Friday, January 1, 2016
Human nature loves that which is new.
The majority of us are glad to escape from what has been for the last twelve-months a time of chaos and uncertainty.
Sometimes things that are new excite us, other times they cause fear of the unknown.
2CO 5:17 That if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Being a new creature gives us the confidence that we all desire as we are delivered from the old sin nature and our position in Adam.
GAL 6:15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
EPH 2:15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
EPH 4:24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
That “new self” is that which we are to “put on” which comes by means of living in the righteousness of God which was given to us as a gift at the moment of salvation and by being holy or devoted to the truth or devotion to doctrine.
COL 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him
2PE 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
REV 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away,
REV 2:17 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’
ROM 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
ROM 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
In reality, there is nothing new under the sun but there sure is something new “above” or “beyond the sun”…….and those are the things of God.
COL 3:1-2, “If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
It is discovering the new things that God has done for us that will make the new year worthwhile.
Solomon found out that what he was searching for God had placed inside of him which was a desire to know God.
JOH 3:31 “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
JOH 8:23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
God has set the desire for eternity or the eternal things of God inside of man because man cannot, that is, on his own, he cannot find out the work which God has done from the beginning to the end.
God has placed a consciousness in all mankind to search for Him if mankind is willing to do so.
JOH 7:17 “If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself.
JER 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
God showed Job, a righteous man, that he was a sinner in God’s sight. God showed Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived outside of TLJC, that he was a fool in God’s sight.
ECC 3:11 He has made everything appropriate or literally beautiful in its time.
The word appropriate is the Hebrew verb japheh which means meaningful or beautiful.
Our problem is not so much what happens, our problem is our perspective of it after it happens.
When something occurs that we don’t like and is not a happy conclusion, we begin to question the giver of that particular thing.
“What kind of God is it that would allow this to happen resulting in this tragic set of affairs?”
If you look at life as it is laid out before you and dealt out to you and do not see it through the eyes of faith or the hand of God, you will not understand why certain things happen.
When you see things through God’s eyes or perspective and recognize divine timing and the fact that in His time, he makes all things beautiful and meaningful, then you give Him praise.
You believed or had faith that you were going to be here when the new year was the future to you but now it has become a reality.
The same thing is true about eternity—–most of us have faith that we are going to be around in eternity.
If we were to be totally honest and accurate we are actually living in eternity right now because time is a part of eternity whether it is the past or future.
JOH 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
MIC 5:2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”
Our Lord says it will even have an emotional affect on us at times called a “well of water springing up within us”; JOH 4:14.
He also tells us that this experience of having eternal life comes from knowing Him; JOH 17:3.
Paul tells us that we can take hold of eternal life right now, in this life; 1TI 6:12.
1TI 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
The apostle John goes on to say that we can live in this eternal life right now in our lifetime; 1JO 3:15.
He tells us that this eternal life comes from abiding in our Lord in 1JO 5:11.
It is through doctrine that we can know we have and are living in this eternal life; 1JO 5:13.
Let’s look at eternity from the viewpoint of curiosity about our future!
God has not only put things in perspective by having a time table in which events run their course but He also has put within every human being’s heart a curiosity about tomorrow….and about life…….and about life beyond!
God has not placed eternity in their hearts!
Since that is true and since we will not find out about tomorrow or the beginning from the end without God, our pursuit must be toward Him.
You are not really ready to handle life until you are ready to handle death and eternity!
a. Anthropocentric Academic Speculation or regarding humans as the central element of the universe, Ecc 1.
b. The experiment of seeking happiness in pleasure, ECC 2:1-11 or eat, drink and be merry.
c. The All in the Family experiment, I’m going to have children and keep it all in the family, Ecc 2.
d. The Philosophy of Time Orientation, Ecc 3.
e. Looking for happiness from money, wealth and prosperity, Ecc 5.
f. Building a reputation, Ecc 7.
g. Sex and intimate relationships, Ecc 7.
h. Looking for happiness in the hero image, Ecc 9.