2014.07.20_Jesus Driven Out By the Spirit

The Faith that Experiences the Almighty, Father God

God is the almighty God. The reason we could be bold with our faith in any situation is because we believe that the almighty God is our Father. We are like insects, animals and dust; we were destined for hell as children of the Devil. Yet, the blood of Jesus Christ, the One sent by the God abundant with mercy, has redeemed us. In Jesus Christ, we have become sons of God.

God has sent us the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). When we were sinners, the greatest gift from God was the blood of Christ. But after obtaining salvation, the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift we have received from God the Father. Through the Holy Spirit, we need to believe and rely on God the Father.

Jesus said, “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven” (Matt. 23:9). Every person has physical ancestors from whom they have been born and thus, they depend on them throughout their life. However, their ancestors cannot govern our lives nor be our guides, for they themselves are walking a path they do not know and would eventually depart this world. On the contrary, God is our everlasting Father. It did not come about so easily for us to call God as our Father. God had to send His Son into the world to die on the cross; by the blood He shed, God purchased us. Today, we have united with Jesus Christ through baptism and become God’s children in Him (Eph. 1:3-6).

Religious people cannot and do not call God as their Father. We are able to call God as our Father because we are now in Christ by the merits of His precious blood. Since Christ has purchased us with His blood, we are Christ’s. However, many people insist that their life still belongs to them. Such people have nothing to do with God even though they might be attending the church.

Jesus said that He would separate the wheat and the chaff among the believers (Luke 3:17) and divide His sheep from the goats (Matt 25:32) when He returns. Hence, we need to ensure that our faith is complete. Jesus also said that the Kingdom of Heaven is “Like hauling the net to the shore and picking out the good fish from the bad (Matt. 13:47-49).” These words are not distinguishing the believers from the unbelievers; they are referring to the obedient and the disobedient amongst the believers. The Lord will separate those who obey from those who disobey, that is to say, those who accomplish their duties from those to disregard them.

Some people are content with the fact that they have been saved and say, ‘I will be fine as long as I don’t go to hell.’ God is not pleased with such people. Jesus said, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7:22-23). We should take heed of how those that had cast out demons and performed powers in Jesus’ name were given such a warning.

The almighty God is our Father. He sends the Holy Spirit to those He loves. Through the Holy Spirit whom He has sent, we now enjoy God’s abundant blessing and life (John 10:10). If God blesses anyone, he will receive blessings with persecutions as well as eternal life in the age to come (Mark 10:30). Blessings, persecutions and eternal life always go together. While God blesses us with such abundant grace, it is meaningless to call Him abstractly as our Father. We must wholeheartedly believe and rely on Him who is the Almighty, and experience Him as our Father. As the Bible emphasizes numerous times, ‘to know God’ does not mean to merely have knowledge of God. When the Bible says to ‘know,’ it means to have a deep experience just as when a man and a woman get married. To know God means to experience God (Hos. 6:3).

The Holy Spirit Who Builds on the Foundation Laid by the Son According to the Father’s Will

God is the triune God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in three persons. The work of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are under one will, yet their roles differ. God the Father determines His will and works according to His will in everything. Just as a blueprint has to be designed before any building is constructed, God’s will has been from eternity past and everything is accomplished according to that will.

We pray, “Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven” (Matt. 6:10), every time we say the Lord’s Prayer. It is our faith to pray for God’s will to be fulfilled – the will that was set before the creation of Heaven and earth. This is also central to our prayer. There is nothing that is not accomplished in God’s will. Just as Jesus said, not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from God’s will (Matt. 10:29). Therefore, when we seek to fulfill God’s will, we would be able to do the work that He wants. However, if we disobey His will we would perish, irrespective of the work that He desires.

God’s will is in His word. That word is truth (John 17:17). Jesus declared that He Himself is the truth (John 14:6). That is why we also say Jesus is the Word. Jesus appeared to accomplish the Father’s will. He was considered righteous because He did not reject but perfectly obeyed the Father’s will, even unto death. He said, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (John 10:17-18). He was first and foremost mindful of God’s work that even when Peter tried to dissuade Him from dying, He said “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me” (Matt. 16:23).

Even the Holy Spirit does not go beyond God’s will. When He helps the saints in their weakness and intercedes for them with groans that words cannot express, He does so according to God’s will and not His own (Rom. 8:26). Likewise, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit work together to accomplish one will. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for the saints to know God’s will and act according to that will. The Lord will not accept but deny anyone who does not follow His will even if the person has cast out demons, performed power (Matt. 7:22), or were even born from the same womb as Jesus (Matt. 12:50).

There lies the reason why we need to understand the ‘Picture of God’s will.’ Although some people have learnt about the ‘Picture of God’s will’ that is revealed in the Bible, they do not make it their own. They do not stop at the final destination called Jesus Christ, but endlessly seek some other teaching in order to satisfy their intellectual curiosities and thus wander astray. Paul said concerning such people, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6). Jesus also said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1).

If people self-claim that they know the Picture of God’s will and yet do not possess it, they are like window shoppers who do not purchase but only look at the items displayed behind the shop window. No matter how long we stare at the items, they cannot be ours unless we buy them. Isaiah 55:1 says, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Mother’s milk is the special nutrition prepared for her child, which the baby cannot live without. The word of truth is the milk that brings life to our spirit. Thus, we must buy that without price and make it ours. We should not be window shoppers who only have a taste of the Picture of God’s will.

There are some people who have returned to the Law while searching for some new knowledge even after knowing the Picture of God’s will. Even though the Law is God’s word, Jesus did not teach the Law but the Gospel. For those who have only heard the Gospel, the Law would be a new kind of knowledge. However, that does not mean the person should turn to the Law without understanding the value of the Gospel he has received. To such people, Apostle Paul said, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9).

There were people who had followed Jesus for some time, but in the end left Him. They had even cast out demons and performed wonders in Jesus’ name. However, when Jesus said, “Drink my blood and eat my flesh! You must drink my blood to have life, and eat my flesh to have eternal life! My blood is real drink and my flesh is real food!” (John 6:52-58), they could not accept those words and left Him, never to be with Him again. They had gone beyond Jesus because they had tried to understand him with their own intellect. That is the same as wandering astray from the way, and climbing over the fence and not entering by the gate.

God sent Jesus Christ into the world and set Him as the foundation of faith. Jesus brought God’s will to complete fulfillment and thus firmly established the foundation for construction. First Corinthians 3:10-11 says, “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The spiritual life of the saints is like building each one’s house upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. However, each person does not use the same materials or the same means to build his house. Some build it with gold, some with silver, while others build it wood or straw. The question is whether that house would be able to endure through the fire that will test each person’s work. If the house that a person built all throughout his life does not pass the test of fire and is burned up, that person may still be saved but as one who has barely escaped through the flames (1 Cor. 3:10-15).

We need to know for certain that the glory of each person will be different at the resurrection, just as the sun, the moon and the stars have different glory, and the flesh of man, animals and insects differ (1 Cor. 15:39-41). Apostle Paul confessed that he counts all things – that were of gain to him before – as loss and discards everything for Christ because of this hope he has, and presses on towards the goal (Phil. 3:8-14). As it is written, “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown,” we must be faithful unto death in order to keep our crown.

The Holy Spirit builds the house upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. That is when the Holy Spirit works through the church. The Holy Spirit appoints the overseer to shepherd the church of God that He has purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). The Holy Spirit also gives the manifestation of many gifts and powers for the benefit of the church (1 Cor. 12:7). Therefore a saint’s spiritual life can only be successful with the help of the Holy Spirit. No matter how strictly a person observes the Law, it cannot please God. Though the thoughts of the flesh may appear to be high and noble, they are enmity against God (Rom. 8:6). Only those who have received the Holy Spirit could be said to be of Christ; only they could partake in the first resurrection (Rom. 8:9-11).

The Holy Spirit Drives the Church Into the Wilderness

As Jesus was baptized and coming out of the water, a voice came from Heaven saying, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). The fact that Jesus is the Son of God was not discovered by some persons while he was studying theology; God Himself attested to it. The same testimony of God was given when Peter, John and James went up on the mountain with the Lord. In reference to that experience Peter wrote, “For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain” (2 Pet. 1:17-18). Jesus Christ is God’s beloved Son with whom He is pleased.

The surprising thing is that God had sent His beloved Son to the wilderness, instead of a nice and comfortable environment. How is the wilderness? The wilderness was also where the Israelites had gone after coming out of Egypt. It has no water but wild beasts, scorpions, fiery serpents, cold, hunger and solitude. It is the most cursed environment for man. It was so dreadful to live there that the Israelites who had just escaped from Egypt cried out that it would be better to return to Egypt. The wilderness is a model of this world. And the Israelites who were led by God in the wilderness are the model of the New Testament church. Hence, in Acts 7:38, they were called, “the congregation in the wilderness.”

The Holy Spirit drove Jesus to the wilderness. And what was waiting for Him there was the Devil’s temptation. Jesus overcame the temptations of the Devil by relying on God’s word written in the Scripture. The church is the body of Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:22). Now the Holy Spirit drives the church into the world, which is like the wilderness. That is where the Devil is at work. What we need to know for sure is that the life of the saints in this world is not a comfortable religious life, but a fierce spiritual battle (Eph. 6:12).

Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” God has placed all creations under Jesus’ feet and made Him the head of the church. Therefore, it is obvious for the fullness of Him, who has everything under His feet and fills all things, to be at work in the church. For this, the church must be led by the Holy Spirit.

The church is composed of those who have drunk the blood and eaten the flesh of Jesus. They that drank His blood and ate His flesh gather together and commemorate His merits by breaking bread and taking the cup. First Corinthians 11:26 says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” If anybody is a saint, that is, a member of the church, he must exert himself in preaching the Gospel and saving souls. If anyone loves the church, the Lord’s body and is faithful to it, he would experience the fullness of Him who fills all things being at work in him.

Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). Then, He promised to reveal Himself to those who keep this new commandment (John 14:21). When He asked His disciple, “Do you love me?” and the disciple answered that he does, Jesus gave him the commandment, “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). If we love the Lord, we must show evidence of our love. We should love the church, His body, with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our soul, and with all of our life.

The Holy Spirit who had driven Jesus into the wilderness is now driving us into the world. When the Devil tempted Jesus, He relied on the written words of the Scripture and said, ‘Man must live by every word that comes from the mouth of God! Do not tempt God! Worship God and serve Him only!’ At this the Devil left Jesus. The reason the Devil is still at work in the saints is because they do not sincerely love the church. We must experience the fullness of Him who fills all things and has everything under His feet. And for that, we need to exert all of our heart, mind and life in saving souls.