Thursday, April 9,
2015, 6:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Praise Be Told.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Acts 3 (quoting vv. 11-26 ESV).
By Faith
Peter had just been instrumental of the Lord in the healing
of a man who had been lame from birth. “The man jumped to his feet and began to
walk.” Then he went with Peter and John into the temple courts, “walking and
jumping, and praising God.” Awesome! The people who saw him recognized him as
the lame beggar who used to sit at the temple gate, and “they were filled with
wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”
While
he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to
them in the portico called Solomon's. And when Peter saw it he addressed the
people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us,
as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his
servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate,
when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One,
and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of
life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by
faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith
that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of
you all.
On the Day of Pentecost, when the followers of Jesus were
filled with the Holy Spirit and had supernaturally declared the wonders of God
to people in their own languages, the people were amazed and perplexed and
wondered what it all meant. So, Peter seized that opportunity to present to
them the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here, again, the people had seen a miracle of
God, and they were filled with wonder and amazement, and again Peter seized
this divine opportunity to share with them the gospel message of salvation from
sin.
He let the people (of the nation) of Israel know that it was
not by their (his and John’s) own godliness or power that this man was made to
walk, but it was by faith in the name of Jesus – the one whom they had
crucified. Not only did he remind them that they had crucified one who was a
servant of Almighty God, but that they had killed “the author of life,” i.e.
their creator, i.e. they had killed God incarnate, who had lived and had walked
among them (See John 1). Yet, God the Father raised him from the dead. Praise
His Name!
The same is true with regard to our salvation from sin. We
are not given the gift of salvation, via Jesus’ shed blood on the cross for our
sins, because of anything we did. We can never be good enough. Our own righteousness
is as filthy rags. We cannot earn or deserve our salvation. Jesus Christ died
for us while we were yet sinners. It is by grace we are saved, through faith,
and even the faith to believe is a gift from God, and yet a gift we must
appropriate to our own lives (See: Eph. 2:8-10; 4:17-24).
Repent Therefore
“And
now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But
what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would
suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may
be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must
receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by
the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise
up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in
whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to
that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have
spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.
You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your
fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of
the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you
first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
I hear so many people say today, in reference to the
Ephesians 2 passage, that God requires nothing of us at all. We just have to “believe.”
And, yet, I believe they are lacking in true Biblical understanding of what it
means to believe. It is not just some emotional decision we make at an altar,
or some prayer we pray and “bam” we have our ticket into heaven, nor is it just
some intellectual assent we make to what Jesus did in dying on the cross for
our sins and/or to our need to have him save us from our sins. I think it gets
confusing for some people because the Ephesians 2 passage says “not of works,
lest any man should boast,” but they leave out v. 10 which says, “For we are God’s
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do.”
If we read Ephesians 2:8-10 as a whole, I believe we will
see that there is a difference between us trying to earn our salvation by our
own fleshly works, thinking that we deserve to be saved because of how good we
are, and us believing in Jesus, in the power and working of the Holy Spirit in
our lives, resulting in good works which God prepared in advance for us to do,
and thus giving him all the praise, honor and glory for what He has done in and
through us, as did the apostles in the healing of the lame beggar.
So, what does it mean to believe? Peter described it for us
well here:
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out…” “You
shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.” “God, having raised up his
servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from
your wickedness.”
And, this is the essence of true faith in Jesus Christ, i.e.
that which understands and applies to their lives, in the power and working of
the Spirit of God, what Jesus did for us in dying on the cross for our sins. We
do so through submission to the cross of Christ. You see, Jesus did not die just
so we could escape hell and go to heaven when we die. He died so that the eyes
of our hearts would be open, and that we would be turned from the darkness of
sin to the light of God’s truth and righteousness, and from the power of Satan
over our lives to following after God and his holiness, so that we may receive
forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified (purified) by
faith in Christ Jesus (See: Ac. 26:16-18).
Jesus said that his sheep listen to him and they follow
(obey) him (See: Jn. 10). He said if we want to come after him that we must
deny ourselves (our self-life), die daily to sin and self, and follow (obey)
him. He said if we hold on to our old lives of living for sin and self we will
lose them for eternity, but if we die to sin, we will gain eternal life (See:
Lu. 9:23-25). As well, Paul repeated the same message when he said that the way
we come to know Christ, according to the truth that is in Jesus, is that we put
off our old self, “which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be
made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to
be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (See Eph. 4:17-24; cf. Gal.
2:20; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; 2 Co. 5:15).
He also said that, with regard to our coming to Christ and
dying with him to sin, “We know that our old self was crucified with him so
that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be
slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (See: Ro.
6:6-7 NIV84). Regarding what Jesus Christ did for us in dying for our sins,
Paul said, “And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous
requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to
the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the
sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who
live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires…
Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (See: Ro. 8:3b-5, 8). This
takes me to Titus 2:11-14 where it
says:
“For
the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us
to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a
people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
John said that if we claim to have fellowship with God yet
walk (in lifestyle) in darkness (sin), we lie and we do not live by the truth.
He said we know we have come to know God if we obey his commands. “The man who
says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth
is not in him” (See: 1 Jn. 1:6; 2:3-4). As well, if we look at the Greek word
which we translate “believes” in John 3:16, we will see that the actual word is
“believing,” which is a continuous action verb. In other words, we can’t pray
some prayer at an altar and get our “get-out-of-jail free card” and guarantee
of heaven when we die if we don’t continue in that faith, and if we go back to
living according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit (See: John
8:31-32; Romans 11:17-24; I Co 15:2; Col 1:21-23; II Tim 2:10-13; Hebrews 3:6,
14-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; I John 2:24-25).
So, let us walk in the Spirit and no longer according to the
flesh, because Jesus died to free us from the control of sin over our lives,
and to free us to walk daily in his righteousness. Jesus died so we would no
longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave himself up for us (See: 2 Co.
5:15). A true understanding of what it means to believe in Jesus, thus, knows
that it means that we die with Christ to sin, we are resurrected with Christ to
new life in Christ, and we walk in the Spirit in Christ’s righteousness and
holiness. It also understands that true faith is continuous and it endures ‘til
the end – all in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Praise
Be Told! / An Original Work / December 28, 2013
Based
off Various Scriptures
He was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for all our sin.
Our chastisement was upon Him.
By His stripes, we now are healed.
He has witnessed all our trials,
And the sins we choose to wear.
Yet, while we were dead in our sin,
Jesus died, our sins to bear.
He himself bore all of our sins
In His body on a cross,
So that we might die to our sin,
And live for His righteousness.
By faith in the pow’r of Jesus
And His blood shed for our sins,
We can be forgiven our sin,
And have life with God in heav’n.
He will lead us and He’ll guide us
In the way that we should go.
He will comfort and protect us,
Because Jesus, we do know.
Though He disciplines for our good,
He will heal us – Praise be told!
Do not fear, your Lord is with you.
Just have faith in Christ your Lord.
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