Basis For Belief

Text:, Col 2:13-15, Rom 5:19

Colossians – Freedom from the law, to expose false teaching religious and self-righteousness through ritual

Romans – Explains Christianity

These two verses sum up what God has done for mankind as He re-established His Kingdom.

A.

Col 2:13 new living Translation

You were dead because of your sins and because you’re sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins.

1. Dead because of sinful nature – Sinful nature is in mankind because of disobedience by Adam to God.

Gen 3:1 – 7

·         This passage explains why bad thing happen to good people – why bad thing happen in the world

·         You MUST understand this for anything to make sense

2.      Cut away

a.     circumcision – a ritual God commanded Moses to perform on his people ( his charges ) or oversee it done, in the wilderness.

No law from Adam till Moses

b.    The idea being a setting themselves apart in a way that they will not forget, that

They remember the act of obedience (and disobedience).  – note that obedience is required as He re-establishes His Kingdom.

c.    The ownership was transferred for a time to Satan,  (who had been kicked out of heaven) – God had to do this because He is perfect. The Word says – Pslm 138:2 He magnified thy Word above all thy name.  God is a God of perfection. He always does what He says He is going to do – God is CHARACTER

He ALWAYS holds Himself to standards of:

·         Legality

·         Faithfulness – He always does what He says He will do – NEVER forces anything on anybody

3. Made you alive with Christ

a. Made you and I equals in a sense – co-laborers – equals – joint heirs

Rom 8:17  -  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. (bodily resurrection)

The idea is that if we accept Christ as God into our hearts, then we have Life as He Has – eternal life with God – forever – Part of His Family

B.

Col 2:14 New Living Translation

He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross

1.     Cancelled the record – KJV says “blotted out the handwriting”. The idea is that the debt we owe is done away with.

Hebrew word for cancelled is interesting because one of it’s definitions is the canceling of a debt owed. That is exactly the meaning here because when we accept Christ, our accountability or debt that must be paid (God is a perfect God), for the sin inherent in man, by the work Christ did at the cross.

C.            Make a show of them openly

·         Crashed party  in hell – Christ Conquers Death – “more than conquerors in Christ”      

·         Matt 16:19

·         Rom 8:37

·         In ancient times returning king – parade spoils of war and leaders upon re-entry of palace or castle walls

·         Christ exposes the devil to us – makes fun of him – give us the keys to life and death

Calls us more than conquerors – of death

·         Tells us we are the head and not the tail

·         Tells us there is no condemnation

·         Makes provision for sins to be forgiven  - on and on

All of these things are because of Christ and only through Him

It is our jobs to stay in Him

·        Bible study

·        Prayer

·        meditation

Equip The Saints

Saints from all over the world

·         Praise

·         Pray

Text scripture:

Eph 4:12

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

 *One  separated from the world and consecrated to God; one holy by profession and by covenant; a believer in Christ.

Rom 1:7    To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

My only point here is that the Bible calls those who believe and confess Christ as Lord and Savior are saints.

·         We can then understand better our text scripture in context Eph 4:12.  (read Eph 4:1-13)

1.    Paul reminds Ephesians who they are and what they are to be doing.

2.    Revelation given to Paul regarding building the Church (body of Christ, re-establishing The Kingdom Of God)

3.    We are to teach people, who teach people, who teach people, who teach people – etc. – Great Commission Mark 16 : 15-18

4.    If we are to be effective in “perfecting the saints, ” we must 1st realize who we are in Him, and what Christ has done for us.

·        We must realize – God’s plan to re-establish Kingdom depends on believers in Christ spreading the Church - perfecting the saints

·        We need to realize it will be done with - or without you and I.

Jesus told the disciples that the gates of Hades would not withstand The Kingdom Of God – NOTHING WILL STOP THE CHURCH!

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Explain Gate of Hades, being a real place real place)

This is a point many Christians lose sight of in a culture of declining morality.  They think the Church will be derailed. They don’t know forget that all along, God’s plan was to re-establish His Kingdom right over the top of Pagan religions that ran rampant in those days.

·        We will do it because we love Christ – He loved us first

  1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us  -

        John 3:16, Col 2  14

·         Christ sacrificed Himself for us – to preserve us, the only way we will be preserved is if the Church is established and The Kingdom is re-established

·         Think of this – Christ entrusted the establishing of His Church on earth to 12 disciples who did not have a clue until that final 3 years of Jesus life.

·         He trusted them and now He trusts you and me

·         If we are His servants – bought and paid for with his blood we must realize a few things:

We have a mission: Great Commission -  Mark 16 - 15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

1.   After He told us what to do and He empowered us to do it:

Mark 16 (next verses) 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

What can I do to do my part in fulfilling The Great Commission?

1.   Know who you are In Christ (all in Christ scriptures are what He has done for you – sometimes said through Christ)

Romans 3:24
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

 

Ephesians 2:13  At one time you were far away from God. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. He spilled his blood for you. That has brought you near to God.

2.    Stay in relationship – meditate on scripture, Pray daily

3.    Get in a Bible TEACHING church or atmosphere as soon as you can.

Almost all churches believe in the Bible, but not all teach the Bible.

·         This is important so you can know who you are

·         Who God is

·         Know where you are in history

·         Find your gifts

·         Find your place

·         Help you find ministry opportunities

·         Realize that you may think you are overqualified for what you are doing – be faithful, don’t complain, do all the best you can!

Luke 7

1.     Roman Centurion’s Servant   (vs. 1-10)

a)     After teaching  - Sermon On Plain

b)     2^nd year of ministry

c)      Vs 2 – His headquarters after hometown rejection (Matt 4:13)

d)     Centurion in chrg. of 100 soldiers

e)     Understood authority essential (just say the word) – Jesus impressed….bigtime!

2.     Jesus Resurrects Widow’s Son  (vs. 11 – 18)  

a)     Full of compassion

b)     He just happened upon funeral procession.

c)      Jesus acting in His sphere of influence – Fully man – could

Only deal with those in immediate area – not everyone in Israel.

d)      Jesus did influence the world. Although He did heal and teach

Many, He did it within a radius of about 150 miles. He did not

Heal or teach everyone in the world at that time, just those within His immediate sphere of influence.                                 

                       

                                                                                                                                  (maps courtesy of  Generation Word) 

e)     Power over death by Holy Spirit without measure.  (John 3:34)  

f)        He had not yet conquered sin and death but soon would. (Romans 6:, Rev 1:8)                                                                                                      

3.     John The Baptist’s Questions (vs. 19-20)

a)     John in prison  (Matt 4:12)

b)     John must have wondered why he was in prison if Jesus doing miracles.

c)      Perfect God, our understanding is imperfect 

d)     The isolation of prison will make you question many things; who your friends are, what they are thinking, why they do the things you think they are doing, etc.

e)     John was a righteous man, committed to his calling and knew Jesus well. At Jesus’ baptism he was sure Jesus was the Messiah but the isolation of prison made him confirm what he once knew to be true.

f)       I’m convinced John wanted to know whether his ministry was over, if it was time to step aside or keep proclaiming the coming Messiah. 

g)     John became unsure if Messiah was military leader as well as spiritual like everyone else?                                 

4.     Jesus Answers Questions   (vs. 21 – 23)

a)      Jesus understood where John was coming from and did not get offended.

b)     Jesus instead of a rebuke gave John a clear answer from scripture. Jesus knew John knew the signs from The Law and Prophets but just needed to be “coached” that he was right.

c)      Lesson on infallibility of Law. Is what New Testament based on.  (Luke 16:17, Gal. 3:24)

d)     Jesus came to fulfill Law, not abolish it. We are not under Law because He kept it for us. Impossible for man to keep law in fallen state.  (Luke 16:17, Gal. 3:24)

        5.   Jesus’ Testimony Of John The Baptist  (vs. 24 – 29)

               a)   Jesus not only pointing out character of John but also pointing out Johns faithfulness to his calling     

b)   Jesus once again pointing out infallibility of Law and Prophets (Isa 35:3-6)

c)    Prophesy fulfilled  (Mal 3:1, Isa 40:3)

d)   John’s baptism and message was one of repentance – being sorry for not keeping law  and future purification through The Messiah.  (John 1:26-27) 

e)   cannot be emphasized enough:  Pharisees believed they had nothing to repent of,              

5.     Jesus On Unbelief  (vs. 30 -  35)

a)     Pharisees reject baptism because they though themselves had no need to repent and they did not want to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah. I believe they knew who He was all along. To acknowledge Him would be to deny self – which is the whole point.  (Gall 2:20)

b)     vs. 35 even babies and children believe – faith of a child (Psalm 8)

6.     First Anointing   (vs.36 – 40)

a)     I am always amazed at the fact that this woman had the fortitude to go to that Pharisees’ house as he was a very powerful man and had great social standing. Would this not be like crashing a party?

b)     Nothing could keep her from worshiping her Lord and Savior.

c)      Not same event as in John, Matt or Mark

7.     Parable Of Creditor  (vs. 41 – 47)

a)     In eyes of Jesus, all are equal, all people are precious an of same value.  

·         Acts 10:34  Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

b)     All sin and forgiveness the same in eyes of Jesus but not man. Man’s mind finite – must see in degrees to comprehend.

c)      Parables for those looking for truth – “those with ears to hear”

        

         8.   Jesus Forgives Woman Of Sins  (vs. 48 -50)

a)                Did not speak in a parable, wanted to give clear answer so everyone would understand.

b)     Jesus not snotty ever. Sometimes He seems to give a snotty answer, but I am convinced that we think that because the question was. I believe it was not in His nature to be rude.

c)      Jesus was of course critical of the Pharisees.

d)     He was annoyed by the fact that they were controlling people through their position – in essence using God.

                    Once again shows Himself to be God

            e)    Shows compassion

             f)   Her faith in and acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord and Savior cause Jesus to forgive    

                     the sin of her fallen state.  

g)   The fact that she came there despite the disdain of the Pharisees, she wouldn’t be stopped            from worshiping her Lord and Savior.