One day this past week (5/23/2012) between 5:00-6:00 PM, I was out on the street with the cross. A young man (college age) approached and began to take a photograph with his phone, I attempted to hand him a gospel tract, he was aloof, and refused to except it, but when he saw that he would not get his photograph until excepting the tract he took it, I stepped back, he got his photograph and departed. Later that evening my daughter told me that my picture was on the internet, the picture had appeared on her facebook news feed with several derogatory remarks. So, later that night I contacted the young man by facebook messaging and here is that conversation. I have changed his name to Sam and corrected a couple of my own misspellings, but otherwise the conversation is as it was that evening. I give you this conversation for three reasons: First and for most to glorify Jesus Christ; secondly as an example, as how not to get distracted in staying focused on the gospel, because it is not our words that save, it is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation; and thirdly, so that my brothers and sisters in Christ will pray on Sam’s (not his real name) behalf.
Here is that conversation:
Mike Peek
o Sam, even though I don't know you I love you, and that is why I am taking the time to write you now, and that is why I am out on the street were people are. The bible says, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment”. Are you ready to face God in judgment? God has given us a Holy set of scripts, His law by which we can judge ourselves to see our standing before God; before that impending Day of Judgment.
I have four questions to ask you:
1. Have you ever told a lie, even once?
2. Have ever stolen anything, regardless of its value, taken anything at all that didn’t belong to you without the owner’s permission?
3. Have you used God’s name in vain, used the names of God in place of a curse word or used His names without reverence?
4. What we are doing here is going through a few of God’s Ten Commandments; the 7th says do not commit adultery. In bringing light to this commandment Jesus said, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Have you looked at another person with lust?
Now that is just four of God’s Holy Ten Commandments with another six to go; how are you doing? The bible says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all”; you’re probably saying to yourself, “Everyone sins, who hasn’t broken these commandments?” And you would be right, but that doesn’t make it ok. I once thought the same way, because God is a loving God right, He will just forgive us of our sins, right? God is a loving God, and God is merciful; but God is also righteous, Holy, and a just judge. God hates sin and His law says that if you sin (break His law) you will die. “For the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” The bible says that no thief, no adulterer shall enter the kingdom of God and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. To be cast out of the kingdom of God into the lake of fire and brimstone, that is hell my friend and that is what awaits everyone who has broken the laws of God.
God is love, and God is merciful, but before He could be merciful to sinful man God’s justice and righteousness had to be served. Sin had to be dealt with, His law says; if you sin, you die. Man sinned so a man has to die. So what did God do so that He could be both just and merciful? He became a Man, Jesus of Nazareth. He was fully Man, borne of the Virgin Mary; and He was fully God, conceived of by the Holy Spirit. He had to be fully Man, because man sinned, man had to die; He had to be fully God because, “Salvation is from the LORD.” He is the Son of God, He is the Son of Man; fully God and fully Man. He never sinned; He never broke one of God’s laws and was completely obedient to God the Father from birth to His death at the command of God the Father on the cross. He was the perfect offering for sin; God the Father poured His wrath out on Him as a Man for the sins of man, He died and was buried, then He rose again the third day from the grave proving who He was; the Son of God. Because He rose from the grave we know that sin has been dealt with, God’s wrath for sin has been satisfied, justice has been done, and He can now have mercy on man. God’s free gift is everlasting life to all who repent from their sins and put their faith alone in His only Son, Jesus Christ.
You and I are facing the physical death of our bodies and when that happens, you and I will face God in judgment, giving an account of everything we have thought, said, and done in this life. God’s law demands justice, someone broke His law, so someone has to die “and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” There is only one sacrifice that is acceptable to God the Father for Sin; the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. I know when I come before the thrown of God I will be clinging to the Son of God and His sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins; how about you? “Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no once comes to the Father but through Me.” All who repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ are forgiven; all who reject the Son of God remain in their sins and will die in their sins. Repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ alone and you will be saved.
Sam
o You argument is invalid, because it is one source vs. my 2354+ sources that say we came from apes and developed genes, through evolution, to suppress the fear of death. And our clever brains had the ability to come up with the idea of a An afterlife and the rest is history. I appreciate your diligence when pursuing something, but don't you dare think for one second you have the RIGHT to tell me what is true and false. In the bigger picture of things there is no way you can prove your side and science is 20 steps closer to proving their clause, so before you go around telling people you love them, and that this is how life is, maybe you should dig deep into the science community and understand both sides fully, before you making assumptions about what one book said hundreds of years ago. Just because it's old doesn't make me right. Of course if you have read this far you would think that this is a hateful message towards you, and yes some parts it is, however, I am simply engaging in the same type of conversation format YOU started the conversation with. I am far more educated than you think I am, so it would be unwise to continue the conversation. I know your side and you know mine. End of conversation.
Sincerely,
Sam
Mike Peek
o Are you an Atheist?
Sam
o Do you know when the end is?
o Wait, I will play your game. Yes, I am.
Mike Peek
o “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
Sam
o So do you personally think that all life is coming to an end soon?
Mike Peek
o No Sam. The word of God doesn't say that. But a time is coming when all of creation will be judged. Sam the bad news is you have sinned, we have all sinned, broken the laws of our creator. God has written his law on your heart, without even being taught you as a small child knew that it was wrong to steal, lie, or hit another child. God has written His laws on your heart and you will give an account, but you need not have to. Christ took the punishment for your sins Himself and God can legally forgive your sins so long as you repent and believe the gospel. Sam its good news.
Sam
o Good news? If Jesus Died for our sins why is a current problem today? To my understanding, everyone after him would be sin free because of the deed he performed. Or are you taking that passage figuratively? Because you seem like a man who takes every word of the bible in its most literal sense. So if we go by the literal sense, he literally meant there would be no more sins because he died for them. Or is my logic flawed?
Mike Peek
o It's flawed. You are talking about sinless perfectionism. Nowhere in the bible is that indicated. Jesus paid the penalty for sin. The righteous requirements for the law have been met. There will be a time when all sin is put away, the new heaven and new earth. Next time you see me out why don't you come by and talk?
Sam
o The penalty for sin? So when I am told, by a street preacher such as yourself or one in the church, and they tell me that Jesus Died for my sin, Wouldn't that be a huge lie?
Why should I believe that person if they can't even get the selling point of their entire religion?
Mike Peek
o Sam. God displayed Him publicly as a propitiation, by His blood through faith. (see Romans 3:25). Faith is required. Propitiation means a great deal, I wrote a blog on it, might interest you. http://mikepeek.blogspot.com/2012/04/mercy-way-more-than-i-ever-thought.html
Sam
o Mike, I understand you are trying to do the right thing in your eyes, by trying to make me see what you see. In all honesty, nothing you can say or do will make me believe in what you believe in. I have done countless numbers of research into this. So telling me these things means nothing to me.
Mike Peek
o Sam you are correct I can never argue anyone into the kingdom of God. My job is to preach the gospel, salvation is of the Lord. Jesus said: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:44). I hope the Lord blesses you, come by and talk with me anytime.
Sam
o I will decline the invite. But thank you.
The conversation ended. Please pray for Sam, not his real name but the Lord will know who you are talking about; don’t forget you were once lost in your sin.
The word of God gives no room for atheism in fact the atheist claims with his mouth that God does not exist but his actions tell a different tale. There are God haters’ yes, but there are no atheist.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:20-21)
“Repent and believe in the gospel”
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Walking By Faith
There is something that has been on my mind as of late that I would like to talk about today and that subject is faith. In essence the word of God speaks of faith often; what is faith? For by it we are saved. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. We each have physical senses, five to be exact; we have eyes with which take in light and see the objects of our environment, we have ears by which we hear audible sounds, we have nerve endings by which we can detect the objects we touch and detect temperature variations, taste buds to detect flavors of foods, and we have a nose by which we can smell the varying fragrances surrounding us. We all have a spirit that is dead until revived by the Holy Spirit of God. If we are honest with ourselves we know we have all sinned (broken the Laws of God) and the wages of sin is death, spiritual death separated from God, we remain dead in our trespasses unless the Holy Spirit breathes life back into our souls, raising us from the dead, and then we can have faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). He said this to the Pharisee Nicodemus, and He was saying this to us as well. Until made alive by the Holy Spirit of God we are blind, we cannot see anything in the kingdom of God. But once a man is made alive by the Holy Spirit He can see the kingdom of God for the first time, He sees (for the lack of a better word) what has surrounded Him all of this time and did not know it was there. Most men measure truth by what they can see, hear, touch, taste, and smell; in this physical world that we live in. Science means with knowledge so these senses give us knowledge of our surrounding environment. Faith gives us knowledge of the non-physical world, faith sees into the spiritual.
Try as I might I cannot explain faith; I can use words like seeing but it is not like seeing or hearing at all, in fact faith is nothing like the physical senses. I can explain faith in talking about how it manifest changes to our lives, example; “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Faith does manifest itself into physical changes. The bible speaks a lot about repentance and there has been resurgence in the church on repentance after a period of avoiding the subject. To repent in its simplest definition means to change one’s mind. But it goes so much deeper than that; if one were to change one’s mind it causes all manner of physical changes as well. I fear in talking of repentance most focus on the physical changes; has one put away their sin? While putting away sin is a good thing and can be a manifestation of a changed mind and heart, it could simply be a physical man in his own physical attempt to become righteous. We should never focus on the physical but instead on the spiritual the physical will come if you have received the spiritual.
The verse I consider to be the most important in all of scripture is Romans 3:25, and it says; “whom God displayed publically as a propitiation in His blood through faith”. Propitiation simply defined means a merciful atoning sin sacrifice,(for a more in-depth definition see a previous blog called “Mercy, Way More Than I Ever Thought”). We have all broken the laws of God and have no means by which we may atone for our own sins; we are all at God’s mercy. And He provided that sacrifice Himself; two elements and both elements most be present to have propitiation; in addition both elements come from God. Element one is the blood of Christ; “whom God displayed publically”. This occurred at the cross roads of the first century religious world on a hill top outside of the city of Jerusalem for all to see. Martin Lloyd Jones said “God the Father Plackered Him”, a sign was placed above His head in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek; “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (SEE John 19:19-20). God the father pored His wrath out on Jesus Christ His perfect Son as a Man, for the sins of man. It was said through the prophet Isaiah, “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10) and he did this before men. The second element of propitiation is faith which is all of God; Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). The Apostle Paul said, in the Epistle to the Romans, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). That is why Christ told us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Faith comes about when a man hears the word of Christ and receives the Holy Spirit of God giving him faith, and in having faith, Christ. The man has repented, he has changed his mind, and thus his life is anew. The man doesn’t go out in some form of self righteousness and put away sin to earn a right standing with God, but instead He has turned to Christ, and in turning to Christ, away from His former self. He no longer cares about His former life, he has Christ, the sins he once loved he now hates, and the Christ he once ignored He now loves. He doesn’t spend the next few years putting away sin to earn a right standing with God, sin is put away because His focus is no longer on pleasing Himself, but pleasing Christ, loving Christ, worshiping and adoring Christ. That is repentance and that is faith! “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
If you died today, where would you go? Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
A slave of Jesus Christ Mike Peek
Try as I might I cannot explain faith; I can use words like seeing but it is not like seeing or hearing at all, in fact faith is nothing like the physical senses. I can explain faith in talking about how it manifest changes to our lives, example; “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Faith does manifest itself into physical changes. The bible speaks a lot about repentance and there has been resurgence in the church on repentance after a period of avoiding the subject. To repent in its simplest definition means to change one’s mind. But it goes so much deeper than that; if one were to change one’s mind it causes all manner of physical changes as well. I fear in talking of repentance most focus on the physical changes; has one put away their sin? While putting away sin is a good thing and can be a manifestation of a changed mind and heart, it could simply be a physical man in his own physical attempt to become righteous. We should never focus on the physical but instead on the spiritual the physical will come if you have received the spiritual.
The verse I consider to be the most important in all of scripture is Romans 3:25, and it says; “whom God displayed publically as a propitiation in His blood through faith”. Propitiation simply defined means a merciful atoning sin sacrifice,(for a more in-depth definition see a previous blog called “Mercy, Way More Than I Ever Thought”). We have all broken the laws of God and have no means by which we may atone for our own sins; we are all at God’s mercy. And He provided that sacrifice Himself; two elements and both elements most be present to have propitiation; in addition both elements come from God. Element one is the blood of Christ; “whom God displayed publically”. This occurred at the cross roads of the first century religious world on a hill top outside of the city of Jerusalem for all to see. Martin Lloyd Jones said “God the Father Plackered Him”, a sign was placed above His head in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek; “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (SEE John 19:19-20). God the father pored His wrath out on Jesus Christ His perfect Son as a Man, for the sins of man. It was said through the prophet Isaiah, “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10) and he did this before men. The second element of propitiation is faith which is all of God; Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). The Apostle Paul said, in the Epistle to the Romans, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). That is why Christ told us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Faith comes about when a man hears the word of Christ and receives the Holy Spirit of God giving him faith, and in having faith, Christ. The man has repented, he has changed his mind, and thus his life is anew. The man doesn’t go out in some form of self righteousness and put away sin to earn a right standing with God, but instead He has turned to Christ, and in turning to Christ, away from His former self. He no longer cares about His former life, he has Christ, the sins he once loved he now hates, and the Christ he once ignored He now loves. He doesn’t spend the next few years putting away sin to earn a right standing with God, sin is put away because His focus is no longer on pleasing Himself, but pleasing Christ, loving Christ, worshiping and adoring Christ. That is repentance and that is faith! “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
If you died today, where would you go? Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
A slave of Jesus Christ Mike Peek
Monday, May 21, 2012
Vanity
I at times feel as though I am an alien in a foreign world, I am so out of place. The Lord through His word revealed to me what sin is and its devastating effects on man. Man sinned and was separated from God and the earth was cursed. Salvation is of the Lord! God became a man and dwelt amongst us, and as a man He never sinned, taking upon Himself the penalty for sin which is death; so that He could save some, that they may know Him. Jesus is the Lord! He died for our sins, this was prophesied of in the scriptures, He was buried, and on the third day from His death He rose from the grave alive. The bible tells us this Jesus is God in the flesh, He is God the Son. “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:25); God saved me through the death of His Son Jesus as a man, and has assured me of life by raising Him from the dead. I have assurance of salvation through faith and that faith was given to me by the grace of God. What is faith? “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
The writer of the puritan classic “Pilgrims Progress” (John Bunyan) called this world Vanity Fair, and it is that. “Pilgrim Progress” was written in 1678 almost 100 years before America even became a country and when he describes Vanity Fair, it is as though he was talking about modern day America in 2012. Today sin abounds in America; in fact many are boastful and proud of their sin. We have many that go to Christian churches taking part in all the frivolity that everyone else in the land takes part in; there is no difference between the two. Very few in this society have moral restraint at all, oh they call themselves having moral restraint, but it is always based on their own standard of goodness (subjective), not on God’s standard, His moral Law (See Deuteronomy 5 & Matthew 5-7). The movies in our theaters are just awful; you can hardly attend a movie at all anymore. It is next to impossible to find anything on television that is not loaded with gross sexual immorality and if you do, the commercials are loaded with it. We have a president who is for the murder of unborn children and for homosexual marriage, stating that Jesus would be for it and the man running against him is no better, he thinks Jesus is the brother of Lucifer. What is a God fearing man to do? Understand this, I hate my own sin more than I hate the sin of any man.
I look around and it is as though the entire world is dyeing right before my eyes and no one cares. The ills of our society are closing in on us like the walls of a trash compactor and no one cares. Death is real, I am a man who sees death first hand often; for I am a Registered Nurse in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, most times it comes unexpectedly to both the one who died and their family. Death is real and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), that is what each of us have earned for our sin, not just physical death but spiritual death being cast out of the kingdom of God. You sin you die, you are separated from God; then you have physical death and it is all over. I carry a 4 foot cross, I will go out to a busy intersection in my community and stand there with the cross for 30-60 minutes at a time; on the cross beam are the words, “Are You Ready”. Often times I will have someone drive by and yell out, “Ready for what?” They really don’t want to know, or they wouldn’t have yelled it out, it is just mockery. So what do the words mean? Hebrews 9:27 says: “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment”. So why do I do this? As a warning! I know God; He has saved me from His wrath for sin and has given me eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Death is real; I see it all the time. How can I sit back and take part in the frivolity of Vanity Fair knowing that everyone who dies comes to judgment and knowing that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23), and that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The only hope any of us has, is to escape judgment. Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24). When a Man who said that, is publically executed, buried, then three days later rises from the grave having multiple witnesses who proclaimed this account before all men, until they themselves were killed; you know that there is hope, so you go tell people everywhere to repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
The writer of the puritan classic “Pilgrims Progress” (John Bunyan) called this world Vanity Fair, and it is that. “Pilgrim Progress” was written in 1678 almost 100 years before America even became a country and when he describes Vanity Fair, it is as though he was talking about modern day America in 2012. Today sin abounds in America; in fact many are boastful and proud of their sin. We have many that go to Christian churches taking part in all the frivolity that everyone else in the land takes part in; there is no difference between the two. Very few in this society have moral restraint at all, oh they call themselves having moral restraint, but it is always based on their own standard of goodness (subjective), not on God’s standard, His moral Law (See Deuteronomy 5 & Matthew 5-7). The movies in our theaters are just awful; you can hardly attend a movie at all anymore. It is next to impossible to find anything on television that is not loaded with gross sexual immorality and if you do, the commercials are loaded with it. We have a president who is for the murder of unborn children and for homosexual marriage, stating that Jesus would be for it and the man running against him is no better, he thinks Jesus is the brother of Lucifer. What is a God fearing man to do? Understand this, I hate my own sin more than I hate the sin of any man.
I look around and it is as though the entire world is dyeing right before my eyes and no one cares. The ills of our society are closing in on us like the walls of a trash compactor and no one cares. Death is real, I am a man who sees death first hand often; for I am a Registered Nurse in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, most times it comes unexpectedly to both the one who died and their family. Death is real and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), that is what each of us have earned for our sin, not just physical death but spiritual death being cast out of the kingdom of God. You sin you die, you are separated from God; then you have physical death and it is all over. I carry a 4 foot cross, I will go out to a busy intersection in my community and stand there with the cross for 30-60 minutes at a time; on the cross beam are the words, “Are You Ready”. Often times I will have someone drive by and yell out, “Ready for what?” They really don’t want to know, or they wouldn’t have yelled it out, it is just mockery. So what do the words mean? Hebrews 9:27 says: “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment”. So why do I do this? As a warning! I know God; He has saved me from His wrath for sin and has given me eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Death is real; I see it all the time. How can I sit back and take part in the frivolity of Vanity Fair knowing that everyone who dies comes to judgment and knowing that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23), and that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The only hope any of us has, is to escape judgment. Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24). When a Man who said that, is publically executed, buried, then three days later rises from the grave having multiple witnesses who proclaimed this account before all men, until they themselves were killed; you know that there is hope, so you go tell people everywhere to repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Who Does Jesus Claim to Be
As many of you know, the Lord has led me to put to memory “The Gospel According to John”. This past week by the will of God I have now memorized the first 5 chapters. As I have gone through this journey in scripture I have endeavored to write about my Lord, through “The Gospel According to John”. It has been some time now since I have written about my Lord through “The Gospel According to John”, so I would like to get back to that today.
John chapter 5 is an amazing work; the story begins in Jerusalem at a pool called Bethesda, where the sick hung about hoping to be healed. Jesus heals a man who had been sick for 38 years, He tells him to take up his mat and walk; and he did so walking right into some Jews who got on to him for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. This leads to a confrontation between Jesus and these Jews on His authority, and the heart of unbelief.
These unbelieving Jews first sought to kill Jesus because He healed a man on the Sabbath, then when Jesus said to them; “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working” (John 5:17). “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18); a truth that Christ never denied. In fact He takes that accusation by these Jews and adds to it, leaving no doubt who He claimed to be. The acropolis of the text is in John 5:21-23, where Jesus said three things that are His, that inherently belong to God and no one else.
1. He says that He is the one who gives eternal life, the life giver: “For Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes” (John 5:21). We are all created beings; dirt, we are just dirt and water; we do not have life in ourselves, life comes from the one and only God, the giver of life, yet Christ says He gives life to whom He wishes.
2. He said that He is the judge: “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). Judgment of the good and the evil are God’s alone, He does not share that with any created being, yet Jesus says that Judgment belongs to Him.
3. He expects to be afforded the same honor as God the Father: “so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23). God does not share honor and glory with created beings it is His and His alone, yet once again Christ expects to be honored as God.
Then He tells them, “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true” (John 5:31). He then gives four different types of witnesses that testify of who He is.
1. The first witness is John the Baptist. If you go back to John chapter 1 and 3 you can take a look at what John said about Jesus, but here are a couple of exerts. “Behold , the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34).
2. The next witness is His works. Just a few examples, for there are many, many. In John 2:1-12 He turned water into wine a miracle of creation. In this chapter John 5:8-9, He had just healed a man who was sick for 38 years and could not walk. The man gets up at the command of Jesus picks up his mat and walks off. The following chapter John 6:1-14 He feeds 5,000 men with five barley loaves and two fish. In John chapter 11 He commands Lazarus who had been dead for four days; “Lazarus, come forth” and he came forth out of the tomb. Last but certainly not least, Jesus Himself rises from the grave defeating death in John 20. That is but a small fraction of the works Christ did.
3. The next witness is the Father. In Luke 9 Peter, James, and John went up on a mountain with Jesus and He was transfigured. Then a cloud overshadowed them. “Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him” (Luke 9:35).
4. Lastly the witness of the Scriptures. Moses wrote about Him in the law, the psalms spoke of Him, the prophets’ spoke of Him, in fact all of scripture spoke of Him and yet they did not believe. Jesus said this of them, “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words” (John 5:47).
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the One and only God; He was born of a virgin (The Son of Man), He was conceived of by the Holy Spirit (The Son of God); He is God incarnate (God in human flesh). He is the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Him. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Mike Peek a salve of Jesus Christ
John chapter 5 is an amazing work; the story begins in Jerusalem at a pool called Bethesda, where the sick hung about hoping to be healed. Jesus heals a man who had been sick for 38 years, He tells him to take up his mat and walk; and he did so walking right into some Jews who got on to him for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. This leads to a confrontation between Jesus and these Jews on His authority, and the heart of unbelief.
These unbelieving Jews first sought to kill Jesus because He healed a man on the Sabbath, then when Jesus said to them; “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working” (John 5:17). “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18); a truth that Christ never denied. In fact He takes that accusation by these Jews and adds to it, leaving no doubt who He claimed to be. The acropolis of the text is in John 5:21-23, where Jesus said three things that are His, that inherently belong to God and no one else.
1. He says that He is the one who gives eternal life, the life giver: “For Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes” (John 5:21). We are all created beings; dirt, we are just dirt and water; we do not have life in ourselves, life comes from the one and only God, the giver of life, yet Christ says He gives life to whom He wishes.
2. He said that He is the judge: “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). Judgment of the good and the evil are God’s alone, He does not share that with any created being, yet Jesus says that Judgment belongs to Him.
3. He expects to be afforded the same honor as God the Father: “so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23). God does not share honor and glory with created beings it is His and His alone, yet once again Christ expects to be honored as God.
Then He tells them, “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true” (John 5:31). He then gives four different types of witnesses that testify of who He is.
1. The first witness is John the Baptist. If you go back to John chapter 1 and 3 you can take a look at what John said about Jesus, but here are a couple of exerts. “Behold , the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34).
2. The next witness is His works. Just a few examples, for there are many, many. In John 2:1-12 He turned water into wine a miracle of creation. In this chapter John 5:8-9, He had just healed a man who was sick for 38 years and could not walk. The man gets up at the command of Jesus picks up his mat and walks off. The following chapter John 6:1-14 He feeds 5,000 men with five barley loaves and two fish. In John chapter 11 He commands Lazarus who had been dead for four days; “Lazarus, come forth” and he came forth out of the tomb. Last but certainly not least, Jesus Himself rises from the grave defeating death in John 20. That is but a small fraction of the works Christ did.
3. The next witness is the Father. In Luke 9 Peter, James, and John went up on a mountain with Jesus and He was transfigured. Then a cloud overshadowed them. “Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him” (Luke 9:35).
4. Lastly the witness of the Scriptures. Moses wrote about Him in the law, the psalms spoke of Him, the prophets’ spoke of Him, in fact all of scripture spoke of Him and yet they did not believe. Jesus said this of them, “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words” (John 5:47).
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the One and only God; He was born of a virgin (The Son of Man), He was conceived of by the Holy Spirit (The Son of God); He is God incarnate (God in human flesh). He is the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Him. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Mike Peek a salve of Jesus Christ
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