"The church of God, which he obtained with his own blood" (Acts 20:28).
Posted : 20 Aug, 2011 07:01 AM
God obtained the church "with his own blood." The Deity of the Son of God imparted a Divine vitality and value to the blood which flowed from his human nature. The mysterious union was so close and intimate that while the Deity effected the atonement by the humanity, the humanity derived all its power and virtue to atone from the Deity. There was Deity in the blood of Jesus�a Divine vitality which stamped its infinite value, dignity, and virtue.
Observe how strikingly the Holy Spirit couples these two truths�the Deity of Jesus and the atonement of Jesus�"He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins..." (Heb. 1:3). Here are brought out in the strongest light, and in the most beautiful and intimate relation, Deity and atonement.
It is not so much that our Lord was the Priest as that he was the Sacrifice�not so much that he was the Offerer as that he was the Offering�in which consisted the value of his blood.
"The Son of God ... loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). "He offered up himself" (Heb. 7:27). What did he offer in offering up himself? He offered up his life�his twofold life. There was on Calvary the sacrifice of the Deity with the humanity. The Deity did not suffer, for it is incapable of suffering, nor did it die, for essential life cannot die. But the Deity with the humanity constituted the single offering that has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:14).
As profoundly and awfully mysterious as this truth is, faith can receive it. It towers far above my reason, and yet it does not contradict my reason. While it transcends and baffles it, it does not oppose nor supersede it.
Christian reader, the blood upon which you depend for your salvation is not ordinary blood�the blood of a mere human being, however pure, however sinless. No, it is the blood of the incarnate God, God "manifested in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). It is the blood of him who is Essential Life�"the Fountain of Life" (Ps. 36:9; Rev. 22:1), "the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).
It is because of the Divine life of Jesus that his atoning blood has its vitality. Oh, that is a Divine principle that vivifies the blood of Christ! This is what makes it sacrificial, expiatory, and cleansing. This is what enables it to prevail with God's justice for pardon and acceptance. This is what renders it so efficacious that one drop of it falling upon a conscience crushed beneath the weight of sin will melt that mountain of guilt and lift that soul to God.
Hold fast the confidence of your faith in the essential Deity of the Son of God, for this it is which gives to his Atonement all its glory, dignity, and virtue.
"The church of God, which he obtained with his own blood" (Acts 20:28).
Posted : 20 Aug, 2011 03:05 PM
The way that we glorify God if we love Him is to obey all the commands of Jesus and the NT with love; just as Jesus loved us with the Hope of countless eternal rewards for faithful and loving service.
John 14:23: Jesus says, "If anyone loves Me, he:rolleyes: will *OBEY MY TEACHING*. My Father will love him, and We will make our home with him!"
I Peter 1:22-25: " Now that you:rolleyes: have purified yourselves by obeying the Truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again...through the living and during Word of God and the Word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the Word that was preached to you."
Ephesians 3:16-19: "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you:rolleyes: with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in **LOVE**, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the LOVE OF CHRIST**, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!"
I John 2:3-5: "We know that we have come to know Him {Jesus} **IF** we obey His commands. The man who says, "I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone **OBEYS HIS WORD**, God's **LOVE** is truly made complete in him!" And then we may "Grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the **LOVE OF CHRIST**!!"
2 Peter 1:10: "Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you:rolleyes: do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a **RICH WELCOME** into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!"
Matthew 16:27; Jesus says, �The Son of Man is going to come in **HIS FATHER'S GLORY WITH HIS ANGELS**:angel::angel: {See Matt 24:30,31 & 2 Thess 1:6-10}, and *THEN* He will reward each person:rolleyes: according to what he has done.�
I Peter 1:13: "Therefore, prepare your minds for **ACTION** and set your hope **FULLY** on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is **REVEALED**!!":applause::angel::peace:
"The church of God, which he obtained with his own blood" (Acts 20:28).
Posted : 21 Aug, 2011 02:50 PM
God not only takes it upon himself to save us from our guilt; he takes it upon himself to restore us to life and to bring us to faith. In doing so, the riches of Christ, secured at the cross, become ours.
We must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us�.All that Christ possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him. 1
In other words, if there were no subjective work of the Spirit in our hearts, all that we have considered up to this point would remain beyond our reach. Christ�s redemptive work in history, objectively won for us, would nevertheless be of no use apart from the work of the Holy Spirit.
When we are united to Christ, we are immediately made heirs of his righteous life. His thirty-three years of complete consecration and total surrender to the divine will become our identity before God. By his circumcision, we are set aside from the domination of sin and made children of God. By his godly life and victory over temptation, we who constantly fail and falter are regarded as holy and acceptable. This is what it means to be identified with Christ�s life.
But there is a subjective aspect as well. In this union, Christ�s life is not only his active obedience imputed, but his holy life imparted. �I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener.� said Jesus (John 15:1). �Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine: you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.� (John 15:5).
Just as we are declared righteous in justification, we are steadily made righteous in sanctification. We do not look for the one in Christ and the other in something or someone else, even if that someone is the Holy Spirit. For all of our gifts are found in Christ. They are given by the Father, in the Son, through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
We are not baptized into the Spirit, but into Christ by the Spirit. We do not participate in the life of the Spirit, but in the life of Christ by the life-giving power of the Spirit. All of the Spirit�s activity has Christ as the reference point, and where the Spirit himself is given center-stage, we can be certain that it is not the Holy Spirit who is active in such settings. (John 15:26). We bear the �fruit of the Spirit� only as we are in union with the Vine.
Our justification is perfect, complete, and instantaneous. Sanctification, by contrast, is imperfect, incomplete, and progressive throughout the Christian life. No believer can ever say that he or she has achieved victory over sin, although Christ has accomplished this on the believer�s behalf. His victory is imputed perfectly and instantly, while it is experienced in the believer�s life only in perpetual conflict with our still-sinful hearts. Thus, our union with Christ in the likeness of his life means that we who once were at peace with our sins are at war with our sins. We who were once satisfied with ourselves are now locked in perpetual battle with our own wickedness and rebellion.
The objective work of Christ would profit us nothing unless it were subjectively received. The historic events of our Lord�s passion, death, and resurrection which secured our salvation must be effectually applied by the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. But how is this union secured? If it is not a matter of the soul�s direct and immediate access to God�s Spirit, how can we possibly cross the infinite chasm between Creator and creature?
