THE REAL JESUS CHRIST — PART 4

[SW400] 10/19/2019 message notes by 

Pastor Susan J. Wynn ©2019

“The Real Jesus Christ — Part 4”

Text: Colossians 1:21-23, etc.

The church is flooded with many strange teachings about who Jesus is. I will not directly refute such false teachings in this message, but will use the Word of God to show today’s believers “The Real Jesus Christ.”

The Spirit-filled Paul did the same, with the believers at Colossae. Just like many of today’s believers, they had abandoned the true teaching of the gospel, and were accepting false teaching about Jesus Christ. 

By abandoning the true gospel through which they had been saved, the believers at Colossae revealed that they were infants in Christ (1Corinthians 3:1), unable to discern the true from the false. They were accepting another Jesus, and a different gospel (see 2Corinthians 11:4). 

Therefore, Paul urgently wrote to them from his Roman prison cell, warning them that they were in danger of moving away from (literally, changing their position) regarding their salvation (see Colossians 1:23), because they were following and believing these false teachings —

Colossians 2:18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize (salvation, per Strong’s Concordance) by delighting in self-abasement (i.e., self flagellation and depriving oneself of physical needs) and the worship of the angels . . . 

Colossians 2:20-21   If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ²¹ “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”

Again, by following such things, they were in grave danger of changing their position regarding their salvation — that is, removing themselves from their saved position! The Lord does not want you to do as they were doing, beloved! 

You may say, “What? Once I am saved, I am always saved! Pastor Sue, you are wrong.”  So, before I teach Colossians 1:21-23, I want first to assure you that I checked the most highly respected commentaries on this.

From The Expositor’s Bible Commentary —

If the Bible teaches the final perseverance of the saints, it also teaches that the saints are those who finally persevere (that is, persevere to the end)— in Christ. Continuance is the test of the reality.

And from The New International Commentary on the New Testament —

What Paul has said in Verse 22 is what they can look forward to, provided they remain on the one foundation for faith. Their first enthusiasm was being dimmed. They were in danger of shifting from the fixed ground of Christian hope. 

“Holding fast” to that hope (literally, faith) is throughout the NT an indispensable condition for attaining the goal of full salvation to be revealed at the end of things.

So, salvation is conditional. The following are Bible verses that confirm that salvation is conditional — 

Paul, to the believers at Corinth:

2Corinthians 5:20   Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

2Corinthians 6:1   And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain — ²  for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to You, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is “the acceptable time, behold now is “the day of salvation.”

2Corinthians 13:5  Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?

Paul, to the believers at Galatia:

Galatians 1:6-7  I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting (turning from) Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; ⁷ which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 4:19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you — ²⁰ but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. 

Galatians 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law (i.e., outward works); you have fallen from grace.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived (literally, roam from truth), God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. ⁸ For the one who sows to his own flesh (pleasing his sinful nature) will from the flesh reap corruption (perishing), but the one who sows to the Spirit (pleases God by being filled with the Spirit and thereby becoming a partaker of the divine nature) will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Peter, to all believers:

2Peter 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness . . .

Hebrews 10:26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

Jesus Christ, to five of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, and to all believers:

Revelation 2:5 (To the church at Ephesus) “Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place — unless you repent.”

Revelation 2:16 (To the church at Pergamum) “Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them (literally, you yourselves) with the sword of My mouth.”

Revelation 2:20, 23 (To the church at Thyatira) “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ²³ And I will kill her children (her followers) with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

Revelation 3:1, 5  (To the church at Sardis) “ . . . He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. ⁵ He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

Revelation 3:16, 19 (To the church at Laodicea) “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit (literally, vomit) you out of My mouth. ¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”

These scriptures clearly show that it is possible to remove yourself from your salvation. That is why Paul exhorted the believers at Colossae. Again, they were in danger of removing themselves from their saved position because they were following false teaching, a false gospel. 

Now, I will teach from Verses 21-23 of Colossians 1.

Verse 21-23a —

Colossians 1:21 And although you were formerly alienated (estranged from God) and hostile (hateful toward God) in mind, engaged in evil deeds (sins), ²² yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy (pure) and blameless (spotless) and beyond reproach (unable to be accused) — ²³ if indeed you continue (literally, remain) in the faith . . . 

Beloved, you must remain a believer in the real Jesus Christ, not the Jesus Christ that many false teachers are proclaiming in today’s church! Otherwise, you are in danger of removing yourself from your saved position!

The believers at Colossae were formerly estranged from God and hateful toward Him. They chose to do evil, just as you and I did, before we were reconciled to God through Christ. 

Beloved, this was your state, before you believed into Jesus, regardless of natural good deeds you had done. All humans are born alienated (estranged, separated) and actively enemies of God in mind, by the evil works they do. Even if you were perfect in all of the outward good works you do, you were still born with a sin nature in you, as a child of Adam.

Paul quotes from Psalm 14:2-3 and Psalm 53:1-3, in his letter to the church at Rome —

Romans 3:10, 12 . . . as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; ¹² all have turned aside, together they have become useless (corrupt); there is none who does good, not even one.”

Yet! Oh, the mercies of our God! Despite your complete lack of righteousness and inability to do good in God’s eyes, you were reconciled to God. How? By Jesus Christ’s death on a cross. 

You were reconciled when you first believed into Jesus Christ. Your reconciliation to God through the cross of Jesus Christ made it possible for Jesus Christ to present you before Himself pure and spotless and unable to be accused, when you stand before Him in the day of judgment.

But I tell you the truth, when I first believed, I know that in no way was I pure and spotless and unable to be accused! I confessed Jesus Christ as my Lord at the age of 42, but I continued to sin against God the Father and God the Son — even through my own belief system. Though I was hearing sermons about the real Jesus Christ, I still believed much false teaching, including new age teaching. So, I was in the same perilous position as the believers at Colossae.

But then, at the age of 45, I obeyed His commands to stay in the city until I was clothed with power from on high, and wait for the promise of  the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit (see Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5). 

The Father was faithful to keep His promise! I was filled with the Spirit and my sin nature was crucified. Sin is no longer in me, so I no longer sin against the Lord. He made me pure and spotless and unable to be accused by Him in the day of judgment.

What is more, the Father and the Son and the Spirit now fully and permanently indwell me (John 14:23). And the Holy Spirit continually teaches me all the truth (John 16:13). So, when I hear false teaching — anything contrary to the Word of God and the true gospel of Jesus Christ —  I immediately reject it. 

Do you see that there is a condition for your salvation, beloved? There is an “if.” You will be presented pure and spotless and unable to be accused by Jesus Christ in the day of judgment if you continue (remain) in the faith, But you cannot remain saved when you continue to sin. And you cannot remain saved if you follow the false teaching that abounds in today’s church. You remove yourself from your salvation by your sin and by the false teaching you follow.

But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high! Wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit! When you do, Jesus Christ will make you pure and spotless and unable to be accused when you stand before Him in the day of judgment. 

Then you will be able to determine whether what you hear from teachers is true or false. And then you will remain in the faith, steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord (1Corinthians 15:58). 

Beloved, you cannot make yourself holy and spotless and unable to be accused by Him in the day of judgment! He is the One who works it, so all praise and honor and glory goes to Him!

Verse 23b —

Again, you will be presented to Him pure and spotless and unable to be accused in the day of judgment if indeed you remain in the faith, firmly established (standing) in it, and steadfastly holding onto it, not moved away from (literally, removed from) the hope (faith) of the gospel you have heard. It is the gospel which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, by Paul and others, both then and now. And it is the gospel of which Paul was made a minister.

If you continue to sin, you will not be presented to Him pure and spotless and unable to be accused by Him, in the day of judgment. No one who sins will enter the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ says this —

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE (DO) LAWLESSNESS (SIN).’”

If you follow false teachers who do not teach the real Jesus Christ, you will not be presented by Jesus Christ to Himself pure and spotless and unable to be accused by Him, in the day of judgment. Why? You have removed yourself from His salvation.

So, the believers at Colossae were in a perilous position, in danger of removing themselves from their saved position and once again becoming estranged from God. They were following false teachers, and believing a false gospel. By doing so, they sinned against the Lord. 

The believers at Colossae had no spiritual discernment, but were infants in Christ who had decided to believe in another Jesus, just as with the believers at Corinth. The cure for their position would have been for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul prayed for them to be filled, in Colossians 1:9-11. And that is why I pray for today’s church to be filled!

So, who are you listening to, beloved? When you stand before Jesus Christ in the day of judgment, will you be found by Him to be pure and spotless and unable to be accused? You will exclaim, “Yes!” if you are filled with the Holy Spirit. 

If you say, “No,” then heed His words today and ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit! Then you, too, will be steadfast and immovable, and always abounding in His work! Then you will no longer be in danger of removing yourself from your saved position. It is very good news for you, beloved! So, repent, believe and obey!

Lord Jesus, I pray believers would hear and heed these truths. Let it be so, I pray. Amen.

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ISAIAH SESSION 29 — ACTIONS OF THE REBELLIOUS

Text: Isaiah 30:1-18

If I were going to give today’s teaching a title, it would be, “Actions of the Rebellious.” When the LORD’s people — then and now — seek alliance with man, trusting in man’s wisdom, man’s ways, and man’s power and protection, they rebel against the LORD. 

The LORD says —

Isaiah 2:22  Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; for why should he be esteemed?

To put your trust in man instead of Him is to rebel against Him. That is sin. But He longs to be gracious to you, if you repent!

Verse 1 —

Woe to the rebellious children, declares the LORD! What do His rebellious children do? They execute a plan, but not His, and make an alliance, but not of His Spirit. Their plan is to flee to Egypt, because 150 years from this prophecy of Isaiah, the Babylonians will overrun Jerusalem. They will put their trust in Egypt, but will not trust the LORD, who is and has always been their Redeemer (29:22).  

I tell you the truth — both then and now, believers and church leaders who are already sinning will not trust the Lord. And if you distrust the Lord, you surely will rebel against Him. Sin is rebellion against the Lord, beloved. Therefore, you add sin to sin —  adding the sin of distrust of the Lord to the sin you are already doing. Woe to you! He has sent me to exhort you to repent, and to warn you of the consequences of trusting in the world system that defies God, instead of trusting in Him.

Many commentators believe this chapter refers to the Ahaz-Assyria alliance, but I can find no scripture to support that view. They base their thinking on Isaiah 30:31-33, a judgment of Assyria by the LORD. Yes, King Ahaz of Judah sent a delegation to Assyria to seek help in defeating Syria and northern Israel (2Kings 16:7-9). But in this later prophecy, the LORD says, “They shall flee,” not “they shall send a delegation.”

Verse 2 —

What do the rebellious children do? They proceed (run) down to Egypt, to rely on them for salvation. They do not consult with the LORD, though they asked Jeremiah to consult Him for them. They reject the words the LORD speaks to them through His prophets —

Jeremiah 43:1-2   But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the LORD their God had sent, had finished telling all the people all the words of the LORD their God — that is, all these words . . .  all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there.’”

It is the same today. When the truth is spoken by His servants, rebellious believers accuse them of lying. Jesus says they rebel because they are not yet His sheep —

John 10:4, 27 “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. ²⁷ “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me . . . “

So, Judah will rebel and flee and will take refuge in Pharaoh, and seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! But the LORD is their true refuge, and He is the One under whose wings they will find shelter. But because they are sinning, they will not seek Him for refuge and shelter, but man.

O church, hear these words! I am a watchman for the LORD (Ezekiel 33:7), and I see you relying on men to save you from being overwhelmed by those who would destroy you. You open your doors and welcome alliances with the world system that defies the Lord, in order to keep your doors open!

Verse 3 —

Because of the actions of His rebellious people, the LORD says that the safety of Pharaoh will be Judah’s shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, their humiliation. Nebuchadnezzar will overrun Egypt, and His people who will flee there will perish.

Verses 4-5 —

The captains of Judah will lead the people to their deaths. Their messengers who will travel ahead of them will arrive at Hanes (another name for Tahpanhes), on the eastern border of Egypt.

But everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them. Judah’s efforts to find shelter in Egypt will not profit them. Instead, Egypt will be for shame and for reproach (rebuke).

Where are you seeking shelter, beloved? Where are you fleeing? Turn back to the Lord, not to man, for man cannot help you, O believer! He sees your rebellious heart, and He will change it when you repent and ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit.

Verses 6-7—

This is an oracle — both a vision and a word — given to Isaiah by the LORD. The commanders of Judah will send bribes to Egypt, through the messengers that are sent ahead of the remnant.

The Negev is a vast and inhospitable place. Their trip will be full of distress and anguish, full of lionesses and lions, vipers and darting, venomous serpents! Across this dangerous terrain, young donkeys and camels will carry the few treasures of Judah that have been hidden from the Babylonians.

 

But Egypt will not profit them. Her help is vain (emptiness) and empty (emptiness)! Therefore, the LORD calls her Rahab, who will be exterminated (who does nothing). Egypt’s strength will cease, for Babylon will overrun her!

Verse 8 —

The LORD tells Isaiah to write the oracle on a tablet before Judah, and inscribe it on a scroll. Remember that a tablet is a large stone that Isaiah will display in a place where all of Judah will see it. 

What is the purpose of recording the LORD’s words through Isaiah on both a tablet and a scroll? So the tablet and scroll, and the words inscribed on them, will serve as a witness against Judah, that the LORD warned them not to go to Egypt. The LORD already knows they will disobey all the warnings of His prophets, and flee to Egypt and perish. 

Verses 9-11 —

Who are the rebellious, in the LORD’s eyes — then and now? His own people. They are false sons (untrue, deceiving, lying, faithless). What are the actions of the rebellious false sons?

— They refuse to listen to the instruction of the LORD.
— They say to the seers, “You must not see visions,” for they do not like the words that the LORD’s true seers speak.

— They say to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right,” because when the LORD’s true prophets speak, they are convicted of their sin. But they want to remain in their sin which they love.

— They say to the prophets, “Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions (deceits).” They want to hear false words that make them feel good. 

— They say, “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us (literally, make Him leave)!”

Verse 12-15 —

Because they reject the LORD and His instruction and His words through His prophets, they sin. Therefore, their sin will be like a breach about to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse comes suddenly, in an instant. 

Their instant collapse will be like the smashing of a potter’s jar, so ruthlessly shattered (so fractured) that the pieces (shards) of pottery will be too small to be useful, even for scooping fire from a hearth, or scooping water from a cistern (shallow well). 

Just as with the church today, Judah does not see that man’s wisdom, ways, and strength will collapse, in the same way a high wall collapses when it is breached. All that Judah trusts in, and all that today’s church trusts in, will collapse. 

For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel! If He says they will suddenly collapse, then they will surely suddenly collapse. He is Lord, He is God, He is the Holy One of Israel, He is the Deliverer whom they reject!

An interesting aside about the bulge in the wall — The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem has developed a bulge. It is a sign to His people the Jews, who continue to reject their Messiah, Jesus Christ. They go to the Wailing Wall to wail for the temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and to cry out for the Lord to restore it. They place all of their trust in the temple, but the temple cannot deliver them! They have rejected their Deliverer, Jesus Christ, who is God the Son. Therefore, I expect to see the wailing wall suddenly collapse.

Verses 15-16 —

What are the actions of the rebellious? In repentance and rest (sticking fast to the LORD, like glue), they will be saved. In quietness (settling down with the LORD, as in a marriage) and trust (in the LORD), they will find strength (exchanging theirs for His, per Isaiah 40:31). But they are not willing, just as the church today and believers today trust in everything but Jesus Christ!

Instead, Judah and all rebellious believers will say, No! We will flee on horses! So the LORD says, you will flee! Judah will say, We will ride on swift horses! Therefore, the LORD says those who pursue you (hunt you down) will be swift. 

I tell you the truth, O church, O believer, if you place your trust in the world system that defies the Lord instead of placing your trust in the Lord, your pursuer, Satan, will catch you. You will not be victorious against him. Your previous victories will be completely reversed because of your rebellion.

Verse 17 —

One thousand will flee at the threat of one pursuer; you will flee at the threat of five pursuers, says the LORD to Judah and to today’s church and today’s believers who trust in man’s ways and wisdom and strength instead of trusting in the Lord!

The remnant who will remain will be like a pole on a mountaintop. They will be a sign to them and their enemies of what He will do when they rebel against the LORD.

Their defeat will be a direct reversal of their victories. No longer would one of Judah’s men put to flight a thousand (Joshua 23:10), but a thousand Judeans would flee at just one pursuer. 

When Joshua was old, he gathered Israel to remind them that the LORD promises deliverance and victory IF they obey Him —

Joshua 23:11   Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God. ¹² Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them (take them into yourselves), and they to you: ¹³ Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. (KJV)

O church full of sin, O believer who has been taught there is no deliverance from sin, hear the word of the Lord! He will not fight for you, because you stick like glue to man’s ways and wisdom, and not to Him! You have married the world system, instead of Him! Therefore, return to the Lord!

Verse 18 —

I will speak about this verse more fully in the next session of “Return to the LORD.” But know that the LORD longs (waits) to be gracious to you — both the His people the Jews, and His people the church. He waits on high to have compassion on you (be merciful to you)!

Lord Jesus, may today’s believers and today’s church leaders hear and heed these words, and turn back to You, for surely, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are Your ways higher than man’s ways, and Your thoughts higher than man’s thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). Amen. 

THE REAL JESUS CHRIST — PART 3

[SW399] 10/12/2019 message notes by 

Pastor Susan J. Wynn ©2019

“The Real Jesus Christ — Part 3”

Text: Colossians 1:18-20, etc.

After my message two weeks ago, Lord showed me that I should now break Colossians 1:13-23 into a few verses at a time, and teach “The Real Jesus Christ” as a series. 

The church is flooded with many strange teachings about who Jesus is. I will not directly refute such false teachings in this message, but will use the Word of God to show today’s believers “The Real Jesus Christ.”

The Spirit-filled Paul did the same, with the believers at Colossae. Just like many of today’s believers, they had abandoned the true teaching of Paul, and were accepting false teaching about Jesus Christ. 

They thus revealed that they were still infants in Christ (1Corinthians 3:1), unable to discern the true from the false. They were accepting another Jesus, and a different gospel. Paul exhorted the believers at Corinth —

2Corinthians 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

I will now show you the real Jesus Christ, from Colossians 1:18-20.  

Verse 18 —

He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 

I will separate this verse into two sections. 

Verse 18a —

He (Jesus Christ) is also head of the body, the church. He alone is the Authority. 

Why is He the head of the body, the church? Because He is King over His kingdom. And it is His kingdom to which all believers belong. 

It is a scriptural truth that He appoints apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11), to bring the Body of Christ to the point of being filled with the Spirit (see Ephesians 4:12-13). But they are not the head of the church. Jesus Christ is the Head, and they are simply His servants who He has assigned to exhort His Body to be filled, and to teach and encourage them.

So, He is the Head, and you are part of the Body of Christ, which is the church. Just as a headless human body cannot remain alive, if you are not connected to Him, you cannot remain spiritually alive. God has not changed — sin will separate you from your God (Isaiah 59:1-2), disconnecting you from Him.

Beloved, in order to remain connected to Him, you must obey His command to stay (Luke 24:49) and wait (Acts 1:4-5) to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you do, your sin nature is crucified, so you no longer disobey the Lord.

As the Head, Jesus Christ tells the His Body — the church — what to do. A human body requires a brain in order to know what to do. You must be connected to Christ in order to know what to do, and to have His power and wisdom to do it. Sadly, many believers are disconnected from Him, and do natural works in their own power and wisdom. God is not glorified by such things!

Verse 18b —

. . .  And He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He will come to have first place in everything . . . First place means “preeminence,” first in rank, a superlative. Again it means that He is the Authority, the Head, of His church. 

As I have taught before, in no way does “firstborn” mean there was a time when He was not God the Son, but was a mere human. As Paul and John and I have already said, Jesus Christ has eternally existed with God the Father. 

He is the beginning — the first One — to be raised from the dead, defeating death. He ascended to God the Father, 40 days after He rose from the dead. 

He is the first One. Therefore, others will also defeat death. Who? Obedient believers! For such ones, death has no victory, death has no sting, as Paul writes in 1Corinthians 15:54! I will take you there, after I show you a few other scriptures that explain what happens to believers when they die.

The physical bodies of obedient believers will “fall asleep” and be buried. But from the moment they die, their spirits will immediately be with the Lord! The Spirit-filled Paul writes —

2Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. ⁹ Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

As for our resurrected bodies, Paul writes —

1Corinthians 15:20   But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep (that is, believers whose bodies have died). ²¹ For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also (all) in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, ²⁴ then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 

And at the end of things, believers bodies will be raised, but their resurrected bodies will not be like the body that was buried. They will receive a spiritual body that is not at all like a physical body. Listen to Paul’s words about these things —

1Corinthians 15:42   So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

1Corinthians 15:54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” ⁵⁵ “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (See Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14.)

Verse 19 —

For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him . . . 

When I preached Colossians 1:13-23 a couple of weeks ago, I believed that this verse was simply a reference to Jesus Christ being filled with the Holy Spirit, as an example to us of what believers are commanded by Him to do. But when I studied  it again for today’s message, the Lord showed me something I had not seen.

Per The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, I now see that the meaning here is much more profound. It pleased the Father to have “the fullness of deity” permanently dwell in Jesus Christ, God the Son, when He walked the earth. 

“The fullness of deity” means Jesus Christ was fully God when He walked the earth. He was all that God is, having absolutely every aspect of God the Father’s godhood, and doing what only God can do.

So, I have learned something new! But it must be supported by other scriptures. And my deeper understanding of the meaning of “all the fullness to dwell in Him” is confirmed by Paul later in Colossians —

Colossians 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority . . .

The Father is always pleased to fulfill His Word. But beloved, do you know what will please the Father now? Your obedience to Jesus Christ’s command to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you obey Jesus’ command, God the Father will fulfill His Word, spoken in Isaiah 44:3, Jeremiah 31:31-33, and in this passage from Ezekiel  — 

Ezekiel 36:26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” 

When He puts His Spirit within you, that means you are filled with His Spirit. It is only then that you become a partaker (sharer) of the divine nature. You are not God, but God the Father and God the Son permanently and fully indwell you (John 14:23). 

Therefore, you walk in the same manner as Jesus walked (1John 2:6) and are as He is in this world (1John 4:17). That is what Jesus means, when He says, “And you will be my witnesses,” (see Acts 1:8). You will be a living representation of Him!

Verse 20 —

. . . And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

“Reconciled” in this verse means “to fully establish peace.” Through Jesus Christ’s blood, God the Father opened the way for peace between you and Him. The condition? You must believe into Jesus Christ.

It is by His shed blood that you are fully reconciled to God the Father —

Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being (peace with God) fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed (in our relationship with God).

Jesus Christ not only made the way for peace to fully be established between God and you, but at the end of things, He will establish a new heavens (universe) and a new earth, to replace that which has been corrupted from the moment the Lord judged Adam for His sin. 

The old earth and heavens will be destroyed in this way —

2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

And John saw the revelation of the new heavens and new earth —

Revelation 21:1   Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 

“Reconcile all things to Himself” does not mean that all people will automatically be reconciled to God even those who have rejected God the Son. But that if they believe into God the Son, they will be reconciled, and no longer under God’s wrath, as John the Baptist says — 

John 3:36 “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.”

Remember, beloved, it is only through belief into Jesus Christ, God the Son, that God the Father rescues you from evil control and transfers you to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). 

You were saved when you believed into Jesus Christ. Remember, though, that your salvation is conditional, per Colossians 1:23 and elsewhere. I will show it to you next week.

So, the cost of your reconciliation with God the Father was the very blood of Jesus Christ. But the Father was pleased to do it, because it fulfilled His Word that He would make a way for you to be at peace with Him —

Isaiah 53:10   But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; 

if He would render Himself as a guilt offering . . .

Jesus Christ Himself refers to the truth that His blood would signify a new covenant, a new promise, a new contract between God and all who believe into Him —

Matthew 26:26   While they (He and His disciples) were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” ²⁷ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; ²⁸ for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” 

Yet many denominations refuse to speak of the blood shed on the cross by Jesus Christ. They teach a bloodless salvation, which contradicts the Bible entirely. Such ones do not know the Lord at all, but only know some things about Him!

Now, what will you do with what the Lord has asked me to show you? 

Do you see that the Lord asked me to show this to you because of all of the false teaching about Jesus in today’s church? 

Do you see that He is the Head of His body, the church at large? Do you see that in many churches, He is not the Head, or they would not say what they say and do what they do — things completely contrary to the Word of God? Do you see that such ones do not know the Lord, but only know some things about Him?

Do you see that much of the church teaches, at best, only part of the real Jesus? Do you see that such ones do not know the Lord, but only know some things about Him?

Do you understand that some churches go so far as to say that Jesus needs our help in order to save people? Do you see that they do not know Jesus, but only know some things about Him? 

I tell you the truth, He does not need our help, but the Father and the Son have chosen to use humans who are filled with His Holy Spirit, who obey Him and who are representations of Him! Do you see that when you are a living representation of Him, it will be obvious that it is God’s work, and God will thereby be glorified?

Do you see that in many churches, teachers, preachers, prophets and leaders seek to be glorified, and thus they do not glorify God in any way? Again, do you see that such ones do not know the Lord, but just know a few things about Him?

Do you see that much of the church teaches that Jesus is like us, and had fears and worries and even depression? They do it so you can “identify” better with Him, and to make Him more user-friendly and acceptable to you. Thus they reveal they do not know Him, but only know some things about Him?

I have shown you that He never was like us, but eternally was fully God, and was fully God on the earth, and is fully God now! Again, do you see that ones that teach that “Jesus is like us” do not know Him?

The Lord has set my hand to teach you the real Jesus Christ, so you would no longer follow a Jesus that is false. So, I will continue, in all my messages, to do what He has called me to do.

Lord Jesus, may believers who see and hear this message also see the truth, repent from following falsehood, and ask You to forgive them and fill them, so they are Your living representatives here. So be it. Amen.

ISAIAH SESSION 28 — RISING FROM THE ASHES

Text: Isaiah 29

If I were going to give today’s teaching a title, it would be, “Rising from the Ashes.” The LORD calls Jerusalem Ariel, which means altar hearth. 

In those days in Jerusalem, animals were burned on altars, as sacrifices to the LORD. Only ashes remained, and they covered the altar hearth. But in Isaiah 29, the LORD promises that Jerusalem, which is covered with ashes, will rise from her ashes. 

It was true for me. I was a pile of ashes on an altar hearth! But Jesus Christ raised me up from the ashes, when I repented. He saved me, and three years later, healed me of MS, an incurable disease, and two months after that, filled me with His Holy Spirit. 

He will do the same for you, beloved. You may be a pile of ashes because of His discipline and punishment, but if you will repent, He will raise you up! Glory to God!

Verse 1 —

Isaiah speaks the LORD’s words. Woe, O Ariel, Ariel, Altar Hearth, Altar Hearth, the city where David camped. Add year to year, observe your feasts on schedule. Every feast was held as the Law of Moses specified, every tradition was followed, but His people’s hearts were not in it. 

They mechanically went through the motions of worshiping the LORD. The feasts were a remembrance of the LORD’s faithfulness and mercy toward them, delivering them from Egypt, providing for their needs in the wilderness wanderings, bringing them into the promised land — but they paid no heed. Instead, they strayed, worshiping other gods who were false and could not save them.

It is the same today. Much of the church worships mechanically, while their hearts are far from the Lord. They love the world system, blind to the truth that, by doing so, they defy the Lord. And the world’s ways and wisdom cannot save them!

Verses 2-3 —

So, the LORD will bring distress to Ariel, the altar hearth, and she will lament and mourn, and she will be like an Ariel, an altar hearth, to Me, says the LORD. She will be covered with the consequences of her sin. 

He will camp against her, encircling her, and will set up siege works (siege ramps) against her, and He will raise up battle towers against her. Jeremiah prophesied it and saw it —

Jeremiah 6:6  For thus says the LORD of hosts, “Cut down her trees and cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, in whose midst there is only oppression.

Jeremiah 52:4 Now it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and built a siege wall all around it. ⁵ So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

Verse 4 —

Then you, Ariel, will be brought low. You will be humbled. From the earth you will speak. You will be laid out on the ground, face-down, and you will speak to Me. 

And from the dust where you are prostrated before Me, your words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit (a hollow-sounding mumble) from the ground. And your speech will whisper from the dust. 

From my own experience, I know that it is a very good thing to be brought low by the LORD! It is a very good thing to be so weak and so near death that you can only mumble hollowly and whisper a prayer of repentance to the LORD, a petition for Him to forgive you! 

Ah! Repentance! That is what He seeks from you! I have prayed, “Lord, whatever it takes,” on behalf of those who stubbornly refuse Him and rebel against Him.

Verse 5 — 

After they have mumbled hollowly and whispered a prayer of true repentance, the LORD will deal with their captors, Babylon. He will end the Babylonian Empire by way of Media and Persia, as I have taught you. Remember that Babylon is also a symbol of the world system that defies the LORD. 

Verses 6-8 —

From the LORD of hosts, Babylon will be made like fine dust which blows away at the slightest breeze. The multitude of the ruthless ones will be like chaff which blows away at the slightest breeze. It is His judgment, a judgment from the LORD of hosts! Jeremiah prophesies —

Jeremiah 50:29  “Summon many against Babylon, all those who bend the bow: encamp against her on every side, let there be no escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, so do to her; for she has become arrogant against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.”

And it will happen instantly, suddenly! Remember that when Babylon is judged at the end of things, her judgment will come in one hour (Revelation 18:10)! And in one night, Balshazzar’s reign ended and the Medo-Persians overran and obliterated the entire Babylonian Empire (Daniel 5:30)!

The LORD of hosts will punish Babylon with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire! Surely, this prophecy not only applies to Babylon’s demise at the hands of the Medo-Persian army, but also the end times, when the world system that defies God will be consumed by fire! 

And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Jerusalem, those who wage war against her stronghold and who distress her will be like a dream, a vision of the night. They will evaporate, they will be as nothing. It will be the same for the world system that defies God, at the end of things.

Babylon and all of the nations will be hungry and thirsty, and nothing will be able to save them from starvation and dehydration. They will dream of eating food, but when they awaken, they will be hungry. 

They will dream of drinking water, but when they awaken, they will be faint, dying from lack of water. Their thirst will not  be quenched. They will perish from starvation and dehydration. 

When the LORD judges the whole earth, it will be the same for the multitude of nations who defy Him — all those who wage war against Mount Zion, His holy mountain which He created.

And it is also true of the world system that already wages war against those who believe into Jesus Christ and love and obey Him! They will perish. Yet if they had turned to the LORD, He would have given them His living water, eternal life! 

But they perished because they loved their sin! They reviled the Holy Spirit’s conviction, through Spirit-filled believers, regarding sin and righteousness and judgment, says Jesus Christ —

John 16:8 “And He (the Holy Spirit), when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; ¹¹ and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

Verses 9-10 —

The LORD again addresses Ariel, Jerusalem, His people who have not repented. Be delayed (be reluctant to repent) and wait (be amazed and wonder). What will cause them to be amazed and wonder? Their  transformation into an altar hearth full of ashes!

Blind yourselves and be blind. They have blinded themselves. It has been their choice to be blind. Jesus spoke to His disciples regarding the Pharisees —

Matthew 15:14 “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Become drunk, but not with wine. Stagger, but not with strong drink. If not from drink or from wine, what will cause them to become drunk and stagger?

The LORD has poured out on them not wine, not strong drink, but a spirit of deep sleep. He has put them into a trance — a state of semi-consciousness —  for they have chosen to be blind. He has shut their eyes — their prophets see nothing. He has covered their heads — the seers see no visions. 

Verses 11-12 —

In Isaiah 28, the LORD’s people would not listen to or heed the words He spoke through His prophets. In that chapter, part of the LORD’s judgment of them was that they would not be able to understand the prophecies He gave His prophets, nor would they understand the Word of God, for they chose to rebel against Him. 

In the LORD’s judgment of Jerusalem, they are unable to understand His words and unable to understand His prophets. Now He adds that they will not understand the vision Isaiah is describing to them in Chapter 29. 

His words through Isaiah will be like a sealed book. When it is given to one who can read, and he is asked to read it, he will say they cannot, for it is sealed. When it is given to one who is illiterate, and he is asked to read it, he will say, I cannot read.  

Beloved, Satan would love to have you think that the Word of God is a sealed book, that it is not understandable. But if you have repented for your sin and turned back to Him, that is a lie!  The Holy Spirit, of whom all believers receive a measure, will gradually show you what it means, if you pray and ask Him to do it. But He will not do it for those who claim to be His but rebel against Him and refuse to repent.

Verse 13 —

The LORD continued speaking through Isaiah, calling them out for drawing near to Him with their words, and pay Him lip service, but their hearts are far from Him. Their reverence toward Him is outward — it is outward obedience to the Law of Moses that is taught by men. It is to follow tradition, to bow because you are supposed to bow, to pray a written prayer instead of speaking what is in your heart to the LORD, in the holy conversation with Him called prayer.

Jerusalem’s defiance toward the LORD reveals that they have no relationship with Him, or they would learn from Him, and their hearts would be His. Remember, they are the ones who have chosen to worship false gods, who please their sin nature. 

If you rebel against Him and have not repented, you will be unable to do anything but worship the Lord as rote and tradition, and pay lip service to Him, making promises to Him that you have no intention of keeping. I know, because I rebelled against Him, and yet still went to church on Sunday and sang in the choir. It was an outward act. I had no relationship with Him. I just did what my church expected me to do. I know many Christians today who are the same as I was. 

Verse 14 —

Because they do not worship the LORD nor obey nor love Him, He will once again deal marvelously with this people. He will do wonders among them. He delivered them from Egypt, and brought them into the land. But now, He will do the opposite, because they oppose the One who set them free!

The wisdom of their wise men will perish. It will be completely destroyed. The discernment of their discerning men will be concealed (hidden). They are not speaking from the LORD. They do not even know Him, or they would never speak what they speak!

Those who say Judah will not go into captivity will be shown to be liars who do not know Him. The false prophet Hananiah said the LORD told him that Judah would be returned from exile in two years. It sounded good, but it was false! So, here is the LORD’s judgment upon Hananiah, spoken through Jeremiah —

Jeremiah 28:16 “Therefore thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you have counseled rebellion against the LORD.’”

Jeremiah 28:17   So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month.

Verse 15 —

Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, and whose deeds are done in a dark place. And they say, Who sees us? or Who knows us? The LORD searches the heart, He examines the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what His deeds deserve (Jeremiah 17:10)! All things are open and laid bare to the One to whom all humans will be held accountable (Hebrews 4:13)!

Verse 16 —

You turn things around, says the LORD. You are the clay — I am the Potter. You cannot hide from Me, you cannot worship mechanically and expect me to be pleased. You cannot try to hide your sin from Me! 

The LORD says, You cannot say I did not make you, for I surely did! I formed you. What are you doing, saying I have no understanding? You refute My prophets! 

Therefore, the LORD will judge them. He will send them into exile for 70 years. They will be there until they have children, and their children have children. The whole generation of those who rebelled against Him in Judah will be gone, before He will bring them back to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 25:11, 29:6).

Verses 17-19 —

But in a little while, after the 70 years are up, He will bring back to the land all who repent —

Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ ‘I will be found by you,’” declares the LORD, “and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.”

I was puzzled by the reference to Lebanon, as were the commentators, so I did a word search in my Bible software. Indeed, Joshua and all Israel conquered Lebanon (Joshua 1:4, 13:1-5). He did just what the LORD commanded —

Joshua 13:6 “All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon as far as Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians, I will drive them out from before the sons of

Israel; only allot it to Israel for an inheritance as I have commanded you.”

When they repent, they will no longer be spiritually deaf. They will hear words of a book — His book! And He will give them understanding. Out of the gloom and darkness of their captivity, His spiritually blind people will see!

To repent is to become humble toward the LORD, to repent before Him. And here is His promise to such ones — 

The afflicted (humbled) will also increase their gladness in the Lord, and the poor (who see their spiritual poverty will rejoice in the Holy one of Israel. Blessed are the humble, for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5)! Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3)!

Verses 20-21 —

For the ruthless (even the ruthless among His people) will come to an end and the scorner (even the scorners among His people) will be finished. Indeed, all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off. They will perish. 

Such ones, by their falsehood, brought Judah under His condemnation. They led His people into sin. Such ones laid a trap for the righteous elders who sat at the gate in order to reprove those who were doing wrong — just as the Pharisees and Jewish leaders tried to entrap Jesus Christ! Such ones defrauded the righteous with worthless things, nonsense, and nothingness.

Verses 22-24 —

The LORD delivered Abraham, rescuing him from his enemies many times, and bringing him into the land that his descendants would possess. And the LORD made a one-way covenant with Abraham. He promised that He would make Abraham the father of many nations! 

In the same way, when they repent, He will redeem Jacob — this time, Jacob refers to both northern and southern Israel. They will no longer be shamed by all the nations, nor will their faces turn pale with terror over His judgment of them.

Instead of shame and terror, when Jacob sees his children surrounding him, the offspring of those in exile and those who will belong to the LORD — both Jew and Gentile — will sanctify the LORD’s name. “Sanctify” means they will proclaim His holy character. Indeed, they will proclaim that He is the only Holy One! And they will stand in awe of the God of Israel, marveling at what He has done!

Those who erred in spirit will know the truth. They will understand His counsel. It will be the opposite of Verses 11 and 12! And those who murmured about and criticized Him will gladly receive His teaching.

Beloved, will you gladly receive His teaching? What and whom are you listening to? If it contradicts the Word of God, go away from that one! But you must know the Word of God to be able to discern for yourself whether someone is speaking out of their own imagination. 

Woe to the church, most of whose members never pick up their Bibles so they would know the truth and be able to discern truth from error (delusion and deceit)! It is no wonder that they follow the voice of strangers who teach them foolishness and nothingness!

Lord Jesus, I pray that believers would repent and return to You. May they seek You, their Good Shepherd, and learn Your voice. Surely, if they repent, they will be among the many whom You have raised from the ashes. Amen!

THE REAL JESUS CHRIST — PART 2

[SW398] 10/5/2019 message notes by 

Pastor Susan J. Wynn ©2019

“The Real Jesus Christ — Part 2”

Text: Colossians 1:15-17, etc.

After my message two weeks ago, Lord showed me that I should now break Colossians 1:13-23 into a few verses at a time, and teach “The Real Jesus Christ” as a series. 

The church is flooded with many strange teachings about who Jesus is. I will not directly refute such false teachings in this message, but will use the Word of God to show today’s believers “The Real Jesus Christ.”

The Spirit-filled Paul did the same, with the believers at Colossae. Just like many of today’s believers, they had abandoned the true teaching of Paul, and were accepting false teaching about Jesus Christ. 

They thus revealed that they were still infants in Christ (1Corinthians 3:1), unable to discern the true from the false. They were accepting another Jesus, and a different gospel. Paul exhorted the believers at Corinth —

2Corinthians 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

I will now show you the truth about Jesus Christ, from Colossians 1:15-17.  

Jesus, the Exact Representation of God

Verse 15a  —

He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God . . . 

Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. The Greek word for “image” is eikon. It denotes two concepts — 1) representation (a perfectly accurate picture of God), and 2) manifestation (doing what God does, and saying what God says).

In this passage, Paul says God the Son completely represents and reveals His Father in every way. All of the New Testament authors teach the same truth.

The Spirit-filled writer of Hebrews says —

Hebrews 1:3a And He is the radiance of His glory (from the Greek-to-English, the Father’s light was and is very apparent in Jesus Christ) and the exact representation of His nature (His person, His character), and upholds all things by the word of His power.

So, God the Father’s glory was and is very apparent in Jesus Christ, and Christ is an exact and accurate picture of God the Father’s character and person, doing and saying what God does and says. 

Therefore, you have a clear and completely accurate view of God the Father through Jesus Christ. When you see Jesus Christ, you see God Father. 

While Jesus Christ walked the earth, He did what His Father did, and said what His Father said, that you may see a complete picture of God the Father through Him.

I will use the words of Jesus, from the Book of John, to show you this truth —

John 5:16 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

John 5:19   Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. ²⁰ “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. ²¹ “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes (delights in).”

John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me. ³⁷ “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.”

John 7:16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”

Some of the people of Jerusalem said they did not know where Jesus was from, so Jesus cried out —

John 7:28 Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. ²⁹ “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

John 8:18 “I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.”

John 8:28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”

John 8:38 To the Jewish leaders who persecuted Him, “I speak the things which I have seen with (in the presence of) My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father . . . ” ⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.”

John 14:7-8 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. ⁸ Philip  said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus  said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

John 16:15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

John 16:28 “I came forth from the Father and am (have) come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” (KJV)

John 17:5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

John 17:6   “I have manifested Your name (shown You, as an exact representation of You) to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; ⁸ for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.”

John 17:22 “The glory (a reference to the coming baptism of the Holy Spirit) which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity (become partakers of the same nature as God and Christ), so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

Jesus, the Firstborn of All Creation, the Creator

Verse 15b-16 —

In order to understand the second half of Verse 15, you must connect it to Verse 16. He is the firstborn of all creation, for (because) by Him all things were created . . . all things have been created through Him and for Him. 

Therefore, “firstborn” does not indicate that Jesus Christ is the first human son born into a human family. It means that He is supreme in rank over all creation, because through Him, all things were created — 

John 1:2 He was in the beginning (before anything was) with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

All things have been created through Jesus Christ, including the heavens, the earth, and all authorities, be they good or evil. Even Satan is a created being.

And all things were created not only through Jesus Christ, but for Jesus Christ. He is King over all His creation. 

It was at His Father’s command that Jesus Christ created all things, for He only does what God the Father commands. He is an obedient Son.

Verse 17 —

Jesus Christ, God the Father’s beloved Son, is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 

“Before all things” means He has eternally existed, before anything had been created —

John 1:1    In the beginning (before anything was created) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God.

Again, John goes on to write —

John 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

The writer of Hebrews testifies that through the powerful, creative words of Jesus Christ, all things hold together. All things continue and remain because of His power to make them continue and remain. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary expresses it well —

That all things “hold together” in Christ means that he is both the unifying principle (the Founder/Creator of the unified world we live in) and the personal sustainer (supporter) of all creation.” 

If not for Jesus Christ holding together everything He created, all creation would fly apart into nothingness. By His power alone, He continually supports all of creation, including the universe.

So, the real Jesus Christ is God the Son, and is the perfectly accurate picture of God the Father, and the exact manifestation of God the Father — He does what His Father does. Therefore, when you see Jesus Christ, you see God Father. 

As I have said from the beginning of this series, Jesus Christ is God and not human. He was in a human body when He was on the earth, but these verses reveal that He was not and is not like you. He does not and never has thought or reasoned like you, and He does not and never has had your human frailties.

Jesus Christ was sent to redeem you from evil control, to rescue you and take you as His bride, in a holy, intimate spiritual way. And through believing into Jesus Christ, your past sins are forgiven. 

He was and is exactly like God the Father. He is both the unifying Principle (the Founder/Creator of the unified world we live in) and the personal Sustainer (supporter) of all creation. By the word of His power, the word He utters, He keeps creation from becoming formless and void.

Next time, I will show you more of the real Jesus Christ, from Colossians 1:18-20. You will see Him as the Authority over all He has made, and you will see what He was required to do in order to reconcile you to God the Father.

Lord Jesus, may today’s believers see You as You truly are, and turn away from those who are teaching another Jesus. Let it be so, I pray. Amen.

ISAIAH SESSION 27 — WOE TO THE PROUD

Text: Isaiah 28

If I were going to give today’s teaching a title, it would be, “Woe to the Proud!” The warnings are for Judah, and for today’s believers. The LORD will speak of the punishment of those who rebel against Him by relying on man’s wisdom and ways, and on false gods, whose root is the god of self. 

For believers today, He speaks a word of warning to those who have refused His command to ask Him to fill them with the Holy Spirit and crucify the prideful sin nature. 

Again, He disciplines and punishes so that His people will return to Him!

The downfall of all humans is pride of heart, which is the fruit of the sin nature we are all born with, as children of Adam. The Spirit-inspired Apostle John warns believers about pride —

1John 2:15   Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Jesus says those who are His do not love the world system that pridefully and boastfully defies God —

John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

Now, Isaiah 28, “Woe to the Proud!”

Verse 1 —

Woe to the proud crown of Ephraim (Jacob/northern Israel). They wear their pride like a crown on their heads. Their glorious beauty, which is at the head of the fertile valley, is fading. Their beauty and fertility is fading — things treasured by the fertility gods that they have come to adore! 

Those who wear crowns of pride are overcome (struck down, hit with a hammer) with wine! Pride makes you drunk, and will strike you down like the strike of a hammer, beloved! That word from the LORD comes with an exclamation point! 

Verse 2 —

Behold! Take warning! Take notice! The LORD has a mighty and strong one — even the king of Assyria — who will come like a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction. By the LORD’s own hand, He casts His judgment of Ephraim down to the earth, by way of Assyria.

Verses 3-4 —

Again, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot — the LORD is driving home His point! The prideful will be punished! 

He speaks again of the fading flower and the fertile valley, but this time, He likens Ephraim to a first ripe fig prior to summer. Ah! Assyria will see that the fig of Ephraim is ripe for picking and eating! The king of Assyria will take Ephraim and swallow him! 

Verses 5-6 —

In that day, when Ephraim is trodden underfoot, everyone will see that the LORD of hosts (whom we have identified as God the Son) has beauty that does not fade. He has a beautiful (glorious) crown, and a glorious diadem (crown), for the remnant of His people who return to Him and ask Him to forgive them.

He has a spirit of justice, as He sits in judgment of Ephraim, and as He sits in judgment at the end of things. And He will be strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate — those who refuse to bow to false gods. The onslaught at the gate of Christianity is increasing exponentially today. We must repel it by speaking the truth, in love.

Verses 7-8 —

Even the priests and the prophets reel with wine and stagger from strong drink. Even they are drunk with pride! They stagger and reel like drunkards. 

The priests have gone astray after false idols, and the false prophets, are confused and stagger. They reel as they see their false visions. They totter when they render judgment, because they are not just.

All the tables are full of filthy vomit. From the priest to the common man, everyone has drunk of the cup of pride until they vomit. But then, just like a drunkard, they continue to drink it!

Verses 9-10 —

The LORD sent prophets to teach Ephraim knowledge. But there was no one who could interpret their message. Why?

Ephraim does not know or recognize the voice of the one they call LORD. As part of His judgment of them, He will speak, but it will sound like rote. Line upon line, order upon order. 

They are like infants just weaned, just taken from the breast. The writer of Hebrews exhorts the Jewish believers who have been scattered because of persecution —

Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. ¹³ For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to (ignorant of) the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

It is the same today! Many are infants in Christ. They do not know the voice of Jesus Christ, their Good Shepherd. So they follow after the voice of strangers, and are devoured by wolves who teach and prophesy out of their own imagination!

For Ephraim and for infants in Christ, the LORD makes His words uninterpretable, for they have chosen not to learn His Word and His ways. The scripture will therefore be, “commandment upon commandment, line upon line, a little here, a little there.” 

They will not be able to make sense of His truth nor the words of warning from His prophets, for they are drunk on pride and do not know  — nor have they sought to know — His voice!

Verse 11 —

Of their own choice, they do not know His voice nor understand His words. By their own choice, they have trusted in man’s strength and ways and wisdom. Therefore,  He will speak to them through those who have stammering tongues. 

The Assyrian language, Akkadian, was a foreign tongue to Ephraim. It sounded like stuttering and stammering. And by the Assyrian invasion, the LORD will clearly show them that there is a price for rebellion and sin. Their day of punishment has arrived! Again, He disciplines and punishes so that His people will return to Him.

Verses 12-13 —

The LORD had said, Here is rest, give rest to the weary, just as Christ spoke in Matthew 11:28-30. He said, Here is repose. But they would not listen. 

So the word of the LORD makes no sense to them. It is His judgment upon them. They are only able to see it as command upon command, line upon line, a little here, a little there. 

And their inability to understand, brought on by their own pride, will cause them to go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive by Assyria! Satan will do the same with you, beloved, taking you captive because of your pride!

He offered His people rest in the wilderness wanderings, but they refused to obey Him. The Spirit-inspired writer of Hebrews says —

Hebrews 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

I tell you, if you do not know the LORD through His Word then you cannot know His voice and cannot know Him. Because you do not know Him, you will disobey Him and rebel against Him. Therefore, you will have no rest and no repose! It will be because you do not believe Him, He says.

Jesus Christ promises that He will set you free, indeed, if you continue in His Word. Then you are truly disciples of His, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free, indeed (see John 8:31-36). Free from what? He will set you free from slavery to sin, beloved.

Verses 14-15 —

In the remaining verses of Chapter 28 of Isaiah, the LORD speaks directly to Judah, through Isaiah. Isaiah says, Hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers who rule the people who are in Jerusalem. 

What does the LORD say? I will judge you because you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made a pact. Therefore, the overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by.

Despite the LORD’s warnings through Isaiah, Judah and its people are confident that they have pleased Mot, the god of death. They have given their own brothers as food for Mot to eat — I must assume they burned their brothers alive, on an altar, since that is the usual way that false gods “eat”. 

Judah is sure it will not go down to Sheol (hell), for they have made an agreement with death and hell. Death will not get them, they think. 

They have made falsehood their refuge, and have concealed (hid) themselves from death by falsehood. Therefore, the LORD will show them, by punishing them, that all the falsehood that they trusted in and believed is false and nothingness!

Verse 16 —

Therefore, says the LORD! This is His judgment! Because you do not believe or trust Me, but are prideful and trust your own wisdom and ways, and have made a deal with falsehood and nothingness, I am laying in Zion a stone, a well-laid stone, a costly (literally, precious, excellent) cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes will not be disturbed. 

This is a direct reference to Jesus Christ. Judah will be exiled for 70 years, and in 30  AD, He will reveal in Zion His stone, His excellent and precious Son. Jesus says to the unbelieving chief priests and Pharisees —

Matthew 21:42 “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone. This came about from the LORD, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”  

Matthew 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. ⁴⁴ “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” ⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.

Then the chief priests and Pharisees, in their blindness and pride, sought to seize Him. But they did not, because they feared retribution from the people, who saw Jesus as a prophet. 

Verse 17 —

The LORD will make justice the measuring line. He will set up a plumb line, as He says through His prophet Amos, and find them to be like crooked walls —

Amos 7:8  The LORD said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer.” 

He will measure their righteousness with a level, and find them to be tipped to one side by their unrighteous. They have come against Him, they have followed false gods, they have gone in crooked ways and not on level paths. Thus, the LORD is right to judge them. Even now, He calls them and you, beloved, to repent —

Isaiah 40:3   The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴ Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain (level) . . . 

When the LORD has judged Judah, hail will sweep away the refuge of lies in which they have trusted. Waters will overflow the secret places where worship of false gods was done. 

Verses 18-19 —

The LORD tells Judah their covenant with the god of death will be canceled, for they have made a covenant with a false god whose promises are false. And it will be the same with their treaty with hell. 

The overwhelming scourge they are sure will not reach them will surely make them a trampling place. The armies of Babylon will trample them! 

Babylon will overcome Judah and there will be a series of exiles of the Jews before Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon has finished the work assigned to him by the LORD (Jeremiah 25:9). Every time Babylon passes through, both day and night, it will seize (carry away) more Judeans. 

And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means What will cause them to feel sheer terror if they understand the words that are in the remaining verses of Isaiah 28? The LORD now gives Isaiah a series of parables. If Judah understands them, they will feel sheer terror, for they are parables of judgment!

Verses 20-22 —

The bed is too short on which to stretch out, and the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in. There will be no rest for them. By their rebellion, they have made their bed too small to rest upon. By their rebellion, they have made their covering too short to hide beneath it. There will be nothing to cover them. He will no longer provide them with rest or cover.

For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, where He helped David defeat the Philistines (2Samuel 5:20). He will rise up not to save His people, but to hand them over to Babylon. 

He will be so angry that He will quiver, as in the valley of Gibeon (Joshua 10:10), where He helped Joshua defeat five kings. But His anger will be toward Judah, not toward their enemies. 

He will rise up and quiver with anger as He does His work, His strange work of helping Judah’s enemies defeat them! Shudder with sheer terror, O church full of false teachers who worship what the world worships, even fashioning “another Jesus!”

So, Isaiah says, do not carry on as mockers who mock the LORD’s prophets when they warn. If you mock them, He will make your chains stronger! Why? Because His prophets have heard from Him — the Lord GOD of hosts — but they have not listened! What have His prophets heard of from the LORD? His decision to destroy (consume) all the earth. 

The earth will be completely consumed, at the end of things. And in 150 years, Judah will be nearly consumed by Babylon, with just a small remnant returning 70 years later.

Verses 23-29 —

These are rhetorical questions from the LORD. He commands His people to give ear (broaden their ears) and hear (consider) His words, through Isaiah. So Isaiah says, Listen (prick up your ears) and hear (heed, obey) my words from the LORD of hosts. 

Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? No, he plows once, or he will destroy what he has just planted. Does he continually turn and harrow (break up the clods of) the ground? No, for he will destroy the seedlings if he does. If they have begun to germinate, they will be torn to pieces by the harrowing and turning. 

Does the farmer not level its surface and sow dill and scatter cumin, and plant wheat in rows, barley in its place, and rye within its area? Barley and rye were sown on the outer edges of wheat fields. 

Every seed the farmer sows is carefully sown into soil that he has prepared. The seeds that are to be scattered across the top of the soil are scattered, and those that are to be sown are sown. All seed is planted exactly how and where it will grow best. He does all of it according to the LORD’s instruction.

Then, when it is time for the harvest, the farmer does not thresh dill with a heavy threshing sledge — the dill, a tender herb, would be destroyed. A cartwheel is not driven over cumin — it would be crushed and useless. But dill seed is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a small rod. The farmer follows the instruction of the LORD.
Grain for bread is crushed, but the farmer does not continue to thresh it forever, because the wheel of his cart and his horses would eventually break it to pieces, making it unusable. So, he does not thresh it for too long. All of the farmer’s wisdom comes from the LORD of hosts, who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.

All the farmer’s wisdom comes from the LORD of hosts. The farmer follows the instruction of the LORD. He does all of it according to the LORD’s instruction. But Judah has not followed His instruction, like the farmer did. They have not listened to and heeded the LORD’s wisdom, like the farmer did. They have not learned from Him, as the farmer did. 

So, He will no longer instruct Judah, for they refuse to listen. He will allow them to be trampled by Babylon, just as He has already promised, in Verse 18. 

Why? The LORD of host’s counsel (instruction) that they have rejected is wonderful (great, wondrous, high and lofty), and His wisdom that they have rejected is excellent and magnificent. 

I tell you the truth, Jesus Christ, the LORD of hosts will not seek a harvest of righteousness from His church forever. There will come a day when she is judged by Him. And those who refuse to repent will be trampled by Satan, the enemy of their souls, for they have listened to falsehood. Paul exhorts the believers at Corinth, who are being led astray just as Ephraim and Judah were —

2Corinthians 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Lord Jesus, I pray that Your people would hear and heed Your instruction, learn Your voice in Your Word, and hear and heed Your warning. May many repent. So be it, Lord. Amen.

THE REAL JESUS CHRIST — PART 1

[SW396] 9/21/2019 message notes by 

Pastor Susan J. Wynn ©2019

“The Real Jesus Christ — Part 1”

Text: Colossians 1:13-14, etc.

After I taught last week, the Lord showed me that I should now break Colossians 1:13-23 into a few verses at a time, and teach “The Real Jesus Christ” as a series. As I said last week, the church is flooded with many strange teachings about who Jesus is. I will not directly refute such teachings in this message, but will use the Word of God to show today’s believers who He really is. 

It was the same with the Colossian believers, in the days of the Apostle Paul. The church was flooded with false teachings regarding the identity of Jesus. But Paul did not begin his letter to them by refuting the words of the false teachers. 

Instead, he began by praying for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit —

— In Verse 9, he prayed for them to be filled with the knowledge (epignosis, full comprehension after the first knowledge) of God’s will. 

— In Verse 10, he prayed for them to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord (literally, in a godly way, walking as Jesus walked, per 1John 2:6)

— In Verse 11, he prayed for them to be strengthened with all power (literally, to receive divine power).

Why did Paul begin by praying for the Colossian believers to be filled? Because they were not yet filled with the Holy Spirit. If they were already filled, he would not have needed to pray for them to be filled. 

Many were still infants in Christ, like the believers at Corinth (1Corinthians 3:1). To pray for them to be filled was the first step in addressing the false teachings that had flooded their church. Why? It is only when you are filled with the Holy Spirit that —

— you have complete comprehension of God’s will, after having the first knowledge of it, 

— you walk in a godly way — that is, walk as Jesus walked (1John 2:6), and

— you receive divine power from God. 

Paul also knew that when believers are filled with the Holy Spirit (John 14:17), they are able to discern whether teaching is true or false. It is only then that the Holy Spirit teaches believers all things, all the truth (John 14:26, 16:13-15). 

Because the Holy Spirit does these things in Spirit-filled believers, they are thereby able to discern what is false and what is true. So that is another reason why Paul prayed for the Colossian believers, for they had accepted false teaching.

So, it is only when you are filled with the Holy Spirit that you fully know God’s will, that you walk as Jesus walked, that you have divine power, and that you are taught all things so you are able to discern what is false and what is true. 

That is why Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to stay and wait until they had received divine power —

Luke 24:49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

And after commanding them to wait for the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4-5), Jesus said —

Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon (literally into) you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

So, because it was essential, and a command of Jesus Christ, Paul prayed for the Colossian believers to be filled, so they would have full comprehension of God’s will, would walk as Jesus walked, would have divine power, and would be able to discern the true vs. the false.

So, I will do as Paul did. First and foremost, I always pray for you as Paul did, that you would be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then you will fully know God’s will, you will walk as Jesus walked, you will have divine power, and you will be able to discern the true vs. the false, and will reject the false.

Now, just as Paul did, I will show you the real Jesus Christ. If you hear and heed, you will see the truth.

Verses 13-14 —

For He (God the Father) rescued us from the domain (power) of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (that is, Jesus Christ), in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Remember that Paul is addressing believers. You needed to be rescued. If you did not need to be rescued, God the Father would not have rescued you. All human beings need to be rescued. 

Therefore, you cannot rescue yourself by good works or by any other means. Only God the Father can rescue you.

From what do all human beings need to be rescued? The power of darkness — that is, evil control. Who controls the power of darkness? Satan. It is his realm, his kingdom. So he rules over all who have not yet seen their need to be rescued, and he rules over those who scoff at their need to be rescued.

So, when you believed into Jesus Christ, God the Father rescued you from a position of being under evil control. Where does He place you after He rescues you? He transfers you to the kingdom of His Son. We are moved from our former position of being ruled by darkness to the position of being rescued by Him and placed in the kingdom of His Son.

“The kingdom of His Son” means Jesus Christ is God the Son —

John 1:1    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14   And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

So, God the Son is king over a kingdom. You are rescued from Satan’s authority and placed under Jesus Christ’s authority, in His kingdom.

From what has been said thusfar, the truth is that Jesus Christ was not “a good man,” when He walked the earth. He was not a fine philosopher. He was then and is now God. Therefore, He is not like you, in any way. His nature is divine, not human. God does not have our human frailties and fears. He is God.

He was not sent here to learn what it was like to be human, so He could understand you better. He already knows what is in man (John 2:25). You will see, when I teach on Verses 15-16, that He created all things, including you. Therefore, He already knows everything about all that He created, including you.

He was not sent by God the Father to do good things. He was sent to do a very particular “God thing.” When I teach on Verses 21-22, you will see that Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, reconciled you to God the Father when He died on a cross, carrying the punishment you deserved (see Isaiah 53:5). That is the God thing that He did.

He surely did signs and wonders that only God could do. These things proved that He is God the Son. But He was sent by God the Father to die on a cross, which was the punishment you deserve for your sin. It was something only God the Son was qualified to do.

Paul writes —

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

After God the Father rescued you from the rule of darkness, He brought you into God the Son’s kingdom. But Jesus Christ says you can only enter His kingdom if you do His Father’s will —

Matthew 7:21   “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

So, Jesus Christ is King over His kingdom. Therefore, if you have believed into Jesus Christ and you do the Father’s will (that is, obey Him), you become a member of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 

He establishes His kingdom within you, when you are filled with His Holy Spirit (see Luke 17:21). His kingdom is not of this earth, but is heavenly — it is not a natural kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom located in heaven (see John 18:36), and also located in Spirit-filled believers. He rules and reigns in them.

So, God the Son is King over His kingdom. If you are in His kingdom, He is your King, and you are His subject, His servant, His slave.

Because you are a servant and you are not the King, you do not command the King regarding what you want the King to do for you. The King commands you, His servant, regarding what the King wants you to do for Him. The King provides for His servant, without the servant having to ask. 

So, when you believe into Jesus Christ and obey God the Father, you are able to approach Him as His servant. Because you are a servant, you do not demand that the King act. When you are filled with His Spirit, you will need to ask Him nothing, but will directly ask God the Father, in Jesus’ name (that is, having become a partaker of His divine nature, per 1Peter 1:4) —

John 16:23   “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. ²⁴ Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (KJV)

John 16:26 “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; ²⁷ for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”

 

So, when you are transferred by God the Father to the kingdom of His Son, you become an obedient servant of your King. Hallelujah!

But you will not obey all of His commands until you are filled with His Spirit. It is when you are filled with His Spirit that you are filled to overflowing with His divine love, and obey Him because you love Him with His love, and because your sin nature has been crucified —

Romans 5:5 and hope does not disappoint (make us ashamed), because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Galatians 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

In Part 2, I will show you that Jesus Christ, God the Son, is the exact image of God and the Creator of all things. He is the Creator, and you are the creature. 

Again, the scriptures show that He is not like you. But He commands you to ask your Father in heaven to make you like Him by filling you with His Spirit! That is the Father’s will, for every believer.

The Lord has set my hand to show you these truths, so you will turn from the false teaching that has flooded His church. I pray that you see the truth, and repent and return to the real Jesus Christ.

Let it be so, Father and Son! Amen!