What Did Jesus Come To Do?

Posted by Dan C. on

To reveal the Father (Matt. 11:27)

“All things have been committed to me by my Father.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

To be a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28)

“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

To serve (Matt. 20:28)

“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

To save the world (John 3:17; Luke 19:10)

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

To preach the good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43)

“But he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

To bring division (Luke 12:51)

“Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”

To do the will of the Father (John 6:38)

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”

To give the Father’s words (John 17:8)

“For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.  They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”

To testify to the truth (John 18:37)

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.   Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

To die and destroy Satan’s power (Heb. 2:14)

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil.”

To destroy the devil’s works (1 John 3:8)

“He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

To fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

To give life (John 10:10,28)

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full… I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

To taste death for everyone (Heb. 2:9)

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

To become a high priest (Heb. 2:17)

“For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”

To atone for sin (Heb. 2:17)

“For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”

To proclaim freedom for believers (Luke 4:18)

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:19)

“to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

To bring judgment (John 9:39)

“Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

To take away sin (1 John 3:5)

“But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.”

To preach (Mark 1:38)

“Jesus replied, ‘Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.'”

To call sinners (Mark 2:17)

“On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'”

To know who is true (1 John 5:20)

“We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.  And we are in him who is true — even in his Son Jesus Christ.  He is the true God and eternal life.”

The above list represents only some of the things Jesus came to do. Most of us are familiar with them all, and you might even have a favorite reason among them. Regardless of whether you know them all or not, or which one might be your favorite, they are all wrapped up what the Angel told Joseph about his betrothed, Mary, and in the command given to Joseph:

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

The reason we hold that to be true is because all of the problems of mankind are the result of the first Adam willfully disobeying God and ushering sin into God’s perfect world.

So if, in this Christmas season, or any other time the question “What did Jesus come to do?” comes up, just repeat what the Angel told Joseph. What an opportunity it might bring to share the ‘rest of the story’, and lead a lost soul to the Savior!

What are the essential elements of the gospel?

Posted by Dan C. on

Whenever we talk about the gospel, it is helpful and important to remember the four essentials: God, Man, Christ, Response.

God is both our sovereign Creator and our righteous Judge.

  • You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You (Neh 9:6).
  • Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity (Ps 98:9).
  • God therefore has the right of ownership over us by virtue of creating us, and he has the right to punish or reward us by virtue of his royal, judicial office. And because God is both our Creator and Judge, we are doubly accountable to Him for all our behavior – word, thought, and deed.

Man was created by God, in God’s image, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. But man sinned against God by disobeying His holy law. Man therefore separated himself from God’s holy and satisfying presence, and incurred His wrathful displeasure.

  • God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Gen 1:27).
  • For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).
  • For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18).

Jesus Christ’s death was the substitute payment for the penalty that we deserved for our sin. His death is God’s only provision for the forgiveness of man’s sin and the appeasement of God’s wrath against him.

  • All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him (Isa 53:6).
  • He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36).
  • And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

We are called to respond to this good news in repentance and belief – turning away from our sin and self-sufficiency toward God, and trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the substitute penalty that we deserved for our sin.

  • The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15).
  • Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:46-47).

Provided by 9Marks.org.

What’s Your Gospel?

Posted by Dan C. on

How many lost souls are going to appear before Christ at the Judgment and say after sentencing, “But I ‘accepted’ Jesus and asked him into my heart! When my friend told me how Jesus could change my life and make it better, I prayed those words!”

And Jesus will say, “Depart from me!

One question: What’s your gospel?

The Old v. The New Gospel

Posted by Dan C. on

The following is a quote from Dr. J. I. Packer, from his Introduction to John Owen’s “The Death of death in the death of Christ”:

There is no doubt that Evangelicalism today is in a state of perplexity and unsettlement. In such matters as the practice of evangelism, the teaching of holiness, the building up of local church life, the pastor’s dealing with souls and the exercise of discipline, there is evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with things as they are and of equally widespread uncertainty as to the road ahead. This is a complex phenomenon, to which many factors have contributed; but, if we go to the root of the matter, we shall find that these perplexities are all ultimately due to our having lost our grip on the biblical gospel. Without realising it, we have during the past century bartered that gospel for a substitute product which, though it looks similar enough in points of detail, is as a whole a decidedly different thing. Hence our troubles; for the substitute product does not answer the ends for which the authentic gospel has in past days proved itself so mighty. The new gospel conspicuously fails to produce deep reverence, deep repentance, deep humility, a spirit of worship, a concern for the church. Why?

We would suggest that the reason lies in its own character and content. It fails to make men God-centred in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it is trying to do. One way of stating the difference between it and the old gospel is to say that it is too exclusively concerned to be “helpful” to man—to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction—and too little concerned to glorify God. The old gospel was “helpful,” too—more so, indeed, than is the new—but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of Divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its centre of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel the centre of reference is man. This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach men to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and His ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.

From this change of interest has sprung a change of content, for the new gospel has in effect reformulated the biblical message in the supposed interests of “helpfulness.” Accordingly, the themes of man’s natural inability to believe, of God’s free election being the ultimate cause of salvation, and of Christ dying specifically for His sheep, are not preached. These doctrines, it would be said, are not “helpful”; they would drive sinners to despair, by suggesting to them that it is not in their own power to be saved through Christ. (The possibility that such despair might be salutary is not considered; it is taken for granted that it cannot be, because it is so shattering to our self-esteem.) However this may be (and we shall say more about it later), the result of these omissions is that part of the biblical gospel is now preached as if it were the whole of that gospel; and a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth. Thus, we appeal to men as if they all had the ability to receive Christ at any time; we speak of His redeeming work as if He had done no more by dying than make it possible for us to save ourselves by believing; we speak of God’s love as if it were no more than a general willingness to receive any who will turn and trust; and we depict the Father and the Son, not as sovereignly active in drawing sinners to themselves, but as waiting in quiet impotence “at the door of our hearts” for us to let them in. It is undeniable that this is how we preach; perhaps this is what we really believe. But it needs to be said with emphasis that this set of twisted half-truths is something other than the biblical gospel. The Bible is against us when we preach in this way; and the fact that such preaching has become almost standard practice among us only shows how urgent it is that we should review this matter. To recover the old, authentic, biblical gospel, and to bring our preaching and practice back into line with it, is perhaps our most pressing present need.

God’s Revelation

Posted by Dan C. on

Revelation. . .is public, not private. It is public in the sense that God’s primary locus of communication is not within the self nor are his intentions accessed by intuition. He has spoken, and he continues to speak, through the words of Scripture which constitute the Word of God. This revelation however, is anchored by events within the redemptive narrative by which God called out to himself a people, led them, persevered them, judged them, and finally brought the promise he had made to them into final and full revelation in Christ. this is a history which took place apart from human consciousness, and not within the human psyche, and though it has to be understood and interpreted, its meaning is always objective to the interpreter. It has to be understood solely on its own terms. The Holy Spirit who inspired Scripture is also its privileged interpreter, which means that the content of Scripture is not subject to being overridden by the interests of the interpreter, or those of a later culture, or those of an ecclesiastical tradition. – David F. Wells, Above all Earthly Powers

How to Study the Bible

Posted by Dan C. on

by Martin Luther

Martin Luther said,

“I study my Bible as I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest might fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf.

“I search the Bible as a whole like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb—study book after book. Then I shake every branch, giving attention to the chapters when they do not break the sense. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and their meanings.”

So there you go. If you want a good Bible study method, try Martin Luther’s. It will last a life time.

Christians in the World

Posted by Dan C. on

“Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country.

They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonor, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they, rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred.

To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments.

Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.”

________________________________________________

Above excerpted from The Letter to Diognetus, dating from approximately 125AD. It is the earliest example we have of an “apology,” a document defending the Christian faith addressed to a non-Christian.  It’s author is anonymous and the “Diognetus” to whom it is addressed is also unknown.  This brief but wonderful document is so close to the time of the Apostles that it is reckoned as falling within the category of the “Apostolic Fathers.”

The full letter can be found here.

The Church is Full of Hypocrites!

Posted by Dan C. on

We hear it all the from all sorts of folks, from atheists to those are ‘spiritual’ but not religious, and everywhere in between. there’s a point to be made here and a question to be asked.

The Point

Church is a great place for hypocrites to hang out! They might meet Jesus and find a solution for their problem.

First of all, all ‘hypocrites’ aren’t hypocrites. The ‘accusers’ often expect everyone who attends church to already be perfect, instead of regular people with faults and sin in their lives who, in reality, are quite like their accusers, but in a better location to have their faults and sin dealt with.

The ‘accusers’ often  realize the above and attack the slick hucksters peddling the gospel from the pulpit or stage, rather than everyone in the pews/theater seats. That might be a wise move concerning the folks in the pews, but still be a rather irrational conclusion regarding ‘spiritual’ snake oil salesmen.

The Question

Would E=MC2 be true or false if Albert Einstein had been caught shoplifting?

The fact that there are spiritual snake oil salesmen is not in doubt. Every leader in every false religion certainly qualifies. The hucksters claiming to be ‘Christians’, who sell a ‘false’ gospel for their own gain, whatever that looks like (TBN prosperity teachers or liberal ‘social’ gospel purveyors), in no way prove the genuine product to be false.

In this case, the genuine product is found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”

Food for thought. . .

The Aroma of Christ

Posted by Dan C. on

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” – 2 Cor 2:14-16

The Apostle Paul, in this short passage, tells the Christians at Corinth that they are “the aroma of Christ” to the people around them. Those people are divided into two groups, with the “aroma of Christ” smelling quite differently to each group.

To those who are being saved, that is to those in whom God has done a work of regeneration through the Holy Spirit, the aroma of Christ is a fragrance ‘”from life to life”, from salvation to glorification.

To those who are perishing, that is to those who remain in their unbelief and rejection of Christ, the aroma of Christ is a fragrance “from death to death”, from being dead in sin as they breathe here on earth, to eternal judgment when they die.

It seems easy to understand why the aroma of Christ is a sweet fragrance of life to other Christians, but why does the life of a Christian carry the stench of death to unbelievers? One answer to that can be found in Romans 1:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” vv 18-19

Paul then tells us that because of such knowledge, men are ‘without excuse’ before the judgment seat of God. He describes how men are given over to all sorts of sin and degradation because they suppress the truth that they already know. He completes this dire scenario with these words:

“Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” – v 32

Paul is telling the Christians at Corinth, and us today, that the reason that the life of a Christian carries with it the stench of death to unbelievers because they not only know God exists, they know their sin and they know they deserve God’s death sentence! Is it any wonder that the aroma of Christ stinks of death to those who are perishing? I think not.

One question comes to mind in this. Why is it that we have so many churches and so many Christians try to ‘attract’ people to Christ by making Him smell ‘sweet’ promises of a better life here and now, instead of letting the aroma of Christ smell to them like it ought, and in fact needs to smell to them, if they are to come to repentance and faith?

WHY?