| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Peter G. Chase" |
| Date: |
28 Dec 2006 11:00:51 PM |
| Object: |
DN He Who Sanctifies 12/29/2006 |
DRAWING NEAR
December 29
He Who Sanctifies
"Both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all
from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them
brethren, saying, 'I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in
the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise.' And
again, 'I will put My trust in Him.' And again, 'Behold, I and
the children whom God has given Me'" (Heb. 2:11-13).
Our holy Christ has made us holy; thus He can now call us His
brothers.
From our own perspective and experience, it is difficult to think of
ourselves as holy. Sin simply is too much a part of us in this fallen
world. In thought and practice we are far from holy, but in Christ we
are perfectly holy.
We may not always act holy, but because of our faith in Christ we are
perfectly holy in God's sight. Just as a child may not always act
like his father, he is nonetheless still his son. We are holy in the
sense that before God, the righteousness of Christ has been applied
and imputed on our behalf through faith. We were made holy through
His sacrifice and have become "those who are sanctified."
"By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are
sanctified" (Heb. 10:14). We are as pure as God is pure, righteous as
Christ is righteous, and therefore entitled to be called His brothers
because we now share in His righteousness.
The Sanctifier and sanctified now have "one Father," and the
Sanctifier "is not ashamed" to call the sanctified His brothers. What
an overwhelming truth!
The practical experience of a Christian's life in this world includes
sin, but the positional reality of his or her new nature is holiness.
"In Him [we] have been made complete" (Col. 2:10). Yet practically we
have a long way to go. So the overriding purpose of our lives is to
become in practice what we are in position. Now that we are Christ's
brothers and God's children, let that be all the motivation we need
to live like it.
Suggestion for Prayer:
Thank the Lord for His sanctifying work on the cross, which enables
you to be holy.
For Further Study:
Read Romans 1:16. Based on what God has done for you through Christ,
can you wholeheartedly echo Paul's statement?
Drawing Near, Copyright 1993 John F. MacArthur, Jr.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
http://www.gty.org
~~~
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and
also for the Greek.
These devotions are posted with permission from John MacArthur's
first (1993) devotional work, _Drawing Near_, and they are also sent
out daily for free to several folks via e-mail.
In addition, John's second (1997) devotional, _Strength for Today_,
is also available free via e-mail only. _Strength for Today_ follows
the same format as what you have seen here from _Drawing Near_, but
with different monthly themes.
If you would like to receive daily devotions via e-mail from either
of these series, just let me know (via e-mail), and I will gladly add
you to the list(s) of your choice.
You can hear John MacArthur daily via the Internet by visiting:
http://www2.oneplace.com/Ministries/Grace_to_You/
and
http://www.gty.org.uk/
You may email John MacArthur in care of Grace to You at:
letters@gty.org
NOTE for those of you reading via newsgroups: If you wish to reach
me, please contact me via e-mail for quickest results.
In Christ,
Peter
Peter G. Chase :: Columbus, Ohio, USA
pchase1@wideopenwest.com
STOP! Who do you think Jesus is?
http://www.gty.org/Gospel
http://www.gty.org/
http://www.nwbible.org/
To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and to discover that the prisoner was you. -Alistair Begg
.
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| User: "Bill M" |
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| Title: Re: DN He Who Sanctifies 12/29/2006 |
30 Dec 2006 12:54:06 PM |
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"Peter G. Chase" <pchase1@wideopenwest.com> wrote in message
news:0789p2pig01ahjfb169og3hnkaj2bksm2s@4ax.com...
DRAWING NEAR
December 29
He Who Sanctifies
"Both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all
from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them
brethren, saying, 'I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in
the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise.' And
again, 'I will put My trust in Him.' And again, 'Behold, I and
the children whom God has given Me'" (Heb. 2:11-13).
Our holy Christ has made us holy; thus He can now call us His
brothers.
The Jesus story is pure nonsense!
According to the Bible, God supposedly created the heavens, the earth and
everything in it in six days. Adam, the original man was created during this
time from 'dust'. His mate, Eve was created from one of Adam's ribs.
According to the Bibles this all powerful omnipotent God supposedly created
this huge complex Universe in six days!
This God supposedly came to earth over 2,000 years ago as a man named Jesus
to save mankind from the sins that God himself created and to preach his
wishes and commands. Archeological evidence indicates 'modern' man has
existed approximately 100,000 years. Why did god wait all those years to
come to earth to preach his word and pay for man's sins (which he himself
created!)?
This all powerful creator of this huge Universe supposedly came to Earth as
a baby in a manger, in the middle of winter and was born of a virgin called
Mary. Why would he choose to be born in such an ingenuous way? Arrogant
humans had to make up a myth
about a god arriving from the womb of another human.
If Jesus was supposedly born of a Virgin Mary and she was the wife of
Joseph, why was she still a virgin? Why did the women need to be married to
a mortal in order to give birth to a god? And why couldn't this all powerful
god creator just come to earth in what ever form he chose to create?
If he could create Adam instantly from dust and Eve from a rib, why did he
use this slow tortuous means to create himself as a god man on earth???
He supposedly grew up as a normal child and worked as a carpenter as an
adult. There are no details in the Bibles about his younger years. After
about THIRTY YEARS, he supposedly announced to the local inhabitants that
he was Jesus the God savior from heaven to tell them God's wishes and
commands.
There are no significant records of Jesus', (the Christ) actual existence in
the non religious documents of the era. Depending upon which Bible story you
choose, it is claimed he preached his doctrines for one, two or three years.
In any case, why put himself on earth for some thirty inconsequential years
and only use a few of these years to preach his doctrines? And then not use
his omnipotent power to preach to the WHOLE world instead of just a
miniscule part of the world around Jerusalem?
Jesus was baptized. In Christianity, baptism is the sacrament of
regeneration and initiation into the Christian church. According to a theme
of St. Paul the Apostle, baptism is death to a former life and the emergence
of a new person, signified by the conferring of a new name; it is the total
annulment of the sins of one's past, from which one emerges a totally
innocent person. Then why would a 'God Jesus' need to be baptized?
His sermons and teachings only reached a miniscule part of the world
population at that time because he did not speak via the equivalent of
International Radio or TV. IF he was an ALL powerful creator of the world,
he certainly would have had the ability to speak to ALL of mankind by means
at least as effective as man. Why did this all powerful god creator wait
100,000 years to come and preach to only a very small segment of the world,
for a period of one two or three years, (depending on which Bible you
choose) and then leave us without ANY solid objective verifiable evidence of
his existence, his wishes and commands? Why did he not preserve his
teachings in some permanent form for all of mankind in the future? The
Bibles were supposedly written by 56 or more authors of unknown veracity
over a period of thousands of years. There are NO - NADA originals of the
Bibles in existence. The originals have all rotted and disappeared thousands
of years ago. They are all hand copies of copies etc. of unknown actual
origin. Why would any omnipotent God, creator of this huge complex Universe,
provide his message in such a sloppy, inaccurate, unreliable, questionable
and confusing manor???
Why did he not use his great omnipotent powers to preach to the WHOLE world
from his Heaven, instead of just preaching to an insignificant portion of
the world?? Why did he leave most of mankind totally in the dark?
He supposedly distributed his word via hand copied books called the Bibles.
Yet NONE of the Bibles were written during his 'claimed' time on earth. The
original Bibles were written and hand recopied more than 1500 years before
the invention of the printing press. There is no evidence that Jesus ever
wrote a word. NO ORIGINAL copies of ANY of the Bibles exist. Why did he not
preserve them? The Bibles now in existence are hand copies of copies etc. of
unknown and doubtful veracity. They are largely myths, fables, hearsay and
implausible tales. The four books of the New Testament were written and
copied somewhere between 60 and 200 years AFTER Jesus' supposed existence.
None of the authors could have known him directly. They are all third person
fictional narratives of unknown veracity. Why would a real god, creator of
this huge Universe, not arrange for the creation of clear, authentic,
contemporary and permanent copies of his word?
During his brief adulthood, preaching his word, he is 'claimed' to have
restored site to a few of the blind, restored mobility to a few of the
crippled and restored health to a few of the sick. Why was he so niggardly
about helping the poor, the disabled and the sick? Is this the likely
conduct of an all loving God creator?
After the one, two or three years he preached, (depending on which Bible
book you believe) to only the locals, his preaching only reached a very
small part of the world's population. He did not avail himself the
equivalent of Radio, TV, Telephone or the Internet. He then allowed himself
to be painfully and brutally crucified on a cross between two criminals to
pay for man's sins (which he created). If he died on the cross to save
mankind, why was mankind no better off after this supposed crucifixion than
before? Was all this blood and gore for nothing?!
The Roman courts were models of order and fairness. A man was not condemned
without a trial; he was not handed to the executioner before being found
guilty. And yet we are asked to believe that an innocent man was brought
before a Roman court, where Pontius Pilate was Judge; that no charge of
wrongdoing having been brought against him, the Judge declared that he found
him innocent; but the mob shouted, "Crucify him; crucify him!" and to please
the rabble, Pilate commanded that the man whom he had found innocent, should
be delivered to the executioners to be crucified! Also, real criminals were
crucified by being 'tied' to the cross - not nailed! What was the purpose of
all this blood and gore? Why should any REAL god need to suffer for man's
sins??? (which god created)
Why was his life and crucifixion not in any of the numerous historical
documents of the time??? Why is it only in church documents?
If Jesus performed the wonderful miracles the New Testament describes, why
did the people want him crucified? Is it not amazing that a civilized people
would demand that a kind and loving man who went about doing good works, who
preached forgiveness, cleansed the leprous, and raised the dead - that they
could not be appeased until they had brutally crucified the noblest
benefactor of mankind? This makes NO sense at all!
If he could create the Universe and every thing in it, (including sin) why
did he not just forgive man's sins, directly from his heaven, without all
this blood and gore? Three days after he died he supposedly rose from the
dead and returned to his heaven. Why did he wait uncomfortably in a crypt
for three days after his death and internment to return to his magnificent
heaven? Why did he wait 30 years!?? Jesus did not really die for our sins.
How can an immortal god die?
What was the logic and purpose of this gruesome and painful killing? Only a
miniscule part of the world's population at the time would be aware of this
claimed sacrifice.
Billions of people today are still not knowledgeable believers of this
highly implausible story. Why did he not preserve a video tape, DVD or other
permanent record of this historic episode? If man is capable of these
devices certainly a god creator should be equally or more proficient.
Why did this God wait over 100,000 years to communicate with only a
minuscule portion of humanity in such a crude and ineffective manner and not
leave any authenticated documents accurately substantiating his appearance?
Why has he failed to communicate further for over 2,000 years?
He supposedly went through this torture and humiliating death to pay for
mans sins which he himself created! Why did he not just wave his wand and
forgive mans sins and skip all the ridiculous blood and gore??? Why did he
create sin in the first place? This should be no problem for a god that
created Adam from dust and Eve from Adam's rib, and this immense Universe.
Why do people still supposedly still have the same sins that he died for?
Why does he encourage or permit Christians to drink his blood and eat his
flesh? Isn't this a pagan ritual?
Why does he continue to allow thousands of greedy self serving men to
deliver his word to his flock in such a vague, inconsistent, contradictory,
and ineffectual manner? There are hundreds of different Christian sects and
beliefs. There are thousands of different religious and god beliefs and
practices. Why does he allow this gross confusion? Why does he not
communicate clearly and DIRECTLY to his entire flock that he is the real god
and all the others are fakes? It would be more responsible and more
effective to eliminate this gross confusion?
If he is the real god, why does he even permit the belief and propagation of
thousands of false gods and false religions?
The Christ tale is obviously pure myth and legend.
The objective evidence is that God did not create man but quite the
contrary; that man created Gods!
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