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Following in His Steps

by Jon von Ernst
8/12/2023 / Bible Studies

As we saw in the previous study, “Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-13, HCSB).

The writer of the book of Hebrews, directed by the Holy Spirit, speaks about Jesus and His brothers, the born-again Christians, saying, “For both He (Jesus) who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers. . . Since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself (Jesus) likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

“Therefore, in all things He (Jesus) had to be made like His brothers so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:11, 14-15, 17-18, NASB).

The prophet Isaiah wrote about Jesus, the coming Messiah, saying, “He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him” (Isaiah 53:2-3).

Jesus wasn’t some invincible superhero or some glamourous movie idol or popstar. He didn’t win any popularity contest. He was just like us. He was just like His brothers.

In fact, Jesus was like His brothers in every respect. Both He and His brothers were flesh and blood, without any supernatural powers of divinity. Both He and His brothers were tempted through the things that they suffered. Both He and His brothers had the same spiritual Father, God Himself in heaven. Both He and His brothers had spirits that had been made alive by being born from above, born of the Spirit (John 3:6). Jesus and His brothers were the same in every way.

In the previous chapter, we saw in detail the practical outworking of the incredibly intimate relationship that Jesus, the Son, had with God, the Father. We saw how Jesus was completely dependent on the Father, how He did nothing of Himself, but what the Father had shown Him.

We saw how He, in His total dependence on the Father, spent much time in prayer, not just casting all His cares upon the Father, but also listening and learning of the Father’s will. There were many occasions when He would withdraw from the busyness of life to be alone with the Father, spending long periods of time being refreshed and strengthened in the Father’s presence.

Here is a real test of whether we believe the scriptures. The scriptures say that upon being born again, upon becoming a brother in Christ, we are the same, in every respect, as Jesus was when He walked on this earth as a man. When we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ, we become a new creation. We become brothers of Christ and sons of the Father.

As sons, we can have that same intimate relationship with the Father, right now, in the midst of this wicked perverse generation. As sons, we are like Jesus in every respect. We are flesh and blood, but now, with our spirit having been made alive by the Spirit of Christ indwelling our spirit, we can have an intimate relationship with the Father. We can commune with the Father, praying always (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Being made to be exactly the same as Jesus was while He was in this world, the Father expects the same relationship with us as He had with Jesus. The Father expects us to be totally dependent on Him as He enables us and empowers us in the exact same way that He did with Jesus, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, to have this intimate relationship with Himself.

When we commune with the Father in prayer, He speaks to us by His Spirit, revealing His will to us, just as He did with Jesus. Sometimes it is necessary, because of the cares of our lives, to come apart from all the noise and busyness of the world and spend time alone with the Father.

When we spend time with the Father in prayer, we not only make requests by casting all of our cares upon Him, but more importantly, we listen to Him as He, by His Spirit, speaks to us. As He speaks to us, He reveals His will to us. He shows us what He wants us to say and what He wants us to do.

As we see the works the Father is doing and hear the words that He is speaking, our ministry is simply to obey Him as He enables us to hear and empowers us to do His will. We do this by praying to Him, asking Him that His will would be done, and trusting Him to do it. He then accomplishes His will, doing His works and speaking His words, through us and through others.

After His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days proving to His disciples that He was indeed alive. During this time, Jesus commanded His disciples, ‘Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now. . . You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth’” (Acts 1:4-5, 8).

Upon being baptized by the Holy Spirit, the disciples were immediately empowered by the Spirit to declare the magnificent acts of God. Being empowered by the Spirit, Peter rose up and spoke to the crowd that had gathered around them saying, ‘“This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear. . . Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.’

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’

“Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.’ With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation!’

“Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer” (Acts 2:32-33, 36-42).

Before being baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ, the disciples were selfish and fearful. Immediately upon being baptized by the Holy Spirit, they became new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Immediately they were changed from being selfish and fearful, into being selfless and bold. After being born-again, baptized by the Spirit into Christ, they rejoiced in being counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus and for the gospel of the kingdom (Acts 5:41).

Before being baptized by the Spirit, their minds were concerned about the things of man (Matthew 16:21-23). After being baptized by the Spirit, their minds were set on the things of the Spirit, understanding the will of the Father (Romans 12:1-2).

This is the experience of everyone that is baptized by the Spirit into Christ. Everyone born of the Spirit becomes a new creation when the Holy Spirit enters into their spirit to make it alive and to abide there with them (John 3:6).

In order to be like Jesus in every respect, we must be born again, we must have the Holy Spirit living, abiding in our spirit. Unfortunately, many professing Christians have never been born again, they have never received the Holy Spirit.

If you are one that has never received the Holy Spirit, you may be asking, “How can I receive the Holy Spirit? What do I need to do?”

Do not despair. Our heavenly Father wants to give us the Holy Spirit. All He requires is that we, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, ask Him. It is that simple (Luke 11:9-13).

I believe that many people never received the Spirit when they believed because they never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. They had merely heard the gospel of repentance.

They may have been led to feel sorry for their sins. They may have been baptized in water. They may have even gone through the motions of repeating a prayer asking for forgiveness. But through this entire process, they never even heard that there was a Holy Spirit.

Since believing, they may have joined a church. They may have begun reading the Bible. They may have made vows about living for the Lord and ceasing from sin.

Yet, instead of embarking on lives overflowing with love, joy, and peace, they have experienced lives of struggle and frustration. They continually try to be better. They try to please God. But they find they do not have the power or the ability to do it. They need the Holy Spirit!

Can someone be born again and not know it? Can someone’s spirit be made alive by the Holy Spirit and not know it? Can someone become a new creation and not know it? Can someone be transferred from darkness to light and not know it?

If you have been born again, if the Holy Spirit has come to indwell you, you will know it. He makes all things new. He empowers you. He teaches you. He comforts you. He equips you to hear the Lord and to obey His voice.

He overflows in you with love for the brothers, with joy in the Lord, and with praise and worship of our Father in heaven. The Spirit will completely change your life.

If you are not living a victorious Christian life, if you did not receive the Holy Spirit when you believed, I encourage you to simply ask our Father who is in heaven and He will give the Holy Spirit to you. Be persistent, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking and the door will be opened to you.

The Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. We have Jesus’s assurance on this. If we truly believe Jesus, we will believe His promise regarding the Father’s faithfulness to give us the Holy Spirit.

Remember, God wants the best for us. He wants us to know everything that is ours in Christ. It is for this reason that He wants to give us His Holy Spirit, that we might be enabled to live holy lives to His praise and to His glory.

Upon being born of the Spirit, we become a new creation. Upon being baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ, we become like Jesus, enabled by the Spirit to hear the Father speaking to us and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to do the will of the Father.

“For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . . God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life” (Romans 5:6-10).

Now having been reconciled to God, much more, we are being saved by grace, through His life working powerfully within us. Paul writes, “For by grace you are being saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8, TFLV). Through exercising our faith to believe in Jesus, we are now in the process of being saved by grace. God gives this grace to those that have merited it by exercising their faith to believe in Jesus.

When, by faith in Christ Jesus, we are born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, we not only experience our sins being forgiven and ourselves being reconciled to God, we also begin to experience the ‘much more’ that God has provided for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. We begin the process of sanctification, the process of being saved by grace through the power of His life working within us to accomplish God’s will within each of us.

This will begins to be accomplished in us as we enter into a relationship with the Father. This relationship with the Father creates within each believer an innate desire to please Him in all things.

In pursuing this desire, we begin to experience, more and more, God’s incredible love for us. We find that the more we demonstrate our love for His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, by submitting completely to His authority as Lord, and obeying Him, the more we come to experience and understand this amazing love that God has for us.

Jesus encourages us, “Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

“Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full. I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

“In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you that I will pray to the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father” (John 16:22-28).

The Father desires to have an intimate relationship with each of His sons. He desires to have the same relationship with each of His sons that He had with Jesus while He was physically living among us in His body of flesh and blood.

The Father loves us because we have loved His son Jesus and have believed that Jesus came from the Father. We demonstrate the reality of our love for Jesus by obeying Him, by keeping His commands. In John 14:15, Jesus told His disciples “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Our total submission to Jesus as Lord in all obedience is the proof of the reality of our love for Him.

Paul asks, “Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

“Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection.

“For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin. . . So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:1-6, 11; HCSB).

The indwelling Spirit of Christ sets us free from the condemnation of being enslaved to sin and empowers us to live godly lives, now, in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation. If we have the Spirit of Christ, we are without excuse when we sin because God has given us everything we require to live holy lives, fully pleasing to Him.

Peter reminds us, “For His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Jesus challenges us to believe saying, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

“Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:10-14).

This is a huge part of our doing the will of the Father, believing the scriptures, believing that Jesus has given us much more than just the forgiveness of sins, even more than being reconciled to God. He has given us His life, and by His life we are being saved by grace through faith. We need to believe the scriptures. We need to believe God’s precious and magnificent promises.

We need to believe God for our sanctification just as we believed Him for our reconciliation. We need to believe that God is able to empower us, by His indwelling Holy Spirit, to live godly lives, to be holy as He is Holy, to walk as Jesus walked, now, in the midst of this wicked and perverse generation.

Peter commands us, “In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15, NIV).

Paul wrote to the believers in Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory!” Our only hope of glory is to have Christ living as Lord within us. Without Christ, as the Holy Spirit, abiding in our spirit, we are without hope in this world.

Paul explained this, writing to the believers in Ephesus. He encouraged them saying, “Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ‘uncircumcision’ by that which is called ‘circumcision’ (in the flesh, made by hands), that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility through it.

“He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

“So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:11-22).

Paul continues this thought in the next chapter. “I was made a servant according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power.

“To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him. Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.

“For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

“Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:7-20).

Paul is explaining to the believers how God the Father works mightily within each believer according to the power of the Holy Spirit that works within them. It is this Spirit of Christ within the believer that brings the believer into that same intimate relationship that Jesus Himself experienced with the Father.

We are strengthened with the power of God through His Spirit in the inner man. Our old man, the outer man, the man controlled by the power of the sin in our flesh, was crucified with Christ. This death with Christ set us free from the condemnation of being enslaved to sin. Now we are being strengthened in the inner man by the empowering of the indwelling Spirit within our spirit.

Now, by the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ working mightily according to His great strength, we are being conformed not to this world, but to the image of Christ. We are being transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Paul entreats us, “Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me” (John 14:6). And again, as Paul wrote in the passage above, “For through him (Christ) we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”

Jesus died and was raised again that we might have access to the Father in one Spirit. But not to just have access, but to have an intimate relationship with the Father as sons. Christ, our eldest brother, brings us into this relationship with the Father when we walk by faith believing God, believing what God has spoken in the scriptures.

When we walk by faith, as Jesus walked by faith, we enter into the same intimate relationship with the Father that Jesus had. We enter into the same ability to live a godly life in full obedience to the Father, doing His will, pleasing Him in all things.

If we have a heart of unbelief, hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, not believing God, not trusting God as one that is able to accomplish in us, now in this age, everything He has promised in His word, we will not be able to enter into the rest He has for us. If we have a heart of unbelief, we will fall short of entering into all that God has prepared for us.

The writer of Hebrews warns us, “Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called ‘today’, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, while it is said, ‘Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.’

“For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.

“Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard. For we who have believed do enter into that rest.”

“For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.

“Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account” (Hebrews 3:12-19, 4:1-3, 8-13).

The believers that have entered into this intimate relationship with the Father have entered into the Sabath rest that God has prepared for His people. These believers have ceased from their own works and are resting in the intimate relationship with the Father that Jesus provided for them through His blood and His Spirit.

Jesus, in His walk of faith, strengthened by the Spirit through this intimate relationship with the Father, has provided us with the perfect example of how we, as born-again believers, are to live. Peter reveals this perfect example to us.

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are harsh. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person endures grief when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

“For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps, He who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being abusively insulted, He did not insult in return; while suffering, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:18-23).

Trusting in God’s love and faithfulness, let us follow this perfect example that has been provided for us in Jesus Christ our Lord, entrusting ourselves to Him who judges righteously. Let us follow in His steps that we might rejoice at His return.

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light - Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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