30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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Luke 24 36-49 COMMISSIONED TO BE HIS WITNESSES 17 01May2022 Luke 24 46 Living the eternal life now and also for the age to come
📖 Luke 24:36-49
17 – 01May2022 – Living the eternal life now and also for the age to come - Luke 24:36-49 - COMMISSIONED TO BE HIS WITNESSES - Bible reading: I Peter 1:3-5
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that because of Your suffering and resurrection, we are able to experience blessing upon blessing. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.”
We are considering the commissioning of the disciples by the Lord, to be His witnesses.
Luke 24:46-49 Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, (47) and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (48) And you are witnesses of these things. (49) Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
We continue to consider why it was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead.
Romans 4:23-25 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,
This is about Abraham to whom righteousness was imputed because he believed in God. Imputing righteousness because of faith was not only for Abraham but for all of us as well.
(24) but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, (25) who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
Since we have righteousness by faith, which has been accounted to us, we are also justified before God. It was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise again, for that is how we have justification before God.
Romans 5:8-10 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. (10) For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Due to what Jesus has done and because of our faith in Him, we have escaped the wrath of God.
Salvation is not just a one-time experience and a ticket to eternity.
Many of us want assurance of our salvation. What we are saying is, “I want to ensure that once I die, the hereafter is assured for me in the presence of God”.
Friends, please understand that eternity begins now. We begin to live the life of Jesus on an everyday basis, and this is our ongoing salvation in Christ.
Romans 8:10-11 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
When we received Christ’s suffering and resurrection, by faith, we are dead in our bodies to sin. When we say, “Jesus lives in us”, what we mean is that the Holy Spirit now operates through our mortal bodies. This is the life of Christ that we experience on an everyday basis.
The Holy Spirit also gives us a life wherein we experience ongoing righteousness. When we came to Christ by faith, our faith in Christ was accounted for righteousness but as we live our everyday lives, we experience continuous righteousness, which is by the Holy Spirit.
We actually partake of the heavenly nature. II Peter 1:3-4 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, (4) by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The Law was not able to provide us with a victorious life of righteousness. Jesus is the end of Law for all who believe.
Ephesians 2:5-7 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
In saving us through His suffering and resurrection, Christ has raised us up to sit together with Christ. We were once vice-regents of God, over all of God’s creation, but we abdicated our position but now because of His suffering and His resurrection we are once again reinstated. The devil is ruling, because we, who are once again reinstated to be God’s rulers are not fulfilling our status.
This life is also a preparation for us to reign with Christ in the age which is to come.
I Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (5) who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
It was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise again.
Thought to ponder
Is the assurance of salvation your big question? If so, you are not enjoying fullness of life in Christ.