I Am Not the Christ

"He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, 'I am not the Christ.'"

John the Baptist

Zack Eswine commenting on these verses in his book, Sensing Jesus:

"It seems to me that while it is true that we can dangerously make too little of God by drawing improper attention to ourselves, it is equally true that we cannot fully magnify God without confessing that we are not him...Each of us is not God and is only human (I am not the Christ). The absence of such a confession is making us a ragged bunch."

Zack Eswine, Sensing Jesus: Life and Ministry As a Human Being (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2013), 20. 

Who Am I?

A seemingly simple question of identity. Yet, I'd be curious as to how people would respond if you randomly stopped them and asked. Here is how King David might answer that question:

"The LORD is my shepherd"

Psalm 23:1

For David, the answer is simple. Here is how I imagine David answering:

I am the LORD's. I belong to Him. I am a sheep and He is my shepherd. 

Sheep may be dumb, stubborn, needy, weak, and often ignorant, 

and I am not too proud confess that I am those things as well. 

I may be dumb, but I am His. My shepherd leads me. 

I may be stubborn, but I am His. My shepherd is infinitely compassionate towards me. 

I may be weak, but I am His. My shepherd is my strength, and His strength is made perfect in my weakness. 

I may be needy, but I am His. My shepherd provides for me. He carries me through. 

I  may be ignorant, but I am His. My Shepherd shows me the way and restores my soul.

My only hope in life and death, is that I belong to my Lord. My confidence is not in my ability as a sheep, but rather in the fact that my shepherd is the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for His sheep. I am His. 

Delight as Motivation for Obedience

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." John 14:15

I'm struck by how often the Bible appeals to our delight as one of the many reasons we should obey Christ. In this verse, Jesus is essentially telling us that we should obey out of the love we have for him. Because we delight in our Savior, we should freely and joyfully obey. Obedience doesn't need to be a painstaking duty. Rather, when we see all that we have in Christ, and are grounded in his unfailing love for us, it starts to become the beat of our heart. I'm praying for more obedience out of genuine joy. 

Trusting God in the Dark

I needed this today.

From Dane Ortlund:

'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love . . .'
--Genesis 22:2

The command to offer up the son of the promise, with whom the whole future lies, seems the complete contradiction of the Purpose of God on which Abraham has set his faith.

Abraham in the story is called by God to make a supreme sacrifice, an act of complete and entire worship, trusting God in the dark, committing everything to him: 'not my will but thine be done.' While God did not in the end demand this sacrifice to be made, that which he did demand was the entire willingness to make the offering.

Such is the meaning of the story as the writer tells it; and because this and nothing less is the true and original meaning therefore we, in interpreting it, may and must look onward to the self-giving of our LORD, in whose case no offering of a substitute was possible. Hence we may and must find the finalanswer to Isaac's question 'Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?' and Abraham's reply 'God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son' (22:7-8) in the words of John 1:29, 'Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.'

--Gabriel Hebert, The Old Testament From Within (Oxford University Press, 1962), 34

Signs of Judgement Replaced By Signs of Hope

In the Exodus story, God uses several 'signs' to incur his judgement upon the Egyptians. We might know these as the 'plagues'. Later, in the New Testament, God's redemption is captured by many signs. In particular, the Gospel according to John contains striking parallels to the plagues. Whereas God bestowed signs upon Egypt in judgement, as a result of his wrath, Jesus performs signs among people in blessing, as a result of his grace. Signs of judgement are replaced by signs of hope. A short disclaimer, this does not mean God was different in the Old Testament compared to the New Testament, or that the OT is about judgement and the NT is about grace. Rather, the NT is the fulfillment of God's over-arching plan for salvation. The OT points to Jesus.

For example, the first sign God performed against Egypt was turning water into blood. This is a picture of devastation brought upon the Egyptians by their own disobedience. On the contrary, God's first sign in his incarnation was turning water into wine. Wine was (and still is) an essential element to a party. God turning water into wine is giving life to a party, it is blessing people. The other example thats been brought to my attention is the last sign among the Egyptians and Jesus' last sign. The last plague God brings upon the Egyptians is the death of the first born sons. In the book of John, we read that Jesus raised Lazarus from death to life (11:1-45). This is the ultimate portrayal of what God came to do. Where we have accrued God's judgement because of our disobedience, God restores us to life through the perfect life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Just like the last plague against Egypt, unless we are covered by the blood of the Lamb, we too must die. Yet, God's glorious plan from the beginning was to make a way for his people to be saved. He did it in the Exodus story with the people of Israel, and now the beauty is that he has made a final, superior, once and for all way for all people everywhere to know him and to be brought for life. The way is Jesus. 

The Gift of Peace to God's People

"Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints"

Psalm 85:8

"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace"

Psalm 29:11

"And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His government and its peace will never end."

Isaiah 9:6-7

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"

Romans 5:1

"I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. but take heart; I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

Assurance in His Grip

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one

will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,

is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

John 10:27-29

Where does your assurance come from? Is it from the strength of your own grip, or is your confidence completely in the strength of the grip of the one to whom you cling? Religion says your assurance comes from the strength of your own grip. In other words, your confidence is based on your performance. If you are standing upon solid ground, it is because you picked yourself up by your own boot straps. I often fall into this trap of basing my relationship with God on how strongly I am holding onto him, or how I am performing spiritual. 

But, the Gospel tells us quite the contrary. Jesus says his sheep know him, not because of how smart they are, or how strongly they cling to him. Rather, they know him and follow him because 1) they were given to him by his Father and 2) because his Father is greater than all, and no one can snatch his sheep out of his strong grip. Therefore, our trust should not be in our ability to hold on to God, but it should be in the strength of the one who holds onto us. 

This idea of God eternally choosing sheep to be his own, and sovereignly gripping them unto the end should cause great wonder and adoration. This is because, when we think about it, in our sinfulness, we were never able to hold onto God unto salvation. We are weak and broken, we had gone astray. Yet, God is so loving, that he died on the cross, as the lamb of God, innocently slaughtered for his people, for his sheep. The only way we could know God and follow him is if he sovereignly chose us, and maintained his eternal grip on us until the end. This should cause praise, adoration, humble service, self-sacrifice, and thanksgiving. 

Though we are weak, he is strong. Christians have the ultimate hope; not they will themselves will be strong enough to grip onto God and follow him, but that they have been chosen and loved by a God who has snatched them from death, given them life, and says he will never let go. 

Jesus: The Full Manifestation of Psalm 36

"Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,

you faithfulness to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

your judgments are like the great deep;

man and beast you save, O LORD.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

For with you is the fountain of life; 

in your light do we see light."

Psalm 36: 5-9

Time and time again I am amazed at the continuity of the Bible. In these verses from Psalm 36, David is exclaiming the marvelous characteristics of his God. God's love, his righteousness, judgment, how he quenches thirst, his light, etc... We see David using metaphors in order to paint a picture of the just how deep and infinite God's perfections are. In a sense, in this life we will never fully understand just how deep God's love is, or how perfect his faithfulness is. Yet, God has revealed this things to his people in history. Specifically, Jesus Christ, who is the full embodiment of God in human flesh, fully displayed these characteristics. In Jesus, we see God's true and perfect love. In Jesus, we see God's faithfulness on display. We see the fulfillment of the promise of salvation. By Jesus, will people be judged, whether they rejected the Son of God, or whether they have repented of themselves, and turned to believe in the gospel. Jesus provides the true Lord's Supper, a feast for God's people, by providing himself as the lamb of God. Jesus provides the rivers of living water, so that those who are spiritual thirsty may come to him and drink, and be satisfied. Jesus is the light of the world, so that in him, we may no loner walk in darkness. 

Jesus is the embodiment, fulfillment, and manifestation of God's steadfast love, his faithfulness, his judgement, his abundant provisions, and satisfying presence. 

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

"Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant." Hebrews 9:15

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith" Romans 1:16-17

"the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." Romans 3:22

"The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.....whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life." John 5:22-24

"....whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14

" I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

The Concept of Justification

Over the next 10 days, I will be posting 10 observations from the concept of justification. In large, each of these observations will be taken from Anthony Hoekema's chapter on justification from his book on soteriology, 'Saved By Grace'. While these concepts may be simple in nature, my hope is whether we are visiting these beautiful truths for the first time, or revisiting them, that God would give us a deeper understanding of Christ's justifying work on our behalf, and that as a result, we would love Jesus more, and see Him as exceedingly glorious. I pray God would renew a sense of awe, wonder and joy in us for the doctrine of justification.

In his book, Hoekema defines justification as "that gracious and judicial act of God whereby he declares believing sinners righteous on the basis of the righteousness of Christ which is credited to them, forgives all their sins, adopts them as his children, and gives them the right to eternal life".

Observation # 1:

The Doctrine of Justification presupposes a recognition of the reality of God's wrath. 


The need for justification stems from God's holiness. Inherently, the word holy means to be 'set apart' or 'separate from'. In the biblical sense, it means that God is perfect. He is sinless. He is 'other' from us. He stands alone in His holiness. The Bible is clear in its teaching that because is holy, he cannot tolerate sin. Darkness cannot stain the perfect light. The prophet Habakkuk puts it this way, "Your [God's] eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong" (Hab. 1:13).

In order for the gospel to be good news, we must understand what we are saved from. Our state of sin demands God's wrath. Because He is holy, because He is perfect in all His ways, God cannot simply overlook sin. Rather, Sin deserves God's wrath.

Some observations from verses describing God's wrath:

God's wrath abides on those who reject Jesus (John 3:36)
We are all by nature, objects of God's wrath (Ephesians 2:3)
God's wrath comes upon those who are disobedient (Ephesians 5:6)
Because God's wrath abides on us, we are alienated from God (Colossians 1:21)
Christ saves us from God's wrath (Romans 5:9)

So, the first observation of the doctrine of justification is that it presupposes the reality of God's wrath. Because God is holy, and we have sinned, we deserve His wrath. This fits in line with God's perfect justice. We would not say it is unjust for a judge to give a fair punishment to a criminal. How much more  perfect is God's justice than an earthly judge. Our rebellion against God, our turning away from him rightly and justly demands His wrath. Therefore, in order to have any understanding of justification, we must understand what we are justified from, and why we need to be justified.

How Greatly He Exults

"O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices,

   and in your salvation how greatly he exults!

²You have given him his heart’s desire

   and have not withheld the request of his lips. 

³For you meet him with rich blessings;

   you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.

⁴He asked life of you; you gave it to him,

    length of days forever and ever.

⁵His glory is great through your salvation;

    splendor and majesty you bestow on him.

⁶ For you make him most blessed forever;^[a]

   you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

⁷For the king trusts in the LORD,

   and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved."

Psalm 21:1-8

In this psalm, David exults greatly in the salvation of the Lord. David rejoices that God has richly blessed him. He rejoices that God has given him life. He is overwhelmed by the joy of God's presence with him. 

My prayer this morning is that our life would be an exultation of the greatness of God. How wonderful are His works! Though we were once far off, hostile to God, alienated from His presence, without life and joy, though there was once a great dividing wall between us and our Creator, though we did not formerly belong to His beloved people, the Son of God descended from heaven and became man to give us salvation. He is Immanuel, God with us. Though humanity was wrecked, though our shame ran deep, His grace runs deeper. I exult in God because of His great love. Jesus came to earth to give us new life. Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection has now brought us near. At the cross, the hostility was crushed. If we believe in Him, we are no longer aliens, but sons. Through the Son, our life is being restored. Through Him, the dividing wall has been shattered once and for all. This truly is good news!

Like David, I rejoice in the strength of the Most High. I exult greatly in God's salvation because it is by His strength, not my might. Jesus said that he came to give us life to the full, or life abundantly (John 10:10) and to give us fullness of joy (John 15:11). Because we are united to Christ, we now have access to true life and true joy. Jesus is restoring to us life as it is intended to be. It is meant to be lived in fellowship with him. What a great salvation that God has made this possible!

The Measure of Friendship

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."

John 15: 13-15

"A friend loves at all times,

   and a brother is born for adversity."

Proverbs 17:17

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, 

and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

1 John 3:16

Biblically, friendship is defined by sacrifice. It is measured by what someone is willing to give up for the other. In both verses written by John, we see the utmost display of friendship is seen in the giving of ones life. From these criteria, we can see how Jesus is the ultimate friend. Here is a prayer that I wrote this morning.

Jesus, I praise and thank You for being the ultimate friend. You have unconditionally loved the loveless. You alone have loved me at all times. I confess to you Lord both my undeserving state of this friendship, and my self-justifying attempts to make myself appear worthy of this friendship. Yet, I rejoice in the truth that my union with You in completely contingent upon Your grace. You are the true friend, who at my very need your life did spend. And in what manner did you spend your life? You spent your life for me in the most extravagant way. For man or woman could lay down their life for me in order to preserve my temporal life here on earth, but only You could lay down your life in order to atone for my sins and to give me fullness of life. Jesus, you are the ultimate friend because you paid the ultimate cost. For you humbly left your glorious throne, you left your exalted position, and stooped down to my level. You saw your friends in dying need and you laid aside your glory, becoming man, being born in a manger, living among the filth which we caused, and died the death you didn't deserve, in order to save your friends. You have saved me from the ultimate adversity.There is no greater sacrifice. There is no greater friend. More so, you did not do so grudgingly, but out of gladness and joy. You are the pinnacle of friendship.

Jesus, I also praise you for the earthly friends which you have given me. Though imperfect and weak, their friendship gives me a faint, yet beautiful glimpse at your perfect friendship. Hints of Your radiant glory shine forth through their selfless love and raise my yearning to better know you, the true friend. I marvel at Your grace, as seen in the gift of friends. May we continue to sharpen each other, and to help each other more clearly behold the beauty of you, Lord Jesus. 

That Which Does Not Perish

"When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

John 6:25-29

A couple things.....

1) We all labor for some form of food

         No, this passage is not primarily talking about physical food, but rather what we fill our souls with. Every person on the planet tries to fill their lives with something. We all look to something to find our purpose, significance, security and life. We all look to find satisfaction in something. Here, Jesus confronts his audience by putting a fork in the road.

          In one direction, is the life in pursuit of perishable food.  This could be a number of things. Especially prevalent in American culture are financial security, academic prestige, vocational success, physical appearance, a care-free life, and happiness. For many of us, we look to these things daily. We eat of them daily with the hope that they will give us life; with the hopes that they will give us purpose, meaning, significance and security. The perishable food we pursue often time takes the form of obvious sin, but it is important to realize that not all perishable food has a marred appearance. In fact, many of the perishable things we pursue can be good things. Many of us look to relationships, to family, to love in order to fill us. These things certainly make a good appearance. However, they are in fact perishable. They do not give life. They do not satisfy. They only end in death. Imagine the crowd following Jesus in this story. They continued to follow Jesus because he miracously provided them with physical bread. Yet, they completely failed to realize the purpose of this miracle. It was to point them to Jesus the Savior, the only one who could give them real life. The crowd was completely ignorant to this and foolishly followed Jesus hoping to get more physical food. That is why Jesus asks them why they are seeking perishable food when imperishable food is offered to them. We are the same way. We ignorantly pursue perishable food, hoping it will satisfy us, hoping it will give us life. But we fail to realize that the Bread of Life has himself been given to us, to fill us, and to give us life as it was intended. 

2) Jesus as the Bread of Life

         Later in John 6, Jesus refers to himself as the Bread of Life. He himself is the imperishable food. Someone who eats or fills themselves with imperishable food eats of it, and it is never enough. They come back again and again. It doesn't stick. It doesn't fill the void. In Jesus' interaction with the following crowd, he offers himself as the source of this imperishable food. Jesus freely offers himself to those who seek him. Why then would we eat of anything else?

3) Jesus is only one qualified 

          How is it that Jesus is the one who can satisfy the hearts of men? Well, he answers this very question. Because the Father has set His seal on Him. Since Adam, mans heart has been restless. We have been trying to fix this, but something just isn't quite right. No matter how much success, comfort, prestige, happiness we have, we still are empty. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we try to cover our shame. Deep down, we all know that there is lack of true life in us. That is because we are out of the fellowship for which we were created. Jesus is the only one qualified to restore this all-satisfying fellowship. All our desires and wants in this life only point to the one true desire for which we were created, and which will truly bring us satisfaction. Jesus gives true joy, true hope, true peace, true life. He is qualified to give this because from eternities past, the Father has set His seal on Jesus to be the Savior of the world. He is the one who is to restore the earth. He is the one whom the Scriptures speak of. THe Old Testament tells of His coming. By Christ's life, death and resurrection, a return to an all-satisfying fellowship is possible. This is what we were made for. We were made to eat of this food. Why tarry?

4) How do we eat this bread?
           Jesus tells us what it means to do the work of God. Actually, the answer is sort of contradictory. Doing the work of God is actually believing in the One whom he has sent (Jesus). It is our human tendency to think what we can actively be doing to be right with God. However, Jesus tells us to do the work of God, is to believe in Him. It is a resting in Jesus. We eat of this bread by trusting in Christ and the work he has done. There is no work we can do to earn this imperishable bread. Therefore, to labor for imperishable food is to believe and trust in Jesus. Doing the work of God means to lean more heavily upon the Break of Life. 

Not Mere Improvement

I am continually struck at the vivid language the Bible uses to describe the transformation that a Christian undergoes. The Gospel is not mere improvement, it is a complete overhaul. It is complete newness. It is an eternal change in identity. It is a sad reality that many life long church goers have not experienced this eternal identity change. For the most part, Christianity is merely viewed as an elevated moral code or a set of guidelines for an improved life. Both of these rob the Gospel of its radical call to new life.

One doesn't need to search hard to find the Bible's elicit use of transformational language. Notice the vivid contrasts, the complete newness, the eternal identity change. A Christian is one who, by the Gospel was

Dead in their trespasses but now made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)

an enemy of God, but now reconciled (Romans 5:10)

alienated from God, far off, but now brought near (Colossians 1:21, Eph. 2:13)

walking in darkness, but now is in the light (Isaiah 9:2)

orphaned, but now adopted (Romans 8:15)

under condemnation, now free (Romans 8:1-2)

a slave to sin, but is now redeemed (John 8:34, 1 Peter 1:19)

guilty, but now justified (Romans 3:10, Galatians 2:16)

spiritually bankrupt, but now filled with the riches of God's grace (Eph. 1:7)

hungry, but now satisfied (John 6:35)

The list goes on.....

Getting God Himself part II

Last post I shared a quote from Augustine in which he talked about the Gospel providing the only real satisfaction to our longings by connecting us to God himself. Along the same lines, I thought it would be fitting to share these verses from Revelation. The end goal of the Gospel is for God's people to be with God in the new heavens and new earth. God, through Jesus' life, death and resurrection, is redeeming the entire world from Sin. The new heavens and the new earth are the restored, glorified creation. As members of God's covenant people, we will also be fully redeemed and restored from sin, and be given new glorified bodies, completely free from any form or effect of Sin. I can't even image how awesome it will be to be in the presence of God, without my Sin being a hitch. We will see Him for who He truly is, and it will be magnificent. God will walk among us as He did in Genesis with Adam and Eve. He has restored the goodness of His creation. He has rescued His people from Sin. Here, the Gospel comes to full fruition, as God fully establishes His Kingdom on earth and in the hearts of men. All things have been made new, and God himself will dwell with us for eternity.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be any mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' And he who is seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'" Revelation 21:1-5

Jeremiah 31:31-34 Fulfilled in Jesus

 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, 

   “when I will make a new covenant  with the people of Israel 

   and with the people of Judah. 

It will not be like the covenant  I made with their ancestors 

when I took them by the hand  to lead them out of Egypt, 

because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them declares the LORD. 

 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel 

   after that time,” declares the LORD. 

“I will put my law in their minds  and write it on their hearts. 

I will be their God,  and they will be my people. 

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ 

because they will all know me, 

   from the least of them to the greatest,” 

            declares the LORD. 

“For I will forgive their wickedness 

   and will remember their sins no more.”

God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah of a New Covenant that He would make with His people. It would be a new and better covenant. Whereas with the Old Covenant, God gave His people the law. Yet, they were never able to obey. They're hearts were sinful. They needed a heart transplant. With the Old Covenant, sin caused a separation of intimacy between God and His people. Though God was their husband, though He brought them out of Egypt, and gave them a King (David), and the prophets, Israel repeatedly turned from knowing God in an intimate way, as we were all created to know him. With the Old Covenant, God's people had to constantly atone for their sins through repeated sacrifices. They needed animal sacrifices and the work of the high priests for forgiveness.

However, the in the New Covenant, God fulfilled these things in Jesus. Through the New Covenant, we have a new experience of obedience, a new experience of intimacy with God, and a new experience of forgiveness. The Son came from heaven to earth, taking on human flesh, died on the cross, and resurrected in order to give us this new experience; in order that He would be our God, and we would be His people. 

In the New Covenant, we are united to Christ, and are therefore indwelled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives us a new heart and new life. In our old life, we loved sin. We lived according to the flesh, according to the world. Our taste buds were for sin. Our delight was in sin. Yet, through Jesus, the Spirit dwells in us. The Spirit gives us new hearts; hearts that desire and long to obey God. The Spirit gives us new taste buds. Whereas in the past, sin tasted so good to our souls, it now is disgusting. Our taste buds long to feast on the things of God. We live according to the Spirit. God's law is no longer a burden, but it is a delight. It has been written on our hearts. (Romans 8)

In the New Covenant, we are united to Christ and therefore have an deep intimacy with God. Whereas before, sin and death inhibited us from having fellowship with God. Now, Jesus is our covenant representative. We have access to God through Christ. We were once enemies, but have been made friends. We were once fatherless, but are now called Sons/Daughters! The natural intimacy that Adam and Eve had with God before they rebelled can now be experienced. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me" (John 10:14), and "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." (John 14:7)

Lastly, in the New Covenant, we have a new experience of forgiveness. This forgiveness is different from the Old Covenant in that it is COMPLETE. It is complete in that this sacrifice was once for all. It was for ALL the sins of His people. No longer would God's people have to look to repeated sacrifices of atonement for forgiveness. Rather, with the New Covenant, they would look to their New Covenant representative for forgiveness. The Son came to earth, and died as the all time sacrifice for sins. Our sin greatly angers God. Our sin deserves wrath. It deserves punishment. That is why in the Old Testament, people had to constantly atone for their sins. Something had to pay the price. God is just. Sin can't go unnoticed. But the gospel tells us that God has made a new Covenant, where He would do the most radical thing. His Son would come to earth, and take the once for all punishment for our sins. Even though we have been unfaithful from the beginning. God so loved the world that He (the Son) sacrificed himself on the Cross for His people's sins, once and for all. Let's look at a few verses from Hebrews and Romans...

"he (Jesus) entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats or calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption."  Hebrews 9:12

"But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews 9:27

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith" Romans 3:23-25

"having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." Colossians 2:13-14

No More Shame

"Those who look to Him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed."

Psalm 34:5

Eradicate: 1. To remove or do away with completely 2. to pull up by the roots

At the Cross, Jesus eradicates all our sin and shame. Those who are in Him shine radiantly. There is no more shame. It has been completely removed by Christ.

The Light of the World (John 9:5) has stepped down to earth. He has come to those living in darkness. He has come to the lifeless, dirty, sin stained, and shameful and has shown His great light to them, that they may look to Him and be radiant, that they may have true life. In Him there is no darkness at all(1 John 1:5), and everything He touches, is made glorious. That's why when Jesus touches the heart of a sinner, they are forever changed. This glorious light changes everything. Reality (Truth) is seen for the first time. More so, the Light of the World carried all our darkness and dirt, all our shame on His back, so that we might be able to see the True Light. He became a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, taking the full burden of shame, so that those who look to Him would have NO MORE SHAME, but shine radiantly.

What Makes us Disciples?

What really makes us disciples of Christ?

Some might say it is primarily

• acting in obedience to God (going/serving in church)
• having the right doctrine
• having the right feelings toward God (experience)
• trying hard to follow God

These are all connected to true discipleship, but fail to get at the core of what being an actual disciple of Christ is. The core of what makes us a disciple is the Life of God in the soul of man. Many (I dare to say most) people who consider themselves Christians, consider themselves as such because they are generally "good" people and "try hard to obey". However, these notions of what it means to be a disciple deflate the reality of John 3:3 that "unless they are born again, they can't see the kingdom of God." The Gospel of Jesus Christ demands change. It is impossible to come to any true knowledge of God without a complete overhaul of one's nature. That's why being a disciple is more than just trying hard and attempting to be obedient to God's commands. We can't change ourselves and our attempts to do so always fail. We are only made disciples by the Life of God taking root in our souls, thus causing us to be born again.

The Apostle Paul writes, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ..." (2 Corinthians 5:17). We see here, that this new life is only given by God. Moreover, this new life is supernaturally given through Christ. We are reconciled to God through our union with Christ. The only way for us to have a complete overhaul of our nature, and thus become disciples, is by Christ supernaturally causing us to be born again into new creations through His power, manifested in His law fulfilling life, sin defeating death, and life giving resurrection.

In other words, being united to Christ is what makes us His disciples. Not human effort, not behavior modification, and not a warm fuzzy feeling. It is the supernatural indwelling of God in the soul of the believer. This is called union with Christ, and it is the grounds for our

• Justification: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1
• Sanctification: "and from him you yourselves are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom for us from God, and righteosness and sanctification and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30
• New Life: "But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness." Romans 8:10
• Glorification: "God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power" 1 Corinthians 6:14

"Because I live, you also will live. In that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." --John 14:20

How He's loved us

How He's loved us.....

"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed,

yet my unfailing love for you will not be removed, says the LORD,

who has compassion on you" Isaiah 54:10

"I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.'

I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people,'

and they will say, 'You are my God'. Hosea 2:23

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassion's never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

"...a blind man, Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Jesus stopped and said, 'call him.' Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 'What do you want me to do for you?' Jesus asked him. The blind man said, 'Rabbi, I want to see.' 'Go' said Jesus, your faith has healed you.' Mark 10: 46-52

"Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends..."

John 15:13-14

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

"In this is love; not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10

"In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses according to the riches of his grace," Ephesians 1:4-7

"And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself or us.." Ephesians 5:1

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." Ephesians 2:4-5

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am not longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to celebrate.'" Luke 15:19-24

"It is finished" John 19:30

The Word Became Flesh

Genesis 3:15

"And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

Leviticus 26:11-12

"I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people."

John 1:14

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Through our Union with Christ

Through our Union with Him, Christ is our:

Head (Colossians 1:18, 2:19)

Source of Life (John 14:6)

Light (John 8:12)

Fullness (Colossians 2:9-10)

Goal (Romans 10:4)

Source of growth and unity (Colossians 2:19)

Wisdom

Righteousness

Sanctification and

Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30, Colossians 2:3, Ephesians 1:17)