I Corinthians 15:11-20
Continuing our study through this chapter:
Whether, then, it was I or they,
It doesn't matter which preacher, or which evangelist, preached this Truth.
This is what we preach,
The Truth never changes, no matter who told you, Truth is still true.
and this is what you believed.
These people in Corinth believed the Truth they were originally taught.
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead,
If other preachers are still teaching you what you learned from us.
how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
This is a contradiction.
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Either there is Resurrection of the dead, and it applies to all,or there isn't, and can't apply to anyone, even to Christ.
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
The whole of Christianity is based on the Resurrection of Christ: If He wasn't raised, then our whole faith is null and void, being based on a lie.
More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead.
So we would be spreading lies about God, and have deceived others into believing what would turn out to be not true.
But He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.
If it is true (a fact) that the dead will not be resurrected, then even Christ was not raised from the dead, either.
For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised, either.
Either the dead will be raised, including Christ having been raised, or no one, even Christ, will be raised. All or nothing.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins.
The Christian faith is based on the Death and Resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sins; if this teaching is false, then sins cannot be forgiven after all and we have no hope of New Birth or cleansing.
Then those, also, who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
And there would also be no hope for our loved ones who have been saved and died; we will all perish, with no hope at all.
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
If our faith is only for living in this world, on this Earth now, then we are fools to be pitied, looking forward to destruction.
But
This word just erased everything before it!
Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,
The Truth cannot be denied.
The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep [died].
This is the First Fruits Feast fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the first who has been Resurrected of everyone who has ever or will ever die believing in Christ.
This is the lengthy, full argument explaining the importance of the basis of our faith. The Good News (Gospel) is that Jesus is God's Son, born as a genuine human baby, grew up just like we all grow up, then died as the Lamb of God, the sacrificial Lamb, to take our sinful human nature upon Himself on the Cross to pay in full our debt To God. Since we are the ones who deserve the death, not Him, then Death had no hold on Him; and God raised Him from the dead, with a new, Resurrection body, which looked similar to the body He grew up in, but had extraordinary qualities. Jesus' mortal body "put on" immortality, and showed us what we will be like when we also are Resurrected.
Paul discusses this Resurrection Body later in this chapter.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Like A Child
Mark 10:15
"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all." Jesus' words.
How does a child receive a truth? Children are known to be very naive and vulnerable to believing whole whatever it is they're taught. They will accept unquestioningly whatever someone they look up to and trust tells them, even if it is to tear them down. How much better to teach them Truth and how much God values them.
We need to look up to Jesus and trust God implicitly, like a child. We know that He will always tell us the Truth, and love us unconditionally. When we open our will to simply accept and believe His Word, even if we can't figure out how it can be so and be good, then sometimes God will show us how it all fits together. He is God, and we are not. We still believe Him.
Sometimes the World will happen upon some of God's principles, and they will work, because that's how God designed this World to function. How much better to glean from His Word the whole Truth; in loving God and one another, we will know what to do for their best, our benefit, and God's glory.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all." Jesus' words.
How does a child receive a truth? Children are known to be very naive and vulnerable to believing whole whatever it is they're taught. They will accept unquestioningly whatever someone they look up to and trust tells them, even if it is to tear them down. How much better to teach them Truth and how much God values them.
We need to look up to Jesus and trust God implicitly, like a child. We know that He will always tell us the Truth, and love us unconditionally. When we open our will to simply accept and believe His Word, even if we can't figure out how it can be so and be good, then sometimes God will show us how it all fits together. He is God, and we are not. We still believe Him.
Sometimes the World will happen upon some of God's principles, and they will work, because that's how God designed this World to function. How much better to glean from His Word the whole Truth; in loving God and one another, we will know what to do for their best, our benefit, and God's glory.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Paul's Life-Change
I Corinthians 15:8-10
And last of all He appeared to me, also, as to one abnormally born.
Paul considered himself to be an "abortion," born out of the proper time for him to live; either coming to faith too late, after the right time to be an apostle; or born too soon, before the "end days" he wrote about. He considered that he lived at the "wrong" time period, not realizing his own importance in planting the Church all over the known world at that time.
For I am the least of the apostles and do not deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.
Paul is beating himself up here, for what God had already forgiven him for, when He called him to faith in Christ.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.
Here Paul admits that it is only by God's undeserved favor that he is the man he is "today," not the old man he used to be in the flesh.
No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I , but the grace of God that was with me.
The effect of God's grace on Paul's life was that he worked so hard, constantly, to repair the damage he had done, turning around 180 degrees from the man he had been before. This is proof of God's working in him.
Whenever God gets hold of someone, there is a definite change in that person's thought processes, leading to a changed life-style, in turning away from the worldly way we used to live, turning toward God and His ways.
How has your life changed since God saved you?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And last of all He appeared to me, also, as to one abnormally born.
Paul considered himself to be an "abortion," born out of the proper time for him to live; either coming to faith too late, after the right time to be an apostle; or born too soon, before the "end days" he wrote about. He considered that he lived at the "wrong" time period, not realizing his own importance in planting the Church all over the known world at that time.
For I am the least of the apostles and do not deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.
Paul is beating himself up here, for what God had already forgiven him for, when He called him to faith in Christ.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.
Here Paul admits that it is only by God's undeserved favor that he is the man he is "today," not the old man he used to be in the flesh.
No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I , but the grace of God that was with me.
The effect of God's grace on Paul's life was that he worked so hard, constantly, to repair the damage he had done, turning around 180 degrees from the man he had been before. This is proof of God's working in him.
Whenever God gets hold of someone, there is a definite change in that person's thought processes, leading to a changed life-style, in turning away from the worldly way we used to live, turning toward God and His ways.
How has your life changed since God saved you?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, August 8, 2016
Conundrum Solved
Jeremiah 22:30
This is what the Lord says: "Record this man (Jehoiachin) as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah."
This was Judah's last king. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had previously been conquered and dispersed and was no longer a Nation. Now the Southern Kingdom of Judah, including the Tribe of Benjamin, are being carried off to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. So King Jehoichin was captured, dethroned, and forced to go to this far away foreign country and would die there as a "nothing," and none of his descendants would ever reign.
Jeremiah 23:5-6
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up for David (in David's line) a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the Name (title) by which He will be called: The Lord our Righteous Savior."
Every king who ruled in Judah was of the same Davidic dynasty, the same family. Now none of this "royal line" could rule again. So how will this happen?
God solved this "problem" by having His Son Jesus to be born into David's line physically, but not the "royal" branch through Solomon, but through David's other son Nathan. (See Luke 3:23-38 for Mary's line all the way back to the first man, Adam.) Jesus' legal paternity was through Joseph, who was physically descended from Solomon and the rest of the line of kings, which gives Jesus the legal right to assume David's throne. (See Matthew 1:1-16 for Joseph's royal line back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.)
So what we would view as impossible, God had already planned out in advance, all perfectly logical and reasonable in our hindsight. He is so great!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
This is what the Lord says: "Record this man (Jehoiachin) as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah."
This was Judah's last king. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had previously been conquered and dispersed and was no longer a Nation. Now the Southern Kingdom of Judah, including the Tribe of Benjamin, are being carried off to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. So King Jehoichin was captured, dethroned, and forced to go to this far away foreign country and would die there as a "nothing," and none of his descendants would ever reign.
Jeremiah 23:5-6
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up for David (in David's line) a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the Name (title) by which He will be called: The Lord our Righteous Savior."
Every king who ruled in Judah was of the same Davidic dynasty, the same family. Now none of this "royal line" could rule again. So how will this happen?
God solved this "problem" by having His Son Jesus to be born into David's line physically, but not the "royal" branch through Solomon, but through David's other son Nathan. (See Luke 3:23-38 for Mary's line all the way back to the first man, Adam.) Jesus' legal paternity was through Joseph, who was physically descended from Solomon and the rest of the line of kings, which gives Jesus the legal right to assume David's throne. (See Matthew 1:1-16 for Joseph's royal line back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.)
So what we would view as impossible, God had already planned out in advance, all perfectly logical and reasonable in our hindsight. He is so great!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, August 7, 2016
The Gospel
I Corinthians 15:1-7
Now, brothers,
This is Family Truth.
I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you,
Paul has previously taught these people at Corinth the Good News of the death burial and Resurrection of Jesus, as was predicted by the Old Testament prophets.
which you received,
They believed Paul then.
and on which you have taken your stand.
These people have argued for the Truth against others who have refused to believe and opposed it.
By this Gospel you were saved,
Their lives were changed for the better because of this belief, this is trust in Christ, the New Birth.
If you hold firmly to the Word I preached to you.
Continue to trust in God to be faithful to what He said He would do.
Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
If God is not trustworthy to keep His promises, or I, Paul, have been wrong in proclaiming what I believe to be true really isn't, then believing it would have no purpose, no power to change anything in our lives.
For what I received I passed on to you
This is what I learned from God, and I told you accurately what God taught me.
as of first importance:
This has Priority One, the foundational facts we build everything else on.
That Christ died for our sins
Jesus took our place in death, each one of us, to pay off our eternal debt we owe to God for all our deficiencies and missing the mark of His perfection.
according to the Scriptures,
Exactly as was foretold by the prophets long ago (see Isaiah 53).
That He was buried,
Because He really did die, they buried His dead body in a grave.
That He was raised on the third day
He came back to life and walked out of that grave with a whole new, Resurrection life, in the same body that died, but is now changed, on the third day after He died.
according to the Scriptures,
Just as had been previously predicted, years before, by the prophets.
and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
He proved that He was really alive again by spending time with those who knew Him best, who would have recognized an impostor.
After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time,
This could not have been a mass hallucination, just thinking that they saw him if they, in fact, hadn't. They all really did see Him alive.
Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
This may have been His half-brother who grew up with Him, but didn't believe in Him until after His Resurrection. (Can you imagine having a big brother who never did anything wrong?) James became the Church Leader, the Pastor of the church in Jerusalem.
Then He appeared to all the other guys who knew and followed Jesus from the beginning of His ministry.
This is the foundation of our faith. If Jesus didn't really die, or if He really didn't rise from the dead, then the foundation of our faith has been removed and the whole structure crumbles. That's why Paul was very careful to show the proofs of the fact that Jesus really did die, and really did come back to life after death. And this was all very clearly predicted by the Old Testament prophets.
We can be confidant that God's Truth is real, and we can put our full trust in God's fulfilling everything He has promised, no matter how unlikely or impossible it seems to us. God is God, and we are not. He sees the end from before the beginning, and He made it all and planned it out and designed everything to work according to the order He put into it. He knows about everything that is happening now and will in the future, and He has never promised anything that He has not already planned for.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Now, brothers,
This is Family Truth.
I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you,
Paul has previously taught these people at Corinth the Good News of the death burial and Resurrection of Jesus, as was predicted by the Old Testament prophets.
which you received,
They believed Paul then.
and on which you have taken your stand.
These people have argued for the Truth against others who have refused to believe and opposed it.
By this Gospel you were saved,
Their lives were changed for the better because of this belief, this is trust in Christ, the New Birth.
If you hold firmly to the Word I preached to you.
Continue to trust in God to be faithful to what He said He would do.
Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
If God is not trustworthy to keep His promises, or I, Paul, have been wrong in proclaiming what I believe to be true really isn't, then believing it would have no purpose, no power to change anything in our lives.
For what I received I passed on to you
This is what I learned from God, and I told you accurately what God taught me.
as of first importance:
This has Priority One, the foundational facts we build everything else on.
That Christ died for our sins
Jesus took our place in death, each one of us, to pay off our eternal debt we owe to God for all our deficiencies and missing the mark of His perfection.
according to the Scriptures,
Exactly as was foretold by the prophets long ago (see Isaiah 53).
That He was buried,
Because He really did die, they buried His dead body in a grave.
That He was raised on the third day
He came back to life and walked out of that grave with a whole new, Resurrection life, in the same body that died, but is now changed, on the third day after He died.
according to the Scriptures,
Just as had been previously predicted, years before, by the prophets.
and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
He proved that He was really alive again by spending time with those who knew Him best, who would have recognized an impostor.
After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time,
This could not have been a mass hallucination, just thinking that they saw him if they, in fact, hadn't. They all really did see Him alive.
Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
This may have been His half-brother who grew up with Him, but didn't believe in Him until after His Resurrection. (Can you imagine having a big brother who never did anything wrong?) James became the Church Leader, the Pastor of the church in Jerusalem.
Then He appeared to all the other guys who knew and followed Jesus from the beginning of His ministry.
This is the foundation of our faith. If Jesus didn't really die, or if He really didn't rise from the dead, then the foundation of our faith has been removed and the whole structure crumbles. That's why Paul was very careful to show the proofs of the fact that Jesus really did die, and really did come back to life after death. And this was all very clearly predicted by the Old Testament prophets.
We can be confidant that God's Truth is real, and we can put our full trust in God's fulfilling everything He has promised, no matter how unlikely or impossible it seems to us. God is God, and we are not. He sees the end from before the beginning, and He made it all and planned it out and designed everything to work according to the order He put into it. He knows about everything that is happening now and will in the future, and He has never promised anything that He has not already planned for.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, August 6, 2016
A Long, Peaceful Life
Psalm 34:11-14
Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves length of days that he may see good?
King David wanted his own children to know the Lord and have fulfilling lives. So he starts with a question: Who wants to live a long, healthy, satisfying life?
Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
Then watch your mouth! Whatever your heart is filled with will overflow through your words, so pay attention to how you speak. (I know that I still need to watch my tone of voice.)
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
We are to run away from evil, from temptation; and run toward, chase after "peace." This word is very extensive: it's an all-encompassing safety; it includes being friendly, being well, being happy, total welfare, prosperity, and good health. So we are to pursue good relationships with ourselves, our friends and families, our neighbors, our employers/employees, everybody whose life path crosses our life path. Then we can live a long life in peace, in prosperity and in good health.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves length of days that he may see good?
King David wanted his own children to know the Lord and have fulfilling lives. So he starts with a question: Who wants to live a long, healthy, satisfying life?
Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
Then watch your mouth! Whatever your heart is filled with will overflow through your words, so pay attention to how you speak. (I know that I still need to watch my tone of voice.)
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
We are to run away from evil, from temptation; and run toward, chase after "peace." This word is very extensive: it's an all-encompassing safety; it includes being friendly, being well, being happy, total welfare, prosperity, and good health. So we are to pursue good relationships with ourselves, our friends and families, our neighbors, our employers/employees, everybody whose life path crosses our life path. Then we can live a long life in peace, in prosperity and in good health.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, August 5, 2016
The Law And The Cross
Romans 7:15-25; 8:1-10
(7:15) For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
(7:18) For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the desire is present in me, but the doing of the good is not....
(7:21) I find then the principle that evil is present in me, Me, the one who desires to do good.
This is where I found myself as a young person. I wanted to be a good person who lived my life doing good; but I found myself instead falling into my besetting sin, over and over again.
(7:24-25) Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!...
Then God showed me Jesus on His Cross, and I knew that He didn't deserve any of it, but I did; I deserved it all for all the evil I had done: Jesus paid my debt of death, He took my place on the Cross--that's how much He loved me, even when I was still sinning!
(8:1-2) There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
That day I discovered that I had been "seeing in black-and-white," now I saw in glorious "Technicolor"! And I had a new power, the ability to choose to do the right, instead of automatically falling into that sin again; I could say "No!" to wrong and turn to do what was right! I couldn't do that before.
(8:3-4) For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,
I knew what was right, but I could not do it; I had only my flesh, which is weak.
God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
Jesus took on Himself an actual human body of flesh, in order to be that "sacrificial lamb" the Law stipulated to be brought by the penitent person to the priest, he laid his hands on the head of the animal, conferring his sin onto the animal, which died in the person's stead. Jesus is our "Lamb of God," Whose Divine Blood purchased the whole world, enough to pay off in full the whole debt of all our sins.
(8:7-9) Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This is why the Law could not save us; we cannot obey it because our flesh is too weak to be able to.
(8:10) However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
He means here that we are not just in our flesh, but we are also in the Spirit. God's own Life is living inside us, alongside our fleshly life. So now we have a truly free choice, for we have the power and authority to choose the right, or still choose to sin. Our choice.
So if you find that your only choices seem to be to go against the right that is hard to do, then search your own heart, to determine if you have really humbled yourself before Him in admitting that you deserve to die, and Jesus died for you.
If you don't think you're that bad, then consider that Jesus took our sin nature upon Himself on the Cross; He didn't just die for certain sins, He took the whole basket & everything in it. So if you've not been perfect, that "missing the mark" shows that you have that sin nature, that Jesus bore at Calvary, and let Him love you by paying your debt in full. Then God will give you His Spirit of Life, and you will be free, indeed.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
(7:15) For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
(7:18) For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the desire is present in me, but the doing of the good is not....
(7:21) I find then the principle that evil is present in me, Me, the one who desires to do good.
This is where I found myself as a young person. I wanted to be a good person who lived my life doing good; but I found myself instead falling into my besetting sin, over and over again.
(7:24-25) Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!...
Then God showed me Jesus on His Cross, and I knew that He didn't deserve any of it, but I did; I deserved it all for all the evil I had done: Jesus paid my debt of death, He took my place on the Cross--that's how much He loved me, even when I was still sinning!
(8:1-2) There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
That day I discovered that I had been "seeing in black-and-white," now I saw in glorious "Technicolor"! And I had a new power, the ability to choose to do the right, instead of automatically falling into that sin again; I could say "No!" to wrong and turn to do what was right! I couldn't do that before.
(8:3-4) For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,
I knew what was right, but I could not do it; I had only my flesh, which is weak.
God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
Jesus took on Himself an actual human body of flesh, in order to be that "sacrificial lamb" the Law stipulated to be brought by the penitent person to the priest, he laid his hands on the head of the animal, conferring his sin onto the animal, which died in the person's stead. Jesus is our "Lamb of God," Whose Divine Blood purchased the whole world, enough to pay off in full the whole debt of all our sins.
(8:7-9) Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This is why the Law could not save us; we cannot obey it because our flesh is too weak to be able to.
(8:10) However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
He means here that we are not just in our flesh, but we are also in the Spirit. God's own Life is living inside us, alongside our fleshly life. So now we have a truly free choice, for we have the power and authority to choose the right, or still choose to sin. Our choice.
So if you find that your only choices seem to be to go against the right that is hard to do, then search your own heart, to determine if you have really humbled yourself before Him in admitting that you deserve to die, and Jesus died for you.
If you don't think you're that bad, then consider that Jesus took our sin nature upon Himself on the Cross; He didn't just die for certain sins, He took the whole basket & everything in it. So if you've not been perfect, that "missing the mark" shows that you have that sin nature, that Jesus bore at Calvary, and let Him love you by paying your debt in full. Then God will give you His Spirit of Life, and you will be free, indeed.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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