To Apprehend Christ

 

Every person alive, no matter how good their behavior, deserves to go to hell. That may sound harsh, but it is our ultimate destination. Our load of sin is too heavy for us. We can never atone for it by ourself. That is why God became a man. The Word became flesh (John 1:14). He is our substitute, our sacrificial Lamb, who paid for the sin of the whole world.

Unfortunately, many people are too smart for their own good. They see no need for a substitute to die in our place. People cannot reconcile in their mind how Jesus can be God, and yet commune with the Father as a man all at the same time. Have you ever talked to yourself? Had a conversation with yourself, asked yourself a question or tried to give yourself some advice?

One man can be a son, a father and a grandfather – three persons in one man. Even so, the Trinity is made up of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, working together in three separate aspects of one Holy God. This holy God demands justice and restitution for sin. In the natural realm, we pay the penalty when we break the law. In the spiritual, Jesus wants to pay your penalty for breaking God’s law (James 2:10; Galatians 5:3).

If we die in unbelief, then we pay our own penalty in hell for eternity (John 3:16-18). Our body goes to the grave, but our soul – our thoughts , desires and feelings – goes to hell. However, if we surrender to Jesus, believing that he is the God in the flesh, then the angels will carry our soul to heaven with our Born Again Spirit.

Once Jesus returns to the earth, the soul of both Believers and unbelievers will unite with our own immortal body. Can you imagine eternal torment in a body that will never die? That is what happens to those who do not repent of their sin and trust Jesus for salvation. Those who do repent and surrender to Jesus will live with our immortal Trinity forever.

In the meantime, Jesus dwells in our Born Again spirit. If we are willing to walk after His Spirit instead of according to the depravity of our fleshly, carnal nature, He will not only atone for our sin, but also live His perfect life in and through us (Galatians 4:16,25). Jesus lived His own life for the glory and honor of His Father (John 4:34). Now, He lives His life through us for His glory, as we have faith in His faithfulness.

Prayer:

Father God, we are willing to perfectly trust in Jesus to not only pay the penalty of our sins, but also to live in and through us by Your Holy Spirit (Luke 22:42). We willingly lay down our self-life in order to live the life You prepared for us before we were even born (Ephesians 2:10). Thank You for loving us so much.

Thought for the Day:

Accept Christ in all of His fullness, and allow Him to live and move and have His being in you both now and forevermore. – Acts 17:28

The Wisdom of Mankind

Read: John 3:16-18

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.” -

1 Corinthians 1:25

When people attempt to understand the things of the Spirit with their human mind, they have no success. People without God’s Spirit dwelling within them do not accept the Truth that comes from God, because it sounds foolish to them. They cannot understand God’s Truths, because it is spiritually discerned and cannot be received by an unregenerate mind (1 Corinthians 2:14). Unbelievers look at the various points of the Gospel and ridicule it as ludicrous. It makes no sense to them at all. They think they are wise, but the Bible calls them fools (Psalm 14:1, 53:1).

These atheistic people divide the world, because they follow mere natural instincts and they do not have the Spirit of God within them (Jude 1:19). They say that if there is a God, He is an omnipotent being who is playing a game with humanity through an elaborate scheme, which to them does not make any sense at all. God designed the message of the cross this way. It is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). What they fail to take into consideration is that their spirit is dead in sin. They cannot possibly understand the Gospel, because they cannot see it from its spiritual perspective. They are not willing to surrender their life to God.

They live by a worldly philosophy derived from a perception without Christ dwelling within them. Therefore, they cannot receive Jesus, because they are not looking for Him and they do not recognize Him or His work in the world. Only Born Again Believers know Him, because He lives in us through His resurrection from the dead and ascension into Heaven (John 14:7). We actually preach Christ crucified, and this is a stumbling block to Jews, as well as to every other culture, which foolishly cling to unbelief (1 Corinthians 1:23).

The Holy Spirit clearly states that even some people who were taught the Truth will abandon their beliefs and follow deceiving spirits (1 John 5:19). They consider the Gospel to be idiotic, and they are too smart to waste time with religion. These unbelievers are controlled by their sinful, unconverted nature. They do not have the Spirit of Christ, because they have not repented of their sins and they do not believe in Christ as their Savior. They do not belong to Christ. Their thinking does not come from heaven. It is secular, unspiritual and from the devil (James 3:15).

God is pleased through the foolishness of the Gospel of Christ to save those who choose to believe (1 Corinthians 1:21). We belong to Christ and live by His Spirit, because the Spirit of God lives in us (Romans 8:9). The Spirit of Truth came into the world at Pentecost, and He guides us into all truth even now. The Spirit will not speak about Himself, but He speaks only what He hears from the Father, and He even tells us about what is yet to come (John 16:13). Our Heavenly Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him for salvation shall have eternal life. He will raise us all up at the last day to live with Him in the New Heaven and the New Earth for eternity (John 6:40; Revelation 21:1). Unfortunately, unbelievers condemn themselves to spend eternity in the torments of hell (John 3:18).

Prayer:

Father God, those who obey Your commands live in You, and You live in them. And this is how we know that You live in us: We know it by the Spirit, which You gave us (1 John 3:24; John 8:47). We are from You, and whoever knows You will listen to Your Gospel message and repent and be saved. Whoever is not from You will not listen to us and will hard-heartedly reject Your Truth and believe Satan’s lie instead (1 John 4:6). We offer a prayer right now for our friends, relatives, associates and neighbors to come to a saving knowledge of Your existence and to personally experience Your love for them through Jesus Christ.

Thought for the Day:

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” - 1 Timothy 4:1