Good morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends, YES, it’s very chilly these mornings in Florida!
The past few days we’ve been looking closely at a statement Jesus made to His disciples at Caesarea Philippi, as recorded in Matthew 16:19: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” I’ve shared with you some of what I consider to be the foundational KEYS the disciples were learning from Jesus which they would then share with the world by their words and writings. Jesus had promised that these foundational keys would make it possible for people to gain access to the kingdom of heaven!
While we have some Biblical record of how these disciples, who were there with Jesus at Caesarea Philippi that day, shared those great keys after Jesus returned to heaven, it was really a man who was NOT there that day, who has made the biggest global impact with those Keys! Do you know who I mean? His name was Saul of Tarsus. (Acts 8:1-3) He was a Pharisee who had devoted his adult life to OPPOSE Jesus and those KEYS of the Kingdom, and Saul made every effort to destroy the Jesus movement in Jerusalem and elsewhere!
This Saul of Tarsus, after an encounter with the risen Jesus Christ as recorded in Acts 9, became the apostle Paul and wrote 13 books of the New Testament. Paul became the most effective communicator, the most celebrated of all the apostles taking those Keys of Jesus all across the Roman empire and advancing the “ekklesia” movement of Jesus more than any other person of the first century and perhaps of all time!
Because of Paul’s profound background of deep study of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was able to open Paul’s mind to understand those fundamental Keys to the Kingdom, Jesus had given to the Disciples, and build an entire doctrinal statement which gives to all people the understanding of the Salvation and new life God offers us in the application of those Key of Jesus Christ to the life of a repentant sinner like you and me!
While we’ll look at them in much more detail several weeks from now, let’s take today to understand what God made known to those apostles, especially Paul, which makes it possible for us to live the kingdom of heaven here on earth.
First, the work of God the Father in applying those Keys of Jesus to our lives:
1. It’s God the Father who FORGIVES the sins of a repentant sinner for our sin is our rebellion against God’s original perfect design for our human race and the relationship He ordained for us to have with Him. Every person has a sin problem, and every person can be forgiven ultimately by God the Father! (Romans 3:23; Ephesians 4:32; Hebrews 9:22; Col. 2:13)
2. God the Father declares the forgiven sinner JUSTIFIED, a spiritual legal term meaning we are ‘just as if we never sinned’! As God the Father accepts the full death payment of Jesus His Son, our sin debt is paid in full and God justifies us! (Romans 4:25-5:21) Furthermore, God declares the forgiven sinner RIGHTEOUS as God applies the righteousness of Jesus to us when God takes away our sin guilt and places it on Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21)
3. God the Father ADOPTS the forgiven, righteous, repentant sinner as His son or daughter. We gain an inheritance from God that is kept in heaven for us! (1 Peter 1:4; 5:17; Rom. 8:14-17; John 1:12) We can now call Almighty, Holy God our ‘heavenly Father’!
And did you know that Jesus, the Son of God, also accomplishes some very specific things in our lives as we cross over from living in our sin bondage and sin condemnation to being delivered by God!
1. It is Jesus, God the Son who died on the cross as our atonement sacrifice. Jesus REDEEMS us by paying our sin debt price as God the Father poured out His full wrath on our sin which Jesus took upon Himself as He died. (1 John 4:9,10; 1 Peter 1:18,19; Mark 10:45; Eph. 1:7) That’s what the angels meant when they announced Jesus as Savior of the world. (Matt. 1:21; Luke 2:11) That’s what John meant when he announced Jesus was “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29)
2. Jesus, God the Son, RECONCILES us repentant sinners back to Almighty God who made us in His image but from whom we have rebelled in our sin. (2 Corinthians 5:14-20; Romans 5:10,11) Our reconciliation with the Father is irreversible, established by Jesus through His death and resurrection!
3. Risen Jesus, God the Son, is now our ADVOCATE with the Father, interceding for us with Holy God. (Romans 8:32-29; 1 Timothy 2:5,6; Hebrews 1:3; 7:24,25)
And my friends, the Holy Spirit of God is very busy applying the KEYs of the Kingdom of Heaven into our lives as we turn to God in full trust of Jesus, repenting of our sin:
1. The Holy Spirit CONVICTS us of our sin and opens our minds to understand God’s Truth and then guides us to confession, repentance and trust in Jesus! (John 16:7-11; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Cor. 2)
2. The Holy Spirit BIRTHS in the repentant sinner a holy, new spiritual nature that the Holy Spirit Himself will nurture. (John 3:3-6; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 6)
3. The Holy Spirit BAPTIZES the repentant, forgiven sinner INTO unbreakable union with Jesus Christ! (Romans 6; 8:1-17; Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:18)
4. Finally, the Holy Spirit SEALS the citizenship of a justified, repentant sinner as a member of the kingdom of God, the ‘ekklesia’ of Jesus Christ! (Col. 1:13; Eph. 1:13,14; 17-21)
My friends, do you understand how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit take those KEYS to the Kingdom and apply them to the life of any repentant sinner and transform them from a hell bound sinner to a righteous, son or daughter of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and bound for heaven?
Can you celebrate those truths in YOUR life today? If not, or if you have any question, please write to me. I want to help you! Oh my, I sure hope every person on our “Walking with Jesus” journey is experiencing these great truths to the fullest IN your life…today!
And some very important ‘lessons learned’ notes are at the link just below, along with a great worship song, and I’ll be here waiting for you tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: Matt. 16:19; Ephes. 2:8,9.
Choose below to read or listen.
Matt. 16:19
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Ephes. 2:8,9
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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