Tag Archives: confident

Righteousness Revealed

Bible Study, ,

RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED

And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him. (1 John 2: 28-29)

After the turbulence of John’s emotions as he warned his beloved readers of the pitfalls and dangers of his times, he returned to the quietness of resting in the Lord Jesus and His work for them.

By this time, John was an old man and probably one of the few remaining apostles, if not the last, most of the others having perished in the paranoia of persecution, both from fanatical Jews and the Roman government, zealous for Caesar and for their gods. In the ferment of false teaching, he taught the truth and warned of the danger of deviating from what his readers had learned from him and from their leaders about the simplicity of following Jesus.

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and obedience to what He taught was the solid rock around which the waters of error and unbelief swirled. Man’s wisdom and philosophy sounded sophisticated and drew the attention of so-called intellectual thinkers, but it had no substance and was destined to perish with all the false gods and religions that ungodly man had spawned.

Against the backdrop of all the conflicting contributions of man stands the unshakeable truth of God. God is light. God is love. In perfect balance of holy love, God provided a solution to the dilemma of mankind’s alienation from Him through their wilful disobedience and rebellion. God’s love for the human race moved Him to send His own Son, in human flesh, to live as a perfect Son and die as a rebel sinner to bring us back to God. His love and His justice satisfied, He can invite His estranged children back into fellowship with Himself.

Is there another philosophy or religion in the world, arising from human imagination that can match the perfection of God’s involvement in human affairs to rescue humanity from its self-inflicted destruction? Not only did He do it through Jesus, but He did has powerful effects on those who believe in Him and respond to His invitation.

There is not another teaching in the history of humanity that can transform sinners into trusting and obedient children of God. The human story is littered with evidence of God’s power to change hearts and turn sinners around. But what produced the change? Not adherence to some fanciful philosophy or religious gobbledygook. The Holy Spirit alone can change hearts as men and women entrust themselves to the one who died for them and rose from the dead. He is our Mediator, seated in power and authority at the right hand of the Father.

John’s simple counsel to his readers is: Remain in Him. Just keep trusting Him. Don’t fall for the lies that complicate your simple trust in Jesus. Stay in His word and you will stay in the truth. Whatever anyone adds or takes away from who He is, what He said and what He did will draw you away from Him.

Our faith is founded, firstly, on the indestructible truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is fully God. He came from God and He returned to God. He is also fully man. He was born of the virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit but fully human. He lived in perfect obedience to His Father for thirty-three years. No one responded to His challenge to find Him guilty of sin.

In spite of Hi innocence, He was found guilty of blasphemy by the Jewish religious hierarchy and treason against Rome although Pilate declared Him innocent. He was crucified, died and was buried in a borrowed tomb. He rose from the dead on the third day because death could not hold Him. His death paid the debt which the Father demanded as the penalty fro sin, freeing the sinner of his debt and offering forgiveness to all who receive it by faith.

The spinoff of Jesus’ death and resurrection for the believer is the right of access to the Father again. Where sin once barred the way, the barrier has been removed and we are free to approach the Father without fear. Those who believe in Jesus have been reconciled to the Father and restored to His family with full rights as His sons and daughters.

“Now”, said John, “stay in the simple trust in Jesus that bought all these benefits to you. Don’t fall for the strange teachings being offered to you as the truth. Continue with Jesus and what you were taught from the beginning.” John was echoing Jesus’ words, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” What does a branch in the vine need to do to be fruitful? Nothing! It simply stays there, connected to the vine stock and receiving its nourishment from the vine.

What does a believer need to do to remain in Jesus? Nothing except trusting Him and living in the truth we received from Him. Only if we do that can we be secure in our faith and be fully confident in Him when He returns. The righteousness we need to be acceptable to the Father is a gift from Him. When our new nature responds by doing what is right, we can be sure that we are “in Him”.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

 

Companions of Jesus

Bible Study, , ,

COMPANIONS OF JESUS

“They couldn’t take their eyes off them — Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realised these two men were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education. They recognised them as companions of Jesus, but with the man right before them, seeing him standing there so upright — so healed! what could they say against that.” Acts 4:13 (The Message)

Have you ever wondered why Jesus chose the guys He did to be His disciples? The other rabbis of His day went to the Beth Talmid, the “rabbi school”, to look for suitable followers, men who were already schooled in the Scriptures whom they could hone in their teachings and in their ways – their “yoke”, as it was called.

Jesus went to the lake and chose fishermen, tax collectors and political zealots, among others, men who had failed the entrance exam into “rabbi school”. These men had a lot less to unlearn than those who were being thoroughly schooled in the doctrines and practices of the very men who opposed Jesus and finally killed Him.

There was a very good reason for Jesus rejecting the learned ones — and Luke tells us why through the observation of the religious leaders as quoted above. Let’s have a look at what they saw in Peter and John.

1. They were confident and self-assured. Not arrogant, not bigoted, not dogmatic — but confident in the objective fact that Jesus was alive and they had seen Him and been with Him for forty days after His resurrection.

They didn’t need book learning to experience this kind of confidence. They had the presence of Jesus in them just as though He were with them in person. This was even better because the Holy Spirit in them was their strength, wisdom and guide every single moment.

2. They had no training in Scripture and no formal education. That was a bonus because they had a lot less misinformation to unlearn and prejudice to overcome than the “educated” ones. How much better it was for Jesus to write on a clean page than to rub out and start again.

That doesn’t mean that they did not have stuff to unlearn. One of their biggest issues was the expectation that Jesus had come to restore Israel’s political fortunes. They expected Him to evict the Romans and set up a restored Davidic kingdom. Their constant bickering was about the pecking order. Who was going to be at the top in this new government led by Jesus?

3. They were companions of Jesus. That’s a loaded statement. They had spent three years following Him, learning His ways, soaking up His teaching, practising His actions and attitudes. The religious hierarchy had tried to eradicate Him because He made things too hot for them. He repeatedly exposed their phoniness and they were losing face with the ordinary people they were supposed to be leading.

Now Jesus, whom they thought was safely dead and buried, had popped up again, multiplied in His followers. His Spirit was in them and they were doing what He had done. The religious rulers were not pleased. They were angry and frustrated. How were they going to put a lid on this thing?

What’s more, the movement was dangerous. These people were claiming and proclaiming that Jesus, not Caesar, was Lord, that He was Saviour and Prince of Peace — all the arrogant claims emanating from Rome. The implications were unthinkable. Instead of restoring the kingdom to Israel, they were in danger of being decimated by Roman military might.

Rome would not distinguish between the Jewish religion they tolerated and this new upstart mob that was claiming allegiance to a God who had come to earth, died and risen again and was now threatening everything that Rome stood for.

Companions of Jesus! What an indictment! That fact was responsible for the crippled man’s healing and they had no argument against that!