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December 7, 2018

12/7/2018

Focus on Jesus                        JESUS KEEPS WALKING WITH US

        And they went to another village. Luke 9:56.

    Relationship with God is not based on your behavior. Relationship is based on your communion with Him. Anyone who thinks that his relationship is based on his behavior will give up his relationship sooner or later. Anyone who gives up his relationship because of his behavior is a legalist.

    There is a difference between getting discouraged over your behavior and being disappointed in your behavior. I am disappointed in my behavior many times, but I am not discouraged with the relationship! Why? Because Jesus had a nice way about Him of going right ahead with disciples who fell and sinned again and again. Read it in Luke 9:55, 56. They wanted to call fire down and burn up the miserable Samaritans. Jesus rebuked them, and He may rebuke you and me, too. But He kept walking with them. They went on to another village--together.

    If it weren't for this realization of God's continuing walk with us, many of us would have given up long ago. "The one thing essential for us in order that we may receive and impart the forgiving love of God is to know the love that He has to us. Satan is working by every deception he can command, in order that we may not discern that love. He will lead us to think that our mistakes and transgressions have been so grievous that the Lord will not have respect unto our prayers and will not bless and save us. In ourselves we can see nothing to recommend us to God, and Satan tells us that it is of no use; we cannot remedy our defects of character. When we try to come to God, the enemy will whisper, It is of no use for you to pray; did not you do that evil thing? Have you not sinned against God and violated your own conscience? But we may tell the enemy that 'the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.' When we feel that we have sinned, and cannot pray, it is then the time to pray. Ashamed we may be and deeply humbled, but we must pray and believe."--Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 115.

    Take courage today, for Jesus continues to walk with you as you continue to seek fellowship with Him day by day. When we remain in fellowship with Him, He is enabled to do His work of grace in our lives. Sooner or later, His power will be greater than our failures, and He will complete the work that He has started.

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December 6, 2018

12/6/2018

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Focus on Jesus                        GETTING MARRIED AND STAYING MARRIED

        Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Matt. 25:11, 12.

    There is a big difference between "only believe" and the genuine faith relationship with God. The nominal Christian world has for years held unto "only believe" as its brand of faith. But intellectual assent has never been sufficient for salvation. The person who has a vital relationship with God from which genuine faith springs, is the only one who can really accept of Christ's sacrifice on a continuing basis.

    Insofar as our reception of eternal life is concerned, the relationship of knowing God, of loving Him, of trusting in Him, is the entire basis of the Christian life. Eternal life is based upon Jesus and what He has done, but there is a part we have to play. We must accept and receive it, or we never benefit from it personally.

    When we first accept of His grace, at justification, the relationship with Christ begins. As we continue to accept of His grace on a daily basis, the relationship continues. It's like a marriage. Which is more important, getting married, or staying married? In the end you'll have to admit that this is a nonsensical question! You can't stay married if you have never gotten married in the first place, and getting married is worth nothing unless you stay married. They are both important; they are both necessary. Both as equally vital.

    Jesus told about a wedding party in Matthew 25. When it got down to the nitty-gritty, and the five foolish virgins were asking admission to the wedding, the Lord answered them, I know you not. It's said again in Matthew 7:23, "Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." The ones to whom these words were addressed had done a lot of working. They had said, Lord, Lord. They knew how to mouth the name of Jesus. They had cast out devils and been involved in many wonderful works. But they didn't know Him. Those who are lost someday will be those who don't know Him. Do you know Him today? Have you accepted again today of His sacrifice? Have you spent time in communion with Him?

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December 4, 2018

12/5/2018

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Focus on Jesus                        GOD SUFFERED TOO

        God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. 2 Cor. 5:19.

    Both Jesus and the Father were involved in the atonement together. God suffered when Jesus suffered. God was there at the cross, even though Jesus was unable to sense His presence. That's why Paul says that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." God could not change His law, but He sacrificed Himself in Christ.

    Have you ever wondered why, if God loved the world so much, He didn't come Himself? Why did He send His Son? If you are a parent, you probably don't need to ask that question. The father suffers more when he sees his son suffer. Haven't you ever been by the bedside of a loved one, someone who was suffering pain, and wished before God that you could trade places with the patient? It is much harder to watch. God died too, in a sense. Away with the pagan idea that God was angry and that Jesus was appeasing Him. They both suffered together.

    Jesus took our place. His death was not incidental. It wasn't just another martyrdom. Jesus suffered the horror of the second death in your place and in my place. This is what broke His heart and made the physical pain hardly felt. I am thankful that He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, aren't you? I'm thankful that He is a God of justice, because it means that we can have security forever. And I'm thankful that He is a God of love, and that His justice did not destroy His mercy.

    The sacrifice of Jesus is full and complete. There is pardon for every person who will respond to His invitation and come to Him for rest. It is not enough to come once, but we must come again today, and every day, and fall at His feet in repentance and humility, accepting anew of His death in our place. As we do this, and continue to do this, we are assured of life eternal, because He paid the penalty for the wages of sin for us. He died so we don't have to die. Because He lives, we can live forever, if we will only accept His merits on our behalf. No work of man can add to the fullness of the salvation provided. As we see His loving acceptance, our hearts will respond in love to Him, and He will work in us to accomplish all that He has in mind for us--our complete recovery from the penalty, the power, and the presence of sin.

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December 5, 2018

12/5/2018

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Focus on Jesus                        JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

        Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 5:1.

    Because of Jesus' death on the cross, He can offer life and forgiveness to each one of us. But I would like to remind you that justification is no good unless it is accepted. Although Jesus' sacrifice was complete and sufficient, so that the sins of the whole world could have been erased, the whole world will not be saved. The atonement of Christ does no good to anyone unless he accepts it personally. And the atonement must be accepted daily, through the ongoing relationship with Christ. It is more than a matter of a one-time nodding of the head toward heaven. We must come to Jesus every day and accept anew of His death in our behalf.

    When you give someone a gift, in order for that person to profit from that gift he or she must receive it. A gift is no good unless it is received. As beautiful as the doctrine and truth of justification is, as wonderful as what God has done for us may be, and as much as the sacrifice of the cross stands out in all of history, these things do not benefit anybody until they are received.

    But there is far more than just the matter of our own salvation involved in our relationship with Him. God created man for fellowship with Him in the first place. Because of Adam's sin, the race has been separated from God. The death of Christ brings us back to oneness with Him, where it all started. The broken relationship is restored at justification.

    Justification is mankind being put right with God through what Jesus has done. It is a provision in heaven for the redemption of the whole human race. It has as its foundation the spotless righteousness of Jesus. But justification will not benefit any sinner until it is accepted by that sinner. The Bible does not teach that justification is by grace alone. It is always by grace through faith. Faith is essential on the part of the sinner. Faith, or trust, immediately involves two parties, one trusting the other. When we trust in Jesus for salvation, there comes into existence a saving relationship. This is more than a legal declaration in heaven. This is the beginning of a friendship and fellowship with God. It is only through this relationship with God that the Christian life can begin or continue. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee" (John 17:3).

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December 3, 2018

12/5/2018

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Focus on Jesus                        JESUS, OUR SUBSTITUTE

        What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Rom. 6:15.

    One day when I was a pastor in Oregon I was detained at an appointment, which put me behind schedule for a funeral service. I was going through a back road, spraying gravel and dust all over, trying to get to the place of the funeral on time, when a second cloud of dust arose behind me. It turned out to be the cloud of a law-enforcement officer who was trying to catch me. When he finally stopped me he was angry. He said, "Who are you, anyway? I thought I was following a stolen car!"

    I told him who I was and where I was going. He suddenly calmed down and said, "I don't know what to do with you. If I give you a citation, it will come out in the newspaper tomorrow, and your parishioners will know all about it. Besides, I don't think a citation is the answer anyway."

And I said, "No, I don't either!"

    After he had shifted from foot to foot for a little while, he said, "I'm going to let you go. Go on. You're on your own."

    I thought as I started down the road that this was the greatest motivation I'd ever had to obey the law. But the reason I was motivated to obey the law was because of the other times when I didn't get that kind of treatment. I knew what justice was, and that's why mercy meant something to me.

    The illustration is very feeble. If we were going to make it more like the atonement, the officer would not simply have permitted me to go free. God Himself doesn't do that. God has never been able to forgive sin. He forgives sinners. The reason we know He cannot forgive sin is because Jesus died. So the officer, to fit the analogy rightly, should have pulled out his wallet and handed be the money for the fine. Or he would have gone to court for me. That's what Jesus has done for us--He has paid the penalty in our behalf.

    It is because God is a God of love that He is a God of justice. But because of His love, He is also a God of mercy. Satan didn't understand that. When he caused man to sin, he exulted. He thought that this would prove that God's law could not be kept, and that if a loophole were found for man, he would be able to get back into heaven again himself. But Jesus came as our Substitute, to make a way of escape for us. Thus God's justice and mercy could both be revealed.

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December 2, 2018

12/5/2018

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December 1, 2018

12/5/2018

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Focus on Jesus                        EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS

        He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Phil. 2:8.

    Today's text is the same as yesterday's, but we are not finished with it yet.

    In the days of Christ, crucifixion was used by the Romans as a deterrent from crime. Criminals were crucified in a most public place, where many people would see them. There was no cloth draped gracefully around their bodies, as the artist pictures.

    There is evidence that, in some cases at least, the victims were placed on the cross sideways, and huge spike was driven through both heels, just in front of the Achilles' tendon. It was driven into the cross with such force that in some cases archeologists have discovered buried in the casket, with the body, large hunks of wood that came loose when the bodies were torn from the cross.

    After the soldiers had nailed the victims securely sideways through the heels, they twisted them around, and nailed their arms tightly through the wrists. You will discover that if you try standing against the wall in that twisted position for just a little while, your muscles begin retching. And as though that weren't enough, some sadist would then drive a spike through the private parts of the individual as well.

    Then they would drop the cross into the hole prepared, and the teeming throng of people would walk by and stare. Can you picture Jesus hanging there? Jesus, the One who had created the people who crucified Him?

    But something else is heavier. We are told that so great was the anguish that Jesus went through because of the burden and weight of the sins of the world, that the physical pain was hardly felt. The sense of separation from His Father's presence was more than He could bear, and it broke His heart.

    As we look upon the cross of Christ, and get a glimpse of the price paid for our salvation, we "begin to comprehend something of the righteousness of Christ, and exclaim, 'What is sin, that it should require such a sacrifice for the redemption of its victim?'...A knowledge of the plan of salvation will lead him [the sinner] to the foot of the cross in repentance for his sins, which have caused the sufferings of God's dear Son."--Steps to Christ, p. 27.

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