The
Study of the Doctrine of Salvation
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Session Twenty: JESUS, THE NEED OF SALVATION
Introduction
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After spending many years of his life
growing in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, one of the
early followers of Jesus penned one of the greatest discourses of the
Christian faith ever written. It was a simple yet profound message on
the promise of Christ coming. Unfortunately, as the author, Peter, would
state, many would miss this great truth of the Scriptures because they
were unlearned and unstable.
After Peter gave a graphic description in the message of how the Lord
always delivers His people and brings judgment to the wicked, he raised
a challenging, confronting, concern. He said to his readers that since
they now know how God works--He always delivers His people and brings
judgment to the wicked, "How then should we live, what matter of
holy conversation and godliness should we see in our lives" (2 Pet.
3:11).
Peter answered his questions with "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in
peace, without spot, and blameless" (3:14). He closed his message
by admonishing them, "seeing ye know these things before, beware
lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from
your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (3:17,18).
The simple admonition to be on guard against the error of the wicked so
that the readers might not fall from their stedfastness indicates that a
fall can occur. Man can fall from that which he was intended to
experience. Sadly, the history of man amply demonstrates the fallen
nature of man. Since man consistently fines his existence bearing the
manifestation of a fallen nature, Jesus must come and bring salvation to
man. The coming of Christ redeems the soul of man.
Jesus, once again, brings into focus the struggles that all men
encounter. Jesus said, as He was approaching His death, "Except a
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it
die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose
it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life
eternal" (John 12:24). Knowing how God, the Father, worked--He
always delivers His people and brings judgment to the wicked, Jesus then
said, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour." He
knew the ultimate challenge of His life had come.
As He was experiencing His life on earth according to the will of His
heavenly Father, He was being brought to His death by the evil
interactions of His relationships. Most of the people to whom He came to
experience His earthly existence was out to destroy that life. Many of
His closest friends, failing to understand what was occurring in His
life, deserted Him. Few, if any, were there to support Him. Is it in
wonder, "my soul is troubled," was His cry?"
Yet, as Noah, He did not resist the building of His ark that would
eventually save Him. As Lot, His soul was vexed but He did not attempt
to eradicate the sin or the city of His existence but waited to be
delivered. As a human being, He was troubled in His relationships but He
did not attempt to manipulated the interactions of His enemies or His
friends as He longed for His rescue. He merely experienced what the
Father was producing in His life at the time.
Seeing, He saw; knowing He knew. He would not become unstable; He would
not fall; He would remain steadfast. He would be found in this challenge
of His existence "in peace, without spot, and blameless."
Unlike Adam and everyone who has fallen, He would resist the "error
of the wicked" and not fall from His life of serenity. His
composure, His tranquility, and His life remained in the innocence of
His mind and the grace of His heavenly Father.
Jesus lived His life in the promise of His Father. For He stated to His
disciples, "how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many
things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed . . .
." But, then, added, "be raised again the third day." He
knew the Father had promised to deliver Him out of sin and death. The
harvest would come from His seed-time. The single "corn of
wheat" would produce much fruit--the abundant life of many souls.
Just as the Father had promised to come to His Son and fulfilled His
promise, the Son has also promised to come to us. Jesus will come into
our lives to bring salvation to our souls in the midst of experiencing
what it means to be a human being. As we go through the seed-time and
harvest of our lives, the struggle of relationships and the
manifestation of charity in those relationships, can we also rest in the
promise of His coming? Or, will we fall to the error of the wicked and
attempt to manipulate and control those relationships? Do we believe
Christ always delivers His people and brings judgment to the wicked?
You can remain steadfast in peace, without spot, and blameless. Or, you
can lose your composure, become unstable, and destroy your own life. It
is the challenge of heaven or hell. The challenge of this life we live.
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CD 20 Is
Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in the Gospels
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Session Twenty-One: JESUS, THE OBJECT OF
SALVATION
Introduction
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When Jesus appeared after His resurrection
to His disciples, He opened their understanding that they might know the
truths of the Scriptures. The crux of His message to them was,
"thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to
rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem" (Luke 24:45-47). The death and resurrection of Jesus
would be the means by which all men can experience salvation from the
dilemma of which they continually fine themselves.
The angel told Joseph at the birth of Jesus that Mary would give birth
to a child who would "save his people from their sins" (Matt.
1:21). Jesus Himself stated that "the Son of man is come to save
that which was lost" (Matt. 18:11). Among the last words of Jesus,
He admonished His disciples to preach repentance and remission of sins
in His name. The concept of salvation presupposes the need to be saved
from something. Moreover, the words of Jesus imply that this salvation
would involve a two-fold remedy--repentance and remission of sins.
With repentance, as Jesus used it in His final message to His disciples,
meaning "by implication reversal of another’s decision"
(with its root meaning "to think differently or afterwards, i.e.
reconsider"), salvation for man will involve a reversal of man’s
thinking. Salvation will also involve being set free from the bondage
that has come upon man from his wrong thinking. Man can be saved from
that of which he has fallen prey.
There is an event in history that reveals both the wrong thinking and
the consequences that follow. It is the actual episode that Isaiah uses
to reveal how evil gets into a perfectly good world. The narrative of
the incident is the most precise description of the fall of man recorded
in the Scriptures.
The story begins in Daniel Chapter 2:
And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,
Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and
his sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the
magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans,
for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the
king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my
spirit was troubled to know the dream. (2:1-3)
After searching through his discerners of dreams and wise men, his
attention was brought to Daniel as one who could give the interpretation
to his dream: "Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night
vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven" (2:19).
Daniel then gave the interpretation:
As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed,
what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets
maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this
secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any
living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation
to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image,
whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form
thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast
and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of
iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a
stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet
that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the
iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces
together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and
the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the
stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation
thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God
of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
(2:29-37)
After perhaps thinking of what Daniel had said, the king responded as
most men would have probably responded: "Nebuchadnezzar the king
made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the
breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the
province of Babylon" (3:1). Then he commanded his herald to
proclaim:
To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, That at
what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship
the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: And whoso
falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the
midst of a burning fiery furnace. (3:4-6)
After the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego incident, the next scene
has the king resting at home: "I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine
house, and flourishing in my palace: I saw a dream which made me afraid,
and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled
me" (4:4,5).
Daniel was called in to give him the interpretation:
This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the
most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive
thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field,
and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee
with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till
thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the
stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after
that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. (4:24-26)
The narrative of the fall continued:
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve
months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king
spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for
the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour
of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell
a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is
spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. (4:28-31)
When Nebuchadnezzar fell from the glory, the honor, and the
brightness of the kingdom that God had given to him, his heart, the
inner most essence of his being, was changed from the heart of a man to
the heart of a beast. The thinking processes of his mind changed. The
base of his understanding, his soul, shifted completely. He lost the
capacity to observe, to comprehend, and to enjoy the glory, the honor,
and the brightness of his existence. He became driven by the simple
motivations and drives of an animal. Although he was still king of
Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, he experienced
life as a lowly beast of the fields.
The story of the fall of Nebuchadnezzar is the story of every man. It
seems that every man in the course of experiencing life loses sight of
the simple truth that God gives and rules the domain of which he lives.
God directs the course of events that transpires in every man’s life.
When any man perceives, as Nebuchadnezzar, that the world of his
existence has been built by the might of his personal power for his
glory and honor, he, too, will fall from the glory, the honor, and the
brightness of the kingdom given of God. When man toils and works at
experiencing life (attempting to control the times and the seasons of
life), it has been predetermined by God that man will struggle in life.
He that seeks to save his life will lose it. He will fall from the
wonder of human existence to act as a beast of the fields.
When man becomes beastly, he attempts to live life in the nature of the
beast. He becomes animalistic in his motivations to experience life. All
the complexities of intellect, emotions, and will that enables man to
observe, to comprehend, and to enjoy the kingdom given of God are
reduced to three simple drives that dominate his thinking. The nature of
the beast puts man into the bondage of survival, procreation, and
territorial rights.
Becoming as a beast of the fields, man’s primary purpose in life
becomes simply to survive. Everything that transpires in life is
designed by the man, who attempts to control his life, to perpetuate his
personal existence. He is driven continually to hunt for food and for
shelter, for things that will meet his basic needs to survive. This hunt
for things dominates his life.
Becoming as a beast of the fields, man’s motivation for survival is
fueled by his procreative drives. He becomes consumed not only to
perpetuate his existence by fathering and mothering children but by the
greater urge to create life. The beastly ability and motivation to
perpetuate its kind becomes in fallen man the hunger to create the
happenings of life itself. Man becomes consumed with the notion and the
attempt that he can make life happen.
Becoming as a beast of the fields, the drive for survival will force man
to protect the things and the happenings that he perceives is his life.
He will become territorial. He will mark the domains of his survival,
the places where he experiences his life. He marks them because he must
protect them. He thinks they are his rights. He becomes controlled by
the self-preservation of his existence.
When man falls from the glory and wonder of the kingdom given of God,
there is nothing else he can experience but the world of the nature of
the beast. Working to make life happen by the exercise of his own
thinking, he becomes beastly in all of his relationships. When the world
he has created by his own effort is threatened, he will attack with
malice, guile, deceit, jealousy, and defamation. He will strike out to
destroy all that appears to challenge his survival. Having his heart
changed from the heart of a man to the heart of a beast, there is
nothing else he can do but attempt to protect the domain which he has
created to give himself purpose and meaning to life. He has fallen from
the kingdom given of God to a domain that is now controlled by the
nature of the beast. He must have his thinking change and be set free
from the bondage of animalistic desires.
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CD 21 Is
Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in the Gospels
|
REQUEST
BOOK FIVE AND CD'S NOW
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TOP
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Session Twenty-Two: JESUS, THE POWER OF
SALVATION
Introduction
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The simple flower of the Morning Glory
proclaims the challenge of life and the power of God’s salvation. As
the dawning rays of the sun penetrates its surrounding, the petals of
the flower open to the glow of the sunlight. The increasing warmth and
brightness of the sun causes the flower to raise it head, spread its
petals, and reach up to its source of life. Through the power of the
sun, the glory of the flower is perfected.
As the sun comes forth to bring the full glory of the flower, the
setting of the sun causes the flower to respond in diminishing shades of
glory. As the light of the day begins to fade, the petals of the Morning
Glory begin to draw in unto itself. With the passing of dusk and the
approach of midnight, the flower bends its head, gathers its petals, and
prepares for the night. Eventually, the flower will bow in perfect
submission.
In perhaps one of the greatest messages of the Christian faith on
record, Peter quoted David in explaining the events of the day of
Pentecost: "I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on
my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart
rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in
hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy
countenance"(Acts 2:25-28).
Understanding the ways of life is to understand the Morning Glory.
Throughout the day and the night, the summer and the winter, the cold
and the heat, and the seedtime and the harvest, this simple flower lives
the duration of its life in perfect glory to God. The Morning Glory,
without the capability to observe and to make judgment on what is
occurring in its life, lives its entire existence in simplistic harmony
with its Creator. In the innocence of its being, it stands in the glory
of which it was created.
Peter, again, understanding the ways of life wrote, "But the God of
all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you" (1 Pet. 5:10). Like the Morning Glory, we
too can experience God’s eternal glory by Christ Jesus.
For example, plant a tomato seed in the ground. The outer casing or husk
of the seed must rot or decay before the essence of life within the seed
can come forth with tender sprouts of life. One pushes up through the
ground seeking the light of the sun. Another one pushing into the soil
seeking water and nutrients. Without this struggle for light and water,
it does not survive. This struggle is what it means to be a created
entity. It is the fact of any created existence.
Eventually, the essence of the seed comes forth from the earth into the
heaven producing a full grown tomato plant. Hanging on the branches of
the plant are fully developed tomatoes. They are the glory of the tomato
plant. The mature tomatoes are the fullest possible manifestation of
life the tomato plant can experience.
Within each tomato are many seeds. Within each seed is the same life
that was in the seed that was planted in the ground to start the cycle
of life. Although individual tomato plants with their tomatoes live and
die, the essence of life within the seed is eternal. This is the eternal
glory to which we have been called.
As God uses the circumstances of life to bring man to his germination
moment, man finds himself at the judgment of Christ in which his soul is
brought into the balance of heaven and hell. By not resisting the dying
of the old existence, the judgment of Christ will always bring newness
of life. As Peter stated, "But the God of all grace, who hath
called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have
suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle
you" (1 Pet. 5:10). In a world of trouble, perplexities,
persecutions, and being put down, the believer can be completed,
confirmed, strong, and have a firm foundation because he has experienced
the heavenly. He has been raised to newness of life
Refusing or resisting what God is doing by the circumstances of life,
the judgment of Christ will always bring damnation to life. As Peter
stated, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1
Pet. 5:8). Once the mind begins to escalate its worrisome thoughts over
current circumstances, the soul becomes intoxicated with anxiety. The
mind runs out of control and "sleep won’t come the whole night
through." Instead of living in the peace and rest of a sound mind
controlled by the Holy Spirit, the soul is being devoured by the
imaginations of the mind. It is overwhelmed by its own created world of
destruction.
The circumstances that bring the good and the circumstances that bring
the bad are the same circumstances. The living of life will always bring
man to this germination process. "But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye
have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle
you." By the true grace of God, the believer can come through this
moment of destiny, the germination of new life, with the cry, "O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of
death has been conquered by the grace of God in the innocence mind. It
is the power of salvation as Jesus comes to deliver His people.
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CD 22 Is
Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in the Gospels
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REQUEST
BOOK FIVE AND CD'S NOW
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Session Twenty-Three: JESUS, THE
BAPTISM OF SALVATION
Introduction
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The last recorded words of Jesus was spoken
to his apostles just before he ascended. He commanded that they should
not depart from Jerusalem until they had received the promise of the
Father. He said, "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1:5).
When asked, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom
to Israel?" Jesus added, "It is not for you to know the times
or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall
be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:7,8).
There are three vitals truths in this often perceived simple statement
that the followers of Jesus were about to be baptized with the Holy
Spirit. First, this baptism is connected with "the times or the
seasons." Secondly, this baptism would be to "receive
power." Finally, this baptism would produce "witnesses."
With the analogy of the word witness meaning a
"martyr," the baptism of the Holy Spirit brings power in the
dying process during the time or the season so ordained by God.
Although the disciples understood this baptism had something to do with
the bringing forth of the kingdom of God, they struggled to know the
depth of Jesus’ words. It wasn’t until the actual event, when Peter
stood up and with inspired speech spoke words that he was hearing for
the first time, did they begin to grasp the significance of the promise
of Jesus. Peter explained the happenings that transpired on the Jewish
feast of Pentecost with three events out of their past.
First, he said this "filling" with the Holy Spirit had been
predicted by the prophet Joel. The prophet had foretold that God would
bring a new way of speaking to His people (Acts 2:17-21). This new way
of speaking would occur only after the old way of speaking had been
brought to its end by God. The old must be taken down before the new can
be raised to life.
Secondly, Peter used the actual death and resurrection of Jesus which
they had just witnessed. He told the inquiring crowd that they had done
a wicked thing in crucifying Jesus even though it was brought about by
the will of God. They killed Jesus but God raised Him up having
"loosened the pains of death" (Acts 2:22-24). Death and
resurrection is the foundational principle of what it means to be
Christian.
Finally, Peter used a quote from David to give meaning to what had
occurred to Jesus in His death and resurrection. In doing so, he also
proclaimed why the power of the Holy Spirit is given and necessary for
the believer. He recited David:
I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right
hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and
my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [haides, properly, unseen,
i.e. "Hades"], neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to
see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou
shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. (Acts 2:25-28)
Peter then stated that David is not talking about David but about
Jesus and consequently all those who are "in Jesus."
The heart can rejoice (translated from a word meaning, "right frame
of mind"), the tongue can be made glad, and the flesh can rest in
hope because God will not leave the soul in "death" (the state
of the unseen). Although the flesh can taste corruption, dishonor,
weakness, and natural death, the Spirit of God is incorruptible,
glorious, powerful, and supernatural life. Resurrection always comes out
of death because the essence of life, the Spirit of God, cannot die.
It is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables the death and
resurrection of all things. It is the ways of life so decreed by God.
When man is taken to the end of his current existence, he is at the
germinating point of life. The circumstances of which he is now facing
bring his soul into the balance of heaven or hell. What occurs in this
moment of judgment for man determines what he experiences in his life.
Since man is a fleshly earthly being, he has the susceptibility to
experience an existence of his mind being separated from the controlling
influence of the Holy Spirit. It is the true tale of the fall of man
from experiencing the glory of the heavenly realm to live in the hells
of a mere earthly existence. The satanic power of man’s mind out of
control drives him to an inferno of life alienated from the glory of
God. Man, once the brightness of a morning star now cut down to the
ground, spends the days of his life in the abyss of paradise lost.
Peter recognized this great truth and simply told the early believers to
"gird up the loins of their mind, be sober, and hope to the end for
the grace, that is to be brought unto [them] at the revelation of Jesus
Christ" (1 Pet. 1:13). He also admonished them six times in his
letter to recognize the dangers of going through the germination
process, the death and resurrection of the soul. It is in the heat of a
confrontation that the temptation to frustrate grace occurs. The beastly
nature of man rises up to protect the survival of the current life now
being experienced.
Jesus said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone: but if it die, it brigheth forth much fruit." The
multi-grain wheat stalk cannot come forth without the planting of the
seed. The new morning comes only after the midnight. The freshness of
new life in a relationship comes forth only after the perishing of the
old existing lifestyles.
Those who trust in the Lord for the resurrection of new life knows the
temptation to resist the planting of the seed, the temptation to not
give up any ground in the heat of the confrontation, and the temptation
to get in the last word. In the midst of these challenging moments of
heaven or hell, the true believer in Christ passes the time of this
journey through death and resurrection in apprehension. Although he
approaches the throne of grace with boldness, he nevertheless
understands the weakness of his flesh and in fear cries out for the
Spirit of God to be his strength--for Jesus to come. He knows he has an
"inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven . . ." only if he is "kept by the
power of God through faith" unto the death and resurrection of his
soul. It is the greatest challenge of life, but it produces the greatest
reward of man’s existence--joint heirs in the kingdom of God. Or, as
Peter would later say, "heirs together of the grace of life."
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CD 22 Is
Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in the Gospels
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REQUEST
BOOK FIVE AND CD'S NOW
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Schedule