John Piper shares his thoughts on the holiness of God.
When the object of our delight is moral beauty, the longing to behold is inseperable from the longing to be. When the Holy Spirit awakens the heart of a person to delight in the holiness of God, an insatiable desire is born not only to behold that holiness, but also to be holy as God is holy.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Robinson Crusoe's Text
Charles Spurgeon once preached a sermon on prayer and called it "Robinson Crusoe's Text."
Robinson Crusoe has been wrecked. He is left on the desert island all alone. His case is a very pitiable one. He goes to his bed, and is smitten with a fever. This fever lasts upon him long, and he has no one to wait upon him--none even to bring him a drink of cold water. He is ready to perish. He had been accustomed to sin, and had all the vices of a sailor; but his hard case brought him to think. He opens a Bible which he finds in his chest, and he lights upon this passage, "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." That night he prayed for the first time in his life, and ever after there was in him a hope in God, which marked the birth of the heavenly life.
Robinson Crusoe's text was Psalm 50:15. It is God's way of getting glory for Himself-----Pray to me! I will deliver you! And the result will be that you will glorify Me!
Spurgeon's explanation is penetrating:
God and praying man take shares....First here is your share: "Call upon me in the day of trouble." Secondly, here is God's share: I will deliver thee." Again, you take a share--for you shall be delivered. And then again it is the Lord's turn---"Thou shalt glorify me." Here is a compact, a covenant that God enters into with you who pray to Him, and whom He helps. He says, "You shall have the deliverance, but I must have the glory..." Here is a delightful partnership: we obtain that which we so greatly need, and all that God getteth is the glory which is due unto His name.
Robinson Crusoe has been wrecked. He is left on the desert island all alone. His case is a very pitiable one. He goes to his bed, and is smitten with a fever. This fever lasts upon him long, and he has no one to wait upon him--none even to bring him a drink of cold water. He is ready to perish. He had been accustomed to sin, and had all the vices of a sailor; but his hard case brought him to think. He opens a Bible which he finds in his chest, and he lights upon this passage, "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." That night he prayed for the first time in his life, and ever after there was in him a hope in God, which marked the birth of the heavenly life.
Robinson Crusoe's text was Psalm 50:15. It is God's way of getting glory for Himself-----Pray to me! I will deliver you! And the result will be that you will glorify Me!
Spurgeon's explanation is penetrating:
God and praying man take shares....First here is your share: "Call upon me in the day of trouble." Secondly, here is God's share: I will deliver thee." Again, you take a share--for you shall be delivered. And then again it is the Lord's turn---"Thou shalt glorify me." Here is a compact, a covenant that God enters into with you who pray to Him, and whom He helps. He says, "You shall have the deliverance, but I must have the glory..." Here is a delightful partnership: we obtain that which we so greatly need, and all that God getteth is the glory which is due unto His name.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
WILL WE SEE GOD IN HEAVEN ?
Will We See God In Heaven ?
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
Heaven is the biblical term for God’s dwelling place (Psalms 33:13,14: Matthew 6:9). And while in our present bodies the realities of heaven are unseen, and we know them only by faith. Yet when we die and our spirit returns from where it came (Ecclesiastes 12:7), to be eternally in the presence of the Lord, will we be able to see Him?
Yes, but not in the same way we physically see by sight in the physical realm. Spirit to spirit our soul will have a super natural mindful, emotional, and willful visual sense of Jesus’ awesome presence in ways we can not imagine. Until Resurrection Day, we in spirit will dwell in heavenly Paradise with Christ in the invisible spirit realm along with the saints and angels spending our time worshiping, exploring God’s creative handiwork, learning, growing, and developing together in a never exhaustive journey getting to know our One triune God in three person’s (Revelation 7:15-17).
Paul alludes to his experience in the third or farthest heaven also called Paradise where God dwells (2 Corinthians 12:2,3).
“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows” (2Corinthians 12:2). He is confirming that there is eternal life in heaven in the presence of the Lord.
In Christ
DID JESUS DESERVE HELL ?
Did Jesus Deserve Hell ?
If eternity in hell is what is necessary to satisfy Gods justice, and Jesus paid for all our sins, then doesn`t Jesus deserve eternity in hell?
It Was Finished At The Cross
According to Scripture Jesus would have never been deserving of eternity in hell to satisfy God’s justice for humanities sin debt. On the contrary, He is Holy and fulfilled and finished Father God’s requirements for forgiveness and reconciliation at the Cross. Jesus, the perfect and sinless God Man, did not become sin but became the sin bearer who battled victoriously defeating the grip of sin so that by grace through faith His people would be saved. As an ultimate act of Love Christ was “lifted up” to die on the Cross not to become a defeated foe but to overcome both Satan and sin and then arise and be “lifted up” (John 12:32,33), victoriously, gloriously, and righteously resurrecting back to life and ascending to heaven to be seated at Father God’s right side. Jesus wins, Satan loses.
The will of Father God was to lift up and glorify His Son Jesus for His willingness and obedience to die for humanity. This glorious love and power raised Jesus from the dead and it is at work in believers (Ephesians 1:19-23).We must consider too, that because Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity, He is inseparable from Father God and thus it would be impossible for Him to lose and be cast “down” into hell. Hell is a place of evil, defeat, destruction, and eternal separation from God who created it to separate evil from good. Christ was predestined to be “lifted up” into heaven not cast down into hell.
Sin Debt Paid in Full At The Cross
When Jesus Christ finished His sacrificial atonement mission at the Cross defeating Satan and sin, His perfect sinless Blood was shed to cover human sin by blotting out offenses and giving satisfaction for wrongs done all for the purpose of making amends with Father God. Christ’s Blood not only made it possible for humanity to be reconciled with Father God, but also made it possible for us who love Him to be freed from the bondage of sin giving hope to be adopted as son’s and giving blessed assurance of the resurrection and redemption of our bodies (Romans 6:22, 23; 8:20-24).
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22).
God’s plan of salvation is not about Christ being in eternal hell but about what He did at the Cross where he propitiated Father God -that is, His Blood satisfied Father God’s wrath (anger), against us and at the same time covered and removed our past, present, and future sin from HIS sight (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10).
Jesus’ resurrection proves that He was righteous and glorified and not condemned. And because He was fully redeemed and glorified He returned in spirit and body to heaven and was seated at the right hand of Father God having all sovereign authority and judgment over the heavens and earth (John 12:32,33: Colossians 1:15-23).
“I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father" (John 16:28).
We can conclude from Scripture that Christ’s resurrection demonstrated,
1. His victory over death (Acts 2:24), and hell.
2. That He was vindicated as being righteous (John 16:10).
3. His divine identity being made known (Romans 1:4).
4. Forgiveness and justification for salvation (Romans 5:15-19).
5. Eternal life for believers (John 11:25, 26).
What Christ fulfilled and finished at the Cross is of a divine heavenly purpose-that is, Father God redeemed HIS Son and was fully pleased with him. Christ’s Blood and resurrection reveals God’s plan of redemption for us too, in that all because of Jesus, we will follow Him to heaven after we die and one day experience the reality of our full redemption when in His perfect timing we will be resurrected and reunited in perfect spirit and physical body for eternal life in His completed New Kingdom where Paradise lost becomes Paradise restored and where He continues to reign forever as our Lord and King. Until then, “Father God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13,14). “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19, 20).
In Christ
Friday, July 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
About Receiving Salvation
ETERNAL SECURITY
Will God accept our imperfect level of sincerity?
God doesn’t reject His people, He redeems them.
Because of our imperfectness we do not deserve salvation and there is nothing we can do to earn it (Ephesians 2:8,9). It is only by Gods grace through the gift of faith that we are saved.
Scripture tells us that due to the greatness, sufficiency, and perfection of Christ’s sacrifice at the Cross, all those who have been baptized by the Spirit (born again), and have truly received Christ as Savior are eternally secure in salvation, kept by God’s power, secured and sealed in Christ forever (John ch 3; 6:37-40; Ephesians 1:13,4:30).
Thus if a person is genuinely sincere in believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and that through Him is the only Way to be saved they are reconciled with Father God and are gifted eternal life (John 3:16). Father God convicts His people to have faith in His Son alone, a faith that is a living faith and not just a said faith.
But it is not the level of a genuine living faith a Christian has that determines if God will accept them or not. Jesus points this out in (Luke 17:6), what even a small faith can bring about. More important than the quantity of faith is the object of faith, a great and powerful God. So whether the level of a Christian’s faith is small and immature or great and mature doesn’t matter when it comes to salvation because God is the focus, and He is the only One who can and will transform His people by cleansing and moving the mountain of imperfection and sin out and away from them thus ultimately making them holy, pure, and perfect in every way.
Salvation is not based upon being perfect. Despite our depravity we are by God’s grace justified and saved by the righteous blood of our faith object, Jesus Christ. We as imperfect beings are reconciled and sealed in personal relationship with God, blessed with the gift of eternal security, and gradually over a lifetime made holy. Once saved our immature faith, trust, and obedience continues to increase and mature and eventually we lose the desire to sin and our willingness to fully surrender our life to God becomes genuinely evident and sincere.
God bless
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
MY REDEEMER LIVES MINISTRIES
CONFESSION OF FAITH
Holy Scripture
CONFESSION OF FAITH
Holy Scripture
Our God is a Triune God
Our Father in Heaven
In deity, Father is the first person of the Triune Godhead, our "Abba! Father!" (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). He in Trinity is coequal and co-eternal with the Son and Holy Spirit. He is pure spirit and Light who with infinite wisdom glorifies His Son over all of creation. We believe the mystery of His sovereign purpose and plan is His mercy to unite all things in Him through and in Christ (Ephesians 1:9,10), by grace redeeming some (Ephesians 1:5,6; 2:7), and by a display of justice punishing others to an everlasting death (Proverbs 16:4). Father God has a personal relationship with His people and has forgiven, reconciled and adopted them through His Son alone by the Holy Spirit (John 6:37-65). We believe He sent His Son to earth incarnate, to atone for the sins of his people (Romans 6:23). The Father gave His Son as a gift so that His chosen elect (Romans 8:28-30), may be saved for eternal life to honor, worship, and glorify Him forever. We believe that by worshiping the Son the Father is exalted.
The Son of God, Jesus Christ
Jesus asked, "Who Do You Say That I AM?" We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and that He is of the same substance and spiritual essence of the Father and Holy Spirit (Isaiah 6:9; 48:16; Romans 1:4 Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:13). His Name is above all names in the universe (Philippians 2:9). He is the only begotten Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, 100% Divine, and by incarnation 100% human (John 1:1,14). He is no less God than He is man. Jesus is the author of God’s Word and all His teachings are absolute truth (John 1:1; 14:6). In order that he might glorify God the Father by Divine purpose he was sent to earth as Savior and Lord to gift a merciful salvation to His depraved people (Matthew 20:28; Romans 5:8). Jesus descended from heaven and was conceived by the Holy Spirit through the virgin birth of Mary (Luke 1:31-35). Jesus dwelt on earth and lived a perfect, sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15). He came to earth to shed His Blood and die at the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the world so that by grace through faith all those who believe in and worship Him are eternally forgiven and reconciled with Father God (John 3:16-18;Romans 8:32-34). We believe that Jesus, on the third Day, resurrected from the dead and that this fact witnessed by over 500 people proves His deity and proves Christianity is founded on absolute evidence and truth (John 10:17,18; Acts 1:3; 2:24-35;Romans 1:4; Philippians 3:21). Forty days after resurrecting He ascended to the third highest heaven in His metaphysical glorified body and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). Jesus is His peoples Lord God, Savior, High Priest, and King (Psalms 102). We believe no one comes to Father except through Jesus and that He is the only Way a person can be saved (John 14:6). He alone is the mediator and intercessor between God the Father and His people (Acts 4:12; 1Timothy 2:5).
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the deity of the Holy Spirit who is a distinct divine person being the third person of the Godhead. He is co-eternal and coequal with the Father and Son in glory (John 14:26; 2 Corinthians 13:14). He is the "Helper" the Father and Son sent to teach God's people all things and to bring to our remembrance all that Jesus said (Hebrews 10:15). The work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:7-15. He enlightens (Ephesians 1:17-18), regenerates (John 3:5-8), and transforms (2 Corinthians 3:18), making God's people holy over a lifetime of sanctification (Galatians 5:16-18). God baptizes all believers into His family and they are born again and united to the risen Christ through the Spirit who seals their salvation by whom the Father guarantees eternal redemption (Ephesians 4:30). Through this baptism by the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8), we believe that the gifts of life service of the Christian are given (1 Corinthians 12:1-11). We also believe that the miraculous gifts empowered by the Spirit no longer function to the same degree they did in the early church.
Concerning Satan
Satan the Devil is the fallen angel Lucifer who is the accuser of God's people (Revelation 12:9). He is real, our adversary (Zechariah 3:1,2), destroyer (Revelation 9:11), tempter (Matthew 4:3), wicked one (1John 5:18,19), Ruler of this world (John 12:31), god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), father of lies and deceits (John 8:44), angel of light, disguising evil as good (1 Corinthians 11:14) and serpent ( Revelation 12:9; 20:2).
Fallen Angels
We believe fallen angels are invisible, supernatural angelic spirit creatures created by God during the time of Creation (2 Peter 2:4). They were cast out of heaven because of wrong doing against God. They have real but limited power and freedom of movement (2 Thessalonians 2:6). Demons have both knowledge and strength (Mark 1:24; 9:17-27). Fallen angels are named and referred to in the Bible as devils, demons, evil, and unclean spirits. Demons comprise one-third of all angels God created and their number in population is considered innumerable. There could easily be more fallen angels on and around earth than there are living people. We believe Satan is the god of fallen angels. We believe fallen angels spend their time all over the planet earth tempting, taunting, teasing, deceiving, and causing sickness and disease and accusing people [especially those who know the Lord], of wrongdoing (Ephesians 6:10,11). We believe demons have the ability to possess a person that is not protected by God causing them to do sinful and evil things. Their strategy for war is spiritual mind control and they are active in God’s churches attempting to draw people away from the truth. Their goal is to separate as many people away from God as possible taking them to eternal hell with them.
Humanity
Humanity
We believe that humanity both in body and in spirit came into existence by direct creation of God (Genesis 2:7). Man (Adam), and woman (Eve), were made in the spirit image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26)-that is, with a personal and self conscious, with a God like capacity for knowledge, thought, and action. We believe God made humans morally righteous (Genesis 1:31), but because of free will they choose to sin making themselves amoral (Romans 3:10, 23). We believe the amoral fall of man was caused by Adam and Eve and that they are responsible for diminishing God's image in humanity which caused all humans to have a sinful nature (Genesis 3:17; 6:5;Romans 3:9-20; 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:22). We believe humans retain God's image but because of a depraved body and soul it does not function righteously thus humans are not capable of being moral beings (Romans 3:23). Humanity is utterly unable to remedy this fallen state. We believe however, that once a person is saved they are then "born again" and are progressively restored in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). We believe that humanity does not deserve salvation nor can they earn it.
Salvation of Humanity
Salvation of Humanity
We believe salvation is received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8, 9). We believe that salvation is a gift of God’s grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (John 1:12; Romans 6:23). Christ’s death fully accomplished justification through faith and redemption from sin (Romans 4:1-7; 8:30). Christ died in our place and bore our sins in His own body (Romans 5:19; 1 Peter 2:24). Due to the greatness, sufficiency, and perfection of Christ’s sacrifice at the Cross, all those who have been baptized by the Spirit (regenerated/born again), and have truly received Christ as Savior are eternally secure in salvation, kept by God’s power, secured and sealed in Christ forever (John 6:37-40; Ephesians 1:30,4:30) . Just as salvation cannot be earned by good works, neither does it need good works to be maintained or sustained (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5). Good works and changed lives are the inevitable results of salvation (Matthew 7:20). Even though it is not necessary to be baptized by ritual ceremony to be saved.
The Universal Church of Jesus Christ
The Universal Church of Jesus Christ
The universal Church body is made up of all those who have died and worship God in the heavenly Jerusalem (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22-24), and those who are still on earth worshiping in God’s presence in local congregations (1 Corinthians 12:12-12-27; Ephesians 1:22, 23; 3:6; 4:4; Revelation 2:1). We believe there is but one church known perfectly to God and known imperfectly on earth. We believe the church is founded on the teachings of the apostles (Ephesians 2:20), and that Christians are to share the Gospel message to a lost world (Matthew 28:19). And those who refuse to share and join with other believers in worship and evangelism disobey God (Hebrews 10:25). We also believe in the two ordinances of baptism by water as a testimony to one’s faith, and the Lord’s Supper as a remembrance of Christ’s death and shed blood.
The Last Things
The Last Things
We believe in the personal and visible bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ with His heavenly saints to rapture His saints on earth. We believe He will fulfill His promise to restore Paradise lost on earth and to fully establish His Kingdom. We believe in the physical body resurrection of the dead for Christ’s final judgment. All those whose spirits went to heaven when they died were made holy and righteous and will live in everlasting joy with God in the new heaven and earth, and the spirits of all those who remained wicked were cast out away from heaven when they died will appear at the great White Throne Judgment and cast into eternal darkness where their endless suffering will last forever (John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:1-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Matthew 25:31-46).
MY Redeemer Lives Ministries-Confession of Faith 5/23/2009
MY Redeemer Lives Ministries-Confession of Faith 5/23/2009
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