Grace, Christ, & Us: Part 1. Heart Believing
This is a five-part piece that covers a number of topics.:
1.
(Heart) Believing
The heart,
not the mind, is the vessel we either accept or reject Jesus Christ & His
Finished Work through the Cross (all He accomplished for us—including His Righteousness
unto every person). For it is with the heart that we believe.
Acts 8:35-37
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture,
preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water.
And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he
answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Acts 16:28-32
Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for
we are all here.” Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling
before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be
saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and
to all who were in his house.
Romans 10:9-13
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in
your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with
the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not
be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the
same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the
name of the Lord shall be saved.”
The mind
can’t accept the “logic” of what it means to accept what Christ Jesus
accomplished for us: God in the Spirit becoming man; Him sacrificing His own
Son because He Loved, valued, & cherished us humans so much (despite our faults
& sins); Jesus willfully dying (accepting the sacrifice for us) on a Cross;
Him bearing all our fleshly sins, our infirmities, our sicknesses &
diseases, and every curse that sin had placed us in; then Him rising from the
dead (a no-question death too—after being beaten more than any human, taking
all sickness & disease upon Himself with every sin we have ever done, being
crucified, stabbed in the side, and placed in a tomb—not life support—for three
days), then Him ascending into Heaven, reconciling
all people (the world) with Himself, Gifting out His Righteousness, and sending the Holy Spirit upon
everyone.
This is what
Jesus Christ accomplished for us!
But this is
just ridiculous to our minds! Not only the question: why would anyone do that
for anyone else (let alone me), but also raised from the dead…what kind of
non-sense is that? Exactly! Non-sense to the mind. But this is how God
amazingly works. Religion caters to the mind, but God caters to our heart.
Religion can’t stand the Gospel: the Good News! And it is Good News that I
don’t have to analyze it, I just need to accept in my heart what my mind can’t
comprehend or accept.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is
written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent." Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this
world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know
God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save
those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but
we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks
foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser
than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The heart is
where the Holy Spirit speaks to each person. It’s not an emotion or a feeling
(yes, we can experience those at that time, but not all of us do). This is
about the Holy Spirit testifying to us in our heart of the Truth that is the
Gospel (the Good News of what Jesus accomplished). This is why the Holy Spirit
was sent to be with EVERY person, so that none of us would be without excuse as
to not hearing the Truth. He (the Holy Spirit) ministers the truth to us.
Acts 2:16-18
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it
shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit
upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young
men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants
and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they
shall prophesy.
John 16:7-11
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I
go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I
depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they
believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me
no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
He firstly
reproves the world (non-believers) of not believing in Christ Jesus. The
“reproving” is Him speaking the Truth to us in an attempt for us to believe in
Jesus Christ. And because His Truth is THE Truth, what He speaks does not
always align with our “truth”. And so, a person (we), all face the same choice
when the Holy Spirit ministers to us THE Truth: to believe what we believe, or
believe what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. We have a choice. It is our
choice to make.
When we (as
a non-believer) chose to believe ourself, we stay in condemnation—we stay in Sin.
When we deny Him & believe ourself, we are calling the Holy Spirit a liar.
This is the Sin (Blasphemy) against the Holy Spirit—the unforgivable Sin. It is
the Sin that sends us into eternal Death (separation from God). It is the Sin
that can never be forgiven once we pass from this to the next (die).
Matthew 12:31-32
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be
forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be
forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it
shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall
not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
All other
sins have been forgiven us (the sins of the flesh), but the Sin of spirit, God
could not take away, because we still have to have a choice. He didn’t die to
make us robots. Jesus made the choice to accept our sins, but did not make the
choice for us to believe Him. And even knowing that not everyone would come to
believe Him, He still died for us.
But when we
do choose to accept the testimony of the Holy Spirit upon our heart, we don’t
make Him the liar, we make Him True! We believe! Not in our minds (our minds
can & do doubt this Reality of the Lord). No. But in our heart.
And in that
moment of believing, in that instance, the Holy Spirit takes ahold of our
Spirit and Baptizes our fallen-world (Adam-sinned) spirit into the Body of
Christ. This is the one baptism being referred to in Ephesians & also in
Mark (not to be confused with water Baptism or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
by Jesus).
Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of
all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Mark 16:15-16
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.
1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be
Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit.
Romans 6:3
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into His death?
Galatians 3:26-28
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as
many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
This washing
& immersion (baptizing) of our old spirit into the Spirit of Christ (His
Spirit as our own Spirit), is us being Born-Again.
John 3:3-7
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to
Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his
mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless
one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
When we
believe with our heart, we are Born Again in our Spirit—made a Holy Spirit (one
without fault & made into the Lord’s perfection; once again made in Their
Likeness as Adam was). Our new Spirit becomes the same Spirit as Christ’s
Spirit was. This is Him living in us—His Spirit as our Spirit. For the Lord,
there is only one type of Holy, and this same Holy existed as the perfect
Spirit in Christ Jesus that was Christ (the Spirit that Jesus was born with).
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