Wednesday, May 13,
2015, 6:45 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Full Release.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (NASB).
The Power of God (vv.
18-25)
For
the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And
the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”
Where
is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not
God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the
world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through
the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed
Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ
crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those
who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men.
What is this word (message) of the cross? It is not merely
that Jesus Christ, God the Son (God incarnate), was crucified on a cross, was
resurrected the third day, appeared to many people on the earth, and then was
taken back up to heaven where he is now seated at the right hand of the Father,
and that one day he will come again and take us to be with him. It is not just the
fact that, when he died, our sins died with him, were buried with him, and when
he was resurrected from the dead that he conquered death, hell, Satan and sin
on our behalf. It is also not simply the fact that through Jesus Christ’s shed
blood on the cross for our sins that our sins were atoned (compensated, paid)
for, and that through faith in Jesus Christ we can escape the punishment of
hell, because Jesus paid the price for our sins, or the fact that those who
have faith in Jesus Christ now have the hope of eternal life with God both now,
forevermore, and in heaven when we die. Several verses come to mind here:
“He
himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and
live to righteousness…” (1 Pet. 2:24). “I have been crucified with Christ. It
is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me” (Gal. 2:20). “And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live
for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Co.
5:15). “I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from
darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me”
(Ac. 26:17-18). “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could
not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he
condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to
the Spirit” (Ro. 8:3-4).
“But
that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about
him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self,
which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful
desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new
self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”
(Eph. 4:20-24). “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”
(Tit. 2:11-14). “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in
darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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 cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:6-7).
The reason Jesus Christ died for our sins on the cross was so
that we, by God’s grace and through faith in him, could die to sin and live for
righteousness; might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his
life for us; may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God;
might walk NOT according to the flesh but according to the Spirit; could put
off our old self, be renewed in the spirit in our minds, and put on the new
self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness; may renounce
ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled, upright and godly
lives; and that we might no longer walk in darkness, but that we might walk in
the light (in God’s/Christ’s righteousness and holiness). This is the message
of the cross, for this is the purpose for which Jesus Christ died for our sins,
not just to save us from hell and give us the hope of heaven when we die, but
to utterly transform our lives while we still live on the face of this earth, so
that we no longer walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. This
IS TRUE GRACE!
To those who are perishing (dying in their sins and are doomed
to hell), this is all foolishness. Why? Because our sin nature does not naturally
yield itself to the cross. Our sin nature wants to do what we want to do, and
it does not want to surrender its will to the will of another. In our flesh, we
want to control our own lives and live to please ourselves. We, by nature, don’t
like the idea that we must give up what we want and do what God wants. We are
taught that we can do it in our own strength, wisdom, and power, and that we
have control over our own destiny. We are taught self-effort, and
self-gratification, and we are bombarded with messages that say if we want it
we can have it, or if we desire it we deserve to get it, and that life should
be about pleasing us and entertaining ourselves. So, the idea of dying to self
and living to please God is foreign to our sin nature.
Yet, for those of us who are being saved, which in the
original (Greek) language means present and continuous (not just past), it is
the power of God to transform human lives away from living for sin and self to
walking in the Spirit in God’s righteousness and holiness, for this is why
Jesus died, and this is the message of the cross, our hope, our joy, our
freedom, and God’s true grace to us in teaching us to say “NO” to sin, and the
power to live, to love and to serve our Lord in full surrender and in obedience
to his will and to his purpose for our lives. I know what it is to live in
bondage to sin, and I know what it is like to walk in freedom and in surrender
to my Lord, and in submission to his will for my life, not in absolute
perfection, but by his grace, through faith, and I can attest to the fact that
if grace does not deliver us out of slavery to sin, then it is no grace at all,
for we are still in our sin.
The Despised (vv.
26-31)
For
consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world
to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the
despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the
things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are
in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and
sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who
boasts, boast in the Lord.”
God did not choose us because of our goodness and because of
our own self-righteousness, for our righteousness is as filthy rags to God, and
there is none good but God, for all have sinned and have come up short of
attaining God’s approval in our own flesh. God also did not choose us because
we have all kinds of book smarts, or on account of all of our worldly wisdom
and knowledge and college (and seminary) degrees. He did not choose us because
of our natural talents and abilities, our personalities, our good looks or
charm and persuasiveness with people or our ability to easily make friends and
influence people. God does not choose like humans choose, based upon what is
seen outwardly, but God looks at the heart. He chooses us based upon his grace
to us in saving us from our sins, and based upon our heart response to him in
accepting what he did for us on the cross by faith.
God chose those of us who the world deems as foolish because
we believe in the power of the cross to save people from sin and to deliver
them out of bondage to sin and to set them free to walk daily in Christ’s
righteousness and holiness – all in the power of the Spirit within us. To the
world, this is foolishness to give up our lives in surrender to Christ and to
the cross and to follow Jesus Christ in obedience. Some of them will call us
crazy, hyper-religious, extremists, disoriented, and not in touch with reality,
and will try to encourage us away from such dedication to our Lord, which they
consider abnormal in our society, and will try to persuade us to live a more “normal”
life, which involves immersing (engrossing) ourselves in today’s world culture
(philosophies, values, beliefs), which can be found on TV, in movies, in
secular music, and in many forms of entertainment and worldly knowledge.
Yet, all glory goes to God, for even the ability to believe
in Jesus and to surrender to him comes from him and is empowered by his Spirit.
It is by his doing that we are in Christ Jesus, and that we have been set free
from slavery to sin, and not of anything we have done in our own flesh to try
to earn or to deserve salvation. So, when we are able to walk no longer
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, it is only by God’s grace
and in his power. When God uses us in the lives of others to bring forth the
message of salvation so that many will believe and will be saved, it is only by
God’s grace and in his power that we are able to share the message of salvation,
and that God is able to use us as his willing instruments to see lives changed
by the power of God. So, all glory goes to God. It is only by God’s grace and
mercy to us that any of us can be saved from our sins and can walk in his
righteousness and holiness. I am so thankful that HE set me free! All praise to
God!
Full Release / An Original Work /
April 15, 2012
Walking
daily with my Savior
brings
me joy.
Loving
Father; precious Jesus;
He’s
my Savior and my Lord.
Gently
leads me; follow Him.
I’ve
invited Him within.
Now
abiding in His presence,
oh,
what peace.
From
my self-life
He
has brought me,
By
His mercy, full release.
Hope
and comfort,
peace
and safety Jesus brings
When
I daily bow before Him;
Obey
freely; do His will.
Follow
Him where’er He leads.
Listen
to Him; His words heed.
Now
obeying his words fully,
oh,
what love
That
He gives me
through
salvation,
By
His Spirit, from above.
Loving
Father; precious Jesus,
He’s
my friend.
With
my Savior, by His Spirit,
I
will endure to the end.
Share
the gospel, tell what’s true.
Witness
daily; His will do.
Tell
the world of how their Savior
bled
and died.
On
a cruel cross He suffered
So
that we might be alive.
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