FOR FREEDOM THE LORD MESSIAH JESUS HAS SET YOU FREE

2 Corinthians 3:17 says: “Where the Spirit of the Lord- Yehovah is, there is freedom.”

The freedom we have through the indwelling Spirit of God- Yehovah is not political or external freedom; rather, it is the reality of freedom in your inner being that remains unaffected by anything.

A well-known saying in English is, “Four walls don’t make a prison.” You can put a person in prison, but you cannot break him if he has freedom through the indwelling of the Spirit of God within his inner being.

The reality of God- Yehovah and the experience of freedom in your inner being ensure joy and peace.

BY GOD’S SPIRIT TRUE FREEDOM IS WITHIN YOUR INNER BEING

God set his people free from slavery by the enabling power of His Spirit working in their inner being. The Old Testament and the New Testament are all about freedom. The Bible is a handbook on freedom.

Many Christians have the reputation of being so legalistic, so bound by regulations that they give people the impression that the Christian life is all about laws and prohibitions. The Bible is not about that at all; the whole Bible is about freedom!

What is the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, about? It’s about God setting free a people who were slaves, taking them out of Egypt. After 400 years of slavery, God took these Israelite slaves out of Egypt. How dramatic it was when they passed through the sea with the waters standing up like walls on both sides! God- Yehovah took the Israelites out of Egypt and set them free. Moses said to Pharaoh on behalf of God- Yehovah, “Let my people go. Set my people free that they may serve me.” The Bible is about freedom!

Notice: The entire New Testament is about freedom. In John 8:32, 36, the lord Messiah Jesus said: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. So, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

If the truth doesn’t set you free, it isn’t the truth. How do I know something is true? See if it sets you free; then you will know. If you experience it, you will know that the truth found in the Bible is a reality that you can experience.

FREEDOM FROM DESIRES AND ANXIETIES

Are you free? Or are you governed by problems within that you hardly even know how to describe? Are you constantly pulled in different directions by various desires that enslave you? Do you experience freedom? And to what extent? The lord Messiah Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). What is truth? Remember, the lord Messiah Jesus said truth is what sets you free (cf. John 8:32).

Anything that brings you into bondage is not the truth, as far as Scripture is concerned. The lord Messiah Jesus is the truth because he taught and lived out the truth of God’s righteousness when he was on the earth, so that we must measure our spiritual condition against him. If we are willing to confess the truth of our sins and submit to God’s Kingdom in our lives, God- Yehovah will set us free from the guilt and the power of sin. Have you experienced God’s liberating power through the lord Messiah Jesus?

A PERSON WHO IS NO LONGER AFRAID OF DEATH BEGINS TO EXPERIENCE TRUE FREEDOM

What is the resurrection? Resurrection is freedom. Freedom from what? From what binds most powerfully, namely death. Do you know that human life is governed by one thing: the reality of death? Fear of death controls us.

Why do we work? Because we need to earn money. Why do we need money? Because we need food. Why do you need food? Because I will die if I don’t eat. I don’t want to die. Exactly! We need food, so we must work to have income. The fear of death controls us. If we were unafraid of death, we would not be anxious about going hungry.

The majority of people live in a condition where they experience neither freedom nor the absence of freedom; they exist in a state of ambiguity. Human beings engage in work primarily because they are driven by the need to survive, specifically the need for food.

Diseases threaten us with death, and the fear of death overshadows us all the time. With disease, the possibility of death, and anxiety that threatens us all the time. A vast amount of money is poured into medical research to overcome disease and death.

What has housing to do with death? If you slept outside every day, and the weather got cold, you might freeze to death. Housing is necessary to protect our lives and health from harm by other people. It’s all about surviving death. Everything has to do with death.

Why do we need transportation? We mainly need it to travel to the place of work which helps us earn the money we need for survival.

The shadow of death casts its control over mankind long before he ever gets to the grave. That is why we read in Hebrews 2:14-15 that the lord Messiah Jesus died to “destroy the one who has the power of death (that is, the devil), and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” A person who is no longer afraid of death begins to experience true freedom.

AM I BEING CONTROLLED BY THE FEAR OF DEATH OR BY GOD?

Romans 8:14 says: “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.” What leads us? What are we controlled by? What determines our lives? Our fears, anxieties, or God? Does death still exercise control over me? If I can be free from the fear of death because of God’s power of resurrection, I will begin to know true freedom.

FOR FREEDOM THE LORD MESSIAH JESUS HAS SET YOU FREE – DO NOT LET ANYTHING CONTROL YOU

Galatians 5:1: For freedom the Messiah has set you free.

Think on these words, “For freedom the Messiah has set you free.” Paul was saying to the Galatians: “The Messiah set you free not so that you can go back into some other form of slavery. The Messiah set you free so that you can stay free, so that you can really enjoy the reality of freedom – freedom from the fear of death, and freedom from every other compelling factor.” Remember: This is what the life of the followers of the lord Messiah Jesus is all about.

Any person who has not experienced this kind of freedom doesn’t know what it is to be a follower of the lord Messiah Jesus. Here is a categorical statement: You don’t know what it is to be a follower of the lord Messiah Jesus if you have not experienced the reality of that freedom as ‘new creations’ in him.

Look at Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 6:12: All things are permitted for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be controlled by anything.

Here is a passage of the greatest importance but seldom appreciated. A follower of the lord Messiah Jesus is free, so that “all things are lawful to them, but not all things are beneficial.” These are the words of a true follower of the lord Messiah Jesus. What are you dominated by? What controls your life? Paul says: “I will not be controlled by anything.

I would like you to look into your life, whether you enjoy the totality of freedom, or whether you are controlled by certain things which you think are good. They may be good, but do they control you? If you don’t make sure that a thing, whether good or bad, does not control you, you will eventually come under ever deeper levels of bondage.

BONDAGE TO THE LOVE OF MONEY

1 Timothy 6:7-12: “For we have brought nothing into the world, so that neither can we bring anything out. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these things we will be content. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge those people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all evil, by which some, because they desire it, have gone astray from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.11 But you, O man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patient endurance, gentleness 12 Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…”

2 Timothy 3:1-5: “But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come, 2 for people will be lovers of themselves, ‘lovers of money’, boasters, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 hardhearted, irreconcilable, slanderous, without self-control, savage, with no interest for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God, 5 maintaining a form of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid these people.

Strive to experience God’s power of freedom that the lord Messiah Jesus gave himself up to his God and Father Yehovah as a sin-offering sacrifice to give us God’s power of freedom. Strive to experience God’s-Yehovah’s liberating power of freedom brought to reality by the lord Messiah Jesus. Let us actively pursue and engage in the experience of being free.

Try to experience one thing: What is freedom in the lord Messiah Jesus? That is most worthwhile. A follower of the lord Messiah Jesus who does not experience freedom in the lord Messiah Jesus is a Christian only in his head. He has not experienced it in the reality of the mind and heart. He doesn’t know whether God is real or not. Freedom is something that can be attained only by unspeakable power, the power of the Spirit of God- Yehovah because we are in bondage to sin, by the tremendous powers of sin and death.

What kind of power can overcome these? Only the power of God through the lord Messiah Jesus. But those are only words until you experience it. Romans 8:2 says: For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in the Messiah Jesus from the law of sin and death.

CONCLUSION

Experience freedom by constant discipline and practice. Everything worth achieving can only be achieved in a methodical, systematic, disciplined way. Paul loves to use the picture of an athlete. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27: 24 Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 And everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things. Thus, those do so that they may receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. 26 Therefore I run in this way, not as running aimlessly; I box in this way, not as beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and subjugate it, lest somehow after preaching to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Paul is speaking about disciplining himself and uses the picture of an  “athlete,” derived from Greek origins, to describe the life of a follower of the lord Messiah Jesus as a process of self-discipline that ultimately leads to winning the crown as the prize.

In what way should you live so as to attain freedom by the power of the Spirit? Where the Spirit is, there is freedom (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:17: Now the Lord - Yehovah is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord- Yehovah is, there is freedom).

This does not mean that you sit back and do nothing. We must co-work with God’s- Yehovah’s Spirit to win the crown. We have to do our part to discipline ourselves, realizing that God has the power to help us accomplish it. God- Yehovah never asks us to do anything that He will not provide the enabling power of His Spirit in our inner being to accomplish it!

In everything, there must be a program, a plan of action, to accomplish God’s will and gain the victory.

Do you know what one of the gifts of the Spirit is? The last element mentioned in the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Self-control sums up the whole fruit- the gifts of the Spirit. It’s the dynamic reality of a follower of the lord Messiah Jesus that implements the freedom that the lord Messiah Jesus has won for us, when he gave himself up to his God and his Father, Yehovah, as a sin-offering sacrifice on the cross, enabling God to reconcile [bring us back] to Himself!

We have the ability and power to change. In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Paul says: for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God- Yehovah and take every thought captive to obey the Messiah. We have God’s power to pull down everything that resists God in our lives when we imitate the lord Messiah Jesus.

Even though it is God who gives us the victory, we must learn to engage in combat, fighting, enabled by the Spirit of God to fight for liberation - freedom. Advance in this combat from day to day, and you will experience the reality of freedom within your inner being; and much more, you will experience the reality of God's powerful Spirit in your heart and mind.

THE LAWS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

First Law: Where there is holiness, there is peace and eternal life.

Peace can never be separated from righteousness or holiness; peace and righteousness go together. In other words, where there is no righteousness, there would be no peace. Only where there is righteousness or holiness will there be peace. God - Yehovah only takes pleasure in righteous people.

Note: God was pleased with the lord Messiah Jesus, His Son, because Jesus was the righteous one. 1 John 2:1: He is called “Jesus the Messiah, the righteous one”. God was pleased with the lord Messiah Jesus because Jesus said, “I always do those things which please Him” [John 8:29]. His whole life was to please his God and his Father, Yehovah. We need to follow the example that he has lived out before us!

The important thing to understand is that holiness is a life that is pleasing to God, a life lived in obedience to Him; a life lived in accordance with His will. If you live a life like this, you will become pleasing to God, become a man/woman of God’s good pleasure. Luke 2:14: “Peace on earth" to men/women in whom God- Yehovah is pleased.

A disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus enjoys deep peace if he/she is obedient to God- Yehovah.

You will not understand peace in its richness, its depth, and its fullness until you learn to live a life that is pleasing to God, until you commit your life totally to Him, living in his way, walking in His path.

Baptism is like walking through the door of the kingdom of God, but you still have a long way. You don’t just stand inside the door; you must live the life of a subject of the Kingdom of God, as a member of God’s household. If you make it your aim in life to say, “I will live a life that is always pleasing to Him; I have come to do your will, O God,” as the lord Jesus is quoted as saying in Hebrews 10:7, you are filled with deep inner peace. A very important spiritual law to understand is: Where there is holiness, there is peace.

If you are not enjoying peace in the depth of your being, you are hiding sin somewhere in your heart, and sin is a very disturbing element. The negative side of this spiritual law is: Wherever there is sin, there is turmoil. There is no way you can get peace so long as there is unholiness and unrighteousness in your heart.

Peace and holiness are inseparable

Peace and holiness always go together; you cannot hold them apart. If you want peace, you must have holiness. If you have holiness, you will have peace. They are intertwined.

Hebrews 12:14: “Strive for peace with all men/women, for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord- Yehovah.” Without holiness, you will not see God- Yehovah; without peace, you will not see God. Peace and holiness are inseparably tied. Philippians 4:7: “… the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in the Messiah Jesus.”

Notice: Righteousness is at the beginning of this list of four virtues, and peace is at the end. Righteousness and peace always come together, with faith and love in between. The righteousness that Paul is talking about is the righteousness of a pure heart. Only the person with a pure heart shall see God- Yehovah.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Without holiness, no man shall see God (Hebrews 12:14).

2 Peter 3:14 is another passage that speaks about peace: Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace.

While you are waiting for the new heaven and the new earth, strive to be blameless, pure in heart, loving righteousness; then you will find that peace.

The apostles Paul and Peter use expressions such as “pure heart,” “spotless,” and “blameless,” which are simply different terms for righteousness and holiness.

In Romans 14:17, we read: For the Kingdom [Kingship] of God- Yehovah is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Joy and peace are inseparable companions. Where you have peace, you will have a deep inner joy. The trio of righteousness, peace, and joy is inseparable.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 and 7 tell us that we are called to holiness. And Colossians 3:15 says that we are called to peace. So, we are called to peace because we are called to holiness.

You will always find righteousness and peace together; for example, Isaiah 32:17 or Isaiah 59:7-8:

V.17. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

V.7. Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. V.8. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.

We read in Isaiah 57:21 [NJB], “No peace,” says Yehovah, “for the wicked.”

The wicked cannot find peace anywhere in heaven or on earth, or under the earth. To those who do not love righteousness, there is no peace.

Notice those beautiful words in Psalm 85:10: Righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Let us look at this amazing conjunction of peace and holiness in 1 Thessalonians 5:23: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of the lord Messiah Jesus.

God- Yehovah is the God of peace because he is the God of holiness, of righteousness, and he sanctifies us [sets us apart]. He keeps our spirit, soul, and body holy by His indwelling presence.

Evil and peace cannot go together. Sin and peace do not go together. That is the fundamental spiritual law. Notice that the angels, in speaking to the shepherds, did not say, “Peace on earth.”, but “peace to men of good will” or “to men in whom God- Yehovah is well pleased,” or “to men in whom God takes pleasure.” Why? Because they love righteousness. There will never be peace on earth because mankind is in bondage to sin.

Notice the warning in Hebrews 10:38 [CJB]: … the righteous person will live his life by trusting [in God and the lord Messiah Jesus], but if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.

If the righteous man draws back from righteousness, from God, God will not be pleased with him. His end will be destruction in the Lake of Fire.

When you have peace, you have eternal life

In the Bible, peace is always associated with life. Life and peace go together. For example, Romans 8:6 says: “To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Or in Malachi 2:5, God establishes: “a covenant of life and peace.”

Second law: Peace is found only in the lord Messiah Jesus, who died on the cross.

The second spiritual law is: Peace is found only in the lord Messiah Jesus. The lord Messiah Jesus is our peace because he is our righteousness. Even in this second principle, the first principle is active – you cannot separate peace and righteousness. For example, Ephesians 2:14 says: The Messiah is our peace.

In 1 Corinthians 1:30, we read: The Messiah is our righteousness and our sanctification.

Note: Sanctification: This is the lifelong, ongoing process where the Spirit of God- Yehovah helps a believer grow to become more like the lord Messiah Jesus. It involves turning away from sin and practicing daily obedience and being totally committed to pleasing God!

He is our peace because he is our righteousness and sanctification.

How did he become our peace and our sanctification? What do those beautiful words in Isaiah 53:5: “the chastisement of our peace was upon him” mean? This means he became sin for us, who know no sin. He offered himself up as a sin-offering sacrifice so that God- Yehovah could reconcile [bring back] humanity to Himself.

Romans 5:1b says: We have peace with God- Yehovah- through our lord Messiah Jesus.

And Colossians 1:19-20: For in him [the lord Messiah jesus] the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, And through him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of the cross -through him - whether things on earth or things in the heavens.

The Messiah died to save us by transforming us to be new and holy.

The Bible tells us that to be saved is to be made into a new person, a member of the new humanity; it is a transformation. “If any man is in the Messiah, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is what born from above means: to become transformed - changed.

So not only are we acquitted, which is called “justification,” not only are we declared righteous, but God- Yehovah also enables us by His Spirit to become righteous. In Ezekiel 36:26, He [Yehovah] will plant into us a new heart. He will take a heart of stone out of me and put in a new heart of flesh. The heart of stone is taken out, and a living heart is put in. That is a genuine heart transplant!

We are totally transformed. We are made righteous. That is why the apostle John says in 1 John 3:9: No one who is born of God- Yehovah will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. You have been transformed. What amazing grace!

However, transformation is a process. We don’t become a totally new person in one day. As disciples of the lord Messiah Jesus, you know you have not finished with your struggle against sin. The writer of the book of Hebrews says in Hebrews 12:4: “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

We are fighting against sin day by day. We are not yet perfect, as Paul says in Philippians 3:12: “not as though I am already perfect, but I press towards the mark.” Sometimes in your struggle with sin, you will find that your peace is being disturbed. For example, if you allow sin to creep into your life and you don’t overcome it, you are going to lose your inner peace. Your reconciliation with God- Yehovah stands; that external peace is there, but the internal peace is lost if you don’t determine to be victorious, enabled by the Spirit of God in your struggle with sin.

We must ever depend upon God’s Holy Spirit to constantly bring back that holiness and that peace into our lives. God’s Holy Spirit is the Spirit of peace. For example, in Galatians 5:22 we read: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.”

Psalm 119:165: Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. As followers of the lord Messiah Jesus, we are living out the New Covenant laws in our lives.

Be determined to love righteousness by the grace of God, and you will find God’s peace flooding into your heart.

Notice: Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God- Yehovah is eternal life in the lord Messiah Jesus.

On one hand you have sin and death, and on the other hand, you have God’s gift, eternal life in the Messiah Jesus.

Romans 6:22: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Note: We are slaves of God because we are bought and paid for by the blood of the lord Messiah Jesus, when he offered himself up as a sin-offering sacrifice, acting as the agent of his God and Father, Yehovah, which means we are also slaves of the lord Messiah Jesus.

You don’t have eternal life without sanctification or holiness. You don’t have peace without holiness. It is absolutely essential for us to understand this first spiritual law.

Notice Romans 6:22: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God- Yehovah, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Paul is speaking to the disciples of the lord Messiah Jesus in Rome, to the slaves of God, not to non-Christians. The result of being a slave of God is holiness, and what is the end of sanctification or holiness? It is eternal life. Understand clearly that this gift of eternal life is given to the people who are the slaves of God, who have been set free from sin by the grace of God.

When I have died with the lord Messiah Jesus and also live within him as a new creation, for God has set me free from the bondage of sin. He transforms my life internally, so as His slave and delight to do His will. Then, God’s gift of eternal life is at the end of this process of sanctification. That is what Romans 6:22-23 is saying: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in the lord Messiah Jesus.

Third law: Good and evil can never co-exist

The third and final spiritual law is this: Righteousness is bound to be opposed by wickedness. Or good and evil are irreconcilable opposites. That is the reason why you can never have peace if you allow wickedness to exist in your life.

If the only true God is your God, then be totally committed to serving Him, with all your heart, mind, and inner being.

There will be no peace on this earth from evil until God’s kingdom reigns. There will be evil on earth until God’s kingdom reigns on earth and eradicates it. Mankind simply doesn’t have the weapons to deal with evil. There is no way that there will ever be peace in this world so long as mankind is in bondage to sin. Therefore, whether it is in your own life or in the world as a whole, this fundamental law will always be the truth: good and evil cannot co-exist.

When Jesus came into the world, the conflict between good and evil became even more fierce because a greater powerful good had come into the world. And the reason why the conflict becomes fiercer is that “men love darkness rather than light,” as the lord Messiah Jesus says in John 3:19: This is the verdict: "Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." Why? Because they are in bondage to sin.

People in the world today tend to prefer darkness. It’s no use trying to change a country without changing its people. You can change economics, military balance, educational positions, but as long as the man himself is basically evil, in bondage to sin, he is still a sinner even though he is educated; so there will never be peace on the earth until the Kingdom of God is established at the return of the lord Messiah Jesus. That is why we pray for “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

Righteous Christians will disturb evil and suffer, but will have inner peace. The more righteous you are, the more you become like the lord Messiah Jesus; the more you will face opposition, bitterness, and persecution. If you disturb evil, evil will rise up and attack you. Every person who has made a stand for God and for the lord Messiah Jesus can expect trouble, because there is this law that good and evil cannot co-exist. Satan, the god of this world, will influence people to resist and try to destroy all the righteous people who are living out their lives according to God's Yehovah's will. All those who are preaching and teaching the good news of the soon-coming Kingdom of God.

Satan hates that good news message. He knows he has a short time before the return of the lord Messiah Jesus coming at the end of this age, when he will be removed and caste into a pit, unale to influence mankind, until he is released for a short time at the end of the 1,000 year rule of the lord Messiah Jesus, and will again influence people to rebel against God and His Son and they will all be destroyed.

The more righteous you become, the more you are filled with God’s holiness, the greater the opposition and hatred against you. As the lord Messiah Jesus says to his disciples, “Because the world has hated me, it will hate you. So be prepared. Don’t be surprised when these things come” (cf. John 15:18-19: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”).

The apostle Peter also said to the Christians: Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. [1 Peter 4:12].

Understand this spiritual law: good and evil stand irreconcilable.

The lord Messiah Jesus said to his disciples, “In the world, you will have tribulation (suffering, persecution), but in me, you will have peace” (John 16:33)

The keyword of Philippians is “joy.” In Colossians it is “thanksgiving.” Why can you give thanks when you are sitting in prison? Because of this wonderful inner peace. Outside, the world is falling apart, but inside, your heart is defended by the peace of God like a fortress. Paul says in Philippians 4:7: And the peace of God,  which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in the Messiah Jesus.

Apply these 3 spiritual laws and enjoy peace

First, understand that you do not have peace without holiness. You do not have eternal life without holiness. So, get right with God. Confess every sin and say, “God, change my attitude. Enable me by your Spirit to love what is good and righteous.”

Secondly, understand that peace is found only in the lord Messiah Jesus through his death on the cross. Therefore, repent of your sins and ask God to forgive you through the cleansing that comes from the lord Messiah Jesus’ shed blood, when he offered himself up to his God and Father Yehovah as a sin-offering sacrifice. The Messiah has reconciled us to God by his sin-offering sacrifice; so draw very near to God and take hold of him, for without him you will never have peace.

Thirdly, understand that peace comes to this world only in your heart because there is evil in the world. Good and evil will always be in conflict. Be prepared for the conflict, and rejoice in it, because you know that you are standing on the side of what is good and righteous. Your firm stance as a slave of righteousness will make a significant impact, which is why evil forces will oppose.

Meditate on these three spiritual laws. They can transform your life, so you will not go wrong spiritually. Then, the message of the angels will become a reality to you: “Peace on earth to the men of righteousness - who imitate the lord Messiah Jesus the righteous - in whom God has pleasure!” In this way, God will be glorified!

WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE?

Eternal life should be translated as age-upon-age-lasting life or new-age life.

We have an earnest of that life now as disciples of the lord Messiah Jesus, as in him we participate in this world with a resurrection-life attitude and power we receive from his Spirit in us!

2 Corinthians 1:21- 22: set his seal of ownership on us and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

We should realize that in us, through the lord Messiah Jesus, resides the power that upholds the Universe. If we really realized this completely, then we would accomplish so much more by utilizing the power we have within because of him residing in us by his Spirit. Indeed, we can do all things by and through the lord Messiah Jesus working in us by the powerful Spirit that his God and his Father - Yehovah gave to him to give unto us.

Everywhere the Spirit is mentioned in the N.T., it is the Spirit of our life-giving Spirit, the lord Messiah Jesus, accomplishing all that his God and his Father - Yehovah has commissioned him to do for us and through us!

John 3:14-16: And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so it was necessary that the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him will have life in the age to come. For God - Yehovah so loved the world that He gave His uniquely begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have life in the age to come. 

John 14:23: Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father - Yehovah will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

2 Corinthians 3:17: Now the lord [Jesus] is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the lord is, there is liberty.

1 Corinthians 15:45: …so it is written that the first man Adam was made a living soul - being; the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit.

John 3:35: The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

Mark 9:23: Jesus said unto him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.

So, the life-giving spirit in us is of the lord Messiah Jesus, who is now an immortal glorified man seated at the right hand of his God and his Father, our God and our Father Yehovah. So, we have eternal life - new age life now residing in us.

What are we doing with what God - Yehovah has given us to do? Do we realize the power God - Yehovah has placed at our disposal through His beloved Son, the lord Messiah Jesus? We should be going forth now with increased faith and power to deliver to the world the life-giving message that the lord Messiah Jesus preached about the kingdom of God, of which he will be the vice-regent ruling on this earth, seated on the throne of King David at Zion.

Let us rejoice that we have this resurrection life - new age life - age upon age lasting life - eternal life - through our being ‘new creations’ in the body of the lord Jesus, God's anointed one; we in him and he in us! What amazing grace God – Yehovah has bestowed on us!

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

The noted church historian Will Durant observed that Jesus’ “starting point was the Gospel of John the Baptist, which itself went back to Daniel and Enoch.”

Durant’s observation is important because the Gospel Jesus preached did not suddenly appear in a vacuum. The Kingdom message itself goes back to the Hebrew prophets. For example, Daniel uses the word “Kingdom” nearly 20 times, and his visions repeatedly concern the coming Kingdom-Nation of God which will finally replace the Kingdoms- nations of this present evil age (Daniel 2:37-45; 7:9-14; Revelation 11:15).

The same is true of the apocalyptic message known simply as the coming Day of YEHOVAH (Zephaniah 2:1-4; cp. Isaiah 13:9; Malachi 4:1). This Day is repeatedly described as “at hand” or drawing “near,” but not already here. The prophetic vision is primarily presented as a literal, future event that will be worldwide when his God and Father Yehovah sends His Son, the lord Messiah, down to earth to establish God’s Kingdom during his 1,000-year rule. This remains the great hope of all the disciples of the lord Messiah Jesus!.

The ministry of John the Baptist follows directly in the footsteps of those prophets. His appearance and lifestyle stood in stark contrast to many of the religious leaders centered in Jerusalem at the time. His clothing and manner of life not only identified him as a wilderness prophet but were a throwback to the prophets of old (Zechariah 13:4), especially Elijah (2 Kings 1:8), in whose “spirit and power” the angel said John would come (Luke 1:17). As Jesus later told the crowd: “If you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who was to come” (Matthew 11:14).

John’s mission, however, was to prepare the way for the Lord Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. For the New Testament writers, Jesus is the Son of Man [a human being], a figure seen in Daniel’s visions as the supreme, unique human agent of the one God, Yehovah, the “Ancient of Days.” The lord Messiah Jesus is also identified as the prophet Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy 18, as well as the “messenger of the covenant” of Malachi 3:1. This makes the lord Messiah Jesus greater than all the prophets and kings who came before him, including King David and Moses. The same applies to his cousin John, whom the lord Messiah Jesus “outranks” because he is the one “more powerful.” In Matthew 3:10 John proclaims that “the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” In verse 12, he adds:

“His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor; and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

This coming judgment belongs ultimately to that future Day, the Day of the LORD - YEHOVAH (Isaiah 13:9; Zephaniah 1:15; 2:1-3; Malachi 4:1). John draws upon familiar Old Testament prophetic imagery of the wicked being consumed like wood, chaff, or refuse thrown into a fiery furnace. Compare Psalm 21:9, where the enemies of God are made “as a fiery furnace” in the time of His anger. It’s no wonder that this verse is one of the most used by the New Testament writers.

But the bad news of judgment gives way to the wonderful Good News, the Gospel of God - Yehovah, the good news about the soon-coming Kingdom of God, drawing heavily on the great prophetic announcement of Isaiah 40:1-11.

Although Paul says in Galatians 3:23-29 that there was a time “before the faith came,” meaning before the lord Messiah Jesus and his New Covenant message about the Kingdom of God. The transition had already begun with John the Baptist. John’s mission was to prepare the people for the coming of the lord Messiah Jesus by announcing the approaching Kingdom of God. John therefore marks the paradigm shift between the Old Covenant Law and Prophets and the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the message of salvation, under the New Covenant, which disciples of the lord Messiah Jesus are now called upon to live.

Jesus himself bears witness to this in Luke 16:16 when he says that “the Law and the Prophets were until John; since that time the Gospel about the Kingdom of God [the message of salvation]; is being preached.” Some translations render this as the Law and Prophets being “in force until John.” The same transition appears in Matthew 11:7-15, where the lord Messiah Jesus places John at the crossroads between the Old Covenant era and the Kingdom of God proclamation era.

John’s baptism ministry therefore marked the decisive beginning of the transition away from the Law of Moses toward the New Covenant Law of the lord Messiah Jesus (Galatians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 9:21). John the Baptist “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” strikingly announced divine forgiveness outside the normal sacrificial activity of the Jerusalem Temple. Although John’s appearance did not formally abolish the Law, the Prophets, or the Temple system, his ministry unmistakably pointed toward the New Covenant order in which those Old Covenant institutions would no longer stand at the center of God’s ultimate Kingdom plan.

The lord Messiah Jesus then brings the promised power of the Holy Spirit and commissions his followers to continue making disciples and baptizing them in his name. Thus, the movement from the prophets, to John, to the lord Messiah Jesus, and finally to the members of the called-out Assembly forms one continuous Kingdom-Gospel story, culminating in the commission he gave the disciples in Luke 24:44-49.

The Gospel of John the Baptist was never a message about “going to heaven when you die.” A teaching that cannot be found in the scriptures. Rather, just as the prophets had announced before him and the lord Messiah Jesus proclaimed after him, John’s Gospel concerned the coming Kingdom of God on a restored earth. Jesus later commissions the members of his called-out Assembly to continue preaching about the soon-coming Kingdom of God, “to the end of the age,” that is, until his Parousia.

Note: “to the end of the age” - That is, until the return of the lord Messiah Jesus at his future Second Coming, the Parousia, which will follow the cosmic signs which immediately follow (Matthew 24:29) the future Great Tribulation (Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21). The commission, the essence of the disciples of the lord Messiah Jesus, involves “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26; Hebrews 5:9), that is, obedience to all the words God gave Jesus, to proclaim to the world (John 12:44-50; and the subsequent words were revealed to Paul and the other Apostles). Included in obedience to the lord Messiah Jesus is, of course, his command that we “Listen…the Lord [Yehovah] our God is one Lord [Yehovah]” (Mark 12:29), and that we respond intelligently and with repentance to his opening command that we “believe the Gospel – “good news” of the Kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14-15). When the lord Messiah Jesus comes, the saints of all the ages will be resurrected to meet the lord Messiah Jesus in the clouds and from there escort him to the earth, where he will take his place on the throne of David at Zion [Jerusalem]. There is only one Second Coming of the Messiah, which will occur at the “end of this age”. By one single process, all true believers will be enabled to be “with the lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17.

Until the Second Coming of the lord Messiah Jesus at the end of this age, the called-out Assembly is to be urgently occupied with the commission that the lord Messiah Jesus gave them to do: preach the message of salvation, the message about the soon-coming Kingdom of God. The “end of the age” in Matthew occurs five times (13:39, 40, 49; 24:3 and here). It marks the return of the lord Messiah Jesus to rule on earth for 1,000 years over the Kingdom of God, acting as the agent of his God and Father, Yehovah.

OUR DIRECTION

The essence of being a disciple of the Lord Messiah, John tells us in John 3:5, is to be born from above by God’s–Yehovah’s– Spirit that comes into your life and transforms you fundamentally. That is to become a disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus. God changes you from being carnal to becoming spiritual. How does one become spiritually minded? Paul says in Romans 8:9 that if the Spirit of God- Yehovah dwells in you, you can become spiritually minded, because your thinking has been changed.

The lord Messiah Jesus is saying, “My direction is your direction. Follow me.”

The lord Messiah Jesus’ direction in life, from the beginning to the end, was to lay down his life for the redemption, the salvation of mankind!

My goal in life is to do as the lord Messiah Jesus did: live and be willing to die for the redemption of mankind. 

The lord Messiah Jesus says: “If you don’t have that goal in your life, you cannot be my disciple.”

The lord Messiah Jesus says: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple.”

The lord Messiah Jesus says: “Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” You do this when you submit to the lordship of the lord Messiah Jesus and the Kingship of his God and Father Yehovah. Totally committed to both!

Since we are bought and paid for by the blood of the lord Messiah Jesus, when he gave himself up to his God and Father Yehovah as a sin-offering sacrifice, we are his slaves. Slaves own nothing. Their duty is to exercise stewardship over all their Master gives them, both physically and spiritually.

A disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus is a person transformed by the Spirit of the only true God – Yehovah.

You and I are called not only to be saved for ourselves, but to this task: that we henceforth live for the salvation of others. That has to be our goal. That is not optional.

You are not a Christian in the lord Messiah Jesus’ definition until the direction of your life is that you live for the salvation of mankind.

From now on, you don’t live for yourself anymore. You live for the salvation of your brother or your sister, or this or that person. Your whole life is living for others, in a foot-washing attitude of mind.

The lord Messiah Jesus says: “Unless you take up your cross and renounce all that you have for the sake of others, you cannot be my disciple.”

“Christian” is just another name for a disciple. We are the disciples of the lord Messiah Jesus.

The confidence I have as a disciple is not in myself; it is in God- Yehovah because, by His grace, I share the same direction as the lord Messiah Jesus.

The apostle Paul said, “It’s not that I am already perfect, but I press towards the mark,” and that mark is to lay down one’s life for the others.

Note: The Christian life begins with the laying down of your life. The old “you” died at baptism. At your baptism, you died because you renounced your old way of life. You renounced your sins, your selfish ambitions, your love for materialism, and the world.

You become a Christian only when your life is changed from being carnal-minded to becoming spiritually minded. Paul emphasizes this in Romans 12:2, where he says we must keep on being transformed in our minds, because only by being spiritually minded do we know the fullness of spiritual life, eternal life, and peace.

The Lord God Yehovah says to every disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus: “Do you see people perishing out there? Do you see the condition of the called-out Assembly? Get out there and do something! Preach the salvation message that God- Yehovah gave to His Son Jesus to give to the world. The message of salvation contained in the gospel - good news about the coming Kingdom of God!