The Unstoppable Work of Jesus Christ

The work of Jesus Christ, in saving sinners to the glory of God, is unstoppable.  No man can extinguish heaven’s fire!

 

The Pharisee Gamaliel, though he was no follower of Christ, was given insight to understand that, “…if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail.  But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.  You might even be found opposing God.”  (Acts 5:38-39)

 

Beloved, though Jesus Christ and the gospel has been under constant attack from rebellious and unbelieving enemies, He can never be stopped, extinguished, or conquered.  He lives and He reigns, as His word testifies, and as He will throughout eternity.

 

What comfort and courage this truth should bring to every Christian!  Though as God’s people we can, and will be, often mocked, ridiculed, rejected, marginalized, threatened, harassed, and even beaten and killed, absolutely NO ONE who opposes God will win!  Jesus is real, He does reign, and the Gospel is true.

 

Let us then all the more boldly seek the Lord, be pure, do good, preach Christ, and fear not, being convinced and confident that, “…there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name (Jesus) under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)

 

Because He lives, and is returning,

Greg

John 14:11-14

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (ESV)

Be Assured, Really

Christians are sometimes tempted with serious doubts regarding the Christian faith.  Is the Bible really God’s inerrant, authoritative, all-sufficient word?  Is Jesus really God, and really the only way to the Father?  Did Jesus really rise from the dead; is He really coming back again someday?  Come on…really?

Much of what can provoke our doubts are the challenges, difficulties, pains, and sorrows we experience in this life.  At one level we understand the Christian life was never guaranteed to be easy.  But is it really supposed to be this hard, for this long?  Where is Jesus, and the purposes and promises of God in all this?  Is it really worth it to keep trusting and following Jesus?  Is He really real?  Or is this whole Christianity thing just some giant myth…just one of countless man-made religions around the world?  Oh, how such doubts can overwhelm and immobilize!

The living God Himself, in and through His holy word, gives rock-solid assurance of His eternal reality in Jesus Christ!  He permanently reigns, and He perfectly cares for His own!  What soul-comforting assurance that evaporates every doubt!  As we began to see last Lord’s Day with our first study in the Book of Acts, the giving of this assurance is at the heart of why Luke has written this book (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit).  Connected with the same reason he wrote his Gospel, Luke wants believers to know the certainty (assurance) of what we’ve been taught (see  Lk. 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-3).

Professor Alan J. Thompson elaborates on Luke’s purpose regarding assurance:  “God’s people may be assured therefore that, because the Lord Jesus continues to reign, they will be enabled by the Holy Spirit to serve him and reflect his character, the word will continue to spread even in the midst of opposition, and local churches will be established and strengthened with the apostolic message about the Lord Jesus. Luke’s emphasis on the nature of the kingdom of God, therefore, is as relevant for Christian readers today as it was for the first century. All who follow the Lord Jesus this side of the cross and resurrection need to know that God is continuing to accomplish his purposes even now through the reign of the Lord Jesus.”  (Alan J. Thompson. The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan, 2011, Kindle Loc. 147-149).

Beloved, let us be all the more assured of the reality of the Father’s saving purposes in Jesus Christ, and all the more devoted to trusting and obeying our Savior and Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit!  I continue to pray for you and myself to this end, even as exemplified by Paul in Eph. 1:15-23.

 

Because He lives, and is returning (really!),

Greg