30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 23 06-17 THE LORD WATCHES 06 Luke 23 10 God’s provision for man’s salvation
📖 Luke 23:6-17
Sat20Nov2021 – God’s provision for man’s salvation - Luke 23:06-17 - THE LORD WATCHES (06) - Bible reading: I Peter 2:24-25
The task of the church is to pray for those who persecute us. They are angry against the church and with the message that we share. Their anger hurts them and so we pray that they will not hurt themselves more and more but return to the overseer of their souls.
Luke 23:10 The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.
We have been considering a model message that was preached by Apostle Paul at the Areopagus in Athens. We have come to the place where Paul is calling people to come into the habitat relationship with God.
We said that man can come into the habitat relationship with God by faith in Jesus. What is our basis for making that statement that sounds exclusive to the world, which it is?
Acts 17:29-31 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. (30) Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
For a man to come into the habitat of God, he must come under the authority of God.
Man does not want to surrender to the authority of God over his life. Man, therefore, creates forms and material, according to his imagination, saying that these represent the Divine, and he worships these deities.
This way of life gives man the option to worship the god which he has created, without having to submit to this god. This is the convenient way that man has made for himself but this does not remove the ache in his heart. The emptiness remains unabated.
Coming into the habitat of God, requires man to submit to and under the authority of God over his life and live by the will of God.
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
The tipping point here is to surrender our will to God’s will, willingly.
God created man with free will but commanded man to remain in submission to God’s will, volitionally. This was how we would have remained in the habitat of God. What was it that took man away from the habitat of God?
We have turned, everyone, to our own way. We sought independence from God. This is the sin of man. This was how we were evicted from our Shalom, from our place of rest in God. Since that time, man has been torn apart, within.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
This sin of man was laid upon Jesus.
Jesus came into our world. Took on flesh and lived like a man. He was tempted like us, to go away from God’s will but He did not commit sin. He fulfilled His Father’s will.
John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
This is the reason why Jesus stands apart. He is distinct and exclusive. Every human being, who has come into the world is a sinner. Whereas, there was no sin in Jesus. He became our substitute to take our sin upon Himself and pay the penalty of our sin before God. Our sin was laid on Jesus.
I John 3:5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.
We now realise that Jesus has become our substitute, to deal with our sin, but how does a person appropriate this truth to himself?
There is the need for each person to repent and return to the overseer of our souls. Repentance is necessary for we have sought to live our lives our own way. We repent, seek God’s forgiveness and surrender our lives to Jesus for He has paid the price for our sin.
This we do, by faith in Jesus.
I Peter 2:25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
When we surrender our lives to Christ, He takes over and He enables us to live in righteousness. This is a life of ongoing surrender to the will of God in Jesus Christ.
I Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
This is the provision that God has made for man’s salvation.
Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
If a man refuses to repent, accept and submit to the provision that God has made for man’s salvation, then that man, who refuses, will face the judgment and the wrath of God.
(31) because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
Nevertheless, the one who repents and receives Jesus into his life as his Lord and his Saviour, will have the fullness of life.
This is what the Lord Jesus said John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
Thought to ponder
This is the non-negotiable message of the church to the world.