Seeking Jesus First - Oct. 22, 2022
What is God’s heart for humanity? What does He think about those who trust Him? What does He think about those who don’t trust Him?
God loves the world that He created enough to make covenants with men in order to save it.
He loves His creation enough to set things up for thousands of years, tolerating our unbelief long enough, in order to come and save it Himself. And, after He saved it? He gave it back to us. He did not leave us as orphans. He did not destroy us and start over. We were not just some experiment in a lab that did not work out. We were valuable enough to God to come and die for us. Then He took of Himself, His Holy Spirit, and placed it in us, just for believing that He loved us enough to come in the flesh and die on a cross for us. With this kind of devotion to us, why should we fail to believe all of the promises that He has made? Let’s remove our self-made restraints on the promises of God and believe every word that has come from His mouth.
The Apostle John said in Third John 2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
David praised God in Ps. 103:1-6 with these words: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6 The Lord executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed.”
James 5:15 says, “If there are any sick among you, call for the elders of the church. And the prayer of faith will save the sick. The Lord will raise them up and if he have committed any sin, it will be forgiven.”
Matthew wrote in chapter 8 verse 16 and 17, “When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.” (In a previous study, we learned that it means “took away and bore away”.)
Jesus forgives sins and heals bodies. In fact, healing bodies is an outward proof that sins are being forgiven. Miraculous works are signs that Jesus is who He says He is and that He is who we say that He is. Jesus said to, at the very least, believe in Him because of His works.
Mark 16:15-20 “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
What does it say? These signs shall follow those who believe. It doesn’t say that the signs will follow the disciples. It says that the signs will follow those who believe.
So that begs the question: Those who believe what? Those who believe the words that are being preached about Jesus and His kingdom being here. Say it again. Those who believe the good news of Christ Jesus’s kingdom being here will receive signs, wonders and miracles. And those signs would follow them too as they believe and preach the good news of Christ’s kingdom being available to all through faith in Jesus and His Word.
In verse 20, it says that, “The Lord worked with and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.” We leave out the italicized “them” because it was added later; it was not a part of the original manuscript.
The LORD Jesus works with and accompanies His word. Do you remember how Paul admonishes Timothy? He said, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
The word is the key. The Spirit is the power. Faith is the action. Love is the motive. (That may be too simple but it works. The Word says a lot more about each.)
Paul said, “We believe and therefore we speak. This is the word of faith which we preach.” If we are believing and speaking, the implication is that we are speaking what we believe, and what we believe is the word of God, that all who believe in their heart and confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved - forgiven, healed, delivered and provided for by God. Rom. 10:8-17
Believe it. Declare it. Give thanks for it. Receive it. And share it with everyone.