Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Orange Moon Wednesday, June 30, 2021 "One Sacrifice"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…


"One Sacrifice"

       
   Frances and I have been taking a course on the American Revolution (first time we've ever been in class together!).  This has led to to reading several other books that concern this period of our nation's history, including a volume that referenced one of the religious groups that first came over from Great Britain.  The author stated of this sect, "They worked six days a week, and then went to church on Sunday to make atonement for their sins."

    "We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement" (Romans 5:11).
    "This man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12).

    I strongly suspect the historian who described the life and religious practice of the group he mentioned did not accurately state their beliefs.  Whatever the case, no valid expression of Biblical doctrine proposes that believers must make atonement or sacrifice for our own sins in any way, shape, or form.  We have already "received the atonement" as a free gift purchased by the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus on the cross.  Moreover, His "one sacrifice for sins forever" was so satisfactory in the eyes of God that "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" necessary even for believers who wander away from the path of faith and faithfulness (Hebrews 10:26).  The Lord Jesus voiced the triumphant cry of "It is finished!" as He died on Calvary's cross, thus making completely unnecessary any attempt on our part of atoning for our own sins (John 19:30).  "By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14).

    Only the Heavenly throne of grace provides God's forgiveness, cleansing, and newness of life in Christ.   No atonement awaits any human heart in any other way.  "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).  Nothing we or anyone else could possibly do would provide a sacrifice acceptable to God whereby "as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12).  The Person and work of Christ and Christ alone accomplishes that holy redemption.  This is the Gospel, the Gospel of freely given atonement through the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus alone.  There is no other, and I strongly suspect the aforementioned Christians knew this, and did not "go to church on Sunday to make atonement for their sins."

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all."
(I Timothy 2:5-6)

Weekly Memory Verse
   "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
(Luke 19:10)


    
   
  
   











































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Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Orange Moon Tuesday, June 29, 2021 "Eternal LIfe"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…


"Eternal Life"

      

     The Lord Jesus Christ defined eternal life not in terms of duration, but rather of relationship.  

    "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

    The Greek root word for "know" in this passage - "ginosko" - suggests a knowledge based on experience, as opposed to merely mental awareness.  Who we will forever know, as opposed to how long we will live, must therefore form our primary understanding of the eternal life God gives to all who trust the Lord Jesus.  

   This explains the Apostle John's declaration that born again believers in Christ already "have eternal life" (I John 5:13).  Albeit limited in our present existence in comparison to what we will experience in eternity to come, Christians by definition already know God through Christ, and by the Holy Spirit's illumination in our hearts.  "The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16).  This constitutes the very essence of what it means to be a Christian, namely, the relational reality for which God made human beings has become resident in us through the free gift of His grace in the Lord Jesus.  While our Heavenly eternity will involve a far greater experience of knowing our Lord, the fact remains that we know Him already.  "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (II Corinthians 4:6).

    If we know the Lord now, and if He exists as an infinite Being beyond measure, the blessed truth lies before us that we can always know Him better.  This will forever be true in light of "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8).  It is also true for today.  We do well to join Moses in the request, "Show me Thy glory" (Exodus 33:18).  An open Bible, a prayerful heart, and the expectation of faith that God desires to be known will prepare us for growth in the essence of eternal life, namely, to know Him.  Nothing else in our lives begins to compare with this wonder already begun, and this wonder that will never end.

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
(II Peter 3:18) 

Weekly Memory Verse
   "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
(Luke 19:10)


    

   

  

   












































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Monday, June 28, 2021

Orange Moon Monday, June 27, 2021 "To Dwell Within" Part 5 - His Joy, Our Joy


"To Dwell Within"

Part 5 - His Joy, Our Joy

      

   "Let us alone!"  For all practical purposes, this was Adam and Eve's response to God after succumbing to the temptation to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

    "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden" (Genesis 3:8).

   Humanity has been hiding from God ever since.  "There is none that seeketh after God" (Romans 3:11).  The Lord must seek us if we are to come forth from the trees to find redemption from our sin, and a life that is truly life.

    "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).
    "He is thy life… To live is Christ" (Deuteronomy 30:20; Philippians 1:21).

   Until we respond to God's seeking through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, all interest in Him actually involves His loving interest in us.  Left to ourselves, we would all venture deeper and deeper into the darkness of the spiritual and moral forest wrongly perceived to be a suitable hiding place from our only hope.  "Let me alone!" constitutes the default position of the heart without Christ.  Thankfully, as in Eden, the Lord does not leave us to ourselves, but rather sounds His voice through creation, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and the testimony of those who have already come forth from the trees into the clearing of grace and mercy in Christ.  The Voice sounds and resounds "Where art thou?" not because its Speaker does not know where we are, but rather to awaken us to our lostness without Him.  "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" (Psalm 19:2).

    After we trust the Lord Jesus, we still require the moving of the Holy Spirit within our hearts to maintain and enhance our interest in living fellowship with God.  "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).  Our flesh is "prone to wander," as the old hymn rightly suggests.  Thankfully, the Spirit infuses our born again spirits with delight for our Lord's presence, a truth we must believe and affirm regardless of how much our flesh prompts us to run back into the trees.  For the believer, living fellowship with our Heavenly Father constitutes the essence and longing of who and what we most deeply are.  We do not always feel this, nor do we always avail ourselves of so great a gift.  Our feet may still flee.  But deeply within our hearts, the presence of the Spirit of Christ makes His joy for communion with His Father our joy for the same glory and wonder.  To the degree we believe this truth with our hearts will be the degree to which we "walk in the light as He is in the light" (I John 1:7).

   The Psalmist well knew that God alone fills and fulfills the human heart.  We close with his affirmations of the Lord as the Life of his life, which must also be our affirmations…

"Thou art my God… Thou art my hiding place… Thou art my help… Thou art my hope… Thou art my Father."
(Psalm 31:14; 32:14; 40:17; 71:3; 89:26)

Weekly Memory Verse
   "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
(Luke 19:10)


    

   

  

   












































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Saturday, June 26, 2021

Orange Moon "To Dwell Within Us" Part 4 - God's View. Our View.

"To Dwell Within Us"

Part 4 - God's View.  Our View.

      

   What is God's perspective regarding His Spirit's presence within born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ?  We must find the answer and embrace it as our own view, our own conviction of faith.

    "Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (I Corinthians 3:16).

    I shared with a dear friend yesterday that 99.99% of the Bible involves God's revelation and glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We exist to know Him, and to find in such holy light the reality, reason, and ramifications of our existence (John 17:3).  The Holy Spirit who indwells us ever works to reveal and glorify the Lord Jesus (John 15:28; 16:14).  However, I also mentioned to my friend that a .01% place exists for the believer's self-knowledge and awareness.  To know God means we will know ourselves in the context of Christ, as it were.  "Ye are in Christ Jesus… He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 1:30; 6:17).  Of all that God sees of us, we can be sure this is first and this is primary.  Indeed, how can it not be so when we consider…

    "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).

      If God gave His Son to the cross to make possible and actual His giving of the Holy Spirit to our hearts, could it be that He sees us with any other essential focus?  If He poured out His wrath on the Lord Jesus so that He might pour out the Spirit into our spirits, will He ever overlook this "hope of glory, which is Christ in you?"  And if He left His beloved Lord Jesus to die alone in utter abandonment to make possible His presence within us, will He ever take leave of seeing us in terms less than "Ye are the temple of the living God?" (II Corinthians 6:16).

   Find the most faithful believer on the planet in this moment, and you will find one viewed by God as united to the Spirit of His Son.  Find the most failing believer on the planet in this moment, and you will find one viewed by God as united to the Spirit of His Son.  Too much was sacrificed for the Divine gaze upon us to be other or less.  Certainly, our faithful or failing response to Him matters much, and He works to enhance the former, and correct the latter.  However, God's first gaze ever sees us in  light of the cross, the empty tomb, and the Spirit of the crucified and risen Christ within us.  We must see ourselves accordingly.  "In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).  

    This is the .o1% - how we view ourselves - based on the 99.99% - how we view God.  But how important it is.  To share God's view of Christ in us and ourselves in Christ will go far in motivating and empowering a corresponding life of faith and faithfulness.  Moreover, our Savior suffered agonized abandonment on the cross to bestow such grace upon and within us.  We will never throughout eternity, or in this lifetime, live a moment apart from the Holy Spirit's abiding and empowering presence within us.  Yes, God gave Himself to dwell within our hearts when we believed.  He will not leave.  This is how He views us.  This is how we must view ourselves.

"I am with you always… I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
(Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5)
"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Romans 6:11)

Weekly Memory Verse
    He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit."
 (John 15:5)



    

   

  

   












































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Friday, June 25, 2021

Orange Moon Friday, June 25, 2021 "To Dwell Within Us". Part 3 - The Greater Truth


"To Dwell Within Us"

Part 3 - The Greater Truth


      We referenced in Part 2 of this series that the flesh screams, as it were, but the Spirit whispers.  That is, we easily see and sense our earthly faculties and members inherited by Adam, as referenced by the Apostle Paul:

    "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind" (Romans 7:23).

   Conversely, the Holy Spirit dwelling within our spiritual selfhood in Christ does not so readily demand our attention.

   "We walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).

   Frequently, when the conflict of spirit and flesh is considered among born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, the emphasis quickly becomes the challenge we face in the flesh rather than the presence and power of the Spirit of Christ that dwells within the "new creature" of our innermost spiritual being (II Corinthians 5:17).  This constitutes a grave error in our thinking and discourse.  Certainly, we must acknowledge the potential and actual challenge that confronts us by our fleshly members and faculties.  Paul acknowledged the possibility of   being brought "into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:23).  However, to focus on the problem rather than God's solution in Christ consigns us through unbelief to that captivity.  We become self-fulfilling prophecies, expecting to fail despite the promised working of our Lord to lead and enable our overcoming.  At the worst, we become present day reflections of one of the saddest pronouncements in Scripture.  Referring to Capernaum, the Lord's home country, Matthew mourns, "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58).  

   Which is greater, the spiritual (the Holy Spirit united to our spirit) or the fleshly (our earthly components still occupied by the law of sin)?  Paul answers: "Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).  The spiritual aspect of our being far transcends the fleshly.  It may not feel like it, and our experience does not always confirm the truth.  However, feelings and experience do not change the truth.  We are who we are in Christ, born of the Holy Spirit and indwelt by Him.  We are new creatures whose spirits teem with the risen life of our Lord Jesus.  No temptation is stronger than power of God that enables us to trust and obey Him.  The New Testament epistles, written after the coming of the indwelling Holy Spirit, constantly affirm that the greatest truth about us is not our flesh and its impulses and inclinations.  No, the greatest truth is… well, let us step aside to allow Paul and the apostles Peter and John to exultantly affirm the newness of life that constitutes the greatest truth about us…

    "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death… Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you… There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it… His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue… Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit (Romans 8:2; 9; I Corinthians 10:13; II Peter 1:3; I John 4:13).

    The past may haunt us with memories of failures.  The present may taunt us with the sense of our our human weakness.  The future may seem likely to present more of the same.  The fleshly, earthly challenges are real, and must be confronted.  However, one question outweighs all: what does God say in His Word about who and what Christ is in us, and who and what we are in Him?  The correct answer to that question will encourage and challenge us to arise in faith and go forth in confidence.  We must.  Too much was sacrificed to make the indwelling of the Holy Spirit possible and actual in all who believe in the Lord Jesus.  Moreover, our particular sphere of influence needs to the see the Savior as He walks in us through the presence and power of the Spirit.  Let us then acknowledge the earthly temple in which we live, with all its lingering tendencies.  But let us affirm and emphasize the spiritual reality of the greater truth birthed in us when we believed, and forevermore the heart of who and what we now are in Christ.  Scripture commands such faith, and the Spirit moves within us to lead us in His light and glory.

"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Romans 6:11)
"Yield yourselves unto God as those which are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
(Romans 6:13)

Weekly Memory Verse
    He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit."
 (John 15:5)



    

   

  

   












































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Thursday, June 24, 2021

Orange Moon "To Dwell Within Us" Part 2 - Spirit and Flesh


"To Dwell Within Us"

Part 2 - Spirit and Flesh


      Being the temple of God through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit certainly does not mean we will live perfectly in our present earthly lifetime.  Referencing born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle John wrote,

    "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (I John 1:8).

   At the time of our new birth through faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit entered our spirit.  "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17).  The same is not true of the earthly faculties and members we inherited from Adam.  "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin… This mortal must put on immortality" (Romans 8:10; I Corinthians 15:53).  Believers are living spiritual beings, united to the Spirit of Christ, who dwell in fleshly temples yet to be enlivened by the direct presence of the Holy Spirit.  This explains the conflict of spirit and flesh even the most godly believer feels within his inclinations and sensibilities.  No less than the Apostle Paul confessed, "When I would do good, evil is present with me" (Romans 7:21). 

    Paul also acknowledged, "Christ liveth in me… In my flesh dwelleth no good thing" (Galatians 2:20; Romans 7:18).  Clearly, the Lord Jesus did not dwell in the Apostle's fleshly faculties and members.  "No good thing" dwelled therein.  Thus, if Paul walked after the flesh, he could still distrust and disobey God.  In his spirit, however, the living God resided and moved in power to enable Paul to consistently "walk in the Spirit," and to overcome "the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).  Paul's spirit united to the Holy Spirit served as the greater - by far - reality of who and what he was as a "new creature" in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17).  The same is true in every believer.  The power of the Holy Spirit in our spirits transcends the inclinations  of the flesh by an infinite measure.  Of course, it often does not feel or appear to be the case.  Indeed, we might say that the flesh screams, but the Holy Spirit whispers.  This requires that we "walk by faith, not by sight," believing and affirming that no matter how powerful fleshly inclinations feel, they pale in comparison to the power of God's Spirit that dwells within our spirits  (II Corinthians 5:7).

   A death and resurrection has already occurred in our innermost spiritual being.  Therein, we are to "reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).  The same is not true of our flesh.  We must "yield your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" in order to overcome what Paul called "the law of sin" in our flesh (Romans 6:13; 7:23; 25).  Knowing the dichotomy between a spiritual self "alive unto God" and a body "dead because of sin" goes far in establishing a basis whereby we more consistently live in a manner that reflects the indwelling presence of Christ as the very Life of our lives.

"If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."
(Romans 8:10)
"I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind."
(Romans 7:22-23)
"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
(Romans 8:2)

Weekly Memory Verse
    He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit."
 (John 15:5)



    

   

  

   












































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Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Orange Moon Wednesday, June 23, 2021 "To Dwell Within Us"


"To Dwell Within Us"


      Before the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit could not permanently indwell human hearts.

    "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:38-39).

    Atonement had to be made for our sins and the Lord Jesus had to be exalted before human hearts could become suitable dwelling places for the Divine presence.  Certainly, the Holy Spirit came to  Old Testament saints and involved Himself in their hearts and lives.  "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit… Thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good" affirmed the Psalmist (Psalm 139:7; 143:10).  However, the Psalmist also prayed, "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me," a possibility for those who walked with God before the redeeming work of Christ (Psalm 51:11).  Involved, but not indwelling - this seems to have been the way of the Spirit in days of old.

   Conversely, since the death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit by the Lord Jesus to trusting hearts, God the Holy Spirit comes to forever dwell not only with, but within us.  He births a "new creature… new man… newness of life" in all who believe (II Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; Romans 6:4).  We are not who we were before we believed in the innermost temple of our spiritual being.  How could we be?  Indeed, could it be possible for the living God to take up direct and permanent residence anywhere and have that anywhere remain the same?  Hardly.

    "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.  Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17).
    "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Romans 8:9).
    "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).

   In the part of us that serves as the very heart of us, the Spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters even more vitally than in the original physical creation (Genesis 1:2).  Of course, we were not there to see His primordial activities.  We also presently "walk by faith, not by sight," and thus cannot see much of what He does within our hearts (II Corinthians 5:7).  But we can be sure it is a moving, active, and engaged Holy Spirit who dwells within the depths of our being.  "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).  Again, how could it be otherwise?  How could the living God come to abide within our hearts, bearing promises of His working within us, and it not be that case that our spirits teem with His dynamic activity?  

   To the degree we know this truth and believe it will be the degree to which we more consistently experience the Holy Spirit's working within and through us for the glory of God.  We "see" the truth by faith.  We affirm that we are are not merely ourselves.  We are rather ourselves as inhabited by the living God.  The Holy Spirit came to dwell within us when we believed in the Lord Jesus.  He will not leave.  Nor will He cease His ongoing work to conform us to the spiritual and moral image of the Lord Jesus.  "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).  

    This we must believe because it is true, and because our particular sphere of influence needs to see the Lord Jesus as He walks in us through the leading and power of the Holy Spirit.  We must also believe because the price paid for God's presence within us came by way of His forsaking the Lord Jesus as He suffered and died for us on the cross of Calvary.  Yes, the blessed assurance of "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" graces us by way of our Lord's anguished cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? "(Hebrews 13:8; Matthew 27:46).  Yet again, how can we not believe in so great a gift, made possible by so great a price paid to secure it?

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
(I Corinthians 3:16)
"Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit."
(I John 4:13)

Weekly Memory Verse
    He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit."
 (John 15:5)



    
   
  
   











































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