THE BLESSED HOPE (It Is Finished)

 "The Blessed Hope"                                  5.18.16

   
  As followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, redeemed from
the penalty of our sins  by his blood, we  have a  hope,  
secure in him. 
    This hope is not based on our works, but is reckoned 
to us as the result of his finished work on the cross. We
access this redemption through faith in Him; His work.  
  
   His work on the cross was finished when He rose from 
the dead on the third day, followed  by his  Ascension to,  
and  his  Intercession with  the Father on our behalf. 
  The work of  our Lord  may  be finished,  but He is still 
active on our behalf, interceding  for us at the right hand 
of the Father.  

   HOPE: Confident expectation of future good.

13.  “But I would not  have you to be ignorant, brethren, 

         concerning them which are  asleep, that  ye sorrow 

         not even as others which have no hope.

14.   For if  we  believe  that  Jesus died and  rose again, 

        even  so them  also  which sleep in Jesus,  will God 

        bring with him.

15.   For this we say unto you, by the Word of the Lord, 

        that we which are alive and remain unto the 
        coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which  

        are asleep.

16.   For the Lord, himself, shall descend  from heaven 

        with a shout, of the archangel, and with the trump 

        of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17.  Then we which are alive and remain will be caught 

       up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air:  

       and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18.  Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."

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donporter,sr    

MATTHEW 5: 3-12 "THE BEATTITUDES"

     
         As a rule,  when a teacher addresses the “Sermon on the 

Mount” by our lord, there is  failure to  take some instruction of

Christ, literally.  For our purposes,  we will consider the mean-

ing as literally as possible. There is always the danger of rob-

bing the Scripture of meaning when we fail take the Lord God
at His "Word..."

    

     We will begin in chapter  5.  His words  begin in  verse 3 of

this passage, our Lord refers to "poor in spirit."  When we take

this literally, we  find our lord commending one  for a blessing

who is not proud or confident in self, relying upon one of grea-

ter power, our lord, himself. The blessing is eternal in nature.

       In the next verse,  He promises to comfort the one who sees

the  conditions of  this world and is broken/sorrowful.  In verse 5,

unlike popular belief, the meek are assigned an earthly heritage

and  in verse 6, those  who seek  righteousness  from God shall

have that  righteousness. (This is an important concept, relating

to other Scriptural promises accompanying righteousness; con-
demning  self   righteousness.)   We  know  from  Scripture;  our

God is  a God of  mercy.  In verse  7, He expects His  children to

be  merciful and promises  the blessing of  mercy on  those who

obey. 

   This is certainly a brief consideration of a portion of the finest 
sermon  known.  Taken as  a whole,  the ministry of  our  Savior
Jesus Christ, God the Son, teaches me the following:

          In order for one to be a follower of Christ, he/she must 
          be self-efacing, genuinely humble  in spirit, preferring
          others before  self,  with  confidence  in God  the Son, 
          His Word, and no confidence in self or the flesh.  

         "The  Word  became  Flesh  and dwelt among us, and
          we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
          of the Father, full of grace and truth."         John 1: 14
                                                                       

donporter,sr       edited: 10.09.16