Christ
The Substance Belongs to Christ
The form of scripture is the Word of God, the character of that Word is Gospel (good news), and the content of that Gospel is Jesus Christ. “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word was God.” John 1:1 Since the beginning, all that God the Father ever wanted to communicate to you and to me in this life, and the life to come for that matter, is summed up in the good news of a Person, the Person of His dear Son. Hebrews 1:1-3 [Amplified] tells us that, “In many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, but in the last days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things…He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine]…” Further, the Word of God was meant, not to give the “do’s” and “do not’s” of the Christian faith, but rather, to describe a man’s living experience of that Blessed Person, the Lord Jesus, recording on paper the love, faithfulness, and interaction of the Living God in his own life. The scriptures should be the validation of what is ALREADY happening in my experience and relationship with the Lord Jesus Himself. In Ephesians 3:18-19 [Amplified], Paul says, “That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length, and height, and depth [of it]; [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]…” Based on this, I believe we should ask ourselves two questions: “Is the Lord Jesus becoming more and more precious to me through an ever-increasing revelation of the wonder of His Person?” and (2) “Am I actually and progressively experiencing a living reality of that Person in and through the many circumstances of life?”
An Eternal Covenant, echoed in time, was made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: “Let Us make man in our image.” This creature called man was created to experience a living, spiritual union with his Creator, becoming the intersection of interaction where God would come down to meet and dwell within His creation. God wanted to be known; known for the wonders of all that He is, mainly, as 1 John tells us, God being love. God wanted His creation to actually share a conscience experience, in time, of all that He is as the Eternal Reality. Throughout the Old Testament scriptures God spoke of Himself in many types and shadows, with the intent to always reveal the character, nature, and perfection of Himself. The Garden of Eden, the Tabernacle, The Law, the Temple, and countless other pictures were given to hint at God’s form, in type. God even set out a special people to be His own possession, so that He could share the deeper things of Himself with them. God, through the many stories and situations of the Old Testament was always, through a glass dimly, expressing who He is. Yet, it wasn’t until, as John 1:14 tells us, “The Word BECAME flesh and tabernacled among them and we ACTUALLY saw (for the first time) His glory,” did ALL the fulfillment of what God said, BECOME, in totality, a living experience. “In Him was Life, and this life was the light of men.” John 1:4 Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of ALL that God ever wanted to say, to us, about Himself. Jesus Christ is the summation, the quintessence, and the zenith of everything Spiritual. “…And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature…” Knowing this, we must never separate the Lord Jesus Himself from all that is said in Scripture, for the Scriptures, detached from the Person and Character of the Lord Jesus Christ, cease to be what God is saying to you and to me and become nothing more than a lifeless text. Biblical principles applied, apart from the out-flowing Source of those principles, become a fleshly, lifeless deed, simply covering man’s flesh with a religious coat.
A dear brother in the Lord said to me once, “One of the greatest needs in the Church today, if not the greatest, is the need for spiritual discernment.” Not scriptural knowledge, but spiritual discernment. I can know the scripture, study the scripture, apply scripture, yet, I can be devoid of His life when they are detached from the character and nature of the Son of God. Look what Jesus emphatically said to the Pharisees: “You search and investigate and pore over the Scriptures diligently, because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these [very Scriptures] testify about Me! And still you are not willing [but refuse] to come to Me, so that you might have life.” John 5:39-40 [Amplified] Only the Lord Jesus Himself, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, can divide and make clear what is of Him and what is not of Him. “For the Word of God [Jesus Himself] is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing soul [of man] and spirit [of God]…” Hebrews 4:12 Spiritual discernment is not simply knowing the difference between what is Christian and non Christian, good and evil, positive and negative, but rather, true spiritual discernment is knowing what is of Jesus Christ, and what is NOT of Jesus Christ, EVEN when the very Scriptures are being used. To further this point, even Satan himself used the very Scriptures to justify his motive, yet missing the content of those Scriptures, the Life that comes only from Christ. “And he said to Him, if You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written, He will give His angles charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” Matthew 4:6 Satan was quoting the very Word of God! Yet, one can know in the heart that if God is truly speaking, if after that speaking, you are left with more of Jesus.
God’s Word, God’s communication, what He has to say, is the very power in our lives, for man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes out of God’s mouth. “The message, or communication, of the Cross…to those being saved, is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 Yet, in verse 24 of that same chapter, Paul goes on to say, “Christ, the power and wisdom of God.” The Bible can hold to a form of godliness, yet deny the power there of (2 Timothy 3:5), which is denying Christ Himself, the power and wisdom of God. The only thing that God, through His Holy Spirit will speak will always magnify and glorify, in ever-increasing measure, the Son of His Love, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now here is a test. If a brother or sister, or group of believers use the Word of God as a means of justification, condemnation, proving, and the like, simply hold up the Lord Jesus in front of that scripture(s) like a piece of transparency paper and see if it’s a perfect fit. If you see the Person of the Lord Jesus line up with the quoted scripture, hold on to it, receive it, and seek to know more of it. If, however, the character of the Lord Jesus is not magnified by what is quoted or said, you have cause to “test the spirits” and discover if it is truly revealing the spoken Word of God. See, it is knowing, in experience the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when you know Him, you will also know what is NOT Him. Satan quoted scripture, but Jesus wasn’t in it. It is only what He is doing, that we are to do, it is only what He is saying that we are to say, it is only what He wants to accomplish that we are to put our hands to. “…Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He see the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” John 5:19
The life that was given to us, both physically and spiritually, was for the purpose of experiencing and enjoying all that the Lord Jesus is. He gave us ears to hear what He has to say, eyes to see what He has done, hands to use for what He wants done, and hearts to feel the love He has given, for He gave His life, what more could He give? Let us purpose in our lives to know the resurrected Christ more, and then we will know the Truth, and the Truth will make us free.
“[For my concern is] that their hearts may be braced (comforted, cheered, and encouraged) as they are knit together in love, that they may come to have all the abounding wealth and blessings of assured conviction of understanding, and that they may become progressively more intimately acquainted with and may know more definitely and accurately and thoroughly that mystic secret of God, [which is] Christ (the Anointed One). In Him all the treasures of [divine] wisdom (comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and [all the riches of spiritual] knowledge and enlightenment are stored up and lie hidden.” Colossians 2:2-3
“Therefore let no one sit in judgment on you in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath. Such [things] are only the shadow of things that are to come, and they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17
Johnny
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The Gospel According to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Man is dead. Man is spiritually dead, soulishly active, physically alive. In him lies what is called the “sin principle” that has taken up residence within him and has prostituted the human soul for its own use, will, and devises. Before conversion, this is man’s state, this is man’s truth according to the objective authority of the Scriptures. The first man, Adam, was created alive, spiritually alive if you will, meaning he shared in Divine Union with Creator God. Being alive, Adam in Divine Union receives God’s lone command, “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die‘ (Genesis 2:16-17).” The literal translation of the word “die” in this passage means, “Severance in the Divine Union.” When he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam died, or was spiritual severed in his Divine Union and cut off from Creator God. As a result, with his spirit being dead, his soul was left vacant for a new principle to take him over, the sin principle, or the flesh. However, I want you to see the emphasis God Himself puts on Adam’s act of disobedience: He doesn’t state when eating from the tree he will sin, He rather says when he eats of the tree, he will die. The term “sin” is first introduced in Genesis 4:7 when God is addressing Cain. Sin becomes progressively clear as to its definition when you read on in the Word of God, but God views man in one of two states: DEAD or ALIVE. Because Adam was our father in terms of physical creation, when Adam died, death passed to all of his human children. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, “For since by a man (Adam) came death, by a man (Jesus) also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” Here you have the great statement, the great dilemma of the ages, the great truth of all human history summed up in two words, “In Adam.” “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come…For if by the transgression of the one the many died…For if by the transgression of the one (Adam), death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of the grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:14-18).” You first have the general: Adam, mankind, humanity; you then go on to discover the specific: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins… (Ephesians 2:1)” and, “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh…(Colossians 2:13)” Before conversion, I must come to find out that 1) I am in Adam and 2) As a result of being in Adam, I am dead. This is my state, this is who I am, this is where I stand. What then is the wage, the cost, the consequence of this state in which I stand? “For the wages of sin is death…(Romans 6:23)” So now, I stand dead, spiritually separated from the life of God. I owe a debt I cannot pay because I owe “death,” but the only way to pay the debt of death would require me to be “alive.” In Adam ALL died, therefore no created, human being can pay his own debt, which is death, because he is ALREADY dead. Only One that is alive unto God can truly satisfy the debt of death for sin.
Here I start with Jesus. So you discover, that Christ, through the implantation of the Divine Seed, by the Holy Spirit, in the womb of Mary, created the first human being since Adam to be actually alive unto God, in the spiritual sense. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).” Fast-forwarding through Jesus’ life, you discover that the reason He was conceived in a virgin womb and lived the life of a man in the flesh (not sin) was for this purpose: “…to give His life (the only life alive unto God) a ransom for many (for the wages of sin is death) Matthew 20:28.” “Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice’ (John 18:37).” And what is the truth that Jesus was to testify? That the Son of God was the ONLY man who could EVER pay the wage of sin, which is death, because He was the only Man ever to be alive that had the ability to give His life a ransom for many. “No one has taken my life away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father (John 10:18).” And it is here that I take up 1 Corinthians 15. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…(1 Corinthians 15:3-4)” We must look at HOW Jesus died, was buried, and was raised again According to the Scriptures. And what “Scriptures” is Paul referring to? The Old Testament Scriptures!
I believe the Old Testament Tabernacle is God’s picture book of the Gospel. It is one of the most important topics in the Word of God, aside from Jesus Christ Himself, which by the way, is the Tabernacle. If we were to study anything in the Bible, it would behoove us to study the meaning of the Tabernacle. Why would God spend two chapters describing the creation of the known world, and yet entire books are devoted to the building and structure of this little building called the Tabernacle? You get my point. I am referencing Exodus and Leviticus in these notes…surrounding the Tabernacle all around were tall walls of Linen, secured to brass poles. At no point could you approach God through these walls. Linen in the Old Testament speaks of God’s Holiness and Righteousness (Standard); brass speaks of judgment. What is God’s standard? To be alive; “For in Him was life…” What is God’s judgment? That I am dead. “And you were dead in trespasses and sins…” God’s holiness requires holiness; He is His own standard. Because I am dead in Adam, I CANNOT approach God, for I am unholy, un-godlike in Adam. Because of this, I am subject to the brass judgment for which the linen walls are secured. This is according to the scriptures (1 Cor. 15); I cannot enter through those walls. Then, you come to discover a most beautiful door, one entrance, one way to pass through the linen and the brass. “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9).” Then look at the next verse in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I CAME that they may have life, and have life abundantly.” The door leads me to life! It is to restore to me that which was taken away in Adam. Life is the issue, life being restored to a dead race of men. In order for life to be restored though, things must be done first…
“…died for our sins according to the scriptures.” My debt of death, which is the wages of sin, must be paid. Jesus Christ, alive unto God, had to be my Substitutionary Atonement in death because I could not pay my debt. His blood had to be shed, both physical and spiritual death had to take place (Hebrews 9:27) for the remission of my sins (deeds). Here you meet, after the door, the brazen alter, in which a lamb was slain, sacrificed, and then burned. “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (remission) (Hebrews 9:22).”In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses (deeds), according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us… (Ephesians 1:7-8)” Jesus Christ, has first forgiven me of my sins because of His shed blood, my deeds are no longer credited to my account. I have been justified. “…died for our sins according to the scriptures (according to the pattern of the Tabernacle).”
“…and that He was buried…” My sins (deeds) have been forgiven, the remission of a dead man’s deeds have been accomplished, and that dead man’s deeds are no longer credited to his account, past, present, or future. But what about the dead man? Its like a criminal acquitted for all his wrong doings, and yet he still sits, locked up in a jail cell! What is that jail cell? ADAM. I STILL am in ADAM. I must now, after being forgiven, but still dead in Adam, be TAKEN OUT OF Adam and placed into another Man, the Last Adam, the Man, Christ Jesus. I must pass from death unto life. Once the lamb was slain on the Day of Atonement upon the brazen alter for the remission of sins, the High Priest would take that shed blood of the lamb and place it onto the head of another lamb, the scapegoat. There was an identification of all that that blood represented, transferred, and then taken away. This is burial. A fit man would lead the scapegoat so far away so as to never return. I have been taken out of Adam and placed into Christ’s death as a dead man, there to be spiritually judge with him in baptism, in burial. “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried through baptism into death…(Romans 6:3-4)” “For He rescued us (taken us out of )from the domain of darkness (Adam), and transferred (placed) us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).” See, redemption and rescuing are TWO DISTINCT THINGS according to the Apostle Paul. Redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and rescuing, the taking me out of Adam and placing me into Christ. You want to define Paul’s Gospel in two words? It would be “In Christ,” “In Christ,” “In Christ;” that term is used by Paul over 100 times in his letters. Out of Adam, into Christ. Out of death into life. Its a matter of life. Even the most favorite of Scriptures, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes INTO Christ, shall not perish, but have eternal life,” states, “INTO Christ” in the literal translation; I am believing INTO Christ, meaning by believing into Christ, I must be TAKEN OUT OF where I currently am…in Adam.
“…and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” After the High Priest would pass through the holy place, into the holy of hollies, and sprinkle the blood of the shed lamb upon the mercy seat, he would then come out and proclaim to the people that the work for the day had been finished and God had accepted the sacrifice! That is resurrection: the proclamation that God accepts the sacrifice. They would then feast in celebration. “…so also in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22),” “…certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection (Romans 6:5),” “…even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him…(Ephesians 2:5-6),” “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old (Adam) things have passed away; behold new (Christ) things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17).”
This is what I believe is the simple and vital Gospel: I am dead in Adam; the wages of being in Adam is death; I cannot pay my wages for being in Adam; Christ came to pay my wages, which was death; Christ came also to take me out of Adam and place me into Himself; Christ then raised me up together with Him to a new life and for me to be forever acceptable to God. Christ + NOTHING = Salvation. May we continue to discover more of the unfathomable riches that are found in our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.” Romans 16:25-27
Johnny
Why I am NOT a home church advocate…
There is a growing “movement” in this country called home church. It is proclaimed to be the next great work of God on the earth. From someone who has meet in homes for over 40 years I would humbly submit that meeting in homes as opposed to meeting in a building is, in fact, missing the whole point. The early church and we who meet in homes do so for one simple reason. It was and is the best and most practical way to enable the local body of Christ to build itself up in love and supply that which every joint needs to supply in order to maintain a healthy spiritual life and walk. If hanging upside down in a barn would better serve that end then I would be a “hang upside down in a barn” church advocate. We are, in fact, a family and families normally reside in homes. Meeting in a home can be the way to encourage brothers and sisters to step out into the awesome glory of body ministry but it can also be a vehicle for control, abuse and manipulation. Which one it becomes is determined by your understanding of the true purpose of our Heavenly Father. He did not send His son to be crucified, buried and rise again so that you won’t have to feel bad or guilty about the sins you committed against Him. That is purely a man-centered, self-centered perversion of the Gospel. Our vision must be changed forever. The glory of God which is found in His son Jesus Christ must explode again into our hearts and blind us to all but Him. Much as it did to Paul on the Damascus road. He did not come just to change my destination, from hell to heaven, but to change my destiny, Christ in me …the hope of glory. He did not bear the cross just to get you from hell into heaven (although a glorious by-product) but to get heaven into you on earth. He taught His disciples to pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done ON EARTH as it is being done IN HEAVEN! To meet in a home will give us the “opportunity” to experience that heavenly calling and ministry…each member giving from their heart for the common good unto the building up of the body of Christ. But without the spiritual understanding of His great purpose, meeting in a home or anywhere else, for that matter, will not benefit us in any discernable or appreciable way. Christians can assemble in many different ways but to be “gathered together” (meaning of the Greek word “ecclesia”) it takes the power of the Holy Spirit and the working of the cross into each member, so that Christ, and Christ alone is the Head and Lord of His body. We have found that this is much more likely to happen when we meet together in someone’s home. It is a mighty work of the Spirit to create an atmosphere conducive to encouraging ALL the members to bring forth from their heart. Meeting in a home is much more inviting and enabling for the quiet ones to open their hearts to share. When we are gathered (one locality) together (one heart and mind) the freedom (personal) and liberality (corporate) of His body works together to the building up of itself in love. It is truly awesome and glorious to behold. But to just move from a building to someone’s home will not bring that to pass by any stretch of the imagination
I do believe the Lord Jesus Christ IS calling His own out of the religious system, a system that traditionally meets in buildings, but moving from a building to a home will not change anything in the heart. Just because I have left the system of things (i.e. a building, pastor, etc.) does not mean the system has left me. In observing different home churches, the saddest thing I have ever witnessed is brethren trying to meet in a home with the same “mindset” they met in a building. One even had a podium for the speaker and a section set apart for the “choir”. Meeting in a home is not the answer to the cry of the heart for so many brothers and sisters desiring a richer and more satisfying relationship with Christ and His body. The answer is and forever will be a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. But from that relationship we must quickly be lead of the Spirit to see the necessity of the corporate expression of Christ, found in his body. His desire is to manifest a family of believers for the world to behold. For meeting in a home without the accompanying work of the Holy Spirit in your understanding will just make the meeting smaller, cramped, awkward and just as lifeless as before. A change of location, building to house, will not change you in your heart. The answer is seeing what the Holy Spirit is presently doing in the earth. I am convinced that work is… building His Church by emptying us so that we might be filled up with Christ and then taking those individual parts and joining them to each other, forming (1 Peter 2:9)… a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; Meeting in a home should be the natural consequence of understanding in your own heart what the Lord is working to accomplish in his church. Our Father by very definition desires a family. He is calling us out…that He might bring us in. Into a deep and life fulfilling relationship with Himself and His family. He is calling out His true bride and she is making herself ready by the wisdom and enablement of the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to become that Bride sitting in a building for 1 hour a week, staring at the back of someone’s head, listening to man tell you what God wants you to do today. It is just as impossible to meet in a home with the same man-centered, self-centered mindset and think you will be any better off there than where you were before.
For the Lamb of God to receive the reward of His suffering we must make Jesus Christ, first and foremost, in every aspect of our lives. We must seek understanding as to how that is best accomplished in practical ways. Our Father is working by His Spirit to bring His Son into pre-eminence in ALL things. He MUST have first place in everything we are and do. Gathering together in a home can be a great tool to assist in that purpose and calling but it is not a magical pill to answer the trials and issues of the church.
Home Church Orlando 