression of the law. The death of countless animals reminds us what the punishment is for our disobedience. The wages of sin is death, as God had forewarned man from the beginning.
Old Testament sacrifices also show us the way we can get rid of our sin’s punishment. The Lord instructed His people: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The blood makes “atonement” or “covers” the sin. Elsewhere the Scripture declares that “without shedding of blood is no remission.”
See how marvellous God’s grace is. His justice requires the full punishment for sin: death, but in order to deliver the sinner from the necessary punishment, God has provided for him a substitute to die in his place. The blood of the animal is shed on the altar; its life is taken so that the sinner would not have die.
The Old Testament rites were only a picture of Christ and His work as Redeemer. Scripture calls these things a “copy and shadow,” and “shadow of the good things to come.” “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Christ is the true Lamb of God who bears upon Himself and takes away the sin of the world.
Christ, The Priest and Sacrifice
Sin separates us from the holy God, and arouses His anger and wrath, but God, who is rich in mercy, was pleased to deliver His people from their sins. The Father appointed the Son as High Priest to intercede for them. The eternal Son of God became a human being so that He could represent us before the Father.
Christ is both the priest and the sacrifice. Jesus, as priest, offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Do take time, then, to meditate upon the significance of the cross.
The apostle Peter explains to believers: “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed... For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Jesus died on the cross instead of His people, that they would not suffer eternal death in hell. He suffered the punishment that was properly and rightly theirs, therefore they are no longer liable to hell’s punishment.
The apostle Paul reminds us of the misery and peril because of sin. “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” The Law convicts us of sin, condemns us, but has no power to deliver us. There is only one way that effectively delivers us from God’s wrath. “Christ has redeemed (freed) us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” Believers are free because the curse on their heads was transferred to Christ, their Redeemer.
With good reason Christ feared and was sorrowful in the garden of Gethsemane! He who knew no sin was willing to drink the cup of divine wrath so that His people would be saved and enjoy fellowship with God. His cry during that hour of darkness is as meaningful as could be, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” On the cross, Christ endured and experienced the punishment of hell instead of those whom the Father had given! How blessed are they who are able to praise Christ from their heart: “By your cross and your death you have redeemed us.”
I Am the Bread of Life
Christ is the Saviour of the world, but it cannot be implied that every human being will be saved. Many will hear their terrible condemnation on the great and awesome Day of the Lord: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” They were never delivered from their curse. Who then has the right the say to the Lord Jesus: “You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation”? Who is actually saved?
In John’s gospel we have a satisfactory explanation. Jesus compares Himself with bread: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” Jesus offered His sacred body and shed His precious blood as a sacrifice for sin. Now how can a sinner actually benefit from His sacrifice? Quite obviously bread will neither nourish nor satisfy if it is not eaten and digested. Even so the body of Christ, given on the cross, and His shed blood will be unprofitable if we do not actually participate in His infinite merits. Jesus explains: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Such a step is absolutely necessary to obtain eternal life, but how can we eat this divine bread? How can we drink Christ’s blood? His audience murmured greatly when they heard this the first time, and protested, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” Their carnal misunderstanding of Jesus’ words was merely a cloak for their unbelief. He had already explained, but they were hard-hearted and refused to listen. Those who wilfully persist in unbelief will find their hearts even more callous and insensitive to divine truth.
When Christ said, “I am the living bread,” He was using a metaphor to explain profound spiritual truths as He was accustomed to do. In the same gospel, Jesus uttered similar expressions:
“I am the light of the world” - His disciples follow Him.
“I am the door” - whoever desires to be saved must enter through Him.
“I am the good shepherd” - His sheep listen to and obey His voice.
“I am the true vine” - Christians are vitally united to Him as branches are to the vine.
Nobody would dare suggest that Christ is literally light, or a door, or a shepherd, or a vine. Neither are His followers sheep or branches. They do not follow Him by walking literally after Him; neither do they enter through Him literally. In the same manner, we would be in serious error if we take His speech about eating His body in a literal way.
How then are we meant to eat His body and drink His blood in order to obtain eternal life? Several times the Lord Jesus gives us a direct and uncomplicated answer in His same speech. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” Jesus’ answer cannot be missed: He grants eternal life to all who believe in Him. Eating and drinking is believing in Christ.
The Jews desired eternal life. They rested in the law. They trusted in their own good works, in circumcision, in Moses and in their genealogical line going back to the patriarchs. But this was not God’s requirement. God simply wanted them to believe on the One whom He had sent. He who believes in Christ has eternal life. Think this crucial issue through: on whom are you depending to have eternal life? In your obedience to God’s commandments, in your own holiness and good performance, in baptism or in Mary and the saints? Christ leaves us in no doubt as to God’s requirement: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
Once for All
Was the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary sufficient to save all those who trust in Him? Was that offering for sin enough to obtain eternal redemption? Was the death of Christ enough to actually and really cancel out sin? Was His sacrifice effective so that by it He sanctifies His people and makes them perfect? How many times did Christ have to do it? The following quotations from the letter to the Hebrews give us a plain answer:
With His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Christ’s sacrifice is an accomplished historical fact. It need not be repeated because His purpose was fulfilled. He gained His people’s redemption, the cancellation of their sin, their holiness and their perfection in glory. It was a thoroughly perfect sacrifice: He has no need to go through it again.
The Catholic Church affirms that Jesus offered one sacrifice once for all. We cannot but be disappointed to discover that Rome’s doctrine of the Mass contradicts this blessed truth. You may retort: “Why do you say this? The Mass is the remembrance of the Lord and a proclamation of His death.” If it were so, we would find no difficulty whatsoever, but the official teaching of the Catholic Church goes far beyond this. The Catechism teaches: “As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead.” Not only so, but the Catholic Church insists that the Mass is the same sacrifice of Christ on the cross: “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice... In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered Himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner.”
How can today’s Mass be the same sacrifice that occurred two millennia ago? If they are the same, where are the cross, the crown of thorns, the nails, the suffering, the shedding of blood and the death of Christ? We all know that is impossible for Christ to die again: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” Now since He cannot shed His blood or die once more, what is the value of such an “unbloody” sacrifice in the light of Scripture’s affirmation that “without shedding of blood there is no remission”?
Yet the Catholic Church insists that “the Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross” and that Christ instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice “in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again.”
Since they could not take away sins, the sacrifices of the Old Testament were offered repeatedly year after year and even day after day. Not so in the New Testament. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” For as long as the Catholic Church insists on the necessity of renewing and perpetuating the sacrifice of Christ, she is doing nothing less than bringing Christ’s offering of Himself to the level of animal sacrifices of the Old Testament.
Continuing or Finished?
What is the truth? Is Jesus still offering the same sacrifice daily on the Catholic altars? Scripture answers: “Every priest (in the Old Testament) stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” Christ’s uniqueness consists in not having to continue offering the same sacrifice. He completed His mission successfully because His sacrifice is effective in every way. Neither is He a victim on earthly altars, but is exalted and glorified in heaven. He “sat down” because His sacrificial work is complete and finished.
The Holy Spirit also affirms Christ’s perfect sacrifice. Referring to the partakers of New Covenant blessings, He says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” The author’s reasonable conclusion is pointedly powerful: “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” Since all believers’ sins are wiped away, what need remains for the sacrifice of the Mass?
Christ Himself commented on His own redeeming work. Should it continue to be offered throughout time? While still hanging on the cross, Christ uttered a triumphal cry: “It is finished!” The debt is settled; redemption accomplished; forgiveness is obtained. One offering, effective for all time and eternity!
To enter before God’s holy presence, you need a bloody sacrifice to cleanse you from sin. What will be your choice? Will it be the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass? Or will it be the perfect sacrifice offered on Calvary once for all?
The Eucharist
Our Lord Jesus is true God and true Man. Just before ascending into heaven, the Lord promised His disciples: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He is able to keep such a promise because He is divine and therefore everywhere present. Christ is spiritually present with His people, but He is absent physically. Jesus told His disciples: “For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.” The Lord Jesus is now in heaven. He promises the Church, “Surely I am coming quickly,” and His bride eagerly replies, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
But before departing He left His disciples a memorial feast. “The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”
Just like in apostolic times, evangelical Christians today celebrate the Lord’s Supper with joy and thanksgiving (“Eucharist” comes from a Greek word which means thanksgiving). We share the bread to remember how Christ loved us and gave His body as a sacrifice for us. Similarly we drink of the fruit of the vine in commemoration of the blood shed on Calvary for our justification and our peace with God. We are exhorted to examine ourselves properly before partaking of the holy elements. “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” - in the same way that if a nation’s flag is burned it signifies contempt and disdain for the nation it symbolizes.
Transubstantiation
Throughout church history several interpretations of the Lord’s Supper have vied for acceptance. Some Church Fathers, such as Cyril of Jerusalem and Ambrose, interpreted the words of Jesus, “This is My body... this is My blood” rather literally, but many others continued to propose a symbolical and spiritual significance. Eusebius and Augustine of Hippo were among those who expounded the words spiritually, though their language was never trivial or frivolous when they spoke of this holy ordinance.
In the ninth century Paschasius Radbertus strove with might and main to see the literal interpretation prevail. He was opposed principally by Ratramnus, a contemporary monk at the monastery of Corbie. It was only in the Lateran Council (1215) that the literal interpretation was declared as official dogma of the Catholic Church. Doctor Duns Scotus admits that this doctrine was not an article of faith before the thirteenth century.
The Catholic Church teaches: “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.’” “By the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.” “Transubstantiation” means a change in substance. Hence the bread does not remain bread and the wine does not remain wine; they become the body and blood of Christ respectively, even though in appearance they still look and taste like bread and wine. I invite you to compare this Catholic dogma with the Bible’s teaching.
The Bread and Fruit of the Vine
In ordinary speech, as well as in Scripture, the words “this is” could be used either in a plain literal sense or in a figurative sense (i.e. “this represents”). By looking at the context it is usually not difficult to determine the intended meaning.
I can introduce you to an elderly man and say, “This is my father.” But if I show you a photograph, and repeat the same words, “This is my father,” now you will not take my words literally. In this case “this is” means “this represents” my father because the photo is his likeness, not my father in person. Similarly, when Jesus uttered the words of institution, “This is My body,” He was physically present with His disciples. It was only natural for the disciples to take His words figuratively – the bread represents the body which they could still touch with their hands and see with their eyes. Christ gave the disciples a symbol because He was about to leave them.
Perhaps an illustration from Scripture will be fitting. It is told how three brave men once risked their lives and passed through the Philistines’ armies to bring David some water from a well. Seeing the water, the king responded: “Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” He called the water in the vessel “blood,” not because it was transubstantiated, but simply because it represented the danger to the lives of those three men who brought it.
Furthermore, though Christ spoke about “My blood,” He made it unmistakably clear that the wine still remained wine. “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.” After speaking about the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the apostle Paul explains its import, and affirms that the bread remains bread: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.” The bread remains bread; the wine remains wine.
In Remembrance of Me
If transubstantiation is true, the consecrated host should be worshipped. But Jesus simply said: “Take, eat... drink from it, all of you.” Nowhere are we instructed to bow down on our knees and adore the host. In apostolic times, Christians used to meet and break bread together, not worship the bread. The Catholic Church goes beyond Scripture and encourages the worship of the sacrament. When her members adore the Eucharist, in reality they are worshipping bread. That is idolatry.
Besides all this, Catholic doctrine disregards the biblical truth about the humanity of Christ. Jesus arose from the grave with a real glorified body. The disciples trembled and feared when He met them after His resurrection for they thought that they saw a phantasm, but He reassured them: “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” The question naturally arises: How can Christ be a real human being, with a fleshly body, and yet be in thousands of places at the same time? Jesus’ human body must be either in heaven or on earth, and since we confess in the Apostles’ Creed that “He ascended into heaven, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come again to judge the living and the dead”, it is inconsistent to believe in His bodily presence on earth.
Finally, in insisting upon a real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Catholic tradition goes well beyond Christ’s intention. He simply said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the Lord’s Supper, Christians remember Him because He is physically absent, and they continue to do so until He comes again. The memorial celebration implies our eager expectation that someday in the future we will be united with our Saviour.
Jesus, our Priest
Do we still need the priest’s ministry as the people of God had during the Old Testament? Without hesitation we must answer, “Yes, we do.” We say so because we cannot approach God’s majestic presence with our sin’s defilement. We need a priest who is competent to intercede for us and bring us to God.
The Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament has been laid aside. Actually there has been a change in the priesthood. Who then is our priest today? The epistle to the Hebrews is replete with references to Jesus Christ as our High Priest. We are exhorted to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” Further on, “seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”
Our High Priest has offered one perfect sacrifice on the cross. God the Father accepted His offering and, to make His approval evident, raised Him back to life the third day. After forty days, the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven where He is glorified by the Father and the hosts of heaven.
There the Lord Jesus, our priest, intercedes for His people before the Father. “Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Christ represents His people and intercedes for them on the basis of the infinite merits of His sacrifice. “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” All those who sincerely trust Him have the privilege to enter boldly and reverently into God’s presence. “Having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” At Christ’s death the veil of the temple was torn apart from top to bottom, a token that through Christ we may now enter the Holy of Holies, in the very presence of God.
Other Priests?
The Word of God invites us to draw near to the Father through His Son, whom He has constituted as our Mediator and Priest. Is Christ sufficient or do we need other priests just as Israel had their Levitical priests?
In the Catholic religion, the clergy is sharply distinguished from the rest of the faithful, the laity. The common Catholic depends upon the ministry of the priests to offer the sacrifice of the Mass on their behalf and to receive absolution from their hands. The Catechism teaches that Christ “instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of His death and Resurrection, and commanded His apostles to celebrate it until His return; ‘thereby He constituted them priests of the New Testament.’” The Catholic Church warns: “If anyone says that by the words ‘Do this as a memorial of me’ Christ did not establish the apostles as priests or that He did not order that they and other priests should offer his body and blood, anathema sit.”
It is hard to understand why the words, “Do this as a memorial of me,” must be interpreted as the appointment of the apostles to a new priesthood to continue offering sacrifice for sin. As we have already observed, Christ’s sacrifice occurred once for all. It is a historically unique event, and therefore it can neither be renewed nor perpetuated. Christ left us a memorial, not a sacrifice.
For the sake of argument, let us suppose that Christ appointed the apostles as priests, and these in turn consecrated others to continue offering sacrifice for sin. In that case, we would reasonably expect this fundamental doctrine to be evident in Scripture. In the New Testament the term “priest” (hiereus, and words from the same root) refer to the following: Jewish priests, a pagan priest, all Christians, Christ, and Melchizedek (an Old Testament king and priest prefiguring Christ). The church’s leaders are denominated by various terms: presbyters (elders), overseers (bishops) and shepherds (pastors). Curiously enough, they are never called priests. The presbyter or elder was generally a married man; his call consisted in teaching the Word and affording spiritual protection to the flock of God. It is never intimated that his principal duty is to offer a sacrifice for sin. Similarly the apostles were entrusted with the preaching of the gospel. We never find them re-presenting the sacrifice of Christ. Do read the New Testament for yourself and see how glaringly true this observation is.
Priests to God
In the New Testament no mention is made of a priesthood, distinct from the laity, with the purpose of offering sacrifice for sin. Not only so, the apostles Peter and John teach us that all Christians are priests. Addressing ordinary Christians, Peter says: “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The people of God do not offer sacrifice to atone for sins. This type of sacrifice was offered once for all by Christ, their High Priest. Only He was qualified to do that. His people are made priests because they have been granted confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Christ, and have boldness to draw near the throne of grace. All of Christ’s disciples are “priests to His God and Father.” As priests, Christians are called to offer themselves, their goods, the praise of their lips, and their contributions to the poor, as proper and pleasing sacrifices. They are not expected, nor are they competent, to offer sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.
Christ, The Priest of the New Covenant
In the letter to the Hebrews, the author contrasts the Levitical priesthood with the unique priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Levitical priests were constrained to transfer the priesthood from one generation to another because they were mortal, but Jesus, “because He continues forever, has an unchangeable (untransferable) priesthood.”
They used to serve in a temple built with human hands. By contrast, “Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Levitical priests were sinful just like the rest of the people; consequently they were obliged to offer sacrifices for their own sins as well. Not so Christ: “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”
Old Testament priests used to offer the same sacrifices daily, while Christ offered one sacrifice, once for all.
Catholic priests are nothing better than Levitical priests, for they too are sinful, serve in earthly temples, daily offer the same sacrifices, and die. God did not abrogate the Levites in order to establish an order of priests just as weak. Rather, the Old Testament priesthood was laid aside and discontinued because a better, effective and enduring priesthood was established: that of Christ. He lives forever; He is perfect, and has entered into heaven itself on behalf of His people on the infinite merits of His sacrifice on Calvary.
Through whom then will you approach God? Through a mortal, sinful priest, appointed by men, who repeatedly offers the same sacrifice in a building of stone? Or through the priest, who lives forever, chosen by the Father, who offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice once for all, and who is now interceding for His own in heaven?
The Word of God presents us with Jesus Christ, the unique and competent High Priest. There is no other. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
feedback about the adoration 31/08/07
So at first everything was fine but half way through the adoration ;felt anger and rage building up inside without wanting to. I prayed for the Holy spirit to come upon me and all I feltwasthe confort;was langing to feet like Im locked up in jesus arms and No one could take me away
God bless
ILARIA
God bless
ILARIA
feedback about the adoration 31/08/07
Amazing............ words connnot describe it! simply amazing
GOD BLESS
BOB
GOD BLESS
BOB
Saturday, August 18, 2007
I will go to my father
There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 ”‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.
Questions and Answers
How does God, the model, the original Father respond to rebellion and wrongness in his kids? Obviously, the children in question in our text, and Adam and Eve, are adults, and what applies at 20 years old may not apply the same way at 15 or 5. But it’s true, regardless of our age: God has the power to force compliance – whether by fear or by brute force – and he doesn’t. Because love and loving obedience are what he’s looking for in us, and love can’t be forced. So the Father, in love, lets the son learn in the hard school of experience a lesson that he’s refused to learn at home. He lets him go.
It’s interesting to see what his father sends with him – apart from his share of the inheritance. Look at the story. When the son has fallen on hard times, he gets a job. Whatever he could find, and it wasn’t much. His employer treats him like dirt. And it occurs to him – my father’s not like that. He’s never treated workers that way.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
His father had lived an example of decency and fairness, the memory of which the son took with him. The son saw how the world acted, and remembered how his father acts, and he saw a difference. And it drew him home. You can imagine, if he’d seen little difference, there would have been little reason to change direction. Fathers – and mothers – I hope you can see a lesson there.
So he carried with him the testimony of his father’s life. But that wasn’t all. When he was in the pigsty contemplating his next move, he said,
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
It’s hard to imagine that during the course of his revelries, or there in the pigsty, he’s heard much preaching. So if he knew a sin against heaven when he saw one, it’s knowledge he left home with. He’d been taught the Word of God. He’d learned that sin had to be dealt with. He didn’t come home saying, Well, Dad, you’ll be happy to hear, I’ve decided to come back. And even when it became obvious that there was welcome in store, he had to get the words out: Father, I have sinned. “When he came to his senses,” it says. He’d known the truth, and when he came to consider it, it drew him back to his Father.
You could wonder, did he know he’d be accepted back? Difficult to say. The fattened calf would have been a surprise, anyway. But if he didn’t know the depth of his father’s mercy, he knew that whatever mercy he found was more than he deserved, and he believed at least enough to try.
We’ve been looking at fatherhood and how God intended it, and how he himself models it in his relationship with us, his children. Our text gives us one last picture. The lost son’s brother comes home, and he’s spitting venom. It’s one thing to deal with a child who comes home saying, Father, I have sinned. And quite another to deal with a child who comes saying, Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you, and never once . . . Yet the same patient love that was shown to the penitent prodigal he now extends to the bitter, self-righteous Pharisee, to bring him also into the joy of forgiveness and grace.
31 ”‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 ”‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.
Questions and Answers
How does God, the model, the original Father respond to rebellion and wrongness in his kids? Obviously, the children in question in our text, and Adam and Eve, are adults, and what applies at 20 years old may not apply the same way at 15 or 5. But it’s true, regardless of our age: God has the power to force compliance – whether by fear or by brute force – and he doesn’t. Because love and loving obedience are what he’s looking for in us, and love can’t be forced. So the Father, in love, lets the son learn in the hard school of experience a lesson that he’s refused to learn at home. He lets him go.
It’s interesting to see what his father sends with him – apart from his share of the inheritance. Look at the story. When the son has fallen on hard times, he gets a job. Whatever he could find, and it wasn’t much. His employer treats him like dirt. And it occurs to him – my father’s not like that. He’s never treated workers that way.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
His father had lived an example of decency and fairness, the memory of which the son took with him. The son saw how the world acted, and remembered how his father acts, and he saw a difference. And it drew him home. You can imagine, if he’d seen little difference, there would have been little reason to change direction. Fathers – and mothers – I hope you can see a lesson there.
So he carried with him the testimony of his father’s life. But that wasn’t all. When he was in the pigsty contemplating his next move, he said,
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
It’s hard to imagine that during the course of his revelries, or there in the pigsty, he’s heard much preaching. So if he knew a sin against heaven when he saw one, it’s knowledge he left home with. He’d been taught the Word of God. He’d learned that sin had to be dealt with. He didn’t come home saying, Well, Dad, you’ll be happy to hear, I’ve decided to come back. And even when it became obvious that there was welcome in store, he had to get the words out: Father, I have sinned. “When he came to his senses,” it says. He’d known the truth, and when he came to consider it, it drew him back to his Father.
You could wonder, did he know he’d be accepted back? Difficult to say. The fattened calf would have been a surprise, anyway. But if he didn’t know the depth of his father’s mercy, he knew that whatever mercy he found was more than he deserved, and he believed at least enough to try.
We’ve been looking at fatherhood and how God intended it, and how he himself models it in his relationship with us, his children. Our text gives us one last picture. The lost son’s brother comes home, and he’s spitting venom. It’s one thing to deal with a child who comes home saying, Father, I have sinned. And quite another to deal with a child who comes saying, Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you, and never once . . . Yet the same patient love that was shown to the penitent prodigal he now extends to the bitter, self-righteous Pharisee, to bring him also into the joy of forgiveness and grace.
31 ”‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
Feedback about the Adoration 18.08.2007
So this was my first time attending adoration so I’m not familiar with it.
I think it was a great idea organizing it and us youths should be encouraged to join.
Some Comments.
The Location and time is good.
I think that at times the music got a bit too loud and at other times the speaking wasn’t too clear.
I liked the way it was planned and I think that the scripture chosen was suitable.
Good Job,
Luisa
I think it was a great idea organizing it and us youths should be encouraged to join.
Some Comments.
The Location and time is good.
I think that at times the music got a bit too loud and at other times the speaking wasn’t too clear.
I liked the way it was planned and I think that the scripture chosen was suitable.
Good Job,
Luisa
feedback about the adoration 18/08/07
hi I had been hearing about the adorations,but this is the first one Ive actually come to.Im glad I took the decision to come, it helped me realise the importance of prayer and quite time and the need to deeper relationship with God! thanks
God bless u
Romina
God bless u
Romina
feedback about the adoration 18/08/07
hi the monthly adoration really helps me keep in touch with my spirituailty and helps remind me how much God loves me. Life can get hectie and sometimes we tend to forget to slow dawn.Relax and talk to God.I think that the Monthly Adoration helpes remind us all ang help me in becoming a better christian
God bless u
zoe
God bless u
zoe
Friday, July 20, 2007
adoration 20/07/2007
THE GOOD SHEPHERD - John 10:1-18
In this series on the sayings of Jesus recorded in John's Gospel that begin "I AM," we come to two that naturally pair up: "I am the good shepherd" (10:14), and "I am the door" (10:9).
THE SHEPHERD IN THE BIBLE
The picture of the shepherd is deeply woven into the language and imagery of the Bible, and there is a reason for it that it will be worth our while to see.
I remember on my first visit to Israel being surprised by the terrain. So much of it is hilly, rough and stony. Only the coastal plain (called the Plain of Sharon in the north), the inland plain of Megiddo (since it has been drained), the Jordan Valley and the stretch north from Galilee to ancient Dan are suitable for agriculture. The central chain of hills stretching south from Galilee allows agriculture, for the most part, only in narrow terraced strips on the hillsides. In particular the plateau running from Bethel just north of Jerusalem through Bethlehem to Hebron, south of it - the main part of Judæa - is gashed with rifts which make agriculture very difficult indeed. Olives and vines and fig trees are grown on hillsides here and there; otherwise it is land for sheep and goats. Throughout the Bible period therefore, the shepherd was a familiar figure of the Judæan uplands.
The life of a Palestinian shepherd was very hard; indeed, it is so still. There is little grass, and its growth - where it does appear - is seasonal. Flocks must be for ever on the move to find it, and the edges of the plateau - only 35 miles long and 17 miles wide - dip away sharply into craggy desert land below. No flock may ever graze without a shepherd to watch it. The shepherd therefore was never off duty. His task was unremitting and dangerous: his sheep were prey to wolves, bears and lions in Bible times, to thieves and robbers, and in the wet season to flash floods and land slides.
Sir George Adam Smith wrote: "When you meet him, in some high place at night, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, leaning on his staff and looking out over his scattered sheep, wolf howls drifting on the wind in every direction, you understand why the shepherd of Judæa sprang to the fore in his peoples' history; why he gave his name to their kings; why they made him the symbol of providence; and why Christ took him as the type of self-sacrifice."
Vigilant, fearless, patient, caring - that was the shepherd of Bible times. He lived, not for himself but for his flock.
God is often pictured in the Old Testament as a shepherd:"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1)"Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock." (Psalm 80:1)"He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand." (Psalm 95:7)"He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." (Isaiah 40.11)"Thus saith the Lord God: I, I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them to lie down. I will seek the lost ... and bring back the strayed ... and bind up the crippled and strengthen the weak; the fat and the strong I will watch over." (Ezekiel 34.15)
This picture carries over into the New Testament.
Jesus is the Good shepherd. John 10:11He is the shepherd who will risk his life to seek and to save the one sheep that has strayed. Matthew 8:12He has pity on the crowds because they are as sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36His disciples are His little flock. (Luke 12:32)When He, the shepherd, is smitten the sheep are scattered. (Mark 14:27)He is "the great shepherd of the sheep." (Hebrews 13:20)
We may easily miss the arresting significance of this. Familiarity with the image makes us forget that in applying it to Jesus of Nazareth the New Testament writers were ascribing divinity to Him. That He applied the language to Himself in a culture where the picture of the shepherd was an archetypal image of God was on His part, not a veiled, but an explicit claim to godhood.
THE SHEPHERD OF BIBLE TIMES
Let me take you now a step further to help us to understand a shepherd's life, for the Bible shepherd's task was not at all like an Australian stockman's.
i. His equipment first
It consisted of ...A scripA bag made of animal skin in which he carried his food ... bread, dried fruit, olives and cheese.
A slingHe was highly skilled with it. He could "sling a stone at a hair's breadth and not miss." It was a weapon with which to slay beasts; David slew Goliath with it.There is another use to which he put it which is of interest too. Since he went ahead of his sheep, he would recall a sheep that had dropped behind by lobbing a stone just where it would make him jump the right way back.
A staffA wooden club, quite short, its knobbly end often studded with nails, which he slung from his belt. It was his weapon for close-in fighting with beast or brigand, as the sling was his long range weapon.
A rodThe familiar shepherd's crook. With the curled end he could hook a sheep by its hind leg and haul it in to him. At the end of the day he held it low to the ground as the sheep entered the fold, obliging each sheep to "pass under the rod," when he would examine it for any injury it might have sustained through the day; then, with the last item of equipment ...
A hornA scooped-out, stoppered animal horn that hung inverted from his belt, filled with oil, he would apply healing to the wound.Do you "pass under the shepherd's rod" at the end of your day?
ii. The relationship between the shepherd and his sheepSecond, we should understand the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep.
Except for those around Bethlehem which were bred for the Temple sacrifices, sheep were not, for the most part, bred for killing, but for shearing. The shepherd and his sheep often shared life together therefore for years. A hundred sheep was about as large a flock as one man could manage, and the intimacy that grew between them was intense. He named them all. He developed a language in which he communicated with them. H. V. Morton once described it: "He talks to them in a sing-song voice, using a language unlike anything I have heard in my life. The words were animal sounds arranged in a kind of order ... a language the great god Pan might have spoken on the mountains of Greece."
I remember a minister in England recalling once that he visited churches in Germany with his son and daughter on a holiday there. They had lingered in one of them, and he re-entered the church to fetch them out, just in time to hear his son say to his sister, crouched in front of the communion table where they had been translating the words carved on it, "You know, when God comes here, He talks German." He speaks to us in our own tongue.
"My sheep hear my voice."
THE DOOR
At the end of the day shepherds would bring their flocks to a shared fold, an area boundaried by a stone wall. The door of the sheepfold was a mere gap in one wall, no wider than a sheep, which the shepherd (or the gatekeeper) filled by standing, or lying down in it himself. A sheep might leave the fold, or a wolf or thief enter it, only over the body of the shepherd. He was himself the door. In the morning, when the sheep were led out to pasture, the shepherds would stand some way off ranged in an arc around the "door" and begin calling their sheep by name. They would trot out one by one and gather round "their shepherd."
vs. 3-5: "The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
Do you listen for the shepherd's calling voice each morning? And whose voice do you hear through the day? Do we heed the voices of strangers with our inner ear?
The saying that a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep was not an exaggeration in those times. It was the most natural thing to defend the flock with his life. Dr. W. M. Thompson, in "the Land and the Book", writes: "I have listened with intense interest to graphic descriptions of downright and desperate fights with savage beasts. And when the thief and the robber come (and come they do), the faithful shepherd has often to put his life in his hand to defend his flock. A poor faithful fellow last spring, between Tiberias and Tabor, instead of fleeing, actually fought three Bedouin robbers until he was hacked to pieces with their khanjars, and died among the sheep he was defending."
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Now let me walk you briefly through just some of the points where we may apply all this to the relationship we have with our Shepherd.
vs. 1 - 2 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens ..."
Jesus here claims to be the only one who can give you a place in His flock, among the People of God. "No man comes to the Father but by me." You are a stranger to God until you have a personal relationship of trust and intimacy with the Lord Jesus.
Do you have that? He offers it to you as His gift. There is no way we may receive it but as a gift. We can do nothing of ourselves to secure or fashion it. It is given to us, or we do not have it.
Wrote John, "This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life. I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." (I John 5:12-14) You have but to receive it, with simple trust.
Jesus reinforces what He says here in vs. 7-10: Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
When He says, "All who came before me are thieves and robbers," He is not writing off all the priests and prophets of Israel as imposters; they indeed, as we read in Hebrews 11, "all died in faith, having seen what was promised, and greeted it, from afar ..." They had "heard His voice." Rather He is saying that He is the one mediator between God and man; anyone else who claims to be is an imposter. He is your only real introduction to God. God gives His Son into the world, and says to us, "I will meet with you in Him - no other."
To go to Him is to go to God.To receive Him is to receive God.To know Him is to know God.To enjoy Him is to enjoy God.
No Eastern religion can give you that. No religion at all can give you that, not even Christianity itself if it is conceived as a system, an ethic, apart from Christ Himself. No method of meditation can give you that. No quest for truth in "inner space" can give you that. Only Jesus can give you that. He is calling to you ... waiting for you to hear His voice, and go to Him.
"I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
v. 10b "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
The phrase "have it abundantly" is a Greek phrase which means "to have a surplus," to be rich. We are not truly alive until we have come alive to Him.
In the Greek the "I" is emphatic - "I came so they might have life."
Christ's interest in you is not a commercial interest; it is not a salesman's or an advertiser's interest. They offer to enrich your life, but their real interest is the enrichment of their own. Christ has no interest in His own enrichment. So true is this that "He lays down His life for the sheep." He is the only one who holds your interests so truly to heart that He may be trusted absolutely to seek no selfish gain from you. His one endeavour is to give ... to lead you to "green pastures" and "still waters" and a "prepared table" and an "overflowing cup." The life He gives is the life God created you to enjoy. There is nothing niggardly in His bestowal of it. He will give you "good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over."
v. 11 " I am the Good Shepherd."
The word for "good" in the phrase "good shepherd" is not the usual word for "good" in the New Testament. The usual word is "agathos" which describes moral quality; here the word is "kalos" and that is a word that means not merely that a person is good, but in his goodness beautiful. It denotes a quality of winsomeness, of loveliness, of beauty. "I am the shepherd beautiful." There is more than faithfulness in Him; there is more than virtue in Him; there is more than truth in Him; there is beauty in Him.
"Sometimes," observes William Barclay, "in a village or town people speak of 'the good doctor.' When they speak of him that way they are not thinking only of his efficiency and skill as a medical practitioner; they are thinking of the sympathy and kindness, the genuine, heart-warming care he has for his patients which makes him, not just their doctor but their friend."
The Lord Jesus is 'the good shepherd,' the "altogether lovely one, the fairest of ten thousand." Who else inspires songs like ...
Jesus, tender lover of my soul,Pardoner of my sins and friend indeed,Keeper of the garden of my soul,All my lasting joys are found in Thee;Jesus Thou art everything to me.
More to me than all the joys of earth,What to me is every sight I seeSave the sight of Thee, O Friend of mine?
Here I lay me at Thy bleeding feet,Deepest homage now I give to Thee;Hear Thy whispered love within my soul;Jesus Thou art everything to me.
He inspires, not just admiration, not just homage, nor even praise merely, but love - true, tender, glad, unbridled love. He generates the intimacy He describes in v. 14: listen, for the words are astonishing: "I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father."
And if you wonder whether He indeed intends this to be your enjoyment, then hear what He goes on at once to say, "And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd." vs. 17-18vs 17-18 Finally note the astonishing claim in verses 17 & 18: "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father. "It is the only thing in the entire record Jesus ever said He did of His own accord. The laying down of His life was His own act and deed. In all else, "the Son did nothing of Himself, but only what He saw the Father doing." But in this one matter, special power was given Him to take individual and personal action. The one thing in the flesh He was ever free to do of His own free choice was to lay down His life for the sheep. How great, how very great, is His love. Why has He loved us so? I cannot tell. Surely the Son of God might have discovered, or made (!), creatures more worthy of His attachment. But it was not so. Love knows no reason, no law. He has loved us with the greatest love of all, the love that heeds not life itself in the service of the beloved Nothing that is good will He withhold from His own, His loved, His chosen, His blood-Bought Believe in him!
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
In this series on the sayings of Jesus recorded in John's Gospel that begin "I AM," we come to two that naturally pair up: "I am the good shepherd" (10:14), and "I am the door" (10:9).
THE SHEPHERD IN THE BIBLE
The picture of the shepherd is deeply woven into the language and imagery of the Bible, and there is a reason for it that it will be worth our while to see.
I remember on my first visit to Israel being surprised by the terrain. So much of it is hilly, rough and stony. Only the coastal plain (called the Plain of Sharon in the north), the inland plain of Megiddo (since it has been drained), the Jordan Valley and the stretch north from Galilee to ancient Dan are suitable for agriculture. The central chain of hills stretching south from Galilee allows agriculture, for the most part, only in narrow terraced strips on the hillsides. In particular the plateau running from Bethel just north of Jerusalem through Bethlehem to Hebron, south of it - the main part of Judæa - is gashed with rifts which make agriculture very difficult indeed. Olives and vines and fig trees are grown on hillsides here and there; otherwise it is land for sheep and goats. Throughout the Bible period therefore, the shepherd was a familiar figure of the Judæan uplands.
The life of a Palestinian shepherd was very hard; indeed, it is so still. There is little grass, and its growth - where it does appear - is seasonal. Flocks must be for ever on the move to find it, and the edges of the plateau - only 35 miles long and 17 miles wide - dip away sharply into craggy desert land below. No flock may ever graze without a shepherd to watch it. The shepherd therefore was never off duty. His task was unremitting and dangerous: his sheep were prey to wolves, bears and lions in Bible times, to thieves and robbers, and in the wet season to flash floods and land slides.
Sir George Adam Smith wrote: "When you meet him, in some high place at night, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, leaning on his staff and looking out over his scattered sheep, wolf howls drifting on the wind in every direction, you understand why the shepherd of Judæa sprang to the fore in his peoples' history; why he gave his name to their kings; why they made him the symbol of providence; and why Christ took him as the type of self-sacrifice."
Vigilant, fearless, patient, caring - that was the shepherd of Bible times. He lived, not for himself but for his flock.
God is often pictured in the Old Testament as a shepherd:"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1)"Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock." (Psalm 80:1)"He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand." (Psalm 95:7)"He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." (Isaiah 40.11)"Thus saith the Lord God: I, I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them to lie down. I will seek the lost ... and bring back the strayed ... and bind up the crippled and strengthen the weak; the fat and the strong I will watch over." (Ezekiel 34.15)
This picture carries over into the New Testament.
Jesus is the Good shepherd. John 10:11He is the shepherd who will risk his life to seek and to save the one sheep that has strayed. Matthew 8:12He has pity on the crowds because they are as sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36His disciples are His little flock. (Luke 12:32)When He, the shepherd, is smitten the sheep are scattered. (Mark 14:27)He is "the great shepherd of the sheep." (Hebrews 13:20)
We may easily miss the arresting significance of this. Familiarity with the image makes us forget that in applying it to Jesus of Nazareth the New Testament writers were ascribing divinity to Him. That He applied the language to Himself in a culture where the picture of the shepherd was an archetypal image of God was on His part, not a veiled, but an explicit claim to godhood.
THE SHEPHERD OF BIBLE TIMES
Let me take you now a step further to help us to understand a shepherd's life, for the Bible shepherd's task was not at all like an Australian stockman's.
i. His equipment first
It consisted of ...A scripA bag made of animal skin in which he carried his food ... bread, dried fruit, olives and cheese.
A slingHe was highly skilled with it. He could "sling a stone at a hair's breadth and not miss." It was a weapon with which to slay beasts; David slew Goliath with it.There is another use to which he put it which is of interest too. Since he went ahead of his sheep, he would recall a sheep that had dropped behind by lobbing a stone just where it would make him jump the right way back.
A staffA wooden club, quite short, its knobbly end often studded with nails, which he slung from his belt. It was his weapon for close-in fighting with beast or brigand, as the sling was his long range weapon.
A rodThe familiar shepherd's crook. With the curled end he could hook a sheep by its hind leg and haul it in to him. At the end of the day he held it low to the ground as the sheep entered the fold, obliging each sheep to "pass under the rod," when he would examine it for any injury it might have sustained through the day; then, with the last item of equipment ...
A hornA scooped-out, stoppered animal horn that hung inverted from his belt, filled with oil, he would apply healing to the wound.Do you "pass under the shepherd's rod" at the end of your day?
ii. The relationship between the shepherd and his sheepSecond, we should understand the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep.
Except for those around Bethlehem which were bred for the Temple sacrifices, sheep were not, for the most part, bred for killing, but for shearing. The shepherd and his sheep often shared life together therefore for years. A hundred sheep was about as large a flock as one man could manage, and the intimacy that grew between them was intense. He named them all. He developed a language in which he communicated with them. H. V. Morton once described it: "He talks to them in a sing-song voice, using a language unlike anything I have heard in my life. The words were animal sounds arranged in a kind of order ... a language the great god Pan might have spoken on the mountains of Greece."
I remember a minister in England recalling once that he visited churches in Germany with his son and daughter on a holiday there. They had lingered in one of them, and he re-entered the church to fetch them out, just in time to hear his son say to his sister, crouched in front of the communion table where they had been translating the words carved on it, "You know, when God comes here, He talks German." He speaks to us in our own tongue.
"My sheep hear my voice."
THE DOOR
At the end of the day shepherds would bring their flocks to a shared fold, an area boundaried by a stone wall. The door of the sheepfold was a mere gap in one wall, no wider than a sheep, which the shepherd (or the gatekeeper) filled by standing, or lying down in it himself. A sheep might leave the fold, or a wolf or thief enter it, only over the body of the shepherd. He was himself the door. In the morning, when the sheep were led out to pasture, the shepherds would stand some way off ranged in an arc around the "door" and begin calling their sheep by name. They would trot out one by one and gather round "their shepherd."
vs. 3-5: "The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
Do you listen for the shepherd's calling voice each morning? And whose voice do you hear through the day? Do we heed the voices of strangers with our inner ear?
The saying that a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep was not an exaggeration in those times. It was the most natural thing to defend the flock with his life. Dr. W. M. Thompson, in "the Land and the Book", writes: "I have listened with intense interest to graphic descriptions of downright and desperate fights with savage beasts. And when the thief and the robber come (and come they do), the faithful shepherd has often to put his life in his hand to defend his flock. A poor faithful fellow last spring, between Tiberias and Tabor, instead of fleeing, actually fought three Bedouin robbers until he was hacked to pieces with their khanjars, and died among the sheep he was defending."
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Now let me walk you briefly through just some of the points where we may apply all this to the relationship we have with our Shepherd.
vs. 1 - 2 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens ..."
Jesus here claims to be the only one who can give you a place in His flock, among the People of God. "No man comes to the Father but by me." You are a stranger to God until you have a personal relationship of trust and intimacy with the Lord Jesus.
Do you have that? He offers it to you as His gift. There is no way we may receive it but as a gift. We can do nothing of ourselves to secure or fashion it. It is given to us, or we do not have it.
Wrote John, "This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life. I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." (I John 5:12-14) You have but to receive it, with simple trust.
Jesus reinforces what He says here in vs. 7-10: Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
When He says, "All who came before me are thieves and robbers," He is not writing off all the priests and prophets of Israel as imposters; they indeed, as we read in Hebrews 11, "all died in faith, having seen what was promised, and greeted it, from afar ..." They had "heard His voice." Rather He is saying that He is the one mediator between God and man; anyone else who claims to be is an imposter. He is your only real introduction to God. God gives His Son into the world, and says to us, "I will meet with you in Him - no other."
To go to Him is to go to God.To receive Him is to receive God.To know Him is to know God.To enjoy Him is to enjoy God.
No Eastern religion can give you that. No religion at all can give you that, not even Christianity itself if it is conceived as a system, an ethic, apart from Christ Himself. No method of meditation can give you that. No quest for truth in "inner space" can give you that. Only Jesus can give you that. He is calling to you ... waiting for you to hear His voice, and go to Him.
"I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
v. 10b "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
The phrase "have it abundantly" is a Greek phrase which means "to have a surplus," to be rich. We are not truly alive until we have come alive to Him.
In the Greek the "I" is emphatic - "I came so they might have life."
Christ's interest in you is not a commercial interest; it is not a salesman's or an advertiser's interest. They offer to enrich your life, but their real interest is the enrichment of their own. Christ has no interest in His own enrichment. So true is this that "He lays down His life for the sheep." He is the only one who holds your interests so truly to heart that He may be trusted absolutely to seek no selfish gain from you. His one endeavour is to give ... to lead you to "green pastures" and "still waters" and a "prepared table" and an "overflowing cup." The life He gives is the life God created you to enjoy. There is nothing niggardly in His bestowal of it. He will give you "good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over."
v. 11 " I am the Good Shepherd."
The word for "good" in the phrase "good shepherd" is not the usual word for "good" in the New Testament. The usual word is "agathos" which describes moral quality; here the word is "kalos" and that is a word that means not merely that a person is good, but in his goodness beautiful. It denotes a quality of winsomeness, of loveliness, of beauty. "I am the shepherd beautiful." There is more than faithfulness in Him; there is more than virtue in Him; there is more than truth in Him; there is beauty in Him.
"Sometimes," observes William Barclay, "in a village or town people speak of 'the good doctor.' When they speak of him that way they are not thinking only of his efficiency and skill as a medical practitioner; they are thinking of the sympathy and kindness, the genuine, heart-warming care he has for his patients which makes him, not just their doctor but their friend."
The Lord Jesus is 'the good shepherd,' the "altogether lovely one, the fairest of ten thousand." Who else inspires songs like ...
Jesus, tender lover of my soul,Pardoner of my sins and friend indeed,Keeper of the garden of my soul,All my lasting joys are found in Thee;Jesus Thou art everything to me.
More to me than all the joys of earth,What to me is every sight I seeSave the sight of Thee, O Friend of mine?
Here I lay me at Thy bleeding feet,Deepest homage now I give to Thee;Hear Thy whispered love within my soul;Jesus Thou art everything to me.
He inspires, not just admiration, not just homage, nor even praise merely, but love - true, tender, glad, unbridled love. He generates the intimacy He describes in v. 14: listen, for the words are astonishing: "I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father."
And if you wonder whether He indeed intends this to be your enjoyment, then hear what He goes on at once to say, "And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd." vs. 17-18vs 17-18 Finally note the astonishing claim in verses 17 & 18: "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father. "It is the only thing in the entire record Jesus ever said He did of His own accord. The laying down of His life was His own act and deed. In all else, "the Son did nothing of Himself, but only what He saw the Father doing." But in this one matter, special power was given Him to take individual and personal action. The one thing in the flesh He was ever free to do of His own free choice was to lay down His life for the sheep. How great, how very great, is His love. Why has He loved us so? I cannot tell. Surely the Son of God might have discovered, or made (!), creatures more worthy of His attachment. But it was not so. Love knows no reason, no law. He has loved us with the greatest love of all, the love that heeds not life itself in the service of the beloved Nothing that is good will He withhold from His own, His loved, His chosen, His blood-Bought Believe in him!
GOD BLESS YOU
LAWRENCE AND JULIE
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
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