Wayne's World...(29Oct09)

Jesus Changed Everything

 

Wayne Duncan

 

 

Jesus changed everything. One of the greatest challenges for us is to see the degree to which things were changed, by the obedience of Jesus life, and the resulting new covenant in which we now stand.

 

Jesus changed everything

 

Jesus lived a life and by the time he was finished, by the time he cried out "it is finished", everything would be different.

 

So we see the attempt of the enemy to block the ministry and intervention of Jesus in the world. We see the attempt of Satan.

 

King Herod learns of the prophecies and the coming messiah. He becomes concerned, inspired by Satan, he issues a decree to have every baby killed. Jesus is protected however. It's not long until we see Herod dead, and Jesus can return. No matter what comes against you, it must die to make way for the reality of Christ.

 

Satan failed to stop Christ. 

 

Jesus was the most radical man that ever lived.

 

He was the most radical Jew that ever lived.

 

Everything Jesus said and did had implications for us as believers today.

 

 

What are some of the things that Jesus did and said that made Him so revolutionary?

 

Here is one. Jesus said "I came to for fill the law". This was extremely radical. No one had ever said such a thing.

 

Jesus came to change everything.

 

Jesus changed the law. Jesus said "you have heard it said, but now I say". What authority did this man from Nazareth have to change the holy law that God himself had issued?

 

Could it be that when Jesus made these claims he was not being blasphemous, but rather obedient?

 

He was changing everything.

 

 

Here is another one.

 

Jesus forgave sin.

 

Mary, the great sinner comes and worships Jesus. She anoints Him with oil, perfume and kisses.

 

Then he says to her "your sins" are forgiven. Who was this man to be able to forgive sin?

 

Now did she even ask for forgiveness? What came first worship or forgiveness?

 

This was not the traditional or legal way for forgiveness to come.

 

Jesus changed everything.

 

If Jesus could forgive a woman like this, under the old covenant, without even blood, how much more can he through the blood of Jesus and the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, wash and cleanse us, making us pure and holy and blameless in his sight?

 

Your forgiven, justified...just as-if-id never sinned.

 

 

Jesus spoke about the shift that he was ushering in.

 

Matthew 9 (also Mark 2 and Luke 5)

 

16No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved."

 

This one of the earliest parables Jesus tells, he releases into his ministry in early stages of his teaching. He wanted people to know from early on in his ministry that he was ushering in a new way  that would require new wineskins. Jesus was saying that the new and the old are not compatible. He was saying that the mixing of the old and new ways would be destructive and harmful.

 

Mixing the old and new, by refusing to embrace the fresh, causes two devastating effects

 

1)    The hurting of the individual, church, organisation.

 

2)    The wasting of the wine, a picture of the Holy Spirit.

 

It's never a good idea to grieve the Holy Spirit, and this is what we do when we mix the old and the new. This explains the reason why there is often a very low level of anointing in people and individuals who mix old and new.

 

Here is what Clarks commentary says about this passage:

 

Matthew 9:17: New wine into old bottles]  It is still the custom,
 in the eastern countries, to make their bottles of goat skins: if
 these happened to be old, and new wine were put into them, the
 violence of the fermentation must necessarily burst them; and
 therefore newly made bottles were employed for the purpose of
 putting that wine in which had not yet gone through its state of
 fermentation.  The institutes of Christ, and those of the
 Pharisees, could never be brought to accord: an attempt to combine
 the two systems would be as absurd as it would be destructive.
 The old covenant made way for the new, which was its completion
 and its end; but with that old covenant the new cannot be
 incorporated.

 

 

 

Here is a golden key concerning the change Jesus brought.

 

Matthew 5:20: For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  

 

Here Jesus says that we need a righteousness that is greater than that of the Pharisees in order to see heaven.

 

How could that be?

 

Jesus was introducing new covenant righteousness. The gift of righteousness by faith. New covenant righteousness works like this. When we believe in Jesus, he calls us righteous, as a gift. His perfect obedience is credited to our account. His perfect obedience to the law is given to us. Now we have His righteousness. 2 Cor 5:21 god made Him who had no sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. 

 

Towards the end of His ministry on earth, Jesus continued to say things that were just totally off the charts.

 

He said "its to your advantage that I go"

 

How crazy is that? Here we have Jesus. Healing the sick, raising the dead. Turning entire regions and town around. Multitudes follow Him. How could it get any better? Then He says that it's better if He goes? How could it be?

 

Jesus was saying that by the time he had changed everything, a way would be created that would be more powerful and effective would be released in the earth. That would be released through the holy spirit.

 

John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you

 

Because he went, the Holy Spirit can be released onto every believer, enabling every believer to do what Jesus did.

 

Jesus was saying that a bunch of people filled with the Holy Spirit, is better than him being here! 

 

Now here is another thing Jesus said that is totally off the charts.

 

John 14:12 "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

 

 

What is the qualification to do what Jesus did? To believe in Jesus.

 

To believe that we can do these things? No.

 

To believe in Jesus? Yes.

 

Do you believe in Jesus?

 

You can then do all things through Christ who gives you strength.

 

Your belief in Jesus makes you righteous, and you receive every blessing and power freely from heaven as a gift, through faith.

 

 

Jesus then goes to heaven, and the new covenant starts.

 

The Holy Spirit is poured out, and power is released on the earth.

 

Now through the Holy Spirit that lives in us, we can operate in great power in the earth.

 

This is our inheritance through the finished work of the cross, righteousness, power fellowship with the spirit.

 

Jesus came to show us Gods love, to destroy the power of the enemy, to forgive our sins and release righteousness, to give us power, and to release the ministry of the Holy Spirit in and through us.

 

Now we live by the Spirit.