one year bible - I hope you will join me on this journey through God’s Word.
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Sermons on Luke’s Gospel – Luke 9:18-27
Luke 9:18-27
“Who is Jesus?” “What does Jesus do for us? To these question, we must make our response.
—–
(1) Who is Jesus?
Peter confesses his faith in Jesus – “the Christ of God” (Luke 9:20), “the Christ” (Mark 8:29), “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), “the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). Where does this faith come from? – “This was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). This is not the faith of a single moment or a single individual. It’ s the clear teaching of the Gospels from their very first chapters – Luke 2:10-11, Matthew 1:21-23, Mark 1:1, John 1:1-2, 14. The words of John 20:31 describe the purpose of each of the four Gospels – “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name.”
“Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God” – This answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?”, leads us on to the second question and its answer, “What does Jesus do for us?” – He gives us eternal life. How does He bring eternal life to us? We answer this question by looking at the events which lie at the heart of the Gospel.
(2) What does Jesus do for us?
To answer this question, we must look back to Christ’s death and resurrection. We must also look forward to Christ’s Second Coming. Jesus speaks to us of these three events – His death and resurrection (Luke 9:22), His return in power and glory (Luke 9:26). The importance of these events is underlined by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 – His death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), His glorious return (1 Corinthians 15:51-58).
(3) Our response
Will we confess Him? Will we be ashamed of Him? In Luke 9:26, Jesus warns us against being ashamed of Him. Jesus calls us to confess Him. Confessing Jesus is not just a matter of saying the right words. In Luke 9:23, Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. he calls to take up the cross. He calls us to follow Him. In Luke 9:24-25, we are asked the question, “Who is most important to you?” Is it Jesus? Is it ourselves? Are we living to please ourselves. Are we living to please Jesus? Let your response be the response of faith. Let it be the response of real, life-changing faith.
“Who is Jesus?” “What does Jesus do for us? To these question, we must make our response.
—–
(1) Who is Jesus?
Peter confesses his faith in Jesus – “the Christ of God” (Luke 9:20), “the Christ” (Mark 8:29), “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), “the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). Where does this faith come from? – “This was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). This is not the faith of a single moment or a single individual. It’ s the clear teaching of the Gospels from their very first chapters – Luke 2:10-11, Matthew 1:21-23, Mark 1:1, John 1:1-2, 14. The words of John 20:31 describe the purpose of each of the four Gospels – “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name.”
“Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God” – This answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?”, leads us on to the second question and its answer, “What does Jesus do for us?” – He gives us eternal life. How does He bring eternal life to us? We answer this question by looking at the events which lie at the heart of the Gospel.
(2) What does Jesus do for us?
To answer this question, we must look back to Christ’s death and resurrection. We must also look forward to Christ’s Second Coming. Jesus speaks to us of these three events – His death and resurrection (Luke 9:22), His return in power and glory (Luke 9:26). The importance of these events is underlined by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 – His death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), His glorious return (1 Corinthians 15:51-58).
(3) Our response
Will we confess Him? Will we be ashamed of Him? In Luke 9:26, Jesus warns us against being ashamed of Him. Jesus calls us to confess Him. Confessing Jesus is not just a matter of saying the right words. In Luke 9:23, Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. he calls to take up the cross. He calls us to follow Him. In Luke 9:24-25, we are asked the question, “Who is most important to you?” Is it Jesus? Is it ourselves? Are we living to please ourselves. Are we living to please Jesus? Let your response be the response of faith. Let it be the response of real, life-changing faith.
Quotations from Jerry Bridges (Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey)
“Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”
“The heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 … obeyed by faith … obedience is the pathway to holiness … no one will become holy apart from a life of faith. Faith enables us to claim the promises of God, but it also enables us to obey the commands of God.”
“… the pursuit of holiness must be anchored in grace; otherwise it is doomed to failure.”
“Your worst days are never so bad that you’re beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you’re beyond the need of God’s grace.”
“Scripture speaks of a holiness which we have in Christ before God and a holiness which we must strive after.”
“To remember no more is God’s way of expressing absolute forgiveness.”
“Micah 7:19 … “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” The picture is of God vigorously disposing of our sins by hurling them overboard. He doesn’t just drop them over the side; He hurls them …”
“Holiness requires continual effort on our part and continual nourishing and strengthening by the Spirit.”
“When we commit ourselves to the pursuit of holiness, we need to ensure that our commitment is actually to God, not simply to a holy lifestyle or a set of moral values … offer yourselves to God, and in doing that commit yourselves to the pursuit of holiness in order to please Him.”
“Only when we’re thoroughly convinced that the Christian life is entirely of grace are we able to serve God out of a grateful and loving heart.”
“We obey God’s Law, not to be loved but because we are loved in Christ.”
“We need to approach the Bible each day with a spirit of deep humility, recognizing that our understanding of spiritual truth is at best incomplete and to some extent inaccurate … we should approach the Scriptures in humility and expect the Spirit to humble us even further as we continue being taught by Him from His Word.”
“There’s a direct correlation between faith in the righteousness of Christ and zeal in the cause of Christ. The more a person counts as loss his own righteousness and lays hold by faith of the righteousness of Christ, the more he’ll be motivated to live and work for Christ.”
“God never grants justification without also giving sanctification at the same time … Sanctification in us begins as an instantaneous act of the Holy Spirit and is carried forward by His continued action in our loves.”
“… we did decide to trust Christ, but the reason we made that decision is that God had first made us spiritually alive. … God comes to us when we’re spiritually dead, when we don’t even realize our condition, and gives us the spiritual ability to see our plight and to see the solution in Christ. God comes all the way, not partway, to meet us in our need. When we were dead, He made us alive in Christ. And the first act of that new life is to turn in faith to Jesus.”
|
“God does not believe for us, but through His Spirit He creates spiritual life in us so that we can believe. Faith is the gift of God. It’s part of the whole salvation package that God gives to us through the work of Christ for us and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It’s not our contribution, so to speak, to God’s great plan of salvation. God does it all. It’s part of the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
|
|
“… self-control is not control by oneself through one’s own willpower but rather control of oneself through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
“Progressive sanctification is not a partnership with the Spirit in the sense that we each – the believer and the Holy Spirit – do our respective tasks. Rather, we work as He enables us to work. His work lies behind all our work and makes our work possible.”
“A son or daughter in any human family is either born to or adopted by the parents. By definition, a child can’t be both. But with God we’re both born of Him and adopted by Him.”
|
