John 20:23
Is there a time to retain someone’s sin? Yes. The Bible says so.
Jesus told the disciples that they had the power to go out into the world spreading the gospel and whosoever’s sin they remitted would be remitted and whosoever’s sin they retained would be retained.
Only the mature believer has this authority and only those who know when God gave them that authority, have it.
It is a huge responsibility. Only the mature believer who walks in obedience to God, who walks in the fullness of Christ Paul spoke of, is able.
They have the mind of Christ and only do what the Spirit of God says to do. They do not operate from their own emotions.
That being said, what is the prerequisite for a person having their sin remitted? So easy. Repentance. Did the offender come and ask the offended for forgiveness? What is the state of the offender’s heart?
If there is no repentance ( recognizing that I have sinned and long to be cleansed of it) then there is no forgiveness, and the consequences for that unconfessed sin are set in motion.
We reap what we sow.
I think unrepentant hearts don’t understand that if they won’t admit they’ve sinned, then they are not forgiven of that sin. They may have entered salvation as forgiven people and walk in that but now if they have one particular offense and won’t go to their brother and say, “ I have sinned against you and am very sorry, forgive me,” they are walking in the repercussions of that particular sin. This won’t affect salvation but will affect their walk.
A believer who chronicly does such a thing makes me very concerned about their salvation. I wonder if this person has ever repented unto salvation then if they are rarely of ever repenting of their offenses?
If one who says they are a believer, assumes they are just forgiven of offenses, but doesn’t recognize the sin and apologize for the sin, wanting forgiveness of that sin…I wonder if they are saved? A saved heart is a repentant heart. That heart recognizes and hates their sin. They are quick to go to the person sinned against and apologize and ask forgiveness. They intuitively know the dangers of not confessing sin. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. If there is no conviction, maybe there is no Spirit in them?
Now the offended has to forgive. But when do they have to forgive? Only, only, only, when the offender asks. Not until then.
Jesus doesn’t just willy nilly forgive. He has the mission of transforming sinners. Transformation won’t happen if they don’t repent of their individual offenses…asking forgiveness.
Sometimes it makes no sense or is impossible to go to the individual and say you are sorry and ask forgiveness. God is after your heart.
I can’t always go back to people in my past that I offended, and only realize years later when I have no contact with them any longer, that I sinned against them and need to get to them to ask forgiveness. If it is practical and possible then yes. But if not, then a repentant heart and acknowledgment to God is enough.
It also depends on the motive and extent of the sin. God is reasonable. But this is a serious stumbling block in the church today.
People are sick and dissatisfied and weak and unproductive and dying because they refuse to recognize sin and repent of it.
Very serious stuff.
Paul said we should examine our hearts regularly to make sure we are in the faith. This is what he meant. It has to do with our “doings”. Are they pure?
If, if if, “you will confess your sin, God is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness” ( 1 John 1:9).
So look hard at this: by contrast then, if we do not confess our sin, we have not been 1- forgiven, nor 2- cleansed from ALL unrighteousness.
So if we are a believer and refuse to confess a sin and ask forgiveness, then we are walking around in an unrighteous state…not in the salvation sense but in the behavioral sense after salvation…two different things.
If we are saved then we are positionally righteous. But looking at our walk, is it behaviorally righteous?
We are told in scripture that if we don’t forgive then we won’t be forgiven. This is a secondary truth…was there repentance? Repentance is ALWAYS THE PREREQUISITE.
If God brings to mind something I said or did in the past to someone who may not even be aware of it, do I need to go to them? I doubt it. Why cause more trouble than you already have? Does it make sense for all involved to go apologize and ask forgiveness? Then do it. If not then it is sufficient to be burdened over it and run to Jesus and then ask Him to forgive you and to bless the offended person.
God is so reasonable, sensible and ready for renewal for you. He is always examining your heart.
If your heart says, I’m not really sorry. Who cares. They hurt me so they deserve it. Oh well it wasn’t that big of a deal. Then you, my friend, are in trouble. Your heart is wrong, and be sure He will do everything, in increasing measure, to fix it. It’s your decision wether it’ll cost life or limb. What about your offenses? Do you not appreciate that you were forgiven?
There is no sin too great. The only one too great is the unconfessed one.
For Jesus requires confession of sin (repentance) in order to forgive and to restore to new.
So when He says, forgive if you want to be forgiven, this is only after the offender has come and apologized and asked for it.
There is a time to retain sin. Paul said to turn the immoral brother over to Satan to be taught not to sin. This is the time to retain. A believer with the Mind of Christ, will ache to do it. That’s when we know we are qualified to do it…when it hurts to do it. If we have the Mind of Christ, then we long for repentance for the offender. The last thing we want to do is to retain someone’s sin when we know what forgiveness is and how much we need it.
But sometimes we have to. and if we remit someone’s sin who has not confessed, we are robbing them of the joy of repentance. Things then won’t be set in motion to cause that person to repent!! Why? It’s because whatever we bind on earth is bound in Heaven!!! Whatever we loose on earth loosed in heaven! Sometimes a disciple also has to turn an immoral brother over to Satan to be taught not to sin.
If we have experienced the joy of repentance, we long for every soul to know it.
If we have no experienced the joy of repentance, then we don’t know what they are missing and don’t care…
Disciple..walk in forgiveness today! Know when to remit and when to retain. Always be ready to see the slightest tendency toward repentance and seize upon it on behalf of the world.
In Jesus’ holy name!
Amen!
So that was a good segue to talk more about those who will be counted worthy to escape the coming wrath.
2 Timothy 2 clearly describes 2 different kinds of vessels in God’s family. Both saved, sealed unto God for all eternity.
One group is saved and a vessel of dishonor. These are the lukewarm, the double minded. They are those waffling back and forth from the old man and the new. They are the saved but distracted…still self ruled.
The second group is saved and a vessel of honor. They are sanctified and fit to bear fruit for the kingdom of God. They escape the wrath to come. They are about their Fathers business and are not distracted. They are God-ruled and not self-ruled. They are single minded and will be raptured before God’s wrath is unleashed to purify the vessels of dishonor who will not escape the wrath, and destroy the unsaved…those who rejected totally God’s offer of salvation.
The second group…the group who were vessels of honor, who God was able to use for His work, and were fruit bearers while they awaited His return…watched, waited, prayed, expected, and kept themselves from evil.
So salvation alone will not ensure us that we escape the wrath. Salvation and fullness in Christ will ensure that we will.
So many parables warn us not to be caught unaware. Not to be lazy. Not to be careless and unfruitful.
If we are these things, God will toss us into the tribulation to refine us because we refused to do it while we were alive, and before the rapture.
Oh that the church would be taught these truths accurately today! Yet I haven’t heard it anywhere.
Chuck Missler taught this to the rejection of many friends. But he was right.
Oh, that the church would watch and pray and keep themselves from evil so that they would be counted worthy to escape this coming wrath.
Amen.
Paul says it all in these verses here in 2 Timothy chapter 2. He tells Timothy that in Gods house are both vessels of honor and of dishonor. He is to warn all believers to flee iniquity(sin). Then he goes on to tell him that if a believer will flee iniquity (sin) he will be sanctified and can now be used by the Master for the Kingdom. A fruit producer.
2 Tim 2:21
Sent from my iPhone
What wrath is this? Luke 21 is clearly a dual prophecy, and that is easy to see. Jesus is asked by His disciples (those who belong to Him and not unbelievers) what will be the signs of the last day or the day of the Lord’s vengeance. He tells them. The first thing He warns of was the destruction that was to soon come in 70 AD, when Jerusalem was indeed overtaken and totally destroyed, with not one stone remaining upon another. But this was not the day of the Lord’s vengeance that is to come upon the whole face of the earth, Luke records. So Jesus first warns the believers listening to Him then, and also all believers who would have been in Jerusalem when it was destroyed in 70 AD by what is commonly believed, the Romans. Greece is also a possibility. I read a great article which cites Josephus’ account of that battle under the Roman general Titus. I should research that myself. But he cited book and chapter. Josephus claimed it was Greece who actually did the destroying of the temple but Titus was blamed for it and it stuck. Both companies were all mixed up in the battle and according to the article, Josephus, who was there at the time, records that it was Greece and Titus wanted to retreat and leave the Jews alone and the temple. That is very intriguing of true.
But then He skips to another destruction, not just in Jerusalem now but upon the whole earth. This is clearly the last day, the day of His wrath. He is speaking of the wrath of the Lamb now.
Keep in mind that His instruction is not to unbelievers. This instruction is to believers. He says to keep watch for that day. He said there would be signs in the sun, moon and stars, and distress of nations. This is now not about just Jerusalem. Prophecy is always like this. There is very often a precursor that is a foreshadowing of a future prophetic fulfillment of the last day.
Jesus goes back and forth from one to the other and you have to pay close attention to the markers which identify which period He is talking about but it’s very clear.
So He wraps Luke 21 up by describing the events and the signs before His return. He says to believers…watch that you don’t be caught up in ungodly behaviors ( He lists them) and distractions (the cares of this life). He says this to believers : “ Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things ( His wrath in last day) that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man( Jesus as judge at the last day).
Current teaching in the church, to just relax if you are saved, is sloppy. It is false teaching with carelessness. It is not false teaching with malice however. It’s just lazy.
But the problem with it being lazy is that there is no excuse for it. This instruction could not be clearer and I encourage the reader to just read it slowly and pay attention. But bad teaching here can be very dangerous.
Jesus said, WATCH ALWAYS AND PRAY THAT YOU WILL BE COUNTED WORTHY TO ESCAPE THIS WRATH THAT IS COMING ON THE WHOLE EARTH.
So not all believers will be counted worthy to escape the wrath of the last day. Jesus isn’t talking to the lost here and telling them to get saved so they are worthy. He is talking to the saved and tells them to watch and pray that they’d be counted worthy to escape the last day wrath.
Immediately before He says this, He describes what would makes the believer unworthy… “hearts overcharged with excess or over-indulgence, drunkenness and the cares of this life”. Wow.
He finishes… “ so that day comes upon you unaware”. Luke 21:34.
Jesus clearly says to believers who would be alive at the time of the last day, that they should watch and pray and not be caught up in excess and drunkenness and cares of this life, or they would not escape the wrath that is coming…would not be raptured.
There will be believers who believed before the rapture of the church who are lukewarm and caught up in the cares of this life and its excesses and will not go, but suffer through the 3.5 year tribulation, or wrath, and we know these are the beheaded saints of Revelation.
When the man of perdition is revealed at the 3.5 year mark, the wrath begins. The 1st 3.5 years of the last 7, called Jacob’s Trouble, is a time of false peace and not wrath. God sends great delusion when He raptures His Church so that those who didn’t believe before, cannot believe. Any gentile alive and on earth at the tribulation who believes, did so before the church went. They just were not single minded. They were not watching. They were not hidden in Christ.
More next time…
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5).
All of these are present in the believer who has the fruit of the Spirit. If not all of these are present, then we don’t have the fruit of the Spirit. We don’t gain each aspect of the fruit one at a time by working on them.
Rather, when we walk in the Spirit, by obeying God, we don’t fulfill the lust of the flesh, Galatians 5:-6.
So as a believer I can’t say I have love but need to work on self control. Or I have kindness but need to work on faithfulness. All 9 components, of what comprise the Fruit of the Spirit, come altogether and at once to the obedient believer.
A believer walking in immaturity and self rule can be patient at times, or loving at times, but this doesn’t mean they have the love that is a part of the fruit of the Spirit. The old man, or the flesh, is capable of a lot of what we would call good things. However, if it is of the old man, God calls all of these righteous act, filthy rags.
So, you will recognize if a believer walks in the fruit of the Spirit, or bears the fruit of the Spirit, when they ongoingly exhibit all nine aspects listed in Galatians. If one or more is missing, there is no fruit yet.
Remember…it is FRUIT, not fruits. The fruit of the Spirit is a singular thing with nine parts. It is not 9 separate traits that we add on one by one by trying in our flesh to improve the old man.
If we will instead, obey God by 1- knowing His word…and I mean studying and knowing constantly, His word, and 2- obey what we know by what we’ve read and studied, then we will walk in the Spirit, not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and bear then…the Fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
Spiritual things are gained in Spiritual ways. I cannot labor to be kind and then be kind. I might appear to be kind but no. This isn’t the fruit of the Spirit, kind. It is man’s kindness. I obey God as I walk with Him. I choose all of His ways because I love Him and because of my proximity to Him. I transform my mind to be in agreement with Him in all things. Then, boom, all at once, the fruit of the Spirit reigns in me. Glory to God.
So what about believers who do not exhibit this fruit? They have not agreed yet with God.
But… Let God be true and every man a liar!
Jesus Christ bless you as you walk in Him!
Good morning ! I have something very thought provoking to share if I may. I have found, as y’all have I’m sure, that the more bazaar and obscure a scripture is in the Bible, the more delightful the hidden treasure within it is if we will search. Here are some that are related. I’m combining them into a thought. “The Kingdom of God suffers violence and violent men take it by force, all men press into it.”
Isn’t that great? I have always loved these truths and have done a lot of thinking on them. Here is what I found: We know that the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are the same. Some of my favorite teachers have tried to show how they are different. For instance, they will say one is a subset of the other, etc. But that is not the case. Jesus spoke of them interchangeably and sometimes it is just called the Kingdom…so there you have it. The Kingdom is the Kingdom.
Now the Kingdom of God is not easily explained or understood because it has many aspects. It is both within the believer and without. It is both present and future coming. It is both Heavenly and earthly. It is seen and unseen. It is both literal and intangible…all at once…and so on. So we have to keep the mystery attached to it to understand it best.
We know that we enter the Kingdom when we believe. It is a free gift and cannot be earned.
We know that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom.
We know that the Kingdom is within the heart but that there is a coming, seen Kingdom that we are waiting for and that Jesus says to pray for it’s arrival, and that He can’t wait for it to get here!
We know by fulfilled prophecy that it is very near…just by watching Israel.
We know that when we experience the immediate manifest presence of God (a God thing sometimes called) that, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is suddenly upon
you!”
How is it that this Kingdom “suffers” violence and violent men take it by force? And further, that all men press into it?
The phrase here “suffers violence” has an “almost exclusively poetic use and meaning.” It is visceral and we get that when reading it. It has a sense of pressing into. And there is the rub, so to speak. So here it is and it’s really wonderful. The Kingdom is freely given with great pleasure by the Father through faith. But there is still a further pressing into this Kingdom. Those of us who’ve walked a while with Him know what that means. Listen to some other scriptures that support this idea.
With all thy getting get understanding. Search for Me with all your heart. Search for wisdom as if searching for gold, hidden treasures and a pearl of great price, etc It goes on and on.
We know by the parables that all men DO press into it. Not all are allowed to enter, only those who believe, but all men try. Think of the wheat and the tares, the birds in the mustard tree, the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Jesus said that from John the Baptist till now that this violence takes place. This is because John marked the timing of Christ’s arrival on the scene at last…what Israel had been waiting for, and had received by faith until then (those who believed). The secret was revealed and now the world is pressing in!!!
Remember that Adam and Eve and Job and all others before Abraham were not Jews! God’s people are the faithful. Israel had a particular role and there is no difference between Jew and Gentile apart from the role Israel played to bring forth messiah. The Jews who believed when Jesus arrived were exactly the same as the Gentiles who believed when He arrived. The Jews who didn’t believe when He arrived, where not Jews at all then. Just unbelievers!
Even the woman who asks for the crumbs from the king’s table knowing that she is a gentile and not a Jew, a dog (Heathen), Jesus uses to show that there is no difference between believers. He uses reverse psychology. He is saying, “But woman, isn’t it true that I came only for the lost sheep of Israel?” He uses her as a public example to teach a spiritual truth. His answer is NO! I came for the WORLD. He was correcting wrong thinking in His wonderfully mysterious way. This is confirmed by all other scriptures both Old and New Test.
Now think of the walk after salvation: the further we press in, the more resistance from our enemy the devil. It is gotten, in the further getting sense, by persistence, determination, death to self, violence, at last crucifixion, our crucifixion with Christ. It is “resisting sin to the point of bloodshed”, ie. crucifixion.
So then the violence that gets the Kingdom, or the pressing into it, is really the losing of my life and not saving it. This is indeed something that takes a force of a different kind. It really is speaking of the work that the indwelt spirit now is doing to reach into the soul and then the body! God wants ALL of us. Jesus really explains this in John 17.
So while the road is light and joyous and unspeakably thrilling. It is filled with obstacles and trials as well. But these things are what make a beautiful saint, rugged, impossible to defeat, filled with the love of God no matter what!
The woman grabbing the hem of His garment, Mary of Bethany pouring out the costly ointment, spikenard (lavender) upon His feet, John the Baptist being beheaded for his testimony, Mary’s heart being pierced for her own salvation, Nicodemus having his presupposed false ideas shattered in order to see truth, Simon coming up under His cross as well. This is the violence that’s gets the Kingdom.
Love to you all!
God bless and Godspeed!
What is the gospel?
Good news! That’s what the word “gospel “ means…good news; and it is good news indeed. But what is the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ?
The Bible tells us. The gospel of Christ is this: Jesus Christ crucified, dead, buried and resurrected for the sins of the world. This is the one and the only gospel of Christ and it is rarely heard today in churches.
Something very close is taught but in my opinion can easily miss the mark so to speak of we aren’t careful.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Paul says, here is the gospel, and it is the means by which we are all saved.
Here it is: Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried and rose again the 3rd day in accordance with the scriptures.
That’s it. No more, no less. It is the simplicity of Christ. It is so easy a child can understand it and be saved.
Oh but it is corrupted by the world today and most of the Church. Jesus warned us it would be.
What is the corruption? The problem of sin is left out. We hear about His death and resurrection, wonderful! But why? Why did He have to die? How do I receive the gospel?
Paul says here and elsewhere: just believe. But what are we to believe? The whole thing…that He died for my sin. So my believing the gospel requires that I come to Him recognizing that I am a sinner in need of His death to save me.
Satan has tricked most of the church into believing that I need not repent of my sin. That is…recognize it and my need of saving.
Most teach that Jesus makes me a better me. This is just short of the gospel. He doesn’t do that. All I hear in the church really, unless it’s a true one, is how to improve myself by learning what He taught. But that is not the gospel.
I need to be born again of the Spirit by repenting of my sin and then I can and will by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me become a new creature…not a better me but a new me. Alive!
The old man is dead. The old me, is that “old man”. The new man is alive in Christ, the new man is the new me…spirit born.
A child can understand this.
This is why we see a weak and unholy church, powerless to do anything in their own lives and certainly powerless to help any other life…in any spiritual way.
“…REPENTANCE FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS should be preached to all nations beginning at Jerusalem…”(Luke 24:47).
This the the only gospel. Go preach it!
God told Israel, through the prophet Jeremiah, to give God glory before He brings darkness.
I know that in my life He had to bring darkness before I would give Him glory. So He did, and through it I met Him, and did give Him glory, and now live my life every day to continue to give Him glory.
And giving God glory is the chiefest of all joys. This is a secret. It is a gem that few know or will ever find. A person’s joy is found only in loving and serving God. There is no joy apart from that, but only darkness.
But here in Jeremiah 13:16, God says to glorify Him before He brings darkness and causes us to stumble and turns even our light into GROSS darkness. BEFORE. He prefers that.
This GROSS darkness is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible and God even says it is a darkness so dark that it can be felt. I will say that I have felt that gross darkness and it drove me into His glorious light. And something about His doing that has caused me to adore Him deeply. How much must He love that He is willing to endure over and again our suffering, when He does have to bring darkness. Have you ever had to sharply discipline a child? I have, and it can be very, very agonizing. To hurt someone you love, even though it is good that you do it, is terribly painful.
I saw something here in Jeremiah a few chapters earlier…something very amazing. Now prophecy is what some would call parried. That is, it is mysterious and cloaked to a degree until God chooses to illuminate it and organize it in a mind that is searching.
This is one of those prophecies. We cannot tell who is speaking. Is it God? Is it Jeremiah? Is it God through jeremiah? Is it Jeremiah for God?
It is intentionally cloaked but I know it is God speaking. Listen to what He says:
Who Is it?
“Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it” (Jeremiah10:19).
This is Jesus. It is His voice lamenting from the cross, hundreds of years before He would be on that cross.. through the prophet Jeremiah. This is how His heart aches when His people disobey and follow other God’s. He has to hurt them. And sometimes His hurting does them no good. That’s His agony. God even says earlier that though He comes in and afflicts, some won’t repent, but will continue in their wayward ways.
This is a picture a Jesus’ suffering for our sins. Sin breaks everyone’s heart, always and all around.
So, the one who breaks a heart, He also sits with a broken heart, when His holiness has to injure. This is love. God is Love.
I was watching FOX Business channel yesterday and heard an economist speaking briefly about the state of our economy here in the USA but also in the world. Today is 5/8/2019
He said that all the known economic models are not being followed. He said there is a component that is a mystery right now that is causing all the models to not make sense.
We as Christians know what that component is but the world doesn’t know. It is God. He decides all things. He will allow an economy to rise or fall based solely on His will and plan.
He tells us to not store up gold and silver (money) in the time of trouble but instead to store up righteousness. In a downed economy, the only thing that will spend is the righteousness that you have stored up.
I’ve seen it first hand without fail for the 25 years I’ve known and followed Jesus Christ. He defies logic…not just sometimes but every single time.
What is stored up righteousness? Right living. Right thinking. Walking in uprightness in even the small things. This will spend better than gold and silver and especially in times of trouble, famine.
So there is a very mysterious component to the economies of the world. There is a currency that few know about. It’s God’s currency…righteousness.
I just wanted to send a few facts about what we call communion, as believers. It is very misunderstood so I thought I’d compile what the Bible tells us about breaking bread as believers.
The first thing to note is what the bread and wine are not: They are not the eukarist. This is a pagan concept that the apostles doctrine (which is the only doctrine we are to follow…and we find it in the Bible) would find repugnant.
The eukarist is a catholic concept that teaches that an ordained minister (not found in the Bible) prays over to make it holy and magically turns it into the actual body and blood of Christ. This means that He is crucified all over again for our sins and if we ingest the eukarist, He enters our body again, and we are forgiven again.
They are not a means of spiritual power or ability. The Bible simply says that it is an act of remembrance of His completed work on the cross and to do it as often as we want, until He returns. It is simply a means of fellowship with one another in Christ and a focus on the fact that it is His death and resurrection that has saved us. It is a remembrance and it is for our good.
It is not to be taken in the sorrowful mindset of a funeral, but as a joyful celebration of life everlasting!
It is not to be taken or observed by anyone but a true believer. Unless a person has been born again, they have no fellowship yet in the body and blood of Christ until they have repented of sin and have been born again by faith in Christ.
It is not to be taken in an unworthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:24-30). This is left open so it encompasses all manner of unworthiness. The first thought is that an unbeliever is unworthy. The second thought is that a believer who is harboring known sin in his heart and partakes of the bread and wine, is in danger of serious illness and even death. It is a very serious matter and Paul warned us that some of us are weak, sick and dying because of this very reason.This is in no way saying that everyone who is sick or dies in Christ is in a state of sin. Only God and the believer know that. Paul and Tromphimus were filled with the Spirit and God’s will yet remained ill. This is our precedent.
This means believers. So this would be considered what John called a sin unto death. It’s when a believer persists in known sin and God has given them time and space to stop it but they refuse. They remain in their old ways. He will take them home. Why? Because a person with the seed of Christ in them cannot sin. He won’t permit it. 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:16 (The word for sin here refers to a known, intentional and continual siding against the will of God).
1 Cor. 11:24: Jesus gives the only, the complete, the pure and the simple explanation of what communion is and how to observe it. Anything additional was added to the scriptures by pagan Rome practices and remains in some of the church. Because the church that first fell away after pagan practices did not and does not believe that salvation is by faith alone, they needed practices and works to save them. This is how communion was first corrupted.
“And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat: this is My body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me'”.
vs 25, “After the same manner also, the cup, when He had supped, saying, “This cup is the New Testament in My blood: this do ye, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me'”.
Paul goes on to explain that as often as we do this we show the Lord’s death till He returns. In other words, we remember or point to the Lord’s death. We don’t re-create the Lord’s death.
The death of Christ was not a defeat but a victory! It is accomplished!!! Satan tried to prevent it. He failed. Jesus accomplished His death on the cross, and now death is swallowed up in victory! Isaiah 25:8 “He shall swallow up death in victory…” 1 Corinthians 15:54 we see that Paul tells us the crucifixion was that prophesied victory!
John 6:48 “I am the bread of life…” Jesus explains to many who gathered around Him that He is the bread of life. He is claiming here to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is trying to get them to see that He is the fulfillment of the passover lamb. He Israelites were told that they must eat all of the Passover Lamb before morning and leave none of it. It must be consumed. What was left had to be burned. Jesus is telling them that the lamb was a foreshadowing of Him. He tells them that unless they eat His body and drink His blood, they have no part in Him. Many turned away at this thought. They could not accept that the Messiah was that Lamb slain for the sins of the world. We, as believers are also to consume Christ for every single need in life: Take from Him, learn from Him, follow Him, dwell with Him, hide with Him in God…We can do nothing on our own. We need Him for everything. This is what it means to consume Christ.
Why couldn’t they receive it? Because they wanted their own good works and rituals to save them, giving them merit. By eating the Lamb of God (coming to Him for salvation, whereby being washed in the blood of the Lamb, cleansed from sin) they would show complete poverty of spirit and total bankruptsy. The proud do not want to admit that so they turn away to religion and ritual…which makes them feel worthy by what they do…appeasing God.
Who is it that inherits the Kingdom of Heaven? The poor in spirit. Matt. 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven”.
How do we know that The bread and wine are symbols and not the actual body and blood of Christ? Hebrews and 1 Peter tell us. Hebrews 9:28 “For Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…” (He was offered to ALL, but only a few will take, this is why we see MANY; only a few will ever partake of Him though He dies for all and is offered to all).Jesus was offered once for all. He is not re-crucified again and again for sin. This is what the catholic church teaches as well as many denominations. Hebrews 10:10 says it again. He was offered once.
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ has also suffered once for sins…”Hebrews 6:6 …If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves, the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.”
This is so serious. This portion of scripture is explaining that once a person is saved by faith in Christ, he cannot fall away into a lost state. If it were possible, then we would be saying that Jesus could be crucified again for us to save us again…and this is not only impossible but it is putting Him to an open shame…trampling Him underfoot.
So to take the bread and wine and to claim that it is the literal body of Christ, means that he has to be crucified again and again. Jesus went out of His way to warn against such blasphemy. “It is finished” “Paid in full”. Never to be done again…only remembered by His own who entered in through faith.He is put to OPEN SHAME the word says. The eukarist, or the mass (where we get Christmas..it is Christ’s Mass), is a constant re crucifying of the RISEN Lord, the ASCENDED Lord, and the ONE who is seated on the throne in Heaven. His death is accomplished, never needs doing again, and He is on His way now as the LION…not the slain Lamb.When He appears again He will be the Lion from the tribe of Judah and His vesture is stained with blood but not His (Isaiah 63). It is the blood of the wicked, the unredeemed, the Christ rejecters.
So clearly, communion is to be done simply, as a remembrance of Christ’s death, as often as we like and for the express purpose of examining our hearts before Him while we wait for Him to come get us. This causes us to follow Him more closely by heart change, not magic.
The Nicolaitans were a group whose doctrine Jesus said He hated. They lorded it over the others. They established a hierarchy in the church which is not to exist. Isn’t that what we see when we have self imposed higher ups in the church who have the “authority” to pray over and transform the bread and wine, to have sole rights to administer the communion supper? I think so.
If we never partake of the bread and wine,we show ourselves to be outside the body of believers. Jesus said to do this in remembrance of Me. Do it with the right heart. That’s our only instruction. Any believers at any time they choose wherever and whenever they choose should enjoy the communion of the supper. There should be no hubbub, no ceremony, not ritual,no solemnity, no hierarchy, no man-made ordinances and no hesitancy. Any hesitancy shows that we are holding on to old ways and fear His judgement. But we should instead examine our hearts and love His cleansing and follow Him, agree with Him.It should be done with a joy-filled heart and mind, with no fear that comes from man-made ideas about it. How much so many have missed because they have added to to word of God and have confused and complicated the simplicity that is in Christ!How many have been misled into thinking that this is actually His body and blood that are re-cleansing them! They have a false sense of security and continue in old ways against God because they believe this ritual takes care of it all. They never change their minds and their ways and they suffer for it. But if it were rightly known and followed, hearts would be changing into His image. Thats the whole purpose…to keep us while we wait on Him to come get us.
I would encourage all of us to examine what our own churches teach. Make sure they are not adding to the word. Each one is responsible to God. We have no mediator but Christ, the very Spirit of God who teaches us perfectly, and He teaches through the word of God an not any teacher preacher of church. “…You have no need that any man teach you…” (1 John 2:26-27). Here we see that John warns against being deceived by anyone. The Holy Spirit within us teaches us and He does it first through His word and then for those who have labored in the word to know it, through spiritual discernment.I hope this gives us a fresh and exciting and joyful understanding of the incredible privilege we have at the Lord’s table!
Thanks for listening! Have a blessed week in Christ!Love,Cheryl