When you receive Jesus as your Savior, He gives you the Gift of Salvation.
Eph 2:8 For by grace you are saved (Original Greek: sozo) through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the Gift of God,
Eph 2:9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
The Definition from Strong’s Dictionary for “save” is:
Greek:sozo: to save, that is, deliver or protect: - heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.
That means when you receive Jesus, He brings a full package of Salvation to you:
Your Salvation is a Free Gift.
Your Healing is a Free Gift.
And so is your Preservation, your Wellness, and your Wholeness.
This is consistent, and constantly, repeatedly and written again and again in the New Testament that Jesus has given us = abundant life, eternal life, healing, deliverance, wholeness.
There are tons of scriptures from the New Testament on these.
These are Free!
Only Believe and Receive.
Freely you have received, Freely Give.
The problem with Christians who find it difficult to accept these as Free Gifts, is because they take an Old Testament Scripture (that says you need to please God then only He will give you abundant life, healing and good health), and try to live their lives like the people before the Sacrificial Work of Jesus at the Cross.
The people of Pre-Christ couldn’t earn their Salvation, what makes you think that you can.
In the OT, the people are blessed only when they obey ALL the commandments (and there are more than 600 of them!).
Even if they fail in one minute part of them, they are guilty of them all and subjected to God’s judgment.
In the NT, you are already blessed and saved, because Jesus took the punishment and the judgment for your sin. (Note: this does not mean that we can live in sin).
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Jesus came and made all the difference.
Jesus obeyed God.
Jesus became our Sin so we became Righteous.
Jesus satisfied all of God’s Justice.
Jesus fulfilled and complied with all of God’s laws and requirements.
In fact, Jesus lived a sinless life.
Jesus pleased God (Matthew 3:17).
Another reason who Christians are bound by an Old Testament mentality is in their interpretation of the Old Testament.
They fail to understand these two main points:
1. The Old Testament points to Jesus and everything concerning Jesus. Jesus is our best expounder of the Old Testament, and He showed His disciples that the OT must be interpreted only Concerning Jesus.
Luk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he (Jesus) expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
2. The Old Testament (Old Covenant) is only a shadow of the New Covenant. Many Old Testament truths are very good, and we can see the reality of God there – yet they are only a shadow, a symbol, a type, a sketch of the New Covenant that Jesus brought. (Heb 8:5; 10:1)
When we preach Jesus, we are never wrong.
When we preach on types and shadows without referring and interpreting it towards Jesus, we will go off tangent.
That’s why in some churches in Kuala Lumpur that I visited, the people are emphasizing keeping the Feasts, Hebrew roots and Levitical Laws. Off tangent!
Jesus came and brought in a New Covenant with God, and we are the recipient and beneficiary of this New Covenant.
------------------------------------------------------------------
(part of Sunday message)
Steven Wong
No comments:
Post a Comment