The Cure

The one who spells out the sinfulness of sin is the same one who has the cure for the problem. A person who chooses to compromise, lowering the standard or ignoring sin is neither just nor gracious. God is both just and gracious!

The same God who implemented the 10 commandments , gave details for many sacrifices to deal with the problem of sin. This same God who called for ultimate love and devotedness, inspired love by loving. The song writers of the Bible understood this :- “His mercies are new every morning”.

The teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ likewise unmasked sin in the heart. His call to repent (turning away from sin, owning up to it) and believe the Gospel (that He could forgive and save) was merciful indeed.

Instead of asking the people to keep the commandments, He issues the great invitation :-

               “Come unto Me all you who labour and carry heavy burdens, and I                will  give you rest...................” Matthew 11.28

  The cure to the human problem is found in this person – the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.  Not so much following His directions, but firstly coming to Him, believing Him for who He claimed to be, trusting Him for forgiveness and salvation from hell by His death on the cross and committing to Him as a disciple yoked to Him for life.

Dear reader if you have never been to this point of conversion, stop now and listen to His voice calling you. By the Holy Spirit you can turn from self and sin, and to call Him “Lord”. Call on Him today and you will be saved.

This is where we can find release from the guilt of sin, where the burdens of law keeping are lifted, where the yoke with Him brings liberty, purpose of relationship, love, joy and peace.

Note :-  Association with Him brings persecution, no promise of prosperity or great things in this life. But it does have the promise of eternal life which is far better.

enquiries welcome

johnmckee@internode.on.net

The eyes of the Lord

Through the eyes of the Lord Jesus

Among the first words preached by the Messiah were these as recorded in Mark chapter one:

“Repent and believe the gospel”

He announced the need for change. Repent means to change one’s mind with the effect of changing direction. Changing from self and sin, turning around to God and His Christ.

As the Lord walked among the people He always recognised and valued true faith. He recognised sincere efforts to live by the law. He responded to any cries for help. But sadly much of His teaching revealed His grief at the depth of sin and hypocrisy.

Let me sample from the Bible His response to sinfulness among the people:

In the ‘sermon on the mount’ he raises the standard of God’s expectation and condition of ‘blessing’   - “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth( and who among us does never assert ourselves)   “Blessed are the pure in heart ( and who is so foolish to say that is me) for they shall see God”

Then He changes to apply the law of Moses to the heart and not only the action  “everyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgement.......”,   “everyone who looks on a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery.....”

And then He goes on to unmask the hypocrisy of religion without reality  “When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others.....”

Towards the end of this exposure of sin, He highlights the greatest failure :  “ Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father” Matthew 7.21

Many other incidents in the life of the Lord uncover the problem of people adrift from God. Chapter 15 is very telling:

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These defile a person.”

Is there any good news??

There is indeed,   next article.

But to begin with God we must begin with ‘God is holy and I and sinful”.

johnmckee@internode.on.net 

Experience

To know God on the mountain peak is to worship

To know  God in the valley is to walk with the Almighty

LORD

........   Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

                           Philippians 2.11

If this is the honour that God the Father has given Him, then so should we! Do we call on Him as Lord?  Do we speak of Him as Lord? Do we refer to Him as       Lord   Jesus    Christ     as Paul did? as   James did? as Jude did? as Peter did?

or do we only think of him as a man - Jesus?

The implications of this are quite serious -  Romans 10.9   1 Corinthians 12.3  etc

The Gospel

I must needs return to the message of the Gospel.

Scripture text:

“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, He was buried and the third day rose again according to the scriptures.”     1 Corinthians 15

History is a witness to the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified. We could refer to historians of that time – Josephus and Tacitus. Also the rejection of the Gospel message by Jews and Gentiles related to the shame of following a once crucified leader. Paul adds significant evidence :- “according to the scriptures” – these scriptures like Isaiah 53, show that the death of Jesus Christ was no accident. Rather had God planned it, God had spoken about it ahead of time and also explained why.

Why did Jesus Christ die?  - because of our sins!

This immediately brings into view the human condition:

.....Lost away from God

.......By natural inclination doing and saying and thinking in disobedience to God

..........Guilty before God’s laws, condemned by God’s judgement.

...............Helpless as to rectifying the problem

Some have tried to cure the problem by education ( for two centuries of enlightenment, the heart of man has not changed), by wealth (wealth and riches increase discontent and selfishness), Religion (humanity continues to be destroyed by man made religions).

The only answer “Christ died for our sins”

When we take sin seriously, admit to God we have a problem, and that we have a history of wrongdoing, then God has an answer:

“God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.”

The prophet put it so well:

“All of us like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, BUT the Lord has laid on Him the guilt of us all.”     Isaiah 53

The promise of forgiveness by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is liberating. But what about help to change from the old life of sinful habits?

The answer – “he was raised the third day according to the scriptures”   1 Corinthians 15

Because the Lord Jesus lives, we are directed to live new lives and we are given the power to live new, holy, joyful lives.

Every believer is tempted to sin, but the Holy Spirit give us the ability to say ‘no’. When the call of the Lord to live for Him seems beyond human capacity, the Holy Spirit enables us to say ‘yes – by God’s help’

A little chorus puts it well:

‘You rose up from the grave

     To me new life you gave

        Thank you Lord for loving me’

So what is the message of the gospel?

“Let it be known unto you therefore, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses”   Acts 13

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Acts 16

There is so much more – the promise of eternal life, the purpose of serving a new master, the welcome into the family of God, the prospect of heaven as home etc.  So much flows from the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

johnmckee@internode.on.net 

The SON

"In many ways and many forms, God anciently conversed with our fathers by the prophets. But in these latter days, He has conversed with us by His Son whom He has constituted heir of all things, and by whom He made the worlds."  

Hebrews 1

The Son of God

“Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”   Mark 14:61

This question defined a most significant moment in history. Jesus had lived among the people for 33 years. The Jewish leaders had observed and criticised Him. The Roman oppressors had noticed Him but considered Him no threat. The people were delighted with His miracles, but few committed themselves to His discipleship. His teaching embarrassed the leadership and at this point in history they had assembled to deal with Him once and for all.

The Sanhedrin court was the highest religious court and Pilate the national representative of the Romans. In the court proceedings, the call for witnesses failed, so the High Priest asked this very demanding question : “are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”

The ‘Christ’ was the anointed one foretold in the Old Testament as the Saviour of Israel and the Saviour of the world. Psalm 2 indicated that He would be the ‘Son of God’. This was a very telling question, since Moses commanded that all false prophets should be put to death. Previously, the Lord Jesus had somewhat concealed His identity, but at this moment , in this court, with abundant witnesses present  He declares with clarity  “I am”.     He knew the consequences of a guilty verdict, but instead of hiding His identity He openly claims to be the Christ , the Son of God. Also He adds His claim to be the ‘Son of man’ described in Daniel 7 as the one with direct access to the throne of God, who would become the ruler of the world!

This actually became the moment of truth for the Sanhedrin :- they should have bowed at His feet, but they instead chose the path of destruction – they had Him executed at the hands of the Romans.

Likewise it is a pivotal question for us ; “What think you of Christ? Whose son is He?”

Anything less than the “Son of God” is blaspheme! ...............And our eternity depends upon our answer.