sanctified - THE FUNDEMENTALS OF CHRIST                             ALONG THE JOURNEY TO BRIDESHIP                         #2   FAITH TOWARD GOD

  JESUS:
  ON THE CROSS

  

    Jesus’ Actual
     Testimony on
       the Cross

by Terry Smith

 

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." The remarkable last words spoken by Jesus before he died on the cross for you and me. The words which gender so much wonder and discussion, especially around Easter time. But this year, more than ever before, they have a clearer meaning for me.

The accounts, given in both Matthew and Mark, are recorded almost the same word for word.

   "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, this man calleth for Elijah. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." (Matt. 27)

 

    Starting with the very moment when Jesus spoke the words, "My God why hast thou forsaken me?” they have been misunderstood, misinterpreted and confused. At that moment, men began running around to get Him something to drink, others said He was calling on Elijah, some said wait and see if the prophet Elijah will come and save Him, and some said, He said He could save others but He could not even save Himself.

Since that day ignorant people, supposed Christians and non-Christians alike, have said that Jesus’ faith faltered, that at the last minute He thought God had failed Him. For those of us who know Jesus in a personal way, we know such a thing is ridiculous. The most plausible explanation I have ever heard is that Jesus was left alone by the Father, in that exact moment He took on the sins of the world. The explanation says that God cannot look on sin and therefore when Christ became sin for us God was forced to turn His back on Jesus for a brief moment. Jesus was then jolted into saying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

This may well be true; it all makes Scriptural sense, but there is something else about His words that is equally true and shows forth the enormity of His faith and love. Equally certain is that Jesus, as He hung on that cross, cared more about the Father and me and you, than He did about Himself. There is an old gospel Hymn once sung by Hank Williams that says, "as He hung there all alone, His life was almost gone, He never stopped prayin' for me." I know that is true. His love is that great, saints!

No, Jesus’ dying words were not faithless words of doubt, or words of despair. They were a testimony of belief in the Father, in prophecy and in the mercy of God. I submit that the words "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” was only the tip of the statement the suffocating Christ was making. I submit Jesus was referring with His dying breath to Psalm 22 in its entirety. If He could have He would have recited the whole Psalm. The Psalm begins as a prophecy of the day of His crucifixion and ends with high praise of God and a testimony of God's salvation which would come out of the Messiah's death and resurrection.

As the epistle says; "Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." At the moment of His death Jesus was thinking of Psalm 22, thinking of the "joy that was set before Him", and trusting God for "the glory to come."

Picture it. As he hung, nailed to the cross, Jesus was slowly suffocating. Each breath He drew was monumentally harder to draw than the one He struggled to draw before. Unlike someone facing a firing squad, or entering a gas chamber, the condemned Jesus did not have the wind or strength to make a lengthy statement. He could no more make a speech than someone having an asthma attack. So, He gathered all the strength He had left, filled His lungs with as much air as He could inhale, and gave the world His dying testimony. Psalm 22!!

When we look at the Psalm it becomes so very believable that this is what Jesus would have said had he been able to speak. This is the testimony of the one who said just moments before. "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.", and had just told the thief next to Him that they would be together that day in Paradise.

That His final statement refers His Church, those who would believe on Him, to Psalm 22 is not at all farfetched, especially, in the light of all the other testimony He gave while hanging on the cross. A look at Psalm 22 reveals Christ's heart toward man and God, at that critical moment in the Redemption Plan.

The first two verses bare out the explanation that in that moment the Son and the Father were "separated". Jesus was totally alone. God the Father had left him to become sin for the world. "Behold," as John the Baptist said, "The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." and Isaiah said, "He bore our iniquities."

Verses three through five immediately testify to God's holiness, His faithfulness to deliver us, and that we can always trust Him, no matter what the circumstances, "they trusted in thee, and were not confounded." This is Jesus’ proclamation of trust and faith in God, even at the moment of His being left alone while taking on the sins of the world. He did not falter or sin.

Then verses 6-18 begin to chronicle the prophetic fulfillment of the day's events. One by one they are listed:

1. I am a worm, a reproach of men, and despised among the people.

2. The people say "He trusted on the Lord ... let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him.”

3. His divine nature ... "thou art my God from my mother's belly."

4. There is none to help and the strong surround me.

5. He was poured out like water.

6. Thirsty and wrung of all strength He slowly died.

7. They pierced my hands and feet.

8. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.

All this, recorded in Psalm 22, happened that day. It could serve as a reporter's account for a newspaper, website or television report. After that comes Jesus’ true faith and feelings about His Father and the trust He has in the height, breadth and depth of God's love and the wisdom of His plan of redemption.

The Psalm (Jesus’ proclamation from the cross) says, "But be not thou far from me, 0 Lord: 0 my strength, haste thee to help me."

 

Jesus’ declaration of faith comes raining forth in Psalm 22 like this:

1. Deliver me.

2. Save me.

3. I will declare thy name unto the brethren: in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.

4. I will fear Him and glorify Him.

5. And importantly, (when seen in the light of My God, why hast thou forsaken me) "For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him: but when he cried unto him, he heard.”

6. I will pay my vows.

7. “…your heart shall live forever."

8. The kingdom is the Lord's.

9. All nations shall worship before thee.

10. None can keep alive his own soul.

11. "A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation."

12. They shall testify that God has done all this.

 

There is no lack of faith in these declarations which the breathless, suffocating Messiah could only utter in one introductory phrase. With his failing breathes He had denoted in the spirit; the entire prophetic psalm of glory breathed out to a needy world. This was the ultimate faith of the perfect Son of Man, redeemer of his race. This, this great word, His heart's desire in his dying moments. To utter it in full, but not with man's fleshly strength, it could only be uttered by the breathing, living Holy Spirit for all time and to every generation thereafter. And so the Spirit of God utters it in our listening ears for Him. Jesus did not doubt the Father’s love and mercy, nor did He think God's plan had gone awry. Jesus had Psalm 22 fully in His heart the moment He said, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me". He knew the "seed that would serve Him" would not stop at the first verse, but would read on and discover the faith of Christ, Son of God/Son of Man.

 

 Presumption is not Faith

by Eloise Gardenier

      About two months after I was born-again and filled with the Spirit, I began to see and believe that God not only had the power, but would actually heal our bodies at times. Prior to that the only faith I had for any kind of healing was by the medical profession.
To build my faith in His power God poured out his mercy upon me by making me the recipient of His love. When I was about five months old in Him I went back to my former home to attend a huge meeting at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. I had suffered from a rheumatic heart murmur since childhood. Over the years I had experienced much emotional heartbreak and a lot of it took place right there in South Bend. As thousands sang to Jesus, I felt intense heat in my heart and chest, like nothing I had ever known before. It was beyond description. No doctor has ever been able to hear that murmur since, including my present doctor, whom I asked to check it as a confirmation. The healing took place twenty years ago. I can only ask you to take my word for it that my broken heart was also healed. Those who knew me before will attest to that.
     The Lord also healed a cyst on my hand that had been operated on, returned, then drained, and returned again. I had prayed for my cat's eczema and the Lord healed the cyst as well. We were both healed in a week's time. I didn't ask for anything for myself, nor did I ask or demand to be healed in South Bend. I was so high and happy on the Lord, I wasn't thinking of my needs or that I even had any. I know that both of those things were pure gifts of God's loving mercy for me, although I had done nothing to earn or deserve it except to come to His Son. I share these two blessings to establish that I most certainly do believe; in fact, have great faith for the literal healing power of my God. Our family has been visited by His supernatural healing many times. This was done by His will, not by the sheer will of our faith or upon our demand.
      The enemy of our souls wasted no time in trying to ruin the faith God was building in me for His healing. As a new born Christian, filled with enthusiasm for the gifts of God, I wanted everything I could get, and this included teachings of God's Word. Even though I was forty-seven years old, I was a baby, and my zeal made me naive enough to believe almost anything I was told by those who had known the Lord longer than I. One of which was a man who happened to be much younger than me in years, but who had known the Lord quite a bit longer. He certainly knew the Word enough to preach the gospel convincingly. However, he did injure me in the area of physical healing and set me back for some time to come.
      I had been having some nagging health problems and he heard that I was ill, and came to my house, unannounced, to see to it that I was healed. At that time he was being schooled by one or more "positive confession" groups. That evening our friend employed the "God said it, I believe it, that settles it" practice. He left telling me that I was healed. All I had to do was claim it and have faith. The bottom line was; I was not healed and now I felt guilty because it didn't happen. I felt it was my fault because my faith was too weak, so I was sicker now than I was before he came. What faith I had already been given through my other healings was greatly damaged for some time.  

Presumption can get us in trouble
       After a couple of years a small booklet was put in our hands called Faith or Presumption by Dr. Charles Farah. The way Dr. Farah rightly divided the Word of God and gave personal accounts of his own experiences showed me there was a great difference between faith and presumption. He taught: "I think that if we do just a little study, two Greek words for the word "Word" will help us to understand. One is the word Rayma, the other is the word Logos. The logos is universal Jesus Christ, the universal Lord of the earth, sky and seas whether anyone believes that or not. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of God. But the Rayma is subjective; it's God's word to you." He goes on to explain that the Bible is the Logos and the promises of healing are general, not specific, and one must receive Rayma or a personal word from God for a specific healing. Dr. Farah also says;

"Bad theology is a cruel taskmaster. He flogs and beats those who fall into his possession as surely as physical sickness or the torture cages of Vietnam. Many people have been destroyed by a few words of bad theology. Bad theology says, in essence, If the facts don't fit the case, then stretch them until they fit. If there are more facts than the case allows cut off the excess facts.
         "There are wrecked lives left all over the Spirit filled community because people have been victims of bad theology. Bad theology says miracles cannot occur in this day. They ceased with the first century. Bad theology says a Christian cannot be bothered by the enemy because the enemy is off limits for him. Bad theology says everyone who is prayed for must be healed since the only condition is faith. Bad theology is presumptuous and there is a thin hairline between bold faith and bad presumption."

         Praise God! Beware of presumption. God eventually healed me from the wound I suffered from that bad theology and turned it around because I was not willing to settle for anything short of the truth. I truly wanted a deep walk with Him, including all the bearing of burdens, tribulation, persecutions, and sharing of His sufferings, as well as all the benefits and promises.
      I spoke with a friend recently who was a member of a "positive confession" church for some years and she described their teachings in this way; God is a giver of gifts - all loving, all forgiving, never brings judgment. The members must never admit anything is wrong; they must not give a "negative confession". She said she didn't know who God really is. There was no balance of sound doctrine. They appeared disinterested in the real truth or true faith. 

Example of Infirmities
I believe God allows us to bear physical infirmities for His purposes. The following are a few examples of this:

1.) To teach us.
     The story of Lazarus being raised ^{Jn 11} is an example of God using affliction even unto death so that we might learn of heavenly things. Jesus said; "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him." " .. .And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth,... " "Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him."

2.) To chasten and test us.
        Job is the most perfect example of both reasons. There is a lot more to Job's story than boils and patience. "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life." God did allow Job to be tested, in many ways he was found righteous. It was because of these trials, along with the exposure of his self-righteousness (not the righteousness of God) that he was able to come to the end of himself, repent and come to know God in a personal way, not just by the hearing of the ear or hearsay; but know Him face to face. The same is true of us before we come to know our Savior and have new lives as Job did. When Job prayed for his friends he was set free, and the Lord blessed him more than his beginning. So that our faith in a given area may be strengthened, we may be tested. Do yourself a favor and read the entire book of Job!

3.) The prophets were used as examples.
       God had many of the prophets afflicted in strange and frightening ways in order to demonstrate certain things for all who would come after them. Some became so ill from depression and felt so hopeless they even asked God to kill them. Moses' burden of the ungrateful ones in his charge was so great at one point he did ask God to kill him. (Numbers 11:15) But God personally buried him when he died. Other prophets of God joined Moses in this plea for death. Elijah, after killing the prophets of Baal, ran for his life from Jezebel and asked God to let him die. He was allowed to go out in a blaze of glory, caught up to heaven in a chariot of fire, never having to see death. (A type of the rapture) ^{2 Kings, Ch 2}

           4.) To intercede for  others.
       In the New Testament Paul is our prime example of one who suffered for those of his day and the gospel's sake, but also as a testimony left for all of us to live by. His willingness to suffer these things for the brethren and the gospel gives us a shinning pattern for our own Christian walk. Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-33. In 2 Corinthians 12:10 Paul encourages us in this way; "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost; so that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia."

5.) To make us weak so that He might be strong in us.

Afflicted For The Gospel's Sake
        It is a strange and wonderful thing when the Lord allows us to share in His affliction for the benefit of the gospel. It isn't anything we can decide to do or implement on our own. We may ask God to use us but God Himself will decide and choose. Romans 15:1 says; ''We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak; and not to please ourselves." Asceticism pleases the flesh and one may draw improper satisfaction from being a "martyr" or having pride in one's own works. This is not the kind of bearing of another's burden I am talking about. When God chooses to use our bodies for the sake of others the workings of it are truly a mystery.
       The most dramatic example of this that I know of personally is my own husband. From January 1986, when he was diagnosed with cancer, until March 1987, when he returned to work he had two operations and 30 days of radiation treatment. All the while both he and I were sharing our testimonies with his surgeon. We were living examples to him of our faith, we trusted our God no matter what the outcome would be. The only scripture the Lord gave me during that time was Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purposes”. I shared this with the Dr. and made it clear that I was standing on that, because God had given it to me personally (Rayma). After it was allover and my husband was given a clean bill of health the doctor received Jesus Christ as his Savior. He shared with us that he knew Roy's body was used to bring him to salvation. "So then death worketh in us, but life in you." (2 Corinthians 4:12) I must add, the doctor confessed later that he didn't think Roy would live to the second operation. This is typical of God's irony that the patient healed the doctor.
       We have matured in our constant search for the truth; we have sought the full counsel of God through His Word, and by the Holy Ghost. Having desired to make the prophets of God our examples, and looking to some of the true saints of God throughout the church age to teach us, we have found many reasons for God to allow affliction upon His people.
       We should pray for one another's infirmities, knowing, however, that the Spirit of God always has the final say. It doesn't necessarily depend on how strong or weak our faith is. God can't be ordered, coerced or blackmailed into healing us because we claim it. It is His mercy, and we know that His ways are not our ways as acted out through my husband's cancer ordeal. Death worked in the vessel of God so that life could work in the lost soul.
       Faith is not measured by finding a healing or producing prosperity on demand; faith is obedience to the Father's will, who is faithful to "supply our every need according to His riches in glory". It is not according to the riches of this life, but according to His riches of that glorious eternal home where we store up our treasures even now.

 THE JOURNEY
 TO BRIDESHIP

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS:
     1.) What is a Christian?
     2.) Nativity: New birth/creation.
     3.) Believers get a new heritage
     4.) Rahab; Story of salvation
     5.) The Day the King's son died
     6.) Three Little Words and I knew
  
TOWARD BEING:
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CHRIST
     1) Repentance from dead works
     2) Faith towards God
     3) Doctrine of baptisms
     4) Laying on of hands
     5) Eternal judgment
     6) Resurrection of the dead

SEVEN PILLARS OF KNOWLEDGE
     

PURIFIED PERFECT
1. WALKING IN THE SPIRIT
2. ADD TO YOUR FAITH:
       1) Virtue
       2) Knowledge
       3) Patience
       4) Temperance
       5) Godliness
       6) Brotherly Kindness
       7) Love

PREPARED - PERFECT
     1.) PROVING THE BRIDE IS
     2.) GOD'S QUEST FOR BRIDE
     3.) Perfectly Prepared and Ready
     4.) True Religion
     5.) Overcoming
     6.) Waiting

      THE BIG DAY: THE RAPTURE

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