A New Year
The year 2016 has now passed and we have stepped into a new year, 2017. Many have made New Year’s resolutions, several of which might actually make it to April 1st. Surely it is fitting that we make some Biblical “new” year’s resolutions to direct us into the future.
Let Us Resolve To Study Our New Testament. We live under the New Testament (Covenant) today. Matthew 26:28, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” The reference to the New Testament is to the New Covenant which God had promised in the Old Testament He would establish. See Jeremiah 31:31-34. This indicates a change of His law. This New Testament is sealed by the precious blood of Christ. Since such a great sacrifice was made to bring about the New Covenant which we live under, and since it will be the standard of our Judgment (Romans 2:16) we should desire to be diligent students of the New Testament.
Let Us Remember As Christians We Are New Creatures. Upon our obedience to the Gospel we are new creatures. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” When a person Hears the message of the New Testament (The Gospel), Believes that message, Repents of sin, Confesses the name of Jesus Christ, and is Baptized into Christ, that person is a new creature. See also Romans 6:3-6. That is, a new creature in Christ has been born again (John 3:3, 5), forgiven of sin (Ephesians 1:7), is focused on spiritual things (Colossians 3:1), and seeks to live right in this life (Titus 2:11-12). We are new in Christ; the old sinful self has been put to death (Romans 6:6), in Christ we are new people!
Let Us Look For The New Heavens And New Earth. 2 Peter 3:12-13, “Looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (ASV) Learning the Plan of Salvation from the New Testament, obeying it, and living according to it, the faithful Christian can look forward to, the time when he or she will enter into the new heavens and new earth; that’s heaven my friend. “Peter speaks of the new heavens and new earth only in the sense of a new habitation for the saved, one prepared by the Lord and wherein dwells righteousness. It is a place new in quality, one that has never before been used by men. He does not intend that we think of this old sin-scarred earth with its millions of sinful memories, but tells of a special place that is new and fresh in quality, specially made and prepared by the Lord.” (Bob Winton, Commentary on 2 Peter)
As we begin this New Year, let us seek the “new”. “If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:21-24
-Jerry Sturgill
Lesson Audio – Mark Day – Giving and Receiving
12.25.16 PM – Mark Day – Giving and Receiving
Nathan Parks – Scripture Reading: Acts 20:32-38
Lesson Audio – Mark Day – How Did This Come About?
Today: The Day of Fulfillment
God’s plans stretch back before there was time (Eph. 3:3-11; Rev. 13:8). He easily spans thousands of years in bringing them to fruition (2 Pet. 3:8). Then comes a day of fulfillment. “Today” or “this day” are often God’s terms for fulfillment. Consider a few examples in the book of Luke.
At Jesus’ advent, the angel said to the shepherds in the countryside near Bethlehem, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). While many in the world celebrate today as the day of Christ’s birth, there is no record in the NT of the early church doing such. In AD 350, Pope Julius I declared December 25th as the day the birth of Jesus would be celebrated. It is very unlikely that Jesus was born during this time of year and we are wise to beware of the commandments and traditions of men that arise after God has given His word (Mt. 15:9); nevertheless, there was a day when the fullness of time came and God’s son was born of a virgin (Gal. 4:4). It should not escape our thoughts that God became man and felt all of the trials and temptations we feel, even death (Heb. 2:9; 4:15).
In Jesus’ inaugural sermon at the synagogue of Nazareth, He read Isaiah 61 and began His great sermon with, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Lk. 4:21). What had been a promise and long-awaited hope of those who studied the Old Testament, Jesus said was fulfilled “this day.” Indeed all of Jesus’ earthly life, for a third of a century, was made of days of fulfillment, as He said after His resurrection, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Lk. 24:44).
Some of Jesus’ last words before He died were to the penitent thief who hung beside him, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43). While Jesus was alive on earth, He forgave sins (Mt. 9:6). Before the sun set on the hills of Jerusalem that day, Jesus and the thief would both be dead and their souls would be in paradise: Jesus’ because He knew no sin (Jn. 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21), and the thief’s because his were forgiven by the Lord (Jn. 8:34-36).
From His conception to His birth to His death to His resurrection, Jesus fulfilled God’s word. What are you doing today? Will God’s word be enacted in your life? Hebrews 3:7 tells us today we should hear His voice. We can’t talk to Him here on earth as the thief did, but we can follow His last will and testament, the New Testament, to receive forgiveness (Heb. 9:14-17). You can be a recipient of God’s grace today; now is the accepted time; today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). You can choose to be like Pharaoh who was plagued by God’s judgment but in his hardness of heart put off relief until tomorrow (Ex. 8:10). But we do not know if there will be a tomorrow, or if there is what it may bring forth (Prov. 27:1). Jesus tells us to focus on today (Mt. 6:34). You can squander today by trying to fulfill earthly lusts before you die, saying, “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die” (cf. Isa. 22:13; 1 Cor. 15:32). Or you can do what God’s word tells you today. When we love God and love others we are fulfilling God’s law (Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14). If today is a day of fulfillment, then the eternal day will be a day of fulfillment (Rev. 22:5, 14).
-Mark Day
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