Most Recent Blog Posts
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Post 84 The Great Exchange: Power for Weakness!
As we continue to examine the concept of the Great Exchange we will look at the following exchange: Jesus took our weakness and gave us His strength; “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8; Eph 3:14-16). Show More
The beginning of the Christian Church started on the day of Pentecost. The term Church means “the called-out ones” these are the believers in Jesus Christ. The Church started in a powerful explosive way with the Holy Spirit being released into the Believer. In the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit was “on” or “with” a person. Now in the New Covenant the Holy Spirit “lives in” the Believer.
The Church, as we know it today, did not start until the Day of Pentecost, 40 days after Jesus rose from the grave. Before the crucifixion, Jesus ministered in the synagogues as an Old Testament Prophet. He preached that the Kingdom of God was present in the hearts of Believers, which, as you can imagine, did not go over well with Jewish teachings. In the beginning, they tolerated Jesus, but as time passed and the followers of Jesus grew, the Jewish leaders felt threatened, and they looked for ways to expel Him.
What Jesus taught was “new wine,” but it was received in “old wineskins” and, therefore, rejected. This means that God was doing a new thing, and the religious Jews preferred the old familiar ways! As Jesus said in Matthew 21:42, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” This verse was a reference to Psalm 118:22 and meant that the devout Jews who trusted in their religious practices stumbled over the message of Grace and Faith that Jesus taught.
Prelude to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The gift of the Holy Spirit did not happen without prior notice. It was foretold in the Old Testament (read Jeremiah 31:31) and foretold by Jesus beginning in John 7:37, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Then in Acts 1:4, Jesus said, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
- The term “promise of the Father” is found in Luke 24:49. Jesus said, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued (put on) with power from on high.”
Let’s take a look at the term “Baptized with or in the Holy Spirit.” The word Baptized means to be totally immersed or submerged. In the case of Water Baptism, you are fully submerged in water. In Spirit Baptism, you are immersed in the Holy Spirit. In other words, you are surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.
While Jesus ministered with His Disciples, He spoke of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. After His resurrection, He mentions it again in Acts 1:9, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
“you shall receive power“
Dynamis; force, miraculous power, a miracle itself: — ability, abundance, meaning, mighty deed, worker of miracles, power, strength, violence, mighty wonderful work. We get the word dynamite from Dynamis.
We are referring to supernatural works of God. No matter how talented or gifted you are, your natural ability can only take you so far. When your natural ability has run-out, that is when the power of God takes over.
“when the Holy Spirit has come upon you“
Eperchomai (Gk); to arrive, come, occur, impend, attack, or influence. The Holy Spirit of God somehow invades the person and empowers that person to do supernatural acts.
1 Corinthians 12:8-10 describes the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, all of which are supernatural in origin.
“The word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”
There are other gifts as well such as the ministry gifts of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher.
That’s all we have time for now. I will be continuing this message in my next post. Until then keep this in mind. The work of the Holy Spirit in sharing, witnessing, preaching the Gospel is best done under the leading and the influence of the Holy Spirit.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the commitment you make to God to allow Him to direct your path in your personal life and in your ministry life.
All believers are called to the Great Commission, which is to make Jesus Christ known by words and deeds.
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Post 83 The Great Exchange: A Home for Homelessness!
Introduction
In this episode, we will examine another “exchange” accomplished at the Cross of Calvary. Jesus took our lost and homeless condition and gave us an eternal home. This truth is based upon the verse in John 14:2, where Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Show More
Grace and Faith
Before we go there, let me remind you of the relationship between Grace and Faith. God offers the free gift, and we describe it as Grace. Something that is unearned or undeserved but is made available by Faith for every Believer of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 11:1 states that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In simple terms, Faith makes something already available a present reality. That which is available is what God has provided by Grace!
This reminds me of a story I heard many years ago. A wealthy Christian father promised his son a new car when he graduated from school. On graduation day, the son was filled with excitement, anticipating a new car. The son expecting the keys to a new car was shocked and angry when the Father gave him a bible instead.
The son was so disappointed and upset at the gift of a Bible instead of a car that he left the Father’s home and refused to speak to his Father for ten years.
The Bible sat on a shelf unopened all that time. One day the young man was moving things around on his bookshelf, and the Bible fell to the floor. As he bent down to pick up the Bible, an envelop fell out of the Bible. He opened the envelop to find a bank check made out to the car dealership for a new car! The young man broke down and cried, now realizing that he always had what his Father had promised, but the promise sat on a shelf unopened for ten years.
Faith is believing what God the Father has said, which is His Grace, and then acting upon what was promised. All of the promises of God are given to us by Grace, but it is our Faith that acts upon the promise-keeper and makes it real. That is an important point; our Faith is not in the promise alone, but in the Promise-keeper, Jesus!
The Exchange
In the last three episodes, we have mentioned three promises made available by Jesus. These particular promises are called exchanges, a term used with scriptural covenants. Jesus took something and gave us something better. He gave us Forgiveness for Sin, Life for Death, and Heaven for Hell.
A Home for Homelessness
As I said earlier, we will be looking at the truth that “Jesus took our lost and homeless condition and gave us an eternal home.” The key scripture is John 14:2, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” In other words, we have a home in Heaven.
While we don’t know a lot about Heaven, we do know that it is a place of great joy, peace, and worship. God says in Revelation 21:4, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Therefore, by Faith, we believe that every good thing will be made available to us in Heaven.
The verse before John 14:2, Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In other words, don’t worry about your future simply trust in Him. Jesus then confirms that He is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6
Present Situation
No matter what your situation is at present, God has a plan for your future, and it is a good plan; it is a plan to prosper you. You may be living in wealth and security, or you may just be getting by. Jesus promised to give you what you need. Too often, we worry about what we don’t have instead of being grateful for what we do have.
Do Not Worry
Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little Faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The key is to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Remember, Jesus knew how to get by with what He needed instead of what He wanted. In Matthew 8:20 Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Jesus said this in the context of giving up everything to follow Him. However, it also shows that Jesus didn’t overly concern Himself with the trappings of success in this life. Jesus didn’t own homes, have a big bank account, or anything else that in His time would indicate wealth. However, He had the greatest treasure of all! That was the peace of God that comes with the knowledge of God that surpasses all understanding.
As someone once said, “We sometimes think that poverty is only being hungry, naked, and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for is the greatest poverty.” Through the Great Exchange, God, through Jesus Christ, has made you wanted, loved, and cared for by the Creator of this Universe!
Always remember that there is a “Mansion” for you in Heaven where there is joy, peace, and love. All of this because Jesus gave you a home.
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Post 82 The Great Exchange – Heaven for Hell!
As we continue to examine what was purchased for us by Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary, let me remind you that we can look at what Jesus accomplished as an “exchange.” You will recall that a covenant requires an exchange of assets and liabilities. In the New Covenant, of which Jesus is a covenant head, He gives us His blessings and takes upon Himself what we deserve as sinners. Show More
In episode or post 80, We said that the Bible teaches that Jesus took our sin and gave us forgiveness (2 Cor 5:20-21). We have been forgiven of our sins in the past, the present, and the future. While this is difficult to comprehend, we must accept by faith that Jesus is able and in fact, did forgive us of all of our sins.
In episode or post 81, we examined the fact that Jesus took our death that we might have His life; (Rom 5:10 Hebrews 2:9). Our death, which meant eternal separation from God, has now become eternal life with God.
We have received Heaven instead of Hell.
Today we will look at the truth that Jesus experienced Hell that we might experience Heaven. Before we were born-again, we deserved Hell, but because Jesus took our punishment, we have been given Heaven. That was the exchange.
As Jesus hung on the Cross and took on the sins of humanity, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). This moment represents His experience of what Hell was like, burdened with the sins of humankind and separated from Father God. However, this experience of Hell could not hold the King of kings and the Lord of lords!
How did this exchange take place?
The book of Hebrews was written to a Hebrew audience. In particular to Jews who were very familiar with the Sacrificial System. It is in this context of the Law that Hebrews 13:11-12 are understood. “11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate”.
What does this mean? Jesus was identifying with the Hebrew practice of making a “sin offering.” “Inside the sanctuary,” the Temple priest would take an unblemished animal and lay hands on its head (Jesus was unblemished by sin). This was done to transfer or impute the sins of the priest and the sins of the people to the animal. (As believers in Jesus Christ our sins have been imputed or transferred to Him). The priest would then kill the animal, drain its blood, (Jesus shed His blood for us) and then the sacrificial animal containing all the sins of the people was taken “outside the city” to be burned. (Jesus was taken outside the city not to be burned but to be buried).
Jesus stripped Satan of his power over believers in Jesus Christ and led “captivity captive”.
On the Cross, Jesus took our sins upon Himself and He accomplished two more important things for us. He stripped Satan of his power over those who are born-again. Remember, Hell is for those who are not in the New Covenant purchased by Jesus Christ.
- Colossians 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers (demonic), He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
- Luke 10:18-20 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions (demonic), and overall the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.”
Jesus also led “captivity captive.”
As a side note: Sheol (OT), Hades (NT), and Hell (NT) represent the same place. Old Testament theology believed that Hell had two areas, the place where the unrighteous dead went called Gehenna and a place where the righteous dead went called Paradise or Abraham’s bosom (The account of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31).
Ephesians 4:7-8 “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says: ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.’” Jesus led those who were in captivity in Paradise or Abraham’s Bosom. These would be the Old Testament saints who were righteous under the Law and awaiting the coming Messiah or Christ.
What the Devil intended to be a defeat for our Lord Jesus turned into a glorious victory for our God and the people of God!
Conclusion
You are (1) forgiven and (2) therefore have eternal life with God in Heaven, and (3) Satan with all of his demons have no power or authority over you!
God’s gifts are received by faith.
2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes (the promise), and in Him Amen (the confirmation, so be it), to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (or down-payment).Remember all of the exchanges that the New Covenant provides are already present and available to receive as a result of God’s grace. However, they must be received by faith, that is we must believe it and then we must live our lives as if we believe. Not in doubt, fear, uncertainty or confusion. “For we walk by faith and not by sight”! (2 Corinthians 5:7).
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Post 81 The Great Exchange: Life for Death!
As a result of the holidays, it has been two weeks since my last post. Let me take a moment to review where we are in this series on Grace and Faith.
Grace and Faith
God’s grace is all about what He has given us as a free gift if only we would by faith receive it. The key is to recognize that faith does not create the hope of a good outcome. Grace creates the outcome and faith brings it into reality. We release our faith in what God, through Jesus Christ, has made available to us. Show More
Grace means that we receive that which we don’t deserve, and at the same time give to the Lord that which we do deserve. We receive His righteousness or right standing with God the Father and give to Jesus the punishment we deserve. The scripture tells us that none of us are righteous in our own merit or behavior, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”! (Romans 3:23)
Exchange
This is where the idea of exchange takes place. By our faith in Jesus, we receive all the blessings and pass on to Jesus all of our sins and the consequences of our sin. Now what is important to understand is that we are talking about spiritual things, not necessarily natural things. The spiritual realm is much more important than the physical because the spiritual is eternal, the physical is temporal or temporary (2 Cor 4:18).
The Spiritual Kingdom
As Christians, we live in the Kingdom of God while still here on earth. Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus in John, 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Then in John 3:5, “Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
His Kingdom is in us.
In Luke 17:20 Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Jesus took our sins and gave us His forgiveness
As we mentioned in the last post the first exchange of grace that we receive by faith, was that; Jesus took our sin and gave us forgiveness. The Apostle Paul states the following fact in 2 Cor 5:20-21, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
- Sin vs. sin? – the symptom of sin vs. the root cause of sin! Instead of covering over sin as in the Old Covenant, Jesus took our sins and replaced our sin nature with the Holy Spirit who is righteous!
An Exchange; Life for Death!
Today we will look at the second example of the gift of grace that we receive by faith and that is, Jesus took our death that we might have His life; “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” (Rom 5:10; see also Heb 2:9).
You see because we have been forgiven, we are reconciled with God. God’s intent is that we live forever with Him. That was His intention at the beginning with Adam and Eve. Remember Genesis 2:16 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” What did God mean when He said, “you shall surely die”?
We are Spiritual Beings
When God created mankind, He created them as triune beings- spirit, soul and body (Genesis 2:7, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12). In the Garden of Eden before sin, mankind was to live in fellowship with God for eternity, but when Adam and Eve sinned death crept in. Normally when we think of death we think of physical death, separation from the body, but Adam and Eve continued to live until they were 930 years old, (Genesis 5:5). So, what did God mean “you shall surely die? I believe God was speaking of spiritual death or separation from God! After all, doesn’t sin separate us from God? We learn that from Adam and Eve’s behavior after they recognized their disobedience, they separated or hid from God.
When we say that Jesus took our death and gave us life, we really mean that, spiritually, we are restored or reconciled with God and will live eternally with Him in heaven.
Now, why does Jesus make this gift of grace available to us? It is because we agree with Him when He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”. There is no other way. Others may claim they know the way, but you have decided and accept by faith that Jesus is the only way to the Father.
Because of our faith in Jesus and what He did for us, we can release the “fear of death” because it has been swallowed up by life in Christ which is eternal.
The Amplified Bible put it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:
- “53 For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us, this nature that is capable of dying] must put on immortality (freedom from death).
- 54 And when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the Scripture that says, Death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished forever) in and unto victory.
- 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
- 56 Now sin is the sting of death, and sin exercises its power [upon the soul] through [the abuse of] the Law57 But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Conclusion:
Our trust is in one who is alive, for Jesus rose again! Because He lives, we can be confident that we will live too.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”.
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Post 80 – The Great Exchange: Sin and Forgiveness
Hello and welcome back to Pastor Vic’s Nuggets of Truth. Today we’ll be picking up where we left off last time. Remember, we talked about the fact that God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. God always keeps His promises, In Isaiah 55:11 God states, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it”.
Looking at the first item in the Great Exchange we will look at the fact that Jesus took our sins and gave us His forgiveness! Jesus’s forgiveness is what should make us so grateful that we would not want to abuse His grace. It is this important truth that makes us want to change. Show More
Now let’s continue…
In all covenants with God, an exchange takes place. As covenants are made and kept, God, as the stronger party, gives blessing, provision, protection, wisdom and more to the weaker party, which is mankind.
In our look at covenants, there is no better example of this exchange than the New Covenant. The exchange is so clear, and what we receive is so glorious and abundant, that it is known by some Bible teachers as “The Great Exchange.”
Let’s look at the first example of the exchange provided by the New Covenant:
- Jesus took our sin and gave us forgiveness; “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor 5:20-21).
- Sin vs. sin nature – the symptom of sin vs. the root cause of sin! Instead of covering over sin as in the Old Covenant, Jesus took our sin away and replaced our sin nature with the Holy Spirit who is righteous!
Of all the exchanges and agreements that have taken place since the beginning of time, the most important exchanges by far are those we have received from Jesus. He truly provided us with The Great Exchange!
As believers, we gave Jesus our sins, failures, guilt, shame, and past. In return, Jesus:
- Extends His friendship to us (John 15:14);
- Makes us joint-heirs with Him (Rom 8:17);
- Wipes away our sins and our past (2 Cor 5:17);
- Gives us a hope and a future for this life and eternity (John 14:1-3; Col 1:27; 1 Pet 1:3).
Let us thank God for Jesus and the New Covenant which is far better than any prior covenant!
- Jesus took our sin and gave us forgiveness; “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor 5:20-21).
