"THE FURTHER REVELATION:
ONE WITH THE SON"
MF Blume
February 26, 2000
am
Matthew
16:13-25 When Jesus came into the coasts
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that
I the Son of man am? And they said, Some [say that thou art] John the Baptist:
some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto
them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said
unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also
unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they
should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began
Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto
thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou
art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man]
will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Let's continue
feasting on the bread and wine this morning!
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Feasting on bread
and wine means we are LEARNING MORE about what spiritually occured when
His BODY WAS BROKEN (BREAD) in death and HIS BLOOD WAS SHED (WINE) in death
on the cross.
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I want every message
that I preach to be filled with bread and wine! -- with Teaching and preaching
to you more about what God did for YOU on the cross.
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We need to TEACH
all nations about the PURPOSE of the cross so they can be saved.
The revelation of
Jesus being the Son of the Living God is a very important revelation.
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Its so important, that
when one really receives it, then the gates of hell will not prevail against
that one.
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We know this because
after Jesus saw that Peter had that revelation of Him, that He was the
Son of the Living God, that Jesus proceeded to inform Peter of a further
revelation.
Before we proceed, let
us make sure we understand the revelation Peter received.
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Jesus was not just a
prophet, but was the Son of the Living God.
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No other religious prophets
were literally God's Son.
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Neither were they God.
We preached a bit about
this before and called the sermon "The Confession of the Rock."
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Peter's confession was
what the Church would be built upon.
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We must believe and
confess the same thing.
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Peter is not that Rock,
but it is the revelation that Peter received that comes from the mouth
and heart of anybody that makes them a part of what God is doing in building
His Church.
Being the Christ, the
Son of the Living God, means that Jesus is the Long-awaited Messiah.
-
He is the Christ.
-
Not "a" Christ, but
the ONLY ONE.
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But it also means something
else.
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We also read that He
is Son of the Living God.
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Son of the "LIVING"
God.
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The "eternal" God.
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This means that DEATH
CANNOT HURT JESUS CHRIST.
-
If death should try
to harm Him, then He is simply going to have to rise from the dead.
Peter received revelation
about the identity of Jesus, but did not get that next part.
Notice that Jesus
said, "And I say also unto thee, Peter."
-
ALSO.
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In other words, "There
is more I want you to understand. That is not all that I want you
to know. This revelation has further implications."
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It is not a revelation
totally alien from the first and totally apart from anything to do with
the first.
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It is a revelation that
stems from the revelation of Jesus being the Son of the Living God.
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Yes, He is the Christ,
and Son of the living God, but that IMPLIES SOMETHING MORE.
I believe that many
people here today have received the revelation of Jesus' identity.
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But God is talking to
us about a further revelation.
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Do you see beyond what
Peter saw?
Notice that Peter was
told Jesus would build His church upon this Rock of confessing that Jesus
was the Son of the Living God, and then Jesus said something important
that leads to this further revelation.
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He said the gates of
hell would not prevail against the Church.
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The Greek reads that
the gates of "death" or the "grave" would not prevail against the church.
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Think about that for
a minute.
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Why would the Church's
construction on the Rock of faith in who Christ is cause the gates of hell
to not prevail against the Church?
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Some would say that
God would protect those who believe in Him.
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But it is NOT THAT SIMPLE.
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There is more to it
than just that.
Since Jesus is the Son
of the Living God, and Peter had faith in that, then Peter would be part
of the church, and the gates of hell would not prevail against Peter.
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A grave could not hold
Peter down.
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Its gates close around
those who die.
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This is speaking about
dying and being barred in the grave.
Recall what Jesus called
Peter:
Matthew
16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona:
Peter was called SIMON
BARJONA.
Why "son of Jonah"?
Jona 2:6
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars
[was] about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from
corruption, O LORD my God.
Jonah was caught behind
the BARS OF DEATH.
-
But he came back out
from behind them.
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Jesus connected Peter
with Jonah because he then told Peter...
Matthew 16:18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
THE GATES OF HELL would
no more keep Peter in the grave than the bars of death held Jonah down.
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Jonah's experience foreshadowed
Jesus' resurrection.
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He came out of the whale
like Jesus came out of the earth in resurrection.
Matthew 12:40
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall
the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So Peter was like a
SON OF JONAH, so to speak.
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And the wonderful thing
about Jesus' death and resurrection is that we can identify with it and
be crucified and risen with Him.
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Jesus' death was the
kind of death that God JOINS US INTO.
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Nobody else's death
was like that.
King Hezekiah spoke
about these gates, also .
Isaiah 38:10-11
I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of
the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I
shall not see the LORD, [even] the LORD, in the land of the living: I
shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine
age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut
off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from
day [even] to night wilt thou make an end of me.
Hezekiah said that once
behind the gates of the grave (Hades=Hell), that he would be cut off from
the inhabitants of the world.
But Jesus said the
gates of the grave would not hold out against the Church.
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Why?
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Not just because God
protects us, but BECAUSE JESUS IS SON OF THE LIVING GOD, AND WILL ONLY
RESURRECT IF HE DIES.
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AND THE ONLY ANSWER
TO THE FACT THAT THE GRAVE WILL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST THE CHURCH IS THAT
THE CHURCH IS CONNECTED TO JESUS, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.
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Death cannot hold the
Church, because the Church is UNITED to Jesus Christ, like a body is united
to a head.
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If Jesus resurrects
from death, then the union of the Church to Jesus causes the grave to lose
out and not hold down a true Christian!
BUT PETER MISSED THAT
FURTHER THOUGHT.
-
He missed that part
Jesus referred to when He said, "I say ALSO unto thee, Peter."
We know that Peter missed
that because we read of Jesus speaking about His death.
Matthew
16:21-22 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples,
how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders
and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third
day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from
thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Peter told Jesus to
never think of doing such a thing.
-
He should have understood
that if the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church, then Jesus'
death at the hands of the chief priests and scribes would be no deterrent
to Him!
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If they killed Him He
would only resurrect.
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He was Son of the LIVING
God, and what could DEATH do against the Son of the LIVING God?
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Much more, if the
gates of hell could not prevail against the church, then surely they could
not prevail against Jesus!
Now, if Peter did not
understand that, and we know he did not understand it, then he certainly
had no faith nor understanding in the fact that the Church is united to
Jesus, either.
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People, we need to understand
these things.
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We need to know Christ's
identity, and also go further than that revelation.
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We need to know that
DEATH WAS NOT GOING TO HOLD JESUS DOWN.
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AND ALSO THAT THE
CHURCH IS CONNECTED TO HIM, SO THAT DEATH'S GATES CANNOT HOLD US IN THE
GRAVE, EITHER.
Matthew 16:23-25
But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art
an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but
those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man]
will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Notice that Jesus rebuked
Peter and then encouraged him at the same time.
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He rebuked him by calling
him an OFFENCE.
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A HINDRANCE to God's
will.
Did you know that lack
of understanding could cause you to hinder God's will in your own life
and even the life of others?
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We know the vital importance
that Jesus' death means to our salvation.
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Yet Peter was speaking
against the very thought of that death.
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Jesus even called him
SATAN!
God wanted Israel to
enter Canaan, and the people doubted God.
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They did not understand
that God would be with them and lead them into victory despite the giants
and obstacles.
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This made God angry!
Hebrews 3:8-11
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,
in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted
me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I
was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in
[their] heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my
wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
God wants to move so
much, AND WE CAN HINDER HIM.
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We can be like an OFFENCE
TO HIM.
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AN OBSTACLE.
God wants us to build
our new church building.
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We are packed out in
this present building.
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And we can SIN by doubting
God and not stepping out.
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And we hinder God from
reaching other people because we continue in this small building and can
only hold so many people.
So God rebukes such
thinking.
But Jesus also ENCOURAGED
PETER.
He said...
Matthew
16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
He said that if Peter
could only see that faith in Christ's death would cause Peter to be considered
DEAD, also, to his old life, then Peter would FIND HIS LIFE AGAIN.
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Finding his life again
after having DIED WITH CHRIST, means RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.
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If you lose your life
(die by faith with Christ) then you will find it again (you will resurrect
from the dead with Christ).
I already lost my life
and found it again!
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I lost it when I first
was saved and believed that I died with Jesus.
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Unless you believe that
you died with Jesus, you cannot be saved.
I found my life again
when I resurrected with Jesus, after dying with Him.
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You see, if you die
with Him, you will resurrect with Him automatically.
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That is the reason Jesus
worded is this way: "Whosoever will lose his life for my sake SHALL
FIND IT."
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You will resurrect.
Gala 2:20 I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me.
But, like Peter, many
of us do not have that revelation.
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We have faith in who
Jesus is, and we even have gone somewhat beyond Peter.
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We know that Jesus had
to die and that it was for the good.
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So we are beyond Peter
in that respect, because Peter could not see the point of Jesus' death.
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But we may STILL NOT
SEE THAT OUR UNION TO JESUS IS REAL, AND THAT IF DEATH FACES US, DEATH
CANNOT HOLD US DOWN!
Let me talk about some
examples that will help us understand if we truly have this further revelation
or not.
Trouble is coming.
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We know that a financial
crisis is before us.
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Do we become afraid
and think like Peter, "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto
thee. "
The margin reference
to that statement tells us that the greek also implies, "Pity thyself,
Lord."
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Do we become fearful
and pity ourselves and run away from the crisis?
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OR DO WE KNOW THAT WE
ARE ON THE ROCK, AND THE GATES OF HELL CANNOT PREVAIL AGAINST US?
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Do we know that our
union to Christ gives us 100% victory!
Jim and I were talking,
and God helped me to say that VICTORY is not something a Christian can
GET, and then LOSE.
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Victory is something
that a real Christian has always had since first saved.
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JESUS IS VICTORY.
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And if we are united
to HIm, we HAVE victory.
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We will not GET it.
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Nor can we LOSE it.
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WE ALWAYS HAD IT.
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But without a revelation
of that, we think in terms of GETTING IT.
We need to see our union
to Him.
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We need to get the revelation
that Jesus would ALSO, ALONG WITH HIS IDENTITY REVELATION, give to us.
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YOU ARE THE CHURCH,
AND THE CHURCH IS ON THE SOLID AND SAFE ROCK FOUNDATION OF UNION TO JESUS
CHRIST.
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AND IF DEATH CLOSES
ITS GATES BEFORE YOU, THEY CANNOT HOLD YOU THERE, LET ALONE, FINANCIAL
CRISIS, ETC.
Matthew 16:19
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The reason we can loose
things in earth and have them loosed in heaven, is due to the fact that
we are in UNION WITH JESUS CHRIST.
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He has so united us
to Him, that we have the authority of Heaven backing us up if we loose
something in His name.
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Loose it on earth, and
Jesus said we should consider it loosed in Heaven by God.
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That is quite a bit
of authority we have been given!
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But it is due to our
unions to Him.
Some think only Peter
had the keys, and they make all kinds of jokes of going to Heaven and seeing
Peter at the gate.
Matthew
18:18-20 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree
on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for
them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
The above verses applied
to ALL of the disciples.
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All of us who are saved
have the keys of the kingdom.
Isaiah 22:22
And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall
open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
The reason Eliakim would
close a door that no man could open, was because he had the key of David.
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This is the same thing
as saying if we loose something on earth it will be loosed in heaven, too.
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In other words, we can
close a door that no man can open because God will close it with us.
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And if God wants something
closed, and closes it, then nobody can open it.
Some might ask if I
think I am God, being able to close a door that no man can open.
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No, I am not God.
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But I am UNITED TO GOD.
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I AM ONE WITH JESUS
CHRIST.
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I AM PART OF THE BODY
AND HE IS THE HEAD.
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Jesus has the keys and
I am united to Him.
Isaiah 22:22 says Eliakim
would close and no man open.
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Eliakim's name means
"God raises" or "God sets up".
Didn't God raise Christ
from the dead?
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Didn't God raise us
up with Christ?
Colossians 2:12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Romans 6:4-5
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in
the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection:
Eliakim was the son
of Hilkiah.
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Hilkiah = "my portion
is Jehovah"
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Eliakim is Hilkiah's
son.
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Eliakim represents Christ
and the Church, raised up together.
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WE ARE ONE (united)
WITH THE SON.
Ephesians 2:5-6
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
That is certainly being
raised by God and set up, as Eliakim's name means!!!
We need a revelation
beyond His identity.
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We need a revelation
of our UNION TO HIM.
Did you know that lack
of revelation of union to Him leaves you unsaved.
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Being a good person
in this world is not going to save you.
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Being the best person
you could be cannot save you.
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Only your IDENTIFICATION
WITH JESUS' DEATH WILL SAVE YOU.
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You have to believe
that you were born in sin, which negates any chance of your good efforts
saving you.
-
And you need to then
believe that His death is offered to you as YOUR DEATH, so you can say
that you paid the penalty you owed to God.
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HE DIED AS YOU.
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That is your ONLY TICKET
TO HEAVEN.
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If you don't hook yourself
up to His death on the cross, and accept the fact that He died AS YOU,
so you could be free of your sins, then you will never go to heaven any
other way.
And those of us who
are saved are saved because of that faith and that alone.
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That is what urged us
to get baptized into His death as an act of FAITH.
But some of us need
this further revelation.
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Your unions to Him means
that ANYTHING that comes against you is as good as already defeated.
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IF YOU LOSE YOUR LIFE
YOU WILL FIND IT AGAIN, because death's gates cannot prevail against you.
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You are united to the
SON OF THE LIVING GOD.
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Death cannot stop the
Son of the LIVING GOD.
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And that goes for anything
else.
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If stress comes against
you, you need to understand that you do not need to learn to live with
it.
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YOU'RE IN UNION WITH
JESUS.
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Does Jesus have trouble
with stress?
-
(You think He might,
with the some of us being so doubtful! ;-) )
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Jesus has total victory.
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And that means we have
it because we are ONE WITH THE SON.
We need the faith in
the BLOOD so we can be saved.
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Shed blood is for the
remission of our sins.
BUT WE NEED THE FAITH
IN THE BODY FOR OUR POWER AFTER WE ARE SAVED.
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Too many lack faith
in the BODY.
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We are ONE BODY with
Jesus Christ.
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That means His victory
is our's.
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His righteousness is
ours.
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His holiness is ours.
If you react to problems
the same old way, that means that you did not receive this further revelation
yet.
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You only see yourself
freed from sin and not also united to the Lord yet.
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And there is so much
victory that has been paid for by the cross that you are never going to
enjoy because you cannot see this yet.
How God must grieve
over His people suffering when there is no need of suffering.
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Why don't you get stirred
and get bold and claim your inheritance?
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Why don't you take His
Word seriously and enjoy what others have discovered was always there for
the true christian?
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Why suffer with things
you do not have to suffer with?
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Why learn to live with
things you do not have to learn to live with?
Don't walk away and
say that you do not care to put forth the effort to understand what God
is trying to say about this.
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These notes of truth
are in His Word and our attitude should be, "The Book. The Whole Book.
And nothing but the Book."
If we plant our roots
only so far along in this Bible, and not even try to understand the rest
of the it, then we might as well cut out the few verses we understand and
throw the rest away.
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And God is not pleased
at all with people who wish to believe no more than what they already know,
because He gave us the Spirit to GUIDE US INTO ALL TRUTH, not just PART
OF IT.
John 16:13
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you
into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever
he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Peter never saw beyond
the identity of Jesus.
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He did not see that
the trouble Jesus faced, would be overcome by resurrection.
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He did not understand
the further revelation.
We might not understand
that we are ONE WITH THE SON.
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That means we have everything
we will ever need for victory.
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WE JUST DON'T SEE IT.
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But just because we
do not know it, does that mean it is not there?
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I am informing you that
the Bible says it is already there.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue [that]
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This [is] the heritage
of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness [is] of me, saith
the LORD.
Notice the above verse
said, "Their righteousness is of GOD."
1Corinthians
1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Hebrews
13:5-6 [Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be]
content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord [is] my helper,
and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Psalm 37:25
I have been young, and [now] am old; yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Psalm 56:4
In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear
what flesh can do unto me. (DO YOU BELIEVE
HIS WORD?)
Psalm 118:6
The LORD [is] on my side; I will not fear:
what can man do unto me?
DO WE BELIEVE THIS OR
NOT?
Lets get stirred
and come to the altar this morning and CLAIM WHAT HAS BEEN PAID FOR US
ON THE CROSS.
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Lets talk to the Lord
about these things.
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Ask Him to open your
eyes.