Q: The devil was defeated at the "cross"...let the devil know "IT'S OVER"!!
A: One thing I hope people understand about Satan is that He is not as powerful as God, but rather, He aspires to "be like God." In many ways mankind is a temptation to Satan. Since He wants to be like God, he needs people to listen to him, people to instruct and even people to indwell, just like God. The oldest sermon in the world was first delivered by Satan when he told Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and she would "be like God." This same message is repeated by Christians every day all around the globe. We try our best to be like God. We don't say it that way, we say things like we need to be more "Christlike." Well Jesus was God. Or we say we need to be "better Christians." This usually means we have to stop sinning. Well, Jesus was sinless and He is God, so the message is the same. Satan is a deceiver and when he gets us focused on trying to live a life in accordance to the knowledge of good and evil, he has us worshiping him rather than the true God.
The last words of Jesus prior to His death were "it is finished." Christians will often acknowledge that Jesus did for them what they could not do for themselves. But do they know what that means? The Law of God demands perfect obedience or death. Jesus Christ took both options. Jesus fulfilled the law, which we could not and cannot fulfill, by walking in perfect love. Then He took the penalty of death He did not deserve because we don't have a life to give that would satisfy God as payment for our sins. Jesus nailed the law to the cross, cancelling the written code which stood against us. Then He rose from the dead to offer the life of God, we lost in Adam, as a free gift to all who place faith in Him. It is over! God judged our sin. The verdict was guilty. The penalty was death. Jesus took that penalty. There is none left for us to take. All we can say is "Thank You" Jesus and live a life of thankfulness, resting from our self-righteous works as we learn to trust in and depend on God.
Q: James 4:7 says "submit" therefore to God and "resist" devil and he must "flee" ..What does that mean?
A: James 4 is a warning to believers not to chase after the things of this world like riches and wealth. Yet, how many Christians not only chase after the things of the world they promote it as though God promises it to us? As James clearly states love of the world causes fights and quarrels, killing and coveting, asking God for things to spend on ourselves, hatred towards God and causes the Holy Spirit to envy. The main reason we love the world is because we are seeking from it something we don't believe we have in our relationship with God. And the devil exploits that error. Satan gets us to think that our circumstances, whether we are rich or poor, healthy or sick, employed or jobless, married or divorced or whatever is a reflection of our worth in God's eyes. If we don't feel loved, accepted or have meaning and purpose to our lives from our relationship with the Lord, we seek it from the world through sin. We resist the devil through the knowledge of what we have in Christ.
Q: Why should we "confess" and meditate on God's word daily?
A: To confess means to "admit something is true." As Christians we first "confess" that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead (Rom 10:9). We then "confess," or agree with God that He has "cleansed us of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)." This frees us to "continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His name (Heb 13:15)." And when we allow ourselves to be witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ it will be said that we made a "good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Tim 6:12)." In turn those who accept Christ will proclaim that anyone "who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness (2 Tim 2:19)." And as all believers fix our "thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess (Heb 3:1)," we can rest assured that "men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else (2 Cor 9:13)."
Q: What is God's "desire" for us?
A: God's desire, first and foremost, is that He doesn't want "anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9)." Then as believers God wants us to understand that "Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant (Heb 9:15)." In Christ, God changes our desires from those set on the flesh to a "desire to live honorably in every way (Heb 13:18)." This is all accomplished because God desired to have a relationship with us that He originally enjoyed with Adam and Eve in the Garden. Through the death of Jesus Christ and His offer of life through His resurrection, we now have God indwelling us for all eternity. The gift of salvation we have is not just eternal life. It is not just forgiveness of sins. The greatest gift we have from God is Himself. As Paul said "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20)."
Q: Don't be so heavenly "minded" that your no earthly good..What does that mean?
A: Religious people can be some of the meanest people you will ever want to meet. Most often it is because they haven't experienced the love of God because they believe His love and acceptance is conditional on their behavior. Therefore, they are living in fear and fear leads to anger. Furthermore, they can only share with others the laws they are under and not the love of God.... Also, one thing to remember with the woman caught in adultery is that she was guilty and deserving of death according to the Law. But, what most don't know is that the Jews who bought her to Jesus were guilty of breaking numerous laws as well. Therefore, the only option was to set a guilty woman free. A picture of the forgiveness we have in Christ. Just like the woman, we are guilty and deserving of death. But, we don't have a life to give that would satisfy God as payment for sin. That is why the substitutionary death of Jesus is once for all for eternity. We live in thankfulness to the One who set us free.
No comments:
Post a Comment