A New Bible
Series
“Understanding The Gospel Is As
Simple as A,B,C”
John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
“And
Preached Christ Unto Them.”
Acts 8:5
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto
them.
Acts 9:20
And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son
of God.
·
After I got
saved in 1979, I used to be troubled by scriptures such as the ones above. These scriptures illustrate for us some of
the evangelistic efforts under the ministry of Phillip, the evangelist. I could not figure out why, and how, Phillip
could possible preach a person instead of preaching about things.
·
For me,
Christianity was all about my relationship with Christ, and how He could impart
eternal life, and innumerable amounts of benefits and blessings to me, and to a
dying world. How can you preach a
person anyways?
·
It was not
until the Lord brought me in contact with the teachings of the great Chinese
apostle and martyr Watchman Nee, did I began to understand why Phillip and
others in the New Testament preached a person named Jesus Christ
·
I have to come to realize in my twenty one
years as a believer, that Christianity has little do with
blessings, miracles, and all that we can get out of God. By itself, these things are not wrong! As a matter of fact, the Lord commands us to
take all of our requests to Him.
However, if your Christianity goes only as far as having a give and take
relationship with the Lord, where the focus is to get your prayers answered,
obtain blessings, and believe God for miracles, you will be miss out on most of
what God has for you. I give you my
word; you will be eating spiritual ground beef for your whole life, as an
earthly believer, instead of the filet mignon and lobster that God is so
desirous to feed you with.
·
Today
I want to teach you the most important truth that you will ever learn as a
Christian. Most believers, and most
churches, never understand this truth, though the New Testament over and over
teaches on it. Hence the great
weakness, the inability to overcome sin, the powerlessness over the lies of
Satan, and the helplessness to be freed from the love of the world, continues
to be found in countless believers throughout the centuries. The truth is that Christianity has little to
with our obtaining of blessings, miracles, and answered requests. CHRISTIANITY COMPLETELY HINGES UPON AND HAS
ALL TO DO WITH THE REVELATION OF THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST, OR THE FAILURE
THEREOF. OUR PERSONAL SUCCESS, AND THE
SUCCESS OF OUR CHURCHES AS BELIEVERS, IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO HOW MUCH THE
PERSON OF CHRIST IS REVEALED!
·
As you shall
see, Satan has successfully deceived the church in part, to divert it from
understanding and valuing the supreme importance of the revelation of the Son
of God in its midst. The fault is
mainly ours! Our obedience to God is
shallow, compromised, and limited; our knowledge of the Word of God is poor at
best. Secondly, we have been deceived
to allow the second most important truth in Christianity to slip right through
our hands!
·
THE SECOND
MOST IMPORTANT TRUTH IN ALL OF CHRISTIANITY IS THAT THE UNDERSTANDING OF, AND
THE EMBRACING OF THE CROSS-OF CHRIST, IS GOD’S ONE AND ONLY MEANS TO REVEAL THE PERSON OF CHRIST!
·
Do we ever
hear in our churches about the preaching and revelation of the person of
Christ? We instead are being made aware
about prosperity, being blessed, getting a miracle and so forth. Lesser still,
do you ever hear about the preaching of the cross of Christ? Do you understand the cross?
·
We have
indeed put the chicken before the egg.
Everything that we seek as believers today must come out of a personal
revelation of the Person of Christ, and our understanding and embracing of His
cross.
·
We are doing
things backwards. We are asking God to bless us, and to perform all of these
great miracles in our lives. Yet we
remain, and shall remain in bondage, hurt, sin, and godly powerlessness, unless
we understand and implement these two supreme truths into our lives.
·
Let us
study, learn, and become truly free, shall we?
Christ is God’s Treasure
Chest
· Let us begin our study by observing the following scriptures found in Colossians and in Ephesians. In Colossians we discover that inside of Christ are hidden treasures. In Ephesians we find that Christ contains riches. It sounds like if Christ is some kind of treasure chest, doesn’t it?
§
Col 2:3 In whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
§ Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
·
So
if Christ is indeed a treasure chest then He must contain treasures INSIDE OF
HIM, correct? What kind of treasures
can we expect to find inside of Him or “In Him?” Lets look at a few of them together.
1)Colossians 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto( INTO) himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
God the Father will reconcile and harmonize the whole
universe into Christ, at His appointed time.
2)Eph
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in
Christ:
Every last and tiniest “God given”
blessing resides inside the Person of Christ.
3)Col
2:9 For in him dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
The fullness of
the Trinity dwells inside the Person of Christ
4)Eph
1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Inside of
Christ resides all accomplished victory, and hence all rightful authority over
all the demonic, earthly, and angelic hierarchy of leadership. Christ also has
that same authority over “ every name that is named”. Therefore, this includes the name of sickness, circumstances, and
so forth, for all eternity.
§
So where
does this “Christ laden with treasures inside of Him” live? He lives inside of us, right? Would it be a
safe bet for us to say then, that we not only possess Christ, but we possess
all of these immense and invaluable treasures, inside of us too? Wow!
§
This is the one thing devil is absolutely terrified
of, and he does a good job keep the church’s’ attention diverted from this.
How Does the Church Really Operate?
Let us suppose that you and your family go on
vacation to a beautiful secluded island on the Caribbean. One morning, as you meandered
through the ivory color sands, a dark corner of barely protruding object
suddenly grabs you attention. Totally
shocked, you uncover a rusty treasure chest hidden by English pirates of old as
they had been fleeing from their enemies, the Spaniards.
To compound your amazement, when you finally break
open the chest you find it laden and overflowing with pounds and pounds of gold
and silver bars and trinkets, precious gems, brilliant stones, huge diamonds,
superb rubies, exquisite rings, brooches, precious coins and so forth.
Let me ask you one simple question. Is it more logical to have you and your sons
close and secure the chest, grab it by each of its handle and wheel it home
laden with all of it bounty so that you can forever enjoy it and use it as you
have need? That is one alternative!
However, you
chose to sit for hours under the broiling sun of the cloudless Caribbean skies,
and laboriously search through the chest for certain items of jewelry that your
family deemed necessary. You dig and
pull out the jewelry, breaking your fingernails and cutting you hands, and
finally quit the process totally exhausted.
In a deep frustration and an awful consumption of time, your family
finds the fifteen or twenty pieces that they need. You then leave the treasure chest still have buried in the sand,
still nearly full with hundreds pieces of jewelry now discarded around it, book
a passage on a local sea plane, and go home.
We would have to agree that this family acted it in
total ignorance and foolishness! Yet
this is a perfect description of the church, and its relationship and depth of
understanding to the Lord Jesus.
It Is Not “Where is The Beef”, But
“Where Is The Treasure?”
Inside the Person of Christ dwells as we have seen, all
of who God is, all of what God wants, and all that God possesses for this word
and for the next. Here is the key to the puzzle! When Christ is revealed or manifested in us, all of
the treasures within or inside of Him will be manifested alongside with
Him. The more revelation of the Son of God, the more will be the
revelation of all that dwells IN HIM.
It is an automatic reality.
The secret to the manifestation or revelation of the
Son of God in our lives has to do with our uncompromising obedience. The more that we obey God, the more that
Jesus Christ living in us will become revealed or manifested in our spirits or
hearts. The less that we obey God, the less will be the manifestation of the
Son of God in our lives. It is that
simple!
John
14:21 He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of
my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
(Today, we
cannot cover in this lesson how the Lord becomes manifested in our lives. We
shall study this in subsequent teachings.)
§
Remember;
God has not given to us things! God has
given us a Person, His Son! This is a
very important point!
§
We are
always asking God for things. God in
turn wants to reveal His Son to us who CONTAINS ALL THINGS!
Heb 1:1 ¶
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the
fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2Hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds;
CHRIST IS GOD’S POWER!
1Co 1:24 But unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
With this foundation in place we can start to partake and enjoy of the goodness of God when He gave us this one thing, His Son. Let us begin by understanding, that when we ask God to give us His power, in reality we are asking amiss. He has given us His Son! Look with me at the scripture above please. Jesus is the power of God. Therefore when He is revealed in our lives, God’s power is revealed with Him, in Him, or alongside with Him. The more that Christ is revealed in our lives, the more that we will automatically operate in the power of God. We don’t need power; we need the Son of God to become a reality to us and the power will be ours!
CHRIST IS GOD’S SPIRITUAL
GIFTS, CALLINGS, AND MINISTRIES
1 Cor 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by (By or In Him) him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
1Co
1:6 Even as the testimony (the revelation) of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co
1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the
coming (The revelation) of our Lord
Jesus Christ
Re 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou
do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony
of Jesus: worship God: for
the testimony (The
revelation) of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy
Please look
with me at the scriptures contained in 1 Corinthians 1:5,6 and 7. In verse five it tells us that “by Christ”
and “In Christ” (The Greek
grammatical structure is interchangeable here), we are made rich in
spiritual gifts. Two of the gifts
mentioned in this passage could be the utterance gifts, which could include
tongues, their interpretation, and the gift of prophecy. The other is the gift
of the word of knowledge, which God uses extensively in healing. Verse six goes
on to direct us to the fact, that the enrichment or increase of these spiritual
gifts in a believer’s life is directly proportional to the
revelation of Christ within him or her.
Right? Verse seven instructs us that if the revelation of the Lord is
complete in our life, we will lack in no spiritual gift. Therefore, the more
that Christ is revealed in our lives, the more that we will automatically flow
in the gifts and ministries that God has called us to. The gifts are IN
HIM. As Christ is revealed, the gifts
IN HIM will be automatically revealed along with Him.
Now please look
with me at Revelation 19:10. Please be
careful to observe with me that Jesus does not give us prophecies per se. Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy! Therefore, the more that Jesus is
manifested in our lives, the more that we shall automatically flow in
prophecy! Let’s look at one final one.
Christ is God’s Righteousness, God’s Redemption, and God’s
Sanctification.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
§
In Corinthians
1:30 we see that Christ has been made into righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Christ
does not dispense these blessings! He
Himself is the blessings! If we
ask God to make us righteous, are prayers will be only halfway answered. If we ask God to sanctify us, we have missed
God’s best.
§
God’s
righteousness has to do with the manifested or outward qualities of God that
originate from His inward holy character.
§
Sanctification
is defined as the progression of our being purified by the Spirit of God.
§
Redemption
has to do with the process of our being rescued from the power of Satan,
bondage, sin, and the love of the world.
§
Christ does
not produce these things in us as separate blessings. He has been made into these attributes. As Christ becomes revealed within our lives,
God’s righteousness becomes more and more of a reality in us. It is automatic! As Christ becomes more discernible in us, we automatically find
ourselves more and more free from sin, bondage and the schemes of the enemy. I
know that I am redundant, but this is so important!
John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Let us conclude our study today by observing what it says in John
fourteen and twenty. The “YE IN ME” has to with our uncompromising obedience to the Lord. If we love the Lord with all of our hearts,
we shall want to obey Him. If we obey
Him, He will manifest Himself to us, as I said early.
John
14:21 He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of
my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Christ’s
manifestation in you will also manifest along with Him, all of God treasures,
which reside in Him; we have talked about already. This is now the “I IN YOU”; Christ, and all that He has and is,
becomes automatically assimilated in us by revelation. In other words His reality becomes our
reality. The revelation of the Son of
God in us becomes assimilation, and assimilation becomes reality, and with Him
comes our assimilation of all of God’s inheritance.
Ephesians 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Some Rules on How to Play
the Game
q
Jesus Christ within us
is actively living a life, which is separate from ours.
q
We are indeed dead;
but it takes our continuing obedience for this to become a reality in our lives
q
Christianity is not
about choices but about the revelation of Christ
q
His manifestation
comes in our dying; solely through the instrument of the cross .The cross is
activated every time that we obey the Lord.
I call it “the law of the cross.”
q
Our life and the life
of the indwelling Lord Jesus are diametrically opposed. One is natural and the
other is spiritual.
q
The cross is used to
kill, still and silence our natural life so that the person of Jesus Christ can
be discerned, heard, and obeyed.
q
Two lives cannot
compete. One must die and the other one
live.
q
The
believers’ responsibility is so simple yet so hard; He or she must become so
dead to himself or herself, as to allow some one else within them to live a
totally separate life from theirs, mainly that of the Lord.
q
Christianity
is an absolute transference of lives.
q
Christianity
is a substitution of lives.
q
The
believers’ role is to be an avenue for this other life to be manifested! If we are full of ourselves, our plans, and
agendas, hurts, sin, and bondages, we will not only snuff out Christ’s life
within us; we will be unable to discern it!
Christ speaks to us in a still small voice. I am very concerned that we
don’t preach the cross in American any more.
Jose Alvarez
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