CHRIST IS CALLING US INTO PERFECTION
August 18, 2009
by Melissa Kohnen – New Castle Age: 21
Christ is calling us into Perfection!
1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”
-Many people have taken this scripture out of context and begin to think that it pertains to the “rapture” theory, but I am going to show you in scripture that this is not true! There is no rapture in the way that we were taught! 1 John 3:2 says that when we see Him we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. This is speaking about us getting a revelation of who He is through His Scriptures.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
- These two scriptures are a direct correlation to Jesus actually being God. In John 1:1 it says that the Word was God, and then in John 1:14 it says that the word became flesh; He was the only begotten of the Father. This is referring to Yeshua (Jesus). Since the Word is God then when we get a revelation of what scripture is saying He or God begins to appear in us.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
-So the only begotten referred to in John 1:14 was Yeshua (Jesus) who is again referred to in John 3:16. So Yeshua (Jesus) is God in the flesh. Now let’s move on and see what we are called to be…
Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
-Jesus says that if we want to follow after Him we must deny ourselves, our wants, our desires, our will, our beastly nature and take up our cross. One might wonder, what was the cross used for? The cross is for death, and not a natural death but a death to self! We must die to our natural desires! This is why Paul says:
Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
-Paul says that He was crucified with Christ. Now, let me ask you this, was Paul naturally crucified with Christ? He was not. This is speaking about him denying his beastly human nature so that Christ would abide in him. He says that it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.
I had a dream a while back where I was standing on a beach and I was fully covered in almost like a glowing bubble. The only way that I can describe this is that it was Gods glory covering me. But as I was standing on the beach I could see that all over this glory was sand, and some of the sand began to fall off but there was still some sand on me. Now sand, dust and dirt speak of carnal things or flesh. What God was showing me through that dream is that underneath our flesh is the Glory which is Christ. The more we deny ourselves to more Christ abides in us.
1 Corinthians 15:31 “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.”
-Paul says that he dies daily, and again, this is not a natural death; he is speaking about dying to his will, his wants, and his desires so that he can do the will of the Father. I want to encourage you to go back and read all of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. You will see how this whole chapter is a prophetic break down about the resurrection of the dead. Let me shine a little light on this resurrection. When Yeshua (Jesus) went to the cross He died, but then He was buried, and then He rose again. He became the resurrection life; He became alive spiritually because His flesh was now dead! This is the process that we must come through. We must pick up our crosses and die to the things that we want and seek God for His will. Once we die to those things we will also resurrect into a spiritual life. Scripture tells us that Christ was crucified for our sins, but that does not mean that because He died we can live however we want, but there is a process that takes place in us. If we are saved because Christ died on the cross then that means that everyone from the Old Testament would have gone to hell because Yeshua (Jesus) had not yet died for our sins.. Think about it!
2 Corinthians 4:10 “Always bearing about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”
- Let me give an example: If we have a thought, and this thought does not line up with the Word of God then what we create in our though is an idol to the LORD. We have to smash that idol through the crucifixion of our, and allow God’s life and thoughts to become our life and thoughts. Please do not take this naturally! This does not mean afflict your flesh and physically harm yourself! This means that we need to spend time with the Lord and seek His face so that we will know what His desire is for our lives. Once He reveals to us what He wants us to do, we must put it into action and obey Him. Also, if you notice that scripture reads, “That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” Hallelujah! Christ is supposed to manifest or appear in us! The more we die the more Christ appears in us!
Philippians 2:12 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
-We are responsible for our own salvation, so to speak. This comes through obedience to God’s will for our life, and it is clear that we must walk out our salvation with fear and trembling. Meaning we are not guaranteed to get into heaven just because Christ died for our sins, so we must come through the same process so that He can be resurrected in us! Salvation comes when He is resurrected in us. If He is still dead in us and has never risen then we have not been awakened to our spiritual life; therefore, we are still bound to this world and servants to sin.
Genesis 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”
- We must understand that our carnal nature sets its thoughts and its affections on things that are evil, and continually does so! This is why our thoughts and imaginations have to be crucified. God was sorry that He even created man because of the way they had chosen to live; they became evil in His sight. God has given us a free will, meaning we can either choose to serve Him or we can do what we want. The problem with this is that what we want our thoughts and our evil desires to be done. If we choose our own will we forfeit our salvation and turn away from God.
2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
1 Peter 3:17 “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.”
-Peter tells us that we should suffer for well doing than for evil doing. Meaning if we are truly serving Christ we will suffer. It does not say that we will have a great life and be happy all the time and have money to buy whatever we want and that we will not suffer, Peter says that we will suffer for well doing. However, what is our reward for suffering on behalf of our Lord Yeshua (Jesus) the Christ? We will inherit eternal life. Those that do evil will also suffer as well, but their reward will be eternity in hell.
2 Peter 2:4-6 ” For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned with an overflow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly:”
- God sent even the angels to hell for their sins (sin means a lack of understanding). Because they didn’t understand who God was they operated out of their own thoughts and became condemned! I know a lot of people preach that we are saved by grace, but grace actually speaks of provision, God gives us provision (His word) so that we can live our lives holy before Him.
Romans 1:17-21 “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith. 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed unto them. 20 For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen by things that are made, His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
-These are very powerful scriptures! God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith. Our natural thoughts are evil (unrighteous) and the only way to have righteous thoughts revealed to us is through faith. If you were to study into what faith is you will find that Faith is Yeshua (Jesus) living within us! Yet again we must crucify our flesh, our unrighteousness, our evil thoughts, so that Faith will come to life in us and reveal to us what righteousness is from faith to faith, which is a process! Then it goes on to say that wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. This is saying that there are a people who are holding truth, but they are still living unrighteous lifestyles. That means that they are not being crucified with Christ and allowing Him to transform their minds. They are hearers of the word and not doers. It also goes on to say that they knew God; the word knew is a Jewish idiom for intercourse. In Luke 8:11 Yeshua says that “The seed is the Word of God” the seed can speak of a seed that goes into the ground to produce plants and trees etc. but it also speaks of sperm. This means that we are to be impregnated by the word of God so that we can birth out His very character and nature (But that is a whole other teaching) these were a people who where once impregnated with God’s word, but they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened. This sounds like a people who have lost their salvation…
Ephesians 4:13-15 “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 14 That we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind and doctrine, by the sleight of men, cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, Christ:”
-These scriptures say that we must come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and that we must grow up into Him (Christ) in all things. He is the Head we are the body! When our head thinks we need to start moving… This is proof that the “rapture” theory cannot be true, we cannot just be living sinful ungodly lives and then when Christ returns we are transformed into His image and inherit eternal life… Scripture is clear that Salvation is a process, and we must work it out with fear and trembling!
Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
-So what is the perfect will of God? That we be transformed by the renewing of our minds! What are we being transformed into? The fullness of the Stature of Christ! Christ died so that we could have the provision to obtain this in our natural bodies, and frankly if we do not go through this process we will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven!
Matthew 7:13-14 “enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Colossians 1:28 “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:”
-Colossians 1:28 says that they were preaching, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: I know a lot of religions will only preach on certain things because they don’t want to offend people, well let me tell you the word of God is offensive! It comes to bring conviction so that we will see the way we are living is unrighteous and begin to seek after God to transform us.
Luke 12:51 “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:”
2 Corinthians 4:11 “For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”
-It is time for the true Bride of Christ (The Church) to arise and bring distinction in the earth!
I Pray that you will begin to meditate on these scriptures and ask the Lord to reveal even more to you and what it is that He wants you to sacrifice at this time, what you must die to so that He can bring resurrection life into your body. I pray that you will begin to seek after the Lord with your whole heart and cling to Him in the times of pressing. Trust me, it does not feel good to die to those things that we want, but Christ has paid the price so that we can endure those things that must come to pass in our lives! Seek the Lord and You Shall Find Him.
Bless You,
Melissa