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SEEK TO STUDY AND TO GRASP
THE FOLLOWING PARTS OF

 

T H E   G R E A T  G 0 0 D   N E W S

 

1.     GOD’S SEARCH

 

Lost sinners, cut off from the Creator, the God of Eternity who made them, sink fast. Having first fathered them, despite their sin, God seeks them.

 

2.     OUR SEARCH FOR GOD

 

Infected with the deadly disease of sin, we grow outside Christ to love it; but Truth will out, and God at work on the facts convicts, so that to many it will be made to seem as sick as it really is: James 4:8, John 6:37,40; Acts 2:21.; Romans 1:16‑21,Acts 17:22‑31; Isaiah 55:6.

 

It should never be forgotten that the Holy Spirit draws as well as convicts us concerning the truth: John 6:44,63,14:17. He also empowers and brings comradeship with Christ. See point 8 below.

 

 

3.     THE NECESSITY OF THE SEARCH

 

Isaiah 55:6:

                   "SEEK YE THE LORD WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND, AND, CALL UPON HIM

WHILE HE IS NEAR …”

 

This leads to an absolute challenge for total surrender: Isaiah 55:7‑9, Luke 14:33. This is on God's terms: Luke 14:27,31‑32,6:46.

 

The latter:

                 “WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD AND NOT DO THE THINGS I SAY!”

 

Ponder with this, Matthew 25:11‑12‑ Spiritual reality cannot be hidden.

 

4.  THE TIME ELEMENT

 

We live in space and time in this world, and in seeking the Lord, time is important. Romans 13:11, Isaiah 55:6, John 9:4 Proverbs 29:1, 1:23‑33, Luke 19:42. TIME matters in questions of conversion, obedience, service and repentance: GOD is the author of time. Consider 11 Thessalonians 2:9‑10.

 

5.  JUDGMENT

 

Matthew 10:28, 12:43‑45, 13:30,40‑43, 22:1‑14. This last shows the absolute necessity of being covered in your life by the Lord Jesus Christ, the ONLY Redeemer and Saviour, the GIFT of God, and gift by grace (Acts 4:11‑12, Romans 5:15, John 14:6, Galatians 1:6‑9, 11 Corinthians 11:1‑15, Romans 5:8‑10,3:19‑20). You 'MUST' be saved (Acts 4:11‑12), having accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and reckoned Him by faith as your own. There is no other name given to man, either in fact, or in empirical reality, He alone being sinless, irreproachable, irresistible in His plan, consummating all the prophecies concerning Him (cf. SMR Chs. 8 - 9), and uttering what attests His infallible truth concerning the future, where ONE error would move MANY things in indeterminate ways!

 

See also: Matthew 18:8, 11 Timothy 4: 11 Peter 2:9,14, 11 Thessalonians 1:6‑8, John 3:18‑19,36,5:29.

 

6. GOD's MOTIVE

 

This is shown to us in such Scriptures as: John 3:16,Deuteronomy 7:7‑8, Romans 5:8,Luke 19:10, John 9:39, Matthew 23:37, Ezekiel 33:11, Colossians 1:19ff., 1 Timothy 2:1‑6, 1 John 4:7‑11, 3:1‑3. Lists in Romans 1 and Galatians 5:19‑21 suggest sins which destroy and from which, as from all sin, God would deliver us in lovingkindness so that life might be abundant (John 10:10), with beauty of character and grace.

In this connection, verify from Scripture, the following definitions of sin:

 

That which does not please God;
any rebellion against the will of God;
any trespass against the laws of God;
any neglect of the counsels of God;
any coldness of heart to the love of God;
any failure in love to the children of God;
any blindness in the worship of God;
any departure from the doctrine of God;
any falling short of the glory of God .

 

Note especially at the outset: Romans 3:23,6:23,Isaiah 59:2, 11 Chronicle: 36:15‑16, Ezra 9:6‑7,10, Jeremiah 9:23‑25, Daniel 9:9‑13, Matthew 23: 27‑28, Romans 5:12,7:13. Observe also that GOD IS A SPIRIT ( John 4:24) so that APPARENT amendments in your life and FORMS of expression are not ultimately to the point. They may even allow for worse (Matthew 12:43‑45). Reality is the point! (cf. Luke 6:46, II Corinthians 3:18).

 

What then of the point of conversion ?

In the sinful 'independent' state of living 'apart from God', sin corrupts, erupts, abounds ( Galatians 5:17-21, Romans 7:9-12, and note the verses following in that chapter, where the drama is re-enacted, one in which the flesh, knowing no bounds, seeks to slaughter without mercy the life it falsely moves: from this, ONLY Christ can deliver the spirit, the soul, the life to the vitalities and realities of liberty)...

For this chronic condition, what of Christ ?

Into this loss, love treads ( Romans 5:8). This lost, separated condition of the human being is called 'flesh' - see Romans 8, esp.vv.5-8. People in this condition are also called 'children of wrath' (Ephesians 2:3) and it is no advance to be anaesthetised to it, merely following the particular sin as if it were an angel (cf. II Corinthians 11:13, Romans 10:1-3). Except where the conscience is already seared as with a hot iron, and will not look (cf. I Timothy 4), the truth having been despised (II Thessalonians 2:10), such expressions of sin in its mental, spiritual and physical lusts appear all too readily, in the unconverted heart, and at times may (cf. II Corinthians 1) even seek to tempt the saint again, as if having been put in dry-dock for a time for total conversion, the ship had occasional tilts to the barnacled prow anyway. From all this, however, Christ is able to make us "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37), since

1) He is God manifest as man, and able to help with all humility (Hebrews 4) and

2) He as God, wrought in the creation, and KNOWS what HE HAS MADE, and how to work with it, deliver it and having paid for His own, He is well able to make them as a Father does, but this time with all power, what He wants, if need be with those disciplines which many of us now realise were so enormously profitable WHEN and as done in love! Discipline is always different when you are dealing with a child whom you love as yourself, and who love you! and it is different when both desire the end result, moving towards it with expectant joy (Hebrews 12).

As to the slick dynamics of sin, GOD in His love had a long way to go and a lot to do to deliver us from this position! Never dally with it! To yearning, there must be added a turning, a conversion, an opening, a believing, a resting, a renewal that stops, by divine grace, nothing short of regeneration, with pardon pressing in sovereign mercy onto the seeking soul.

 

7. METHOD

(The Situation and the Solution: THE WAY CHRIST DID IT).

1) The disease - SIN.

a) Its presence ( general). As noted, we see words such as Romans 6:23, 3:23. We see Nahum 1:3:


"THE LORD IS SLOW TO ANGER AND GREAT IN POWER. AND WILL NOT AT ALL ACQUIT THE WICKED."

Without a method of forgiveness, there is an utter impasse. God is holy. Consider again Isaiah 55:6, and also Ezekiel 18:1-4, John 15:6. In the last case, you have the 'sport', the wild outgrowth, the anomaly, the merely formal religious person who would be connected to the vine in some way, yet does not find its source of life in the vine, in the Lord (John 15:3-5):
IF ONLY such a person did abide, fruit not fiasco would result.

b) Rejecting the Remedy (Special Sin).

John 3:36,3:18-19, Hebrews 10:26-3 Luke 20:17-18,9:26.

It is not enough to sin; some will even smash, as it were, the antibiotics in the doctor's glasses, or at least pour them steadily and carefully... down the drain. There remains no more sacrifice for sin. This is the only one there is. Folly can beget its reward (II Timothy 4:2, 11 Thessalonians 2:8-10); and THIS reminds us that it is only by explicit divine mercy that any of us are moved to seek the Lord; yet, seeking we find: Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find (Matthew 7:7).

c) Fooling with the Remedy.

Luke 14:26-27,33.

It is like carrying a crutch, or seeking to lift a baby-car. You must USE it, you must GET IN, not entangled with its provisions while you dither.

2) Repentance.

Turning from the Disease to the Doctor, rejecting it with loathing, the heart moved by the grace of God as wind moves on the waters. Repentance is a full change of heart and mind, so that you detest and depart from the hold of sin, towards the grip of Christ. Luke 13:1-3,Acts 17:30,11 Corinthians 7:10, Matthew 4:17.

3) Remedy.

Christ received as Lord and Saviour.

a) This means first: that He becomes for you as your receive Him, your sin-bearing sacrifice, to whom your penalty is transferred, and on whom your guilt is placed. John 6:53-57 (cf. Exodus 12,Leviticus 16- esp.vv.10, 14-17,21-22, Leviticus 1:1-10,4:1-2,17:11 ... ); Galatians 3:10,11 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 4:25.

b) Secondly, it means that He becomes for you a payment or ransom, securing your release from the power and possession, the dynamic and the destiny, the churning and the burning of SIN - Matthew 20:28, Colossians 2:14.  You still fight: but from the other side! (Galatians 5:16-24),  the Master of All with you.

c) It means thirdly that Christ thus is changing places with the repentant sinner; so that in this way, Christ is covering with His life, the sinner's entire life. Romans 5:8-10, 8:34-39,Hebrews 9:27-28, 7:25-27, 10:12 14, John 6:47,51-53.

d) It means also therefore that in His love Christ confers eternal life as a gift - what kills is removed and He confers a covering in His own life which is endless, irreversible -'the power of an endless life,’ Hebrews 7:16,cf.1 John 1:1-4).  He provides an inheritance which is ‘incorruptible ,undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven' for the believer (I Peter 1:1-4). See Romans 6:23, John 10:9,27-28,5:24, I John 5:11-13.

e) Fifthly, it involves you with the only Redeemer history has ever held, God has ever sent. The picture in redemption is this. It is like the foolish loss of a property by someone astray, who is met by a kinsman who in love and honour buys it back, freely granting it to him. Your Creator in this case, is the kinsman, you a product of His mind and will as man! The 'property' is your soul!

(It would be of great profit to read John Bunyan's HOLY WAR, which is directed by the devil and his followers against the city of MANSOUL! It is highly colourful and perceptive.)

If the property to be redeemed is your soul, what then is the price? Christ in penal servitude on the Cross, experiencing ( Isaiah 53:6,11) the believer's deserts, as a Man, bearing the guilt, granting to the believer in Him, by His victory, new, renewed, restored life by Himself ( Isaiah 53:10-12, 1 Peter 2:24-25,Levitcus 25:25).

Even more pointedly, a person who sold himself may be redeemed (Leviticus 25:47), bringing yet more intimately the personal element to the focus. The Redeemer of eternal life, whose it is and who gives it, and who has bought it back for His own: it is Jesus Christ the Just (Job 19:25, Luke 2:38, Romans 3:25-28, Acts 3:14, 1 Peter 3:18), the person who for a person, puts His own life on the line, summoning success for defeat, truth for error, wisdom for folly, eternal life for doom.

f) The remedy is also carried through to the point that Jesus guarantees a full resurrection
(John 2:19-22,5:24-29,6:54,`0:9,25ff., 11:25-26,14:1-3 cf. Acts 2:29-32,4:1-2, 1 Corinthians 15:17-21, 52-54). Following His death as a criminal, in the place of His own who all deserved just such a death (cf. Galatians 3:10-13), Christ guarantees in His love the same destiny - the same resurrection as became His.

Here ponder 1 John 3:1-3: for believers are, through His offering and salvation, to share in the wonders of the eternal life which is Jesus' by right and by nature as the everlasting Son of God, who became flesh to save us. HE is a great lover and a great giver, and He confers limitless blessings. It is sin that kills; it is God who saves: and the Christ, His Son who is the wholly exclusive Saviour. See Isaiah 43:11, 45:21, Philippians 2, Acts 4:10-11, John 14:6, Hebrews 10:26, Colossians 1:19-23, Philippians 2:10.  ONLY GOD is the Saviour, and Christ is God as man, His eternal word, His personal expression in the Trinity, incorporated in flesh, incarcerated by man, crucified in contempt, risen in glory, breaking death as a penalty on the way (Hebrews 2).

g) In all this, He acts as sovereign, this Lord Jesus Christ - and He is in stature and status, as God (Philippians 2:5-11, John 5:19-27,14:9, 1:1-14 - there is only one 'God' in the Bible, all others including those ‘eminent persons' in Psalm 82 being cut down to size- cf. Ps.82:7, Ezekiel 28:9). We see this also in John 3:34-36,8:58 cf. Exodus 3:14, Matthew 11:27, Hebrews 1:1-3,8. In this very reality (all truth it is essential to relate to submissively), lie must decidedly be recognised ( cf. Matthew 16:13-17, John 8:42-44,8:49-58,5:42-47, Matthew 7:22-23). Many love the lie, even religious people (cf. II Corinthians 11:15), but the sovereign Lord is His salvation is deceived by none, and by nothing. Here is rejoicing, that HE cannot err!

Thus, just the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father must He be received (John 17:5-8,14,25, 14:26, Micah 5:1-3, Psalm 45, Hebrews 1, John 1),  so must He be accepted as absolute Master and Ruler of the soul . Luke 14 : 27, 33. Even athletes usually realise that part-time training is ridiculous. Part-time godliness is a game without end but doom, without light, but in darkness (Luke 14:27ff.). Without forsaking all, that is, holding nothing back from your Saviour, how then are you finding Him as Lord, and if not as Lord, which He is, how at all ? (Luke 6:46). It is not a question of hardness, but of holiness, not of playing, but praying, not of compromise but arising into life, that of God. He is not Father some of the time! Thank God for that...

  • Bunyan put it in this way:

    • "God did not play in convincing of me; the Devil did not play in tempting of me; neither did I play when I sank as into a bottomless pit ... Wherefore I may not play in my relating of them...", elsewhere declaring: "I have determined, the Almighty God being my help and shield, yet to suffer, if frail life might continue so long, even till the moss shall grow upon mine eyebrows, rather than thus to violate my faith and principles."

    While this sounds glorious, what else ?

    Christ's requirements, this particular servant of His was made to see clearly (Bunyan was put in prison, offered release, then put back again) were absolute! With GOD, there are no half measures; and there is no such thing as half-faith in His Son. Faith in Christ is faith in Him as He is - Colossians 1:19-23, 2:3,8-9, 3:1-4, not as you would make Him, as Master, not subservient to your whims. On the other hand, if you do slip, He is marvellously kind, and the Father knows how to help His children (Hebrews 4).

    h) The Remedy, salvation, is BY GRACE.

     

    Mercy, given freely by an offended Sovereign God, is not earned. Hence salvation is unmerited. It is GIVEN BY GOD'S "UNMERITED FAVOUR". We have a word for this: 'GRACE". We are "saved by grace" ‑ Ephesians 2:5,8. Even this being saved by grace through faith, is "not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."

     

    Spiritually dead to God ( Ephesians 2:1) and separated from Him ( Isaiah 59:2, Ephesians 2:12,4:18‑19,Isaiah 64:6), and "without God in the world" , we find grace, a grace that gives, forgives and in which we are saved. Indeed, as we shall see later, it is this true grace of God
    " in which you stand"  (1 Peter 5:12, Romans 4:2).

     

    Thus eternal life is a gift (Romans 6:23) , and it is a "gift by grace" ( Romans 5:15) ! Both the content and the transfer are by grace.

     

    i) Salvation is also BY FAITH. It is through grace by faith. Grace is its origin, in love; faith is the implement of its reception. The WHOLE occasion, action and result is by grace. As Paul says it in Ephesians 2:8, the whole transaction, transfer, occasion, result is a GIFT. Further, as to this gift, without FAITH you cannot even please God (Hebrews 11:6). Similarly, if you doubted your father's Christmas cheque, in its content, in its spirit, you would rigorously erode your relationship.

     

    Consider then, as to this faith, sited in this grace, Hebrews 11. This is the great chapter of FAITH, giving principles, procedures and examples for it, and showing different features of it, very clearly, to gain a deeper sight of THIS DEEP CONFIDENCE IN, CONVICTION OF AND COMMITMENT TO GOD THE FATHER AND THE SON JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT, which is 'faith.' Hebrews 1:1 tells us that it is a wholehearted assurance and sure conviction of things invisible, evidencing themselves; and the nature of these, we have been at some pains to see. The OBJECT is Jesus Christ the Redeemer; the content is heavenly things; the arrival of this conviction is by divine grace ( cf. Matthew 16:16‑18) and the power of God attests the things invisible and hoped for, empirically (Acts 4:20, John 3:11, Matthew 16:17, rationally (I Peter 3:15, II Corinthians 10:5) and spiritually (Romans 8:16).

     

    Thus as you receive Christ crucified and resurrected (Romans 8:34. 1 Corinthians 15:1‑4,17‑19) according to the scriptures, you come to Him by faith. In this, you ARE CHANGED, because this is the God‑given remedy and way into life in God Himself It is THAT which transforms you ( John 14;19; 3:5‑8, Acts 4:19‑20) ... this Jesus Christ whom you MUST receive ( Acts 4:11‑12, John 6:53,8:42‑44). God is nothing hindered in transforming what He made in the first place, the sin problem resolved (Colossian 3:10).

     

    Coming to Christ in this way is called having 'saving faith' in the Westminster Confession: you receive the Saviour by faith, in this, and that means He saves you. It is not general 'faith': it is spiritual faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as its object, His sacrifice and resurrection, His nature and place, His very Person crucial to its very existence. It is, in an image, like electric wires IN WHICH there flows electricity. The LIVE wires make all the difference when you make contact. The word 'wire' by itself, makes little difference to the point ... So it is with 'faith' - it must for salvation be IN HIM! not in itself, or some other entity.

     

    For FAITH and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, see also:
    Acts 2:21, 2:38,44,47;3:19,4:32,10:43,,13:39,John 3:16,18,36,5:19,24,39‑40,46, 6:47 ...
    Note J.B. Phillips' rendering of Hebrews 11:1 (a useful paraphrase here):     "Now faith means that we have full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see." The Greek also carries the meaning that the invisible gives EVIDENCE of itself from itself!

     

    As you see here, the Acts of the Apostles is full of illustrations, and it makes absorbing reading as you study this book, in initial survey, in the modern English of Phillips. ( Of course, for the precise text you would not use a paraphrase.) You feel as you look at Acts in some way that helps you grasp it all, that you are always there, watching all these things, and gaining understanding like an eyewitness. This feeling the Phillips rendering has in Acts in particular, is quite notable.

     

    God is not less powerful now than He was then; and although it is not every day that He launches and starts the New Testament Church, in any day the same power pulses or is available from God, or is provided when sought in the Spirit by faith, according to His promises and commands (Ephesians 1:19, II Peter 1:3ff.). Its manifestation is different, but its power and might is the same.

    The history of great revivals of religion over history, with this in view, makes absorbing reading. Booklets such as REVIVALS, Their Rise and Progress and Achievements, by Rev. Dr. Eifion Evans (The Annual Lecture of the Evangelical Library 1960), references like THE HISTORY OF REVIVALS OF RELIGION, by Wm. Allen, and a short book like THE SECOND EVANGELICAL AWAKENING by Dr Edwin Orr, show something of the ways in which the Lord in His faithfulness still acts, even at times in unlikely places. Prayer in faith, He hears, and how many marvels have been wrought in this way, through consistent, persistent seeking with His name and kingdom in view!

    Speaking to a Church, God makes it clear in Revelation 2:5 that 'revival', is not an option. Like a weight-reducing program, it might not be occasioned if weight - here spiritual heaviness - had not been put on, quite unnecessarily in the church concerned, in the first place.

     

     8. THE HOLY SPIRIT

    The Spirit of God proceeds from the Father and is sent to us by the Son, we learn in John 15:26. He relates and relays Christ to you, bringing power, joy, peace, guidance and moving and working in you to produce fruits of the Spirit: what John calls, fruits worthy of repentance! ( Matthew 3:8). Such fruits are NORMAL, NECESSARY AND NATURAL to the OBEDIENT, ABIDING life in Jesus Christ (John 15:4‑5). Incidentally, to John 15, what is removed is what is not genuine, like Judas, in Him in the sense of being related and near, but not in the sense of having sap and being implanted in its own kind: for us, in His own kingdom. James is strong on this point, the bogus and its faith that lacks works because it is not there at all, being merely nominal.

    Naturally, faith which lives, is like a baby: you cannot pretend for one moment that it is not there! This is the faith in which you are saved, actual trust in Christ, actual reception of His gift of life, actual repentance and actual regeneration so that you actually love Him, and therefore His word. Becoming a child of God, in this way, being of 'His seed', then as John declares, "His seed remains in him", in anyone saved. He therefore writes to those who believe in Him, that they should know that they have eternal life: no question, only this answer. The seed, there, is as likely to go as your genes when you are born! and less so, for God says, Not so!

     a) You are not left orphans, with Jesus Christ in heaven, but are lived in by the Spirit which He sends to all Christians ( John 14:16,18, Colossians 1:27).

     b) You are through Him in the name of Christ, given the power to perform what the Lord desires. Philippians 4,:13, Colossians 1:11, Ephesians 3:16.

     c) "Fruits" come as you abide in watchful prayer in trust in the Lord ( Galatians 5:22‑24).

     d) Specialised gifts, under God's sovereign control, lead to more special service in Him. Romans 12:6‑8, 1 Corinthians 12:4‑11. These focus the Giver, not themselves and are for functional service, not flaunting. 'Prophecy'*1 in the New Testament, as a gift, refers to the Spirit‑led depth in understanding and telling out the Scriptures to assist others (but not to replace their own development, rather to stimulate it ­1 John 2:27). LOVE does not 'fit into' all this; but it superintends­1 Corinthians 13, and if the superintendence is missing, God is denied, not expressed! Compare in particular 1 Cor.12:31 and 13:1.

     

    As to love, note that it REJOICES IN THE TRUTH ( 1 Cor.13:6).Far from being a suppressor of doctrine, as if to secure a common front, LOVE focusses truth. FAITH does its work THROUGH love. Faith apprehends the God who IS love, and working with Him, secures His will!

     The common Pentecostal focus on gifts in confusion, profusion and diffusion, with demands that someone do this or have that is so far from the Bible that it can sicken some, who in turn, may fail to use the gifts.

     God is love and God is light, and between these there is no divorce; with the love-light we should serve, as fearless as a surgeon, tender as a nurse. You will observe from many scriptures, that love can be very surgical with the cancers of unbelief and misrule, of false teaching and living.

     

    e) Individual and group guidance: is yours, by faith, as you seek in Him for what is needed for His work: Psalm 32:8 (note its context). Also consider Romans 8:14,Acts 13:1‑2, James 1:1‑6, Matthew 7:7‑11. Always remember that although Elijah may be required on occasion to act alone, there is a central theme for gifts: God uses a TEAM.( 1 Corinthians 12 gives an energetic and intensely clear account of it.) f) Unlimited power is available for things to which God's people are directed, by His written commandments and special guidance for our labour for Him: John 16:24. Note carefully the special importance of knowing exactly what God has said and studying the Scripture consistently and intelligently, waiting on Him. John 15:7, James 5:16‑18.

    g) Everything done by the Spirit is specifically stated by Christ to glorify Him. It centres on Him; so do not be deceived. The Spirit's emphasis is not Himself but Christ; just as Christ's focus is on His Father and His Father reveals ... Christ ( Matthew 11:27,John 16:1,3-15). Even His own. words, said Christ, would the Spirit bring back to the disciples' remembrance ( John 15:26).TRY the spirits ( 1 John 4:1-10); even false, fraudulent, devilishly constructed and construed false Christ's are foisted onto the gullible( 11 Corinthians 11:1-15,Matthew 24:5).

    h) The Holy Spirit unfolds the truth to you as you wait with the word in faith in the Lord, and study it: Proverbs 1:23, John 16:15 with 15:7, Ephesians 1:13,16-20,Proverbs 8:8-9,1:22 ff., Psalm 119:18,143:10,12:6-7, 111:7-10.

     

     NOTE for 8 d)

     

    *1

     

    This serves merely to explain an important issue on 'prophecy'.

     

    Prophetic gifts, set forth in the New Testament as to be sought, in 1 Corinthians 12, should be carefully distinguished from the work of the prophets in the Old Testament.

     

    There the prophet could speak the word of God, including DOCTRINE and formal predictions for the Church of the people of God.

     

    In the New TESTAMENT, the same word is used ( in Greek, the language of the New Testament: that is, the equivalent term). However, the CONTEXT of the New Testament REMOVES one important element for the period following the completion of the canon: the whole series of books which constitutes the word of God written.

     

    That element ? it is the power to produce NEW doctrine, or give NEW predictions, formally in the name of God, for His people. That is why the New Testament prophet, that is the user of prophetic power in the New Testament era, following the completion of the Canon, has available only the RESIDUAL powers of prophecy. This in practice tends to mean simply exposition of the word of God, making it clear, applying it in principle and practice for preaching, teaching and counsel, avoiding or helping to correct errors and misleading approaches, and, in the power and demonstration of the Spirit (Paul), as the oracles of God ( Peter) proclaiming to believer or unbeliever alike, as God shall direct from  His word, and in its impact on events.

     

    The canon ? yes, this list of books is not endless. When Christ came, the second person of the Trinity was on earth's stage, and nothing more ultimate was conceivable, or is, for the world ... than this, its Creator, upon it. No 'developments' could supersede, no 'new things' could replace, no profundities could surpass, no insights alter this (Galatians 1:6ff., Ephesians 2:20ff., where the church is already built on the stated foundation, and Revelation 22:18-19), where neither can words be removed from the prospectus presented, nor things added (the text makes this distinction). NO THING can be added. The canon is closed. The Gospel is determinate and as presented by Paul in conjunction with the others of his calling (Galatians 1:6ff., II Peter 3:16).

     

    Christ's statement, He who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14), leaves no room for those who have NOT been everlastingly with the Father and have NOT proceeded forth from Him to become God‑replacements in word, thought or deed. New 'christs' are obsolete on arrival; the actual one died on time (cf. SMR pp. 886ff.). Christ is the end and the ultimate of the definitive revelation of God, and is THE word, not A word (Ephesians 1:10); nor does this relent (Revelation 5:9ff., 21:22-22:4). What He always was, He always will be (Micah 5:1-3, Psalm 45, Isaiah 48:16, Psalm 2, Saviour and Lord, Creator and precise eternal expression of His Father (Hebrews 1), unchanging, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

     

    Let us look a little further.

     

    This Christ has ordained New Testament prophets and Old Testament prophets, New Testament apostles being the leaders and founders in and for Jesus Christ of the structure of the Church, of which He is the foundation? ( I Cor.3:11, Ephesians 2:20).The Church ‑Ephesians‑ is already BUILT on this basis. The apostles and prophets are EVEN THEN basic in its ground. The tense is not present; it is past.

     

    Similarly in Galatians 1:6‑9 Paul makes ANY GOSPEL OTHER THAN THAT WHICH HE HAS ALREADY PREACHED to be a cursed, confused, deluded substitute for the truth. There is NO DEVELOPMENT. In  fact, Revelation 22:18‑19 not merely negates innovation, but makes it a cursed thing to ADD TO THESE THINGS, the topics, themes and words; and subtraction is alike‑ forbidden. Does someone want to subtract God's mouth with his/her own!

     

    Indeed, all this is exactly as it was with Moses, except that with Him, the coming of the Messiah, the Christ is expressly provided for (Deuteronomy 15ff.), this, the event which would be final and determinative

     

    The PERSON, the GOSPEL and the WORD being all definite, final and placed, prophets, then, cannot exercise those aspects of former times in their work, which are excluded by the developed and completed canon of the Bible. They are no more therefore in any way DEFINITIVE of the faith, although their work and function is still in that holy genre, at the hand of God, for which reason they are to be given due honour to help their work, and merely light challenges and charges are excluded, procedures being set in place for dealing with real spiritual adulterers, misleading the flock, this applying differently in the New and Old Covenants, but effectually in both. (Deuteronomy 4:12, 12:28,32; Ephesians 4, 4:30-5:7, I Corinthians 14:32, Titus 3:10, I Timothy 4:17ff., 6:1-5).

     

     

    9. REGENERATION

    Led to drop your sins and your sinful self happily on Jesus crucified by the power of the Holy Spirit, and opening your life gladly to Christ whom death could not hold physically , mentally or spiritually, you are caught in tremendous changes which transform you in our heart, and conform you as a going concern to Christ continually ( 11 Corinthians 3:18).

    As to the Lord, Acts 2:24 - death had no hold on Him, for who will arraign God! Death was a product of His own plan, in judgment on sin, and in His own overthrow of that penalty, bearing it Himself out of love with application to all who believe in Him, the Redeemer and Creator, made manifest on earth as Jesus Christ (cf. Romans 10:9).

    Thus born again, you are : regenerated'. Once you were generated when born the first time, the water of the womb and the blood of your supply. A second time are you generated, that is, regenerated, when you come to Christ as Lord and Saviour, who takes, moulds, moves, claims and renames you as His own; when He finds and receives you (John 3) .

    This is called the 'new birth', of which Jesus Christ said, "YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN" - John 3:7. To be sure, the term has been much misused, for it is not a mere emotional experience, nor is it for that matter, a mere rational summation, though it incorporates not less but more than either of these. It does entail that you find God, and hence His word, and hence discovering this great pearl, that you give up all for Him, and follow what is the product of His mouth, the word of God. There is no room for including your own thoughts with those of God, or for calling that 'faith' which fiddles with what He has donated, authorised, approved, endorsed, validated and secured (Matthew 5:19ff., Revelation 22:18-19, Galatians 1, Isaiah 59:21ff., 34:16, Psalm 119, I Corinthians 2:9-13, I Peter 1:10ff., II Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 7:21ff.). The word of God is as it always has been, as distinct as heaven and earth, yes and more so (Jeremiah 45:29, Amos 3:7-4, Jeremiah 23:28ff., Matthew 24:35, I Cor. 2:9-13, Matthew 7:24ff., Proerbs 30:6 and see SMR Appendix D).

    No more must you act and think like an earthy grub, or "moral" praying Mantis (Colossians 3:10): now like an airborne butterfly, surrounded by the beauty of holiness, led by the winds of the Spirit, warned by the wisdom of the word, warmed by the light of the Son, you live in the line you were meant to follow (cf. Malachi 4:2, 3:17). Your DE-natured life is RE-natured back towards its DESIGN nature. Paul in Ephesians 4:23-4 not only tells us to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, but to be clad in this way:

    PUT ON THE NEW MAN WHICH WAS CREATED ACCORDING TO GOD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUE HOLINESS ( Ephesians 4:24).

    You must always be on the beam, watching and praying to the good and gracious Lord carefully and believingly, patiently and profoundly by faith, knowing He hears you (Psalm 143:8-10).

    bullet

    "Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
    bullet

    "For in You do I trust:
    Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
    For I lift up my soul to You.
    bullet

    "Deliver me O LORD, from my enemies,
    For in You I take shelter.
    bullet

    "Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.
    bullet

    "Your Spirit is good,
    Lead me into the land of uprightness."

    Thus: NOT BY MIGHT NOR BY POWER BUT BY MY SPIRIT, SAYS THE LORD, we read in Zechariah 4:6. Like children in trust, yet seeking in understanding to be wise and sound ( 1 Corinthians 14:20): look to GOD for the action, the results, but SEEK to Him. As He says:

    SEEK THE LORD AND HIS STRENGTH: SEEK HIS FACE EVERMORE (Psalm 105:4), and again:

    WHEN YOU SAID TO ME, SEEK MY FACE, MY HEART SAID TO YOU, YOUR FACE, LORD, I WILL SEEK ( Psalm 27:8).

    You live, then, as a CHILD OF GOD; and to your FATHER, through your SAVIOUR, adopted and begotten again, you live BY FAITH. You live in His presence, which is vital, energising, transforming, blessed. THIS is the coin of conversion and the reality of regeneration.

     

    10. PERSEVERANCE AND ASSURANCE

    Your name may be Smith; but when you are regenerated, your chief name is 'child of God' and hence child of light (Ephesians 5:8, I Thessalonians 5:5, I John 3:1-9). A child of God once, a child of God always. This Father never dies, and Christ the eternal Son of God keeps what is committed to Him against that day of judgment (II Timothy 1:12).

    I John 3:1,9 and I Timothy 6:12-16 indicate this, as do Galatians 4:5‑7,John 5:24, Ephesians 1:11‑12, John 10:9,27‑28,6:51ff., 4:14ff., Ephesians 1:11‑12. You are saved, sealed and accepted on entering the door (John 10:9, Ephesians 1:6,13) and then kept as His sheep ( John 10:27‑28). In Christ, your once for all Saviour, you then have an 'inheritance' ( Ephesians 1:11) , have passed from a condition of spiritual death to one of spiritual life (that is the tense situation in John 5:24‑'perfect' signifying the change of state with the change of status); and as that verse also declares, you DO NOT come into judgment... IF a child of God, then NEVER THIRST AGAIN, HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, CHANGED FROM DEATH TO LIFE, UNABLE TO LOSE THE DIVINE 'seed', KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD (I Peter 1:5), ASSURED of eternal life (I John 5:1ff.), and given it (Romans 6:23). Incapable of alienation (I John 3:9), despite whatever tests, trials or sufferings you may endure (I Peter 4:13ff.), you are kept in the love of God (Romans 8:32-39).

    In fact, you have as a gift, eternal life ( Romans 6:23), a living gift and donation of life, executed by grace as well as instituted thus  (Romans 5:15) - a GIFT BY GRACE; and to this an eternamatic body, one fit for eternity and so designed (I John 3:3, II Cor. 4:16-5:8) will be added at that great time of the general resurrection (Philippians 3:20‑21, I Corinthians 15:26,51‑58). This is as sure as the word of God (Ph. 3:20-21 telling us what WILL happen, in the power of Him who subdues everything to Himself).

    Just as man in sin is used to desolation and deterioration, to process any things that pass,  so God, the king of eternity, the everlasting Father ( Isaiah 9:6, Psalm 90:2, Isaiah 57:15, Jeremiah 10:10, Psalm 10:16), God from everlasting to everlasting knows how to redeem and recreate, clothing the redeemed not only in life everlasting, through His eternal salvation ( Isaiah 51:6,Psalm 21:4, John 11:25, 6:50,57, Romans 8:31 ff., Rev.22:5, Isaiah 61:10), but with the format fit for eternity (I Corinthians 15:50‑54, Philippians 3:20‑21).

    Therefore, once you are washed by the blood of Christ, believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, come in trust to the living and physically raised( John 20:27‑29, Luke 24:39, 1 Corinthians 15:1‑4) Lord Jesus Christ, accepting His supreme Lordship in reality for your life: you may be disciplined ( Hebrews 12:6‑8) for your good, but you will never be discarded. You are kept through faith by the very power of God  I Peter 1:5) to an incorruptible, unfading and reserved inheritance in heaven, provided for you (John 14:1ff.). It is as individual at eating  (John 6:50ff.) and as particular as a house (John 14:1‑6), as personal as a forehead (Revelation 14:1,22:4), as living as seeing (Rev.22:4).

    You are in the area of grace: never try to convince God that you are good enough (Luke 17:10, Matthew 7:22), but realise and believe that it is God who is good enough to keep, just as Christ was good enough to die, and to redeem believers from the curse ( John 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:24,cf. John 6:47,51,54, Galatians 3:10‑13, Ephesians 1:11).

    Not only does He undertake to keep the Christian, but to make him/her abound in spiritual life ( John 7:58), one that does not wear out, but rather wells up (John 4:14ff., 7:37ff.). Take God at His word and seek to fulfil what He offers by asking in hard, disciplined, believing prayer for that life which glorifies God who expresses His will, as He promises His power to perform in, through and over His own. See Ephesians 6:6‑7, 1:11‑23, Luke 22:42, John 20:20‑21, Acts 13:1‑3, Psalm 72:24‑26, 32:8, 17:15, Romans 5, 12:1‑8.

    bullet Once a Christian
    bullet (and not a mere shallow emotional gabbler who has never closed with the contract and capitulated to Christ and His word, no nor been washed and reborn),
    bullet always a Christian. THIS is 'necessary perseverance'.

     

    That is what , by the grace of God, you will do; yes, and remember, that as surely as your PHYSICAL genes stay in you, so will His criteria of the new birth, once yours, always be so ( 1 John 3:9): "HIS SEED REMAINS IN YOU." The Father knows how to keep His children (John 10:37ff.). He  was not born yesterday; indeed He was not born at all, being that everlasting Being without whom, no temporary beings could so much as exist. With eternal adequacy, nothing could ever have been! He has that.

    Inwardly, as you seek the Lord and remember His promises and believe clearly, you gain the inward 'witness of the Spirit' ‑Romans 8:15‑16. This is the personal sense of acceptance engendered by God in your heart; it is more, it is the work of the Holy Spirit, who as one 'called alongside', strengthens and comforts you in many ways ( John 14:16‑18). As a Christian, yours it is to have Him in your close and continual company, bringing Christ to your life and heart, strength and mind. Coming from the Father and sent by the Son, He, the Spirit of God is making YOU REALISE INSIDE YOURSELF that you belong to God the Creator, the only Saviour through Jesus Christ: that you are a son or daughter, and this realisation is a witness. It can be like the witness of water as you dive into the ocean; or like the testimony of a friend: but God makes it clear. The Creator knows how to welcome His own.

    While different people may be troubled for a time, with this or other spiritual ailment, we are at this in the scriptural norm, available to faith, from the clear statements of God. It is His part to promise; it is yours to believe Him!

    Consider here also Ephesians 1:13-14, Galatians 4:6-7. "You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise," it says to the Christian, "who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."

    God is a lover and He loves His children (Ephesians 3:14, Romans 8:31ff., I John 4:8ff.). This fact and witness inside you linked with your Bible-based and Christ-centred conviction that you are His, as He promised to those who receive Him ( John 1:12-14), we call ASSURANCE, Christian assurance. You are assured by God, and are convinced by faith that just as He promised, so now you have come to this same Lord Jesus (cf. II Corinthians 11:4) who died and rose again, whose word is truth ( John 17:17,12:48-50,14:6), who IS in fact the truth: so finding, believing and receiving that HE is yours and YOU are His; you are a child of God and belong in and with Him, your Father, always.

    Ponder I John 5:13,and Romans 8:15-16, 5:1-11. Once you are justified, you will be glorified (Romans 8:29-30,17), and nothing will separate you (Romans 8:33 ff.). This applies, of course, to the washed and true Christian only; but it applies to every one of these without exception.

    Christ did it. It depends on Him; not on you or me. Accept who He is and what He has done, and in this faith, you are accepted into the beloved, as Paul declares in Ephesians 1.