What Have You Done For Me Lately?

The Word... the Bible is FULL of what God has done and IS doing FOR us. Beginning before creation, where God, in the counsel of His own will, ordained Christ and Redemption of the Body of Christ as the culmination in the execution of His purpose and plan.
What? What do you mean by that?
Well, if you really want to know, and you really want to believe it, you’ll need to study that out yourself.

So God’s Word is full, from cover to cover, of what He has done for us. There are very few accounts, though, of what individuals have done for Him. What is it we CAN do for Him?

   

Obey and have Faith!

But who has obeyed... or even can obey? Or who has had faith?
Heb. 11:3, ...by faith we understand. Verse 4, by faith Abel; by faith Enoch; by faith Noah; by faith Abraham; through faith Sarah; by faith Isaac; by faith Jacob; by faith Joseph; by faith Moses; by faith Joshua; by faith Rahab; and Gideon, Samson,David, Samuel and all the prophets... verse 33, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises. Verse 35, Others were tortured, scourged, stoned, sawn in two, slain with the sword, 38, of whom the world was not worthy. Verse 39, And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

You better read that until you understand it!

But Who has obeyed? Who was Faithful? Who was perfect?
Jesus!

Heb. 5:8 says, (Christ) in the days of His flesh... though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
And so He was perfected by His obedience. 
Verse 9... and having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.

So, who among us is being perfected?
Not many.
Who is suffering?
Not many even know the definition of suffering, especially as it compares to Jesus.
Who is being perfected?
Not many at all.
Believe it or not, I heard it preached just this morning that “We cannot be perfected.” In fact, Leviticus 20:7 was quoted to make his point, which reads... Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
And right after he read the verse, he said, “You can’t do it.” Not very encouraging, is it? How does that “EDIFY” the brethren? I almost walked out. Is it any wonder the Church is so messed up (failing) when we have “teachers” like this?

Here’s the deal, which apparently this “teacher” doesn’t get... we must understand the distinctions between the Old Testament, the Law, and God’s dealing with Israel... in contrast to the New Testament, G R A C E, and God calling out the Church (Body of Christ). We must also understand the distinction between “having” the Holy Spirit (alongside), and being “IN-DWELT” by the Holy Spirit.

Israel was under the Law. Only Israel was given the Law. The Law intended to make all of Israel priests to evangelize the nations. But as Paul says in Romans 8:3-4, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in US, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The ”ordinance of the law” is  L O V E!
But the Law could not accomplish its intent BECAUSE OF THE FLESH! We must be BORN AGAIN... of the Spirit!

Jesus Himself introduces the NEW requirement in Matthew 5:48,
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The “therefore” refers back to what Jesus had just got done saying... Love, Love, Love! Love God, Love your neighbor,
Love your enemies! We can’t do it?
No, we can't of ourselves... NOT in the flesh. But what does Paul say in Rom. 8:9... But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Whereas John, the New Testament Kingdom Jew that he is, says... Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us. 1 John 3:24

So you see, John is mixing the Law with the New Testament promise of the Spirit because he is expecting the Messiah (Jesus) and the Kingdom to be set up imminently. As Acts 2:29-33 says, Therefore (David), being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

The crowd of visiting Jews for Pentecost had just witnessed the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and they heard “tongues” in their own different languages, but they said the disciples were drunk. Peter was explaining they weren’t drunk but being baptized as the prophet Joel had said.

But Paul had a different message apart from the Law... 2 Cor. 7:1, Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
“Perfecting holiness” has EVERYTHING to do with obedience!

Ephesians 1:4, For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence.

So, not only did He choose us, but He gave us the  P O W E R  to be perfect.
God does not tease us with demands He Himself is determined to accomplish in us in Christ!