Last week, we explored what it means to abide in Christ, and we saw some powerful truths regarding His sacrifice for us and how it changes our position from sin to righteousness, and our nature from sinner to king priest in His kingdom and family.
During that study, something caught my attention which caused me to meditate on it more— specifically in Hebrews 4:10 which refers to ceasing from our own works, as God did from His.
It’s one thing to speak about ceasing from your own work or effort, and spiritually-speaking, we know that we should cease from our effort, though we find it challenging to fully rest in what Christ has accomplished.
I know this challenge quite well, I’ve been there, I’m familiar with the struggle; and so today I want to continue from where we paused last week. As we continue to explore abiding in Christ, with the details given to us in scripture, and I believe that as we study this together today, it will release a burden that has secretly been on the hearts of many who have been finding it difficult to rest in Christ.
Welcome back again to the third-part of our series on how Jesus has conquered your sin. So far we’ve seen some powerful truths regarding how sin is far deeper than actions that we commit, but it is an identity. Likewise, righteousness is also an identity. We also began to examine how Jesus changed our identity from sin to righteousness, and has cleansed us and given us a good and clean conscience.
Today, we are going to delve deeper into the cleansing of our conscience by Jesus Christ, and what a good conscience truly means.
We recently concluded a series on obtaining spiritual victory, and we’ve learned quite a bit about how to stand our spiritual ground, and not allow a defeated foe to trample us under foot. It is a crucial lesson to learn how to stand and fight when it comes to spiritual battle and victory. It is equally important, however, to learn how to experience, enjoy and truly possess the victory once it is obtained.
Today we will be exploring the vital topic of possessing your inheritance in victory, through Jesus Christ, because this is what the spiritual battle is truly about. Let’s get started!
Welcome back to part three of our discussion about perceptions; where we are exploring how the lenses that we see ourselves and the world around us by, can have a powerful and dramatic effect on our entire life. And not surprisingly, the scriptures have quite a bit to teach us about our lenses.
Last week, we paused after seeing how the Israelites failed to enter the Promise Land, by allowing their circumstances and their skewed lenses speak louder to them than the multiple promises of God that they had already been given. This is a scenario that plays out today as well, in the lives of a great number of believers, and it keeps people wandering in the “spiritual wilderness”, continually lost, weak and defeated, when in fact they have countless unclaimed promises of victory right in-front of them.
I also mentioned last week, at the end of our study right before we paused, that even if that picture resembles you today, that there was no need to despair, because there is a way out of the wilderness, thee is an answer, and we will find out what that answer is today in this study. So join me now, as we continue our discussion about changing our lenses, and changing our life.
The natural reaction when things aren’t going our way and situations look bad, is to work more, try harder, strive more intensely – yet as we examine the scriptures, what we find is a different reaction being demonstrated over and over again. A reaction that is not one of stress, worry, striving or fear, but a reaction of rest.
This is not the kind of reaction that we typically expect, because it is not a worldly reaction; and it is not a worldly type of rest either. It is not “sitting on your hands and doing nothing” as opponents of this rest might imply; but it is a rest that originates in our spirit, as we behold the finished work of Christ and live our new identity in Him.
I have been asked a number of times, about the name ThrivingBranch. What exactly does it mean, anyway? And while I have explained it before, It occurs to me that I have not shared an actual study on it in quite a while.
So in light of that, what I want to share with you today, is not merely the explanation of the name (that wouldn’t really constitute a Bible study by itself), but the words of Jesus from where the name ThrivingBranch comes from, and the amazing truth contained in it. And as we look at this today, we are going to see some aspects of our identity in Christ that will have a profound effect, even in our daily life.
Rights. We all have them, although they are not always respected in certain places or in certain times, unfortunately. However there is one place in-particular that they are always respected. And that is spiritually. In Christ, we all have certain spiritual rights that are absolutely undeniable, and the Bible tells us specifically what they are because God wants us to know what our rights are, and He wants us to make full use of them.
Even so, many believers are not making use of their rights in Christ. They have been sold a false narrative that they have no rights at all. They have bought into the lie that they are weak, powerless, and without any real recourse in this world… that they must wait until the sweet by-and-by up in Heaven for any resolution. And that is simply not the truth. What I want to share with you today, is what the Bible has to say regarding your rights and what you can (and should) expect in Christ Jesus – not later when you get to Heaven, but right now, today, in this life.
I’ve encountered many people throughout my years, whom I have shared the truth with, that God is not angry with them. And many times, their response, was “I wish I could believe that.” They couldn’t receive the truth of God not being angry with them, because they were measuring His attitude towards them using a different standard. Instead of looking at the truth in scripture, they were looking at their current circumstances, their emotions and feelings of the moment, to gauge God’s mood, instead of what His eternal word says. When things were going well, God was obviously happy, and when things were not going well, God was obviously displeased. And so for these people, thy were constantly living a roller-coaster of ups and downs. Never on a solid foundation, but always on the shifting sand of the present moment.
However, God does not want us to live that way… that’s not the abundant life that He came to give us. He paid a high and precious price to reconcile us with Himself – and that is not a maybe, or a half-hearted reconciliation. Jesus has done a complete work, one that has a sure result; one that we can be confident in, and one that does not waiver back and forth like the wind, or get tossed around by the waters of daily life. What we will be studying today is why you can be absolutely sure of your status with God today. Why you can be bold and confident in your relationship with Him, and know beyond all doubt, why He is not angry with you today.
God’s will for you is nothing short of perfection. That fact must be completely understood right from the very start. His will for you is perfect and that is exactly what He has given to you as a gift. Perfection. He has given you Himself. He has given you Jesus, and through Jesus, you are madeperfectly justified, perfectly righteous, perfectly redeemed, perfectly holy, perfectly whole and perfectly healed. He paid for these things to be yours in Christ, and for all of those that have received Jesus, this is actually your reality today, as amazing as that sounds.
Why is it then that some never see this reality for themselves? Why is it that for some this reality seems to be nothing more than a fleeting wish. Why do some shrug it off as a fantasy. These are questions that many believers struggle with, these questions have even shipwrecked the faith of some people. And so we will be examining these questions today, and see what God’s Word says about them, in the light of the finished work of Jesus Christ, so that these questions will not stumble people any longer.
There are many verses in the Bible that speak of rest… the importance of rest, finding rest and remaining in rest are all topics that can be easily found – or even stumbled across when reading scripture. Why is it then that so many believers are searching for rest? Why is it that so few believers have actually found rest, both for their body and for their soul? Have we all been deceived? Is the scripture on big lie? Or is something else going on here?
Today in this study, we will be taking a look at the rest mentioned in the Bible, to see the details of it, and exactly how it is received. This information is crucial to living the abundant life which Jesus came to bring, and He wants every one of His children to be enjoying His rest.