Tag Archives: Jesus

Oct 19 2008

God is able, is He willing?


The following verses all say that God is “able“. He is “able” to do anything because He is God. Most believers embrace this idea of God’s ability in their personal belief system. Many of us however are not sure He is willing as we live our lives day by day.

Consider these verses and comments.

Romans 14:4
“Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” God can keep His own from falling, will He?

Ephesians 3:20
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” Abundantly more than we ask or think! It’s hard to take in. The context is very personal, “according to the power at work in us“. The Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is the power we have at the ready to do in us and through us what will glorify God. God is very able but is He willing?

2 Timothy 1:12
“..which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.” What had Paul committed to the Lord? His soul, his future, his hope, his life, all that he was had been given over to the One who is able. He was able to guard what was entrusted to Him until the Day of the Lord. Did He? More than that, will He guard what you have entrusted to Him? He is able, is He willing?

Perhaps the answers are found in these next several verses. God is faithful! Praise His name, I can trust Him completely to do what I am not able to do. He is able, and He is faithful.

Romans 3:3
“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?”

1 Corinthians 1:9
“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Our calling into the fellowship of Jesus Christ depends upon the faithfulness of God. If it depends on me I’m in a very dangerous position. He is perfectly faithful even though you and I are not perfectly faithful. (Rom 3:3 above)

1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Temptations are common to us all. When they come, and they surely will, what assurance do we have that we can avoid falling into sin? The faithfulness of God! He knows each of us so intimately that He will allow temptation just short of our ability to resist. He will always provide a way of escape. Were it not for God’s faithfulness we would be overwhelmed by the temptation to fall into grievous sin often and we would not be able to resist. Let no man claim that he had no choice, no way out, God always provides a way of escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:24
“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” Do what? This verse is immediately preceded by verse 23 which says “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ“. God will sanctify (set you apart for Himself) you completely (there is no room for failure), and your whole person will be kept blameless until Jesus comes. Not only will you be blameless then, your are now blameless, and will stay blameless because God is faithful and He will surely do it.

2 Timothy 2:13
“if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.” At some time every person living in sinful flesh is less than faithful, but while we disappoint even ourselves, God is faithful on our behalf. He cannot be otherwise and be God.

Hebrews 7:25
“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” I doubt that any of us are capable of grasping the depth and breadth of this promise. One thing is for sure, those who have put their confidence in Jesus and are resting completely upon Him are safe. Saved, being saved, and will be saved in the end is the promise to all who come to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 10:23
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” What a wonderfully powerful challenge and promise! Do you expect the sun to shine tomorrow? It very likely will. There are no rainy days in God’s faithfulness. He is always, eternally, faithful and because of that truth we who are His are at rest.

Galatians 5:22
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness”  God the Holy Spirit is at work in each believer forming us into the likeness of Christ. One of the ways He is doing that is to produce in our lives faithfulness. Faithfulness is one way we are like our Father.

God is not only able, but faithful. Amen.

Standing in grace,
Royce

Sep 11 2008

The Deity of Jesus…fact or fiction? #1


Many centuries before the birth of Jesus the prophet Isaiah predicted the virgin birth of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14) saying He should be called Immanuel, which means “God with us”. When an angel speaks to Joseph in a dream about the birth of Jesus he says

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall call his name Immanuel.”  

   (Which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife; 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:20-23)

This text, including the quote from Isaiah, is the first in the New Testament to establish the deity of Jesus who is the Christ.

1.    “for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”. Only God can cause a virgin to conceive a child without the sperm of a man. This fact sets this child apart from all others. With no human father, but God as his father, He must be God. Kind begets kind. Sheep have sheep, apple trees propagate more apple trees, birds more birds of their kind, reptiles follow kind and on and on, it is the result of the order of creation. The birth of Jesus is no exception, God begets God. In His humanity, and in His role in the Godhead, Jesus is the Son of God.

2.    “call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”. Who but God can save sinners from their sins? The obvious answer is “nobody”. Only God can save a soul and of course Jesus could, did, and still is today.

3.    “and they shall call His name Immanuel” (which means God with us) The word “Immanuel” is a combination of two Hebrew words “immanu” and “EL”. The first, “immanu” simply means “with us” and “EL” is one of the several holy names of God, and reserved only for God. It is this God who would be conceived in a virgin by the Holy Spirit. It is this God who would save people from their sins. It is this God, the Christ (anointed one), who would now be with the people on planet earth in a human body.

As wonderful as this narrative is, it is not the beginning of Jesus. In the next post I will talk about His eternal existence. The account of Jesus’ birth was only a description of His incarnation, not His beginning. We will see that being God He had no beginning. Only created things have beginnings, the Creator does not.

In Him,
Royce