Know His Power

John 1:1-5 NIV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Light Shines!

In the beginning was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is the Living Word. He was with God in the beginning, and he is God. He is our creator God who made us. He is the one who gave us the breath of life, and he is the one who gives us spiritual new birth, too.

Jesus Christ is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father except through him. He is The Life which is The Light of all mankind. He shines in the darkness (in wickedness, sin). And, his truth and his righteousness shine in the darkness. And, the darkness cannot overcome Jesus Christ or his righteousness and holiness. Amen!

No matter how hard Satan works to defeat Jesus and His Word and us, his servants and messengers, he will not succeed in overcoming the Light which offers Life to all people. For, greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. Satan is a defeated foe, for Jesus already conquered him.

John 1:6-14 NIV

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Why He Died

Jesus Christ, the Son of God is the Light. He is truth! And, He is righteousness! And, John testified concerning him.

John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus, to prepare people’s hearts to receive him as their Messiah and Lord. He was sent to make a straight path for Jesus. He was sent to tell people the truth about their sins and of their need to turn away from their sins and to walk with God in holiness.

Jesus Christ, although he was God, left his throne in heaven, came to earth, and was born as a baby to a human mother, with God as his Father. So, while he walked this earth he was fully God and fully man. He took on human flesh and suffered as we suffer and was tempted in like manner as we are also tempted, yet he did not sin. He remained perfect.

Jesus left his throne in heaven and came to earth so that he could become our sacrificial Lamb given for our salvation from sin. Although all that he did was righteous, good and just, he was hated by many, and thus they put him to death on a cross. But, God was in that. This was his plan for us to be saved from our slavery to sin so that we can now live to his righteousness.

For, to receive Jesus is not mere words we say, nor is it to merely acknowledge his existence or to accept the idea that he died so that we could be delivered from hell and have the promise of heaven when we die. To receive him means to accept his will for our lives, and to take ownership of what he did for us on that cross. And, that means that we die to sin so that we can live to righteousness, for this is why he died (1 Pet. 2:24).

John 1:15-18, 29-31 NIV

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

He Takes our Sins Away

It is clear here that Jesus Christ existed before he ever was born as a baby on this earth. For, John the Baptist was physically born before Jesus, and yet he stated that Jesus was before him.

God so loved the people of this world that he gave Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, to die and to be resurrected from the dead in order to give us life in himself and to free us from our slavery to sin. Whoever believing in him has eternal life with him (John 3:16). And, believing is present tense and continuous, and it endures to the end.

Believing, as well, comes from God. It is a gift from God even that we should be able to believe in him. And, believing is divine persuasion as to our need to turn away from our sins and to follow our Lord Jesus in obedience. So, if persuaded by God, we thus die with him to sin and we are resurrected with him to newness of life in him. Amen! All to the glory of God!!

God’s grace to us, though, is not liberty to continue in sinful practices. The whole purpose of Jesus’ death on a cross was so that we would no longer walk according to the ways of our sinful flesh, but so that we would walk according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God in our Lord’s ways.

For, he didn’t die merely to forgive us our sins, but to obliterate sin from our lives. He died, too, that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us. So, we are to give our ALL to Him!

Shine Jesus Shine  

By Graham Kendrick

Lord the light of Your love is shining

In the midst of the darkness, shining

Jesus, Light of the world, shine upon us

Set us free by the truth You now bring us…

Shine, Jesus, shine

Fill this land with the Father's glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze, set our hearts on fire…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7OIwSQmyCg4

Tuesday, July 31, 2018 – Lord Jesus, help us all to understand the power of the cross in what you did for us, and what that means for us, that we might know that power in our daily walks with you and live in freedom from sin’s grip on our lives. In your name I pray these things. Amen!