Sunday, 8th August 2010
Rev Reuben Ng was preaching at the youth service today, so my wife and I decided to accompany our kids to that service :-)
The series "Help...I'm" is still on going and the topic today was "Help... I'm Unholy". Rev Reuben explained that many of us Christians struggle with living holy and righteous lives because we start with the wrong premise of "I will". If we use our own self-efforts, then we are bound to fail. On the other hand, if we start on the premise that "I am", for example I am already holy and righteous because of what Jesus has done for me on the cross, then we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live that out.
The key verse of the sermon was 2 Cor 5:21. which tells us that "Jesus who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ". The original text did not have the word "might", in other words, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. There was a divine exchange that took place on the cross.
To better illustrate the above, Rev Reuben got 2 volunteers to go up on stage. One of them was made to wear an ACS tshirt and the other an RI tshirt. The one with the ACS tshirt represents Jesus, while the one in the RI tshirt represents sinful man. He then got them to exchange tshirts, so that the one who was supposed to be Jesus now wore the RI tshirt, while the one representing fallen man got to wear the ACS tshirt.
Rev Reuben that said that was exactly what happened at the cross. Jesus became the worst sinner ever in the eyes of God (and God had to forsake Him as a result), and in exchange man can be considered holy and righteous. Hallelujah! My daughter could understood such an amazing and profound spiritual truth. And my son could as well, since he is after all from ACS. Apologies to those RI guys out there -- this was just an illustration okay :-)
Another new revelation that Rev Reuben unveiled was that Lucifer was the one who kept on using the phrase "I will". Just in Isa 14, this appears no less than 5 times, viz:
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High."
On the other hand, contrast this with Jesus, who used the phrase "I am" numerous times throughout the gospels, eg. "I am the bread of life.", "I am the resurrection and the life". "I am the good shepherd", etc. Now that we are in Christ, we should likewise be imitators of Him and declare "I am holy." and "I am righteous" and by aligning ourselves with what His Word says of us in 2 Cor 5:21, that we are indeed the righteousness of God in Christ, it empowers us to live out holy and righteous lives.
You can download this awesome sermon to listen to at the following link:
http://www.box.net/shared/vt5srs8hj4
3 comments:
Botak, people like you ought to grow some brain :)
the bible talks about national issues, not about your irrationality or imperfections as a human being.
Take for instance lucifer's "i will". that's a metaphor for imperial rule(national issues). When the king is willful and self serving, the people's will will be disregarded.
Under Christ rule,he being a different type of king, changes all that and restored the RIGHTS of the people.
The word "anointing" or anointed, which we all are, is about that...."rights".
try to read into the subtlety and beyond the boogeyman in the closet or you may end up in the asylum? hahahahaha
It is like offering candies to kids. Anything that taste sweet will garner some following. Do we expect them to know it could be a snare?
No wonder we have so many gullible "abused kids" out there. LOL
Yes, righteousness is an exchange for His Righteousness. Its an exchange for His Life, Riches, Strength, Healing, Wisdom, Blessings, etc. In fact we have nothing - we are empty we die to ourselves to exchange His. Its no longer that we live but CHRIST liveth in me and us. Our lives are HIs we have nothing to boast. The bible says, nothing we can receive except it is given from heaven.
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