The Exalted Words of Jesus

Lately I've been looking at some of the phrases Jesus spoke to His disciples.  Amazing.  And we are supposed to live up to them?  We're supposed to honestly believe them and walk out our Christian faith using them as our guideposts?  Really? 

Simply put ... yes we are.  But I find at least for me, that it's a great big leap up just to try and grab hold of even the purest and simplest statements Jesus taught.  Of course, why be satisfied with only mediocrity as far as your faith is concerned, using only enough to get by on ... until something comes our way that takes what I will call ... great faith.  Like in Mark 9:23 where Jesus said ... "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes."

The exalted words of Jesus.  Stay with me and take a look at some more of them ...

John 14: 12-14 ... "I say unto you, he that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do also: and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.  And whatsoever you shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

Am I right?  Would you agree that these are exalted words.  I have absolutely no problem believing that God can do these things.  My problem is trying to believe that I can live up to these exalted words of Jesus.

Phillip Yancey, in his book ... "Disappointment with God" ... asks this question: "How can we reconcile the exalted words of the New Testament with the everyday reality around us?"

To reconcile means ... "make or show to be compatible."  With the everyday reality around us?  Let me think about that for a moment.  Now that's a hard one.  

In truth, we can't reconcile them ... but the Holy Spirit wants too.  That's why Jesus said in John 14:16 that God would send the Holy Spirit to help us to do just that. 

The very titles given to the Holy Spirit … "Intercessor … Helper … Counselor … Comforter" … imply there will be problems.  But with God nothing is impossible.

The world is a dark place without Jesus.  He is the light of the world.  It's dark until sunrise.  The closer the sun comes to where we are viewing the horizon from, the brighter it becomes until the darkness is dispelled by the approaching morning light. 

Which makes me wonder ... can we really see Jesus, as the light of the world, until we have been in the dark a while?  No ... you do not have to sit outside in the dark.  If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is required.

Maybe darkness is required to really see the light of Jesus in this world. 

Back to more of the exalted words of Jesus ...

Mark 11:24 ... "I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them."

I've quoted this scripture in prayer more times than I want to think about.  I am not saying that just repeating this scripture and a few other exalted worded ones always brought the answer I wanted from God.  The reason I'm not saying that is because it didn't.

So here I am, trying to be as honest as I can, without doing harm to the Scriptures ... when the Lord starts speaking to me about the exalted words of Jesus and my faith.  And it happens to be the same four words that Jesus spoke to Peter in Matthew 14:31.

"Why did you doubt?"  Every time I hear these words myself, and He has asked me that question in my spirit a few times before, it cuts to the heart.  Why do I doubt?  Or question?  Or what I'm good at ... trying to explain it away?

The words of Jesus should be exalted words.  After all, His nature and heart is that of God the Father.  Shouldn't we want Him to speak things of faith that are beyond our natural reach, things that make us grow our faith. 

It's called the good fight of faith.  And yes ... it is a battle.  But God's not a liar.  Neither is Jesus.  So when Jesus speaks words of faith ... shouldn't we believe them?

Yes ... many of the exalted words of Jesus seem so far above our reach of faith that we don't even consider them as a real promise.  But they are.

When the Syro-Phoenician woman and her plea for help was basically ignored by Jesus, she was not deterred or discouraged in her mission to get His help for her daughter.  She fought for the only hope she thought she had, and that hope was in the mercy now being denied from Jesus.  So boldly she says to Jesus ... "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table."

So ... receiving the "whatsoever" you ask, depends upon your faith in "believing" ... the exalted words of Jesus.

Let's not be satisfied with the crumbs anymore.



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Is God Still In Control

Is God still in control?  If we look around us at what is happening in the world as well as here in America, then that could be a valid question.  Did you ever think of asking God ... "What is going on?"  Those of us who believe the words of the Bible that used to be written in red ... the words of Jesus ... know that He said these very things that we now see happening, would come to pass. 

So, should the next question be ... "Are we rushing down a slippery slope, returning as it were, back to the days of Noah where God destroyed the earth?"  I wonder just how long God is going to put up with this mess.

Scary isn't the right word, but it just might be for some people when we compare what Jesus said will be happening in the last days that usher in the end of the world, and what is going on right now in 2014.  So to those who might be worried, I speak to you the same few words that Jesus said ... "be not troubled, the end is not yet."

Matthew 24:6-8 ... "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation shall rise against nation, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in many places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows." 

Every generation since Jesus has heard the same warnings ... the end is near.  Man is going to destroy himself.  War.  Then world war.  After W.W. II, Albert Einstein was asked what kind of weapons W.W. III would be fought with.  He answered ... "I don't know, but W.W. IV will be fought with sticks and stones" ... alluding to his belief that man would someday destroy the world with the weapons of war that he helped design.      

And if that isn't enough to worry about, now "they say" we are going to be destroyed by some huge asteroid hitting the earth, or some dreaded pandemic. 

Well I say ... God made this earth and He knows how to keep it going "until" He is through with it.  And then He is going to clean up the mess man has left on it when He makes the new eternal earth where there will be no war, no death, no sickness, and no sin.  Sin was ... "the beginning of sorrows."  It really was.

Leaving the grand thought of a new earth, and going back to what we see in the natural ... not only is man making war against each other, it seems as if nature is waring against mankind as well.  It's almost like the earth is rebelling as Jesus said, with "famines, pestilences, and earthquakes" against what is going on with man's control of things.

I'm reminded of the little "Pogo" comic which shows Pogo siting on a high bluff overlooking a vast portion of the earth with the caption ... "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Whether relating to the condition of the earth or to our own bodies, it seems that we are our own worst enemy.

So, just as a point of argument ... let's say that God, as the master watchmaker, has wound up this universe and now time has run down to the next to the last tick.  The end is near.  And so what if it is; does that mean that God is not in control?

What is man to do?  Ah, yes ... why not look to our instruction manual?  You say, "I didn't know we had one."  Yep!  It's called the Bible.  Here's an example from Psalms 46:1-10 ...

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried into the sea;
Though the waters roar and be troubled, and the mountains shake with the swelling thereof ...
The Lord of hosts is with us ... God is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the Lord ...
He makes wars to cease, He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in two ...
(And He says) ... 'Be still, and know that I am God'."

The Apostle Paul gave us some encouraging words to live by as well in Ephesians 5:15-20 ...

"See that you walk circumspectly, (looking around and being wary) ...
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Be not drunk with wine ... but be filled with the Spirit ...
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs ...
Giving thanks unto God ..." 

Understanding the will of the Lord.  I've been trying to understand that for the last 52 years.  I'm getting closer, but there is more to learn, especially in the area of God's sovereign authority to make decisions over the whole earth and to enforce obedience to His will ... if He so chooses ... over that last part.

I think God's will for us might have something to do with the question in Micah 6:8 ...

"What doth the LORD require of thee?
To do justly …
To love mercy …
To walk humbly with thy God."
  
When Solomon put life on trial, he wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:13 … "I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven" ... (by God and man.)

Finally, after his long search, Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 12:13 ... "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

So, if I re-arrange my first question, it now becomes a statement ... 

God is still in control!


 


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His Ultimate Purpose ... Part II

Part I ended with ... When the elect is mentioned in the New Testament, it is usually speaking of Christ's church.  But it hasn't always been this way.

Continuing ...

The elect in the Old Testament is the nation of Israel ... Deuteronomy 7:6 ... "For thou art an Holy People ... the Lord thy God hath chosen (selected) thee to be a special people ..."
 
Also in Isaiah 65:9 ... "And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob ... and mine elect (select) shall inherit it ..."

 Therefore, I am of the opinion that God ... knowing from the beginning who would accept salvation and who would not ...  elected (selected) those whom He foreknew would accept Jesus.  It is in the light of this foreknowledge that He pre-determines.

While He never leaves His ultimate purpose at the mercy of human uncertainty … He recognizes the free will of man and pre-arranges and directs events according to His foreknowledge of what man will do.

Let me say again, what must be kept in mind is the fact that predestination ... is not God arbitrarily predetermining who should and should not be saved.  God foreknew what each one would do in response to His grace, and He elected (selected) those whom He knew would respond positively.

Paul writes in Ephesians 1:4-5 ... "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will ..." 

This scripture seems to infer that everything results from the will of God.

On the other hand, Revelation 22:17 states ... "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."  This scripture clearly says that the water of life is available to anyone on the basis of choice and human free will.

In Matthew 23:37 we have the words of Jesus while He wept over Jerusalem, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem … how often would I have gathered thy children together … and ye would not!"
 
The truth is, the Bible seemingly teaches both positions.  God is Sovereign, but His decisions are not arbitrarily based on random choices.  Our inability to reconcile the two positions does not make one position or the other untrue.  God can be Sovereign without violating man’s freedom of choice.

But many ask ... "What about Judas?"  Some people say he didn't have a choice.  Was Judas, just following God's plan for him?  I would have to say no ... because God is not the author of sin.  But even so, the free will choice Judas made was incorporated into God's overall plan.  Judas did not do as he did because God knew that he would do so ... but the fact that he would do so ... was the basis upon which God knew it.
 
Fore-knowledge no more determines a man’s actions than after-knowledge.  Knowledge is determined by the fact ... not the fact by the knowledge.  God knows from all eternity what each man will do, whether he will yield to the Spirit and accept Christ, or whether he will resist the Spirit and refuse Christ.

Only those who will receive Him are ordained to eternal life.  If any are lost it is simply because they will not come to Christ and obtain eternal life.  God chooses those who believe through the measure of faith He gives to each man.  He does not predestine that some may not believe.  The choice to become a participant in God’s predestined plan of salvation is always the free will option of all men.

His will is that all should choose life ... 

1st Timothy 2:4 ... "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."

2nd Peter 3:9 ... "The Lord is ... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

I believe ... His ultimate purpose ... is to bring salvation to man.

I leave you with this question ... "Why didn't the Jews believe in Jesus?" 

"They did not believe because they would not believe."
 



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Resource material from ... "Foundations of Pentecostal Theology" ... edited for clarity

His Ultimate Purpose

  
It seems to me that everything God has ever done, was done for the benefit of man, although at first glance, it may not look like it.

The Apostle Paul, in considering Jesus, wrote this in Ephesians 1:11 ... "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."

Isaiah 14:24 ... "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand."

It seems clear from the teaching of Scripture that all events are known to God from the beginning and that they are taken into account in His plan and purpose. This does not mean that God causes and is responsible for all acts and events, but that they are a part of His ultimate purpose in the sense that He works all things to His ultimate Glory.

Isaiah 46:9-11 ... "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning ... My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure ... Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it."

The overruling purpose of God in the affairs of man is expressed by Paul on Mars' Hill in his sermon to the Athenians in Acts 17:25-27 ... "God giveth to all life, and breath, and all things ... and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ... that they should seek the Lord."

This "before appointed" Divine purposing however, does not deprive man of his freedom of choice nor personal responsibility, as Paul goes on to say ... "because He hath appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He hath ordained ... in that He raised Him from the dead."  (v. 31)

Bible prophecy demonstrates two things ... 1.) that God is Omniscient (all knowing) and therefore knows all things from the beginning, and 2.) that He has a plan and purpose He carries out for His glory and for the redemption of His people.  There has never been an event that surprised God and required Him to improvise to rescue His program from disaster.

Not even man’s original sin surprised God.  He created Man with freedom of will to obey or disobey.  God ordained that man should have the capacity for sin, although  He did not force them to exercise that capacity, but He knew that they would exercise it.

Even so ... God is not the author of sin.  He, in His Infinite Wisdom which we cannot fully fathom, made man a free moral agent capable of obedience or disobedience.

Depravity, pain, and crime resulted from Man’s disobedience, but God purposed to overrule these.  The three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lion’s den, and Joseph sold cruelly into Egypt, demonstrate the working of His ultimate purpose. 

Joseph tells his brothers in Genesis 50:20 ... "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good."  All of the above events turned out to be His blessings to His people and bringing Him glory.

Before God created Man, He had already purposed to bring Redemption by Christ Jesus.  1st Peter 1:19-20 ... "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you ..."

Titus 1:2 ... "In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began ..."

Jesus therefore was predestined in the heart and mind of God to be the sin offering before any part of creation started.  Whether or not it was at the same time, God also had a plan for those who would accept Jesus as Lord.   

Romans 8:29 ... "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son ..."

We must not read into this however, the idea of an arbitrary, random choice that elects some and excludes others.  This predestination is based upon the foreknowledge of God, as Paul states in the above verse in Romans, and as it is also confirmed in 1st Peter 1:2 ... "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father ..."

This word "elect" which has caused much discussion, is used 16 times in the New Testament and is always translated from the Greek word "ekletos" meaning "select" ... and by implication can mean ... a chosen favorite.

Jesus is speaking in Matthew 24:22, 24, 31; "... but for the elect's sake ... if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect ... they shall gather together his elect ..."

When the elect is mentioned in the New Testament, it is usually speaking of Christ's church.  But it hasn't always been this way.


To be continued ...


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