a new message for Yom Kippur 2016 meditation (6): New Manna in the Wilderness

Romans 6 Tree of Life Version (TLV) Who Is Your Master?
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? 2 May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were immersed into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried together with Him through immersion into death—in order that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have become joined together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be joined together in His resurrection— 6 knowing our old man was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be done away with, so we no longer serve sin. 7 For he who has died is set free from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him. 9 We know that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 So also continually count yourselves both dead to sin and alive to God in Messiah Yeshua.

12 Therefore do not let sin rule in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not keep yielding your body parts to sin as tools of wickedness; but yield yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your body parts as tools of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching under which you were placed; 18 and after you were set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you yielded your body parts as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now yield your body parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. 21 So then, what outcome did you have that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, having been set free from sin and having become enslaved to God, you have your fruit resulting in holiness. And the outcome is eternal life. 23 For sin’s payment[a] is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.

Footnotes:

1.    Romans 6:23 Or the wages of sin.

John 6 Tree of Life Version (TLV) New Manna in the Wilderness
6 Afterwards, Yeshua went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following Him, because they were watching the signs He was performing on the sick. 3 Then Yeshua went up the mountainside and sat down there with His disciples. 4 Passover, the Jewish feast, was near.

5 Lifting up His eyes and seeing a large crowd coming to Him, Yeshua said to Philip, “Where will we buy bread so these may eat?” 6 Now Yeshua was saying this to test him, for He knew what He was about to do.

7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii[a] isn’t enough to buy bread for each to get a little bit!”

8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what’s that for so many?”

10 Yeshua said, “Make the people recline.” There was much grass in the area. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 Then Yeshua picked up the loaves. And having given thanks, He distributed bread to everyone who was reclining. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.

12 When the people were full, Yeshua said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftovers, so nothing is wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had finished eating.

14 When the people saw the sign that Yeshua performed, they began to say, “This is most certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world!” [b] 15 Realizing that they were about to come and seize Him by force to make Him king, Yeshua withdrew again to the mountain, Himself alone.

The Savior on the Sea
16 Now when evening came, Yeshua’s disciples went down to the sea. 17 Getting into a boat, they set out to cross the sea toward Capernaum. By now it had become dark, and still Yeshua had not come to them. 18 A great wind began to blow, stirring up the sea.

19 After they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia,[c] they catch sight of Yeshua walking on the sea, approaching the boat. They were terrified! 20 But Yeshua says to them, “I am. Don’t be afraid.” [d] 21 Then they wanted to take Him into the boat, and right away the boat reached the shore where they were headed.

The Bread from Heaven
22 The next day, the crowd remaining on the other side of the sea realized that no other boat had been there except the one, and that Yeshua hadn’t gone into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 Some other boats from Tiberias came close to the place where they had eaten the bread after the Master had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd realized that neither Yeshua nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and set off for Capernaum to find Him. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”

26 Yeshua responded to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate all the bread and were filled. 27 Don’t work for food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him, God the Father has put the seal of approval.”

28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do to perform the works of God?”

29 Yeshua answered them, “This is the work of God, to trust in the One He sent.”

30 So they said to Him, “Then what sign do You perform, so that we may see and believe You? What work do You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘Out of heaven He gave them bread to eat.’”[e]

32 Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, it isn’t Moses who has given you bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the One coming down from heaven and giving life to the world.”

34 So they said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on!”

35 Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen Me, yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and anyone coming to Me I will never reject. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of the One who sent Me.

39 “Now this is the will of the One who sent Me, that I lose not one of all He has given Me, but raise each one on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and trusts in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 Some of the Judeans[f] started to grumble about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Yeshua the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

43 Yeshua answered, “Stop grumbling among yourselves! 44 No one can come to Me unless My Father who sent Me draws him—and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’[g] Everyone who has listened and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God—He has seen the Father.

47 “Amen, amen I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

52 Then the Jews began arguing with one another, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

53 So Yeshua said to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

55 “For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who eats of Me will also live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven—not like the bread your fathers ate and then died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

59 He said these things while teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum.

Fallout from a Hard Teaching
60 So when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can listen to it?”

61 But Yeshua knew His disciples were murmuring, so He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man going back up to the place where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life! 64 Yet some of you do not trust.” Yeshua knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not trust, as well as which one would betray Him.

65 Then He told them, “For this reason I’ve told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.”

66 From this time, many of His disciples left and quit walking with Him. 67 So Yeshua said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to leave also, do you?”

68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! 69 We have trusted and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

70 Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is the adversary!” 71 Now He was speaking of Judah, the son of Simon of Kriot—for he, one of the Twelve, was about to betray Him.

Footnotes:

1.    John 6:7 One denarius was the daily wage for a laborer.

2.    John 6:15 cf. Dt. 18:15.

3.    John 6:19 About three or four miles, halfway across the sea.

4.    John 6:21 Lit. I am. Don’t be afraid; cf. Jn. 8:24; 18:6.

5.    John 6:31 Ps. 78:24; cf. Exod. 16:4-36; Neh. 9:15.

6.    John 6:41 Perhaps Galileans.

7.    John 6:45 cf. Isa 54:13.

end of footnotes

Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.

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God’s will: who will have everlasting life?

What did Jesus say about who will have eternal life? What is God’s will? What authority Jesus has over who gets eternal life?  The answers are as follows.

NKJV Bible John 6 (37-40; 44-47 boldness and italics added to some verses for highlighting purpose)

37“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

38“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

44“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

45“It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.

46“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. (note: Jesus refers to Himself here. Only Jesus has seen God.)

47 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

Best Christmas present from the King

God sent His Christmas present through the preaching of a small church's junior pastor

last Sunday. He was following his routine sermon series throughout the season and finally came to the last chapter of Matthew. He decided to complete the series so he could get on to another book next year. But it turned out to be the best present this year. As he preached the truth about the resurrection of Jesus this watchman opened the Bible to 1 Corinthians 15 which declares clearly what a Christian could best receive as a Christian. What makes a Christian different from others? What is the only good gift that we receive that others will not until he or she receives the Son of God, Jesus as Savior and Lord? Yes, the Power that raised Christ from the dead, the same Power gives life to our mortal body. Yes, Salvation from Jesus means living His super abundant Life (John 10:10) on earth and Resurrection (John 3:16; 11:25-26) to be with God after death of the mortal body!

Romans 8:11 (The resurrection power God gives through the Holy Spirit to those who believe)

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Ephesians 1:19-23 (NKJV) (Paul's prayer for us to know this:)

¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ²⁰ which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
²² And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 Corinthians 15 New International Version (NIV) (quoted in parts; boldness added)

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance^[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas,^[b] and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born... ¹¹ Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, ... ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he “has put everything under his feet.”^[c] Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

²⁹ Now if there is no resurrection, ...what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”^[d]

³³ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”^{[e] 34} Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

³⁵ But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” ³⁶ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body...
⁴² So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.... ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we^[g] bear the image of the heavenly man.
⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable...⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”^[h]

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”^[i]

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Footnotes:

1. 1 Corinthians 15:3 Or you at the first
2. 1 Corinthians 15:5 That is, Peter
3. 1 Corinthians 15:27 Psalm 8:6
4. 1 Corinthians 15:32 Isaiah 22:13
5. 1 Corinthians 15:33 From the Greek poet Menander
6. 1 Corinthians 15:45 Gen. 2:7
7. 1 Corinthians 15:49 Some early manuscripts so let us
8. 1 Corinthians 15:54 Isaiah 25:8
9. 1 Corinthians 15:55 Hosea 13:14

Receive the Holy Spirit today!

Notes from this blogger: Lately I was convicted in my spirit to listen more on the salvation and grace and faith messages, all Holy Spirit -filled and inspired messages. One of the series is "The positive ministry of the Holy Spirit" (You can watch or listen to the teaching at the following websites: http://www.awmi.net/tv/2006/week40 ; http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1020 )
_______________________
Here is the teaching on how to receiving the Holy Spirit: 
 Receive the Holy Spirit (from Andrew Wommack)
 As His child, your loving heavenly Father wants to give you the supernatural power you need to live this new life.

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened... If ye...know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
LUKE 11:10,13

All you have to do is ask, believe, and receive! Pray, Father, I recognize my need for Your power to live this new life. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. By faith, I receive Him right now! Thank You for baptizing me. Holy Spirit, You are welcome in my life.
Congratulations! Now you’re filled with God’s supernatural power. Some syllables from a language you don’t recognize will rise up from your heart to your mouth. (See 1 Cor. 14:14.) As you speak them out loud by faith, you’re releasing God’s power from within and building yourself up in the Spirit. (See v. 4.) You can do this whenever and wherever you like.
It doesn’t really matter whether you felt anything or not when you prayed to receive the Lord and His Spirit. If you believed in your heart that you received, then God’s Word promises you did. “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). God always honors His Word; believe it!
WATCH THIS:
 http://s3.awmi.net/vod/live/special/hs_altar_call.html?iframe=true&width=415&height=340
AND LISTEN TO THIS: http://www.awmi.net/radio/this_week

Eternal Life / The True Nature Of God

Entire Week (RealAudio)
August 26th - August 30th

END TIMES WITNESSING: A CRUCIFIED LIFE

The watchman was led to read old but solid Biblical foundation salvation teaching. He urges all readers to go through this text with a prayerful and obedient heart to Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord. You will be blessed. He prays that those who have strayed to the broad and perishing way and wide gate will be brought back to the true path and narrow gate through Jesus to eternal life.

_________________________________

Crucified Life

by Watchman Nee
You believe in the death of the Lord Jesus and you believe in the death of the thieves with Him. Now what about your own death? Your crucifixion is more intimate than theirs. They were crucified at the same time as the Lord but on different crosses, whereas you were crucified on the selfsame cross as He, for you were in Him when He died.



How can you know? You can know for the one sufficient reason that God said so. It does not depend on your feelings. If you feel that Christ has died, He has died; and if you do not feel that He has died, He had died. If you feel that you have died, you have died; and if you do not feel that you have died, you have nevertheless just as surely died. These are divine facts. That Christ has died is a fact, that the two thieves have died is a fact, and that you have died is a fact also. Let me tell you, You have died! You are done with! You are ruled out! The self you loathe is on the Cross of Christ. And “he that is dead is freed from sin” (Romans 6:7 Amplified). This is the Gospel for Christians.

Our crucifixion can never be made effective by will or by effort, but only by accepting what the Lord Jesus did on the Cross. Our eyes must be opened to see the finished work of Calvary. Some of you, prior to your salvation, may have tried to save yourselves. You read the Bible, prayed, went to church, gave alms. Then one day your eyes were opened and you saw that a full salvation had already been provided for you on the Cross. You just accepted that and thanked God, and peace and joy flowed into your heart.

And now the good news is that sanctification is made possible for you on exactly the same basis as that initial salvation. You are offered deliverance from sin as no less a gift of God’s grace than was the forgiveness of sins. For God’s way of deliverance is altogether different from man’s way. Man’s way is to try to suppress sin by seeking to overcome it; God’s way is to remove the sinner. Many Christians mourn over their weakness, thinking that if only they were stronger all would be well. . . If we are preoccupied with the power of sin and with our inability to meet it, then we naturally conclude that to gain the victory over sin we must have more power. . .

But this is altogether a fallacy; it is not Christianity. God’s means of delivering us from sin is not by making us stronger and stronger, but by making us weaker and weaker. That is surely rather a peculiar way of victory, you say; but it is the divine way. God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything, but by removing him from the scene of action. For years, maybe, you have tried fruitlessly to exercise control over yourself, and perhaps this is still your experience; but when once you see the truth you will recognize that you are indeed powerless to do anything, but that in setting you aside altogether God has done it all. Such discovery brings human striving and self-effort to an end (The Normal Christian Life, pp. 35-37).

Separation to God, separation from the world, is the first principle of Christian living. John, in his revelation of Jesus Christ, was shown two irreconcilable extremes, two worlds that morally were poles apart. He was first carried away in the Spirit into a wilderness to see Babylon, mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth (17:3). Then he was carried in the same Spirit to a great and high mountain, from whence to view Jerusalem, the bride, the Lamb’s wife (21:10). The contrast is clear and could hardly be more explicitly stated.

Whether we be a Moses or a Balaam, in order to have God’s view of things we must be taken like John to a mountain top. Many cannot see God’s eternal plan, or if they see it they understand it only as dry-as-dust doctrine, but they are content to stay on the plains. For understanding never moves us; only revelation does that. From the wilderness we may see something of Babylon, but we need spiritual revelation to see God’s new Jerusalem. Once see it, and we shall never be the same again. As Christians therefore we bank everything on that opening of the eyes, but to experience it we must be prepared to forsake the common levels and climb.

The harlot Babylon is always “the great city” (16:19, etc.) with the emphasis on her attainment of greatness. The bride Jerusalem is by contrast “the holy city” (21:2, 10) with the accent correspondingly on her separation to God. She is “from God,” and is prepared “for her husband.” For this reason she possesses the glory of God. This is a matter of experience for us all. Holiness in us is what is of God, what is wholly set apart to Christ. It follows the rule that only what originated in heaven returns there; for nothing else is holy. Let go this principle of holiness and we are instantly in Babylon.

Thus it comes about that the wall is the first feature John mentions in his description of the city itself. There are gates, making provision for the goings of God, but the wall takes precedence. For, I repeat, separation is the first principle of Christian living. If God wants his city with its measurements and its glory in that day, then we must build that wall in human hearts now. This means in practice that we must guard as precious all that is of God and refuse and reject all that is of Babylon. I do not imply by this a separation between Christians. We dare not exclude our brethren themselves, even when we cannot take part in some of the things they do. No, we must love and receive our fellow Christians, but be uncompromising in our separation from the world in principle.

Nehemiah in his day succeeded in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, but only in the face of great opposition. For Satan hates distinctiveness. Separation of men to God he cannot abide. Nehemiah and his colleagues armed themselves therefore, and thus equipped for war they laid stone to stone. This is the price of holiness we must be prepared for.

For build we certainly must. Eden was a garden without artificial wall to keep foes out; so that Satan had entry. God intended that Adam and Eve should “guard it” (Gen. 2:15) by themselves constituting a moral barrier to him. Today, through Christ, God plans in the heart of his redeemed people an Eden to which, in triumphant fact, Satan will at last have no moral access whatever. “There shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie; but only they which are in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Most of us would agree that to the apostle Paul was given a special revelation of the Church of God. In a similar way we feel that God gave to John a special understanding of the nature of the world. Kosmos is in fact peculiarly John’s word. The other Gospels use it only fifteen times (Matthew nine, Mark and Luke three each) while Paul has it forty-seven times in eight letters. But John uses it 105 times in all, seventy-eight in his Gospel, twenty-four in his epistles and a further three in the Revelation.

In his first epistle John writes: “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (2:16). In these words that so clearly reflect the temptation of Eve (Gen. 3:6) John defines the things of the world. All that can be included under lust or primitive desire, all that excites greedy ambition, and all that arouses in us the pride or glamor of life, all such things are part of the Satanic system. Perhaps we scarcely need stay here to consider further the first two of these, but let us look for a moment at the third. Everything that stirs pride in us is of the world. Prominence, wealth, achievement, these the world acclaim. Men are justly proud of success. Yet John labels all that brings this sense of success as “of the world.”

Every success therefore that we experience (and I am not suggesting that we should be failures!) calls in us for an instant, humble confession of its inherent sinfulness, for whenever we meet success we have in some degree touched the world system. Whenever we sense complacency over some achievement we may know at once that we have touched the world. We may know, too, that we have brought ourselves under the judgment of God, for have we not already agreed that the whole world is under judgment? Now (and let us try to grasp this fact) those who realize this and confess their need are thereby safeguarded. But the trouble is, how many of us are aware of it? Even those of us who live our lives in the seclusion of our own private homes are just as prone to fall a prey to the pride of life as those who have great public successes.

A woman in a humble kitchen can touch the world and its complacency even while cooking the daily meal or entertaining guests. Every glory that is not glory to God is vainglory, and it is amazing what paltry successes can produce vainglory. Wherever we meet pride we meet the world, and there is an immediate leakage in our fellowship with God. Oh that God would open our eyes to see clearly what the world is! Not only evil things, but all those things that draw us ever so gently away from God, are units of that system that is antagonistic to him. Satisfaction in the achievement of some legitimate piece of work has the power to come instantly between us and God himself. For if it is the pride of life and not the praise of God that it awakens in us, we can know for certain that we have touched the world. There is thus a constant need for us to watch and pray if we are to maintain our communion with God unsullied.

What then is the way of escape from this snare which the Devil has set to catch God’s people? First let me say emphatically that it is not to be found by our running away. Many think we can escape the world by seeking to abstain from the things of the world. That is folly. How could we ever escape the world system by using what, after all, are little more than worldly methods? Let me remind you of Jesus’ words in Matt. 11:18, 19. “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He hath a devil.’ The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a winebidder, a friend of publicans and sinners!’ “ Some think that John the Baptist here offers us a recipe for escape from the world, but “neither eating nor drinking” is not Christianity. Christ came both eating and drinking, and that is Christianity! The apostle Paul speaks of “the elements of the world,” and he defines these as, “handle not, nor taste, nor touch” (Col. 2:20, 21).

So abstinence is merely worldly and no more, and what hope is there, by using worldly elements, of escaping the world system? Yet how many earnest Christians are forsaking all sorts of worldly pleasures in the hope thereby of being delivered out of the world! You can build yourself a hermit’s hut in some remote spot and think to escape the world by retiring there, but the world will follow you even as far as that. It will dog your footsteps and find you out no matter where you hide.

Our deliverance from the world begins, not with our giving up this or that but with our seeing, as with God’s eyes, that it is a world under sentence of death as in the figure with which we opened this chapter, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” (Rev. 18:2). Now a sentence of death is always passed, not on the dead but on the living. And in one sense the world is a living force today, relentlessly pursuing and seeking out its subjects. But while it is true that when sentence is pronounced death lies still in the future, it is nevertheless certain. A person under sentence of death has no future beyond the confines of a condemned cell. Likewise the world, being under sentence, has no future.

The world system has not yet been “wound up,” as we say, and terminated by God, but the winding up is a settled matter. It makes all the difference to us that we see this. Some folk seek deliverance from the world in asceticism, and like the Baptist, neither eat nor drink. That today is Buddhism, not Christianity. As Christians we both eat and drink, but we do so in the realization that eating and drinking belong to the world and, with it, are under the death sentence, so they have no grip upon us. Let us suppose that the municipal authorities of Shanghai should decree that the school where you are employed must be closed. As soon as you hear this news you realize there is no future for you in that school. You go on working there for a period, but you do not build up anything for the future there. Your attitude to the school changes the instant you hear it must close down. Or to use another illustration, suppose the government decides to close a certain bank. Will you hasten to deposit in it a large sum of money in order to save the bank from collapse? No, not a cent more do you pay into it once you hear it has no future. You put nothing in because you expect nothing from it.

And we may justly say of the world that it is under a decree of closure. Babylon fell when her champions made war with the Lamb, and when by his death and resurrection he overcame them, who is Lord of lords and King of kings (Rev. 17:14). There is no future for her.

A revelation of the Cross of Christ involves for us the discovery of this fact, that through it everything belonging to the world is under sentence of death. We still go on living in the world and using the things of the world, but we can build no future with them, for the Cross has shattered all our hope in them. The Cross of our Lord Jesus, we may truly say, has ruined our prospects in the world; we have nothing to live for there.

There is no true way of salvation from the world that does not start from such a revelation. We need only try to escape the world by running away from it to discover how much we love it, and how much it loves us. We may flee where we will to avoid it, but it will assuredly track us down. But we inevitably lose all interest in the world, and it loses its grip on us, as soon as it dawns upon us that the world is doomed. To see that is to be automatically severed from Satan’s entire economy.

At the end of his letter to the Galatians Paul states this very clearly. “Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (6:14). Have you noticed something striking about this verse? In relation to the world it speaks of the two aspects of the work of the Cross already hinted at in our last chapter. “I have been crucified unto the world” is a statement which we find fairly easy to fit into our understanding of being crucified with Christ as defined in such passages as Romans 6. But here it specifically says too that “the world has been crucified to me.” When God comes to you and me with the revelation of the finished work of Christ, he not only shows us ourselves there on the Cross. He shows us our world there too. If you and I cannot escape the judgment of the Cross, then neither can the world escape the judgment of the Cross. Have I really seen this? That is the question. When I see it, then I do not try to repudiate a world I love; I see that the Cross has repudiated it. I do not try to escape a world that clings to me; I see that by the Cross I have escaped.


Like so much else in the Christian life, the way of deliverance out of the world comes as a surprise to most of us, for it is so at odds with all man’s natural concepts. Man seeks to solve the problem of the world by removing himself physically from what he regards as the danger zone. But physical separation does not bring about spiritual separation; and the reverse is also true, that physical contact with the world does not necessitate spiritual capture by the world. Spiritual bondage to the world is a fruit of spiritual blindness, and deliverance is the outcome of having our eyes opened. However close our touch with the world may be outwardly, we are released from its power when we truly see its nature. The essential character of the world is Satanic; it is at enmity with God. To see this is to find deliverance.

Let me ask you: What is your occupation? A merchant? A doctor? Do not run away from these callings. Simply write down: Trade is under the sentence of death. Write: Medicine is under the sentence of death. If you do that in truth, life will be changed for you hereafter. In the midst of a world under judgment for its hostility to God you will know what it is to live as one who truly loves and fears him.

End Times Witnessing: “Do not scoff at spiritual matters!”

Today’s verse is on Jude 1. The passage is the entire Book of Jude. The watchman urges you to read and take heed today the importance to know and understand the spiritual realm is real.

Ponder and meditate on this truth: God is real, angels are real (good ones who minister to God and to believers; and bad ones-devil), heaven and hell are real, rewards and judgments are real. Prayers are real. Spiritual wars are real. The attacks by spiritual beings (devils) causing sickness on your bodies, minds and emotions are real. Eternal life and eternal death (by being forever separated from God) are real!


_______________________The watchman’s comment is at the end of the passage.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Jude 1
Greetings from Jude
1This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.
I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.
2May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.

The Danger of False Teachers
3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. 6 And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. 7And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

8 In the same way, these people—who claim authority from their dreams—live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. 9 But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) 10 But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction. 11What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion.

12 When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. 13They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.

14 Enoch, who lived in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, “Listen! The Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones 15to execute judgment on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

16These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.

A Call to Remain Faithful
17 But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ said. 18 They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. 19These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.

20 But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, 21and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.

22 And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others,but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.

A Prayer of Praise

24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.
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Watchman’s comments: “They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.”

The reason why a group of ‘church members’ who even take part in Holy Communion with the believers of Jesus Christ, and yet live the life of the un-believers, is because they do not have the Holy Spirit in them.

They are not born again by the Spirit of God. It is natrural for them to be guided by their natural instincts and desires. It is natural for them to scoff at spiritual and supernatural things.

But these people will perish if they do not repent and turn back to worship the true God in Spirit and in Truth.

O, church goers, laugh no more of the spiritual matters. The Lord hears and sees you… (Even the devil and his demons see and hear you too, scoffers).

End Times Witnessing: how a young man described his diseased dad

On the previous night the watchman attended a wake night service for a solitary man who passed away for three days in his bathroom without being known. The estranged wife who took away their daughter could not be found for over a year. The only son came home after receiving the news was on his own to bear the whole burden of the funeral. He is a young man in his early twenties, newly graduated and found a job in a distant town. He was asked to say something about his dad and he spoke about three lines, “A traditional man who did not know how to express his love for his family. But he did help out (monetarily) whenever I needed. We never knew how precious he was until we have lost him. That was my dad.” (The service leader later consoled that because the man who passed away was a believer of Christ, and we are brethren in Christ, we will see him in heaven one day.)

Indeed, the silent demise of a lonely man makes the watchman ponder again on how to ensure one will be with Jesus when one leaves this lonely world, desolate and forsaken.
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Today’s verse for the watchman relates to an earlier discourse with the class on Sunday. The class read verses on the kingdom of light as against the kingdom of darkness. Then they went on to read about the need to be born again by Spirit and water to see and enter the kingdom of God. The questions of who will see and enter and how to see and enter are of utmost importance at this end time.

When the watchman rose to intercede this morning he was led to read and pray on the following passages. He read the whole chapter five. However, he included only the verses on how to be born again and have eternal life.

1 John 5 (NKJV)

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

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Summary on how to be born again and who they become:

1.Believe that Jesus is the Christ.

2.Believe in the name of the Son of God.

3.Overcome the world, by faith.

4.Keep God’s commandments: love God and love His children.

5.Receive the Son of God (Jesus Christ) Who is Eternal Life.

6.Believe in the testimony given by: three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit

7.Believe in the testimony given by: three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water (see comment below), and the blood.

8.Knowing the above testimonies is essential for a believer in Christ: the trinity God (Father-Son/Word-Holy Spirit), the Holy Spirit in believer, the daily washing of the water/word of God, and the blood of the Lamb of God (Jesus’ redemption/full salvation of us on the cross).

The watchman’s comment: the word ‘water’ signifies the word of God. He is reminded of the verse in Eph.5:25, wherein the Holy Spirit reminded husbands to love their wives,

“just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,”

He is also reminded of the deep cleansing by the word of God during the Water Gate Revival that happened in Jerusalem as excerpted below.

In Nehemiah 8, “all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses; And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.”
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The watchman comments: Have you ever wept when you hear the word of God? He remembered when he was a very young man he wept for weeks when he read the Gospel of John, as led by the Holy Spirit. Why did he weep? He was deeply touched by the Father's love!
The words became life and Spirit to him for the first time in his life. He then began a journey to seek God and encounter Him in many ways. His life was transformed when God met with him…

End Times Witnessing: How another religious leader and teacher missed entrance to heaven

He was a learned and experienced teacher of Moses’ Law. He was a religious and well respected prestigious member of the Jewish council. But he humbled himself and came to Jesus one night and talked to Jesus. He wanted the power of God that Jesus has which he did not have. He had been teaching for many years but he had no power to perform any miraculous signs to prove his teachings are from God.

Here is the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus on that crucial encounter.

Nicodemus: “Rabbi (teacher),” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

He believes in the signs and miracles and agrees that they are evidence that God is working with Jesus. He is attracted to the supernatural physical evidence of power from God. He thinks that Jesus can teach him how to have such power.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus goes straight to the point. The miraculous signs are for a specific purpose. They mean that the kingdom of God is here and now in front of Nicodemus’ eyes. But Jesus knows that Nicodemus cannot see the spiritual realm. He cannot see God (Jesus) who is in front of him!

Nicodemus: 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

Indeed, Nicodemus is puzzled. From his human knowledge he tries to imagine himself an old man trying to go through his mother’s womb and that is impossible! When Jesus talks about the spiritual position he just cannot comprehend. He has seen miraculous signs but he does not see the spiritual reality (the God) behind the signs. But he is a committed teacher so he further asks what Jesus has meant.

Then Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

Jesus respects this seeker of supernatural knowledge, so he points out that spiritual truth is not comprehensible to the physical mind. He also tells him that a human has to become spiritual to enter the kingdom of God. Unless the human mind is regenerated, he cannot become spiritual.

Nicodemus: 9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

Poor Nicodemus just cannot comprehend. He is more confused. He is still thinking in the physical human natural realm.

10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.


Jesus knows that Nicodemus’ problem is his unbelief. The miraculous signs that Jesus has performed are for the benefits of the human eyes and minds (earthly things) to show that God (Jesus the Messiah) is here and now. But Nicodemus cannot even believe or understand such simple matters. So how can Jesus tell him further about the glorious heavenly things above? Jesus knows Nicodemus is just fascinated by signs and wonders and the power He displays! Nicodemus is not interested in knowing the true God. But Jesus has come to show the world the true God!

The natural human mind cannot comprehend spiritual matters but all he needs to do is to believe in Jesus. Once he believes and accepts that Jesus has come from heaven and is God Himself, he can become born again by the Holy Spirit. He will then be able to see and enter the kingdom of God. Once he is in the kingdom he can understand what Jesus says about the heavenly things. Jesus not only has the power to perform miracles, he can give life, eternal life! When a person believes that Jesus is God, he will receive eternal life. *

However, as long as Nicodemus remains in the unbelieving physical mode, he cannot see heaven and he cannot enter heaven (i.e. the presence of God)!

*Eternal life is to “know God, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” (John 17:3)

---------------------------Bible Verses
John 3:1-15

1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see theKingdom ofGod.”


4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[b] 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.[c] 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[e] has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[f]

1.John 3:3 Or born from above; also in 3:7.

2.John 3:5 Or and spirit. The Greek word for Spirit can also be translated wind; see 3:8.

3.John 3:6 Greek what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

4.John 3:7 The Greek word for you is plural; also in 3:12.

5.John 3:13 Some manuscripts add who lives in heaven. “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.

6.John 3:15 Or everyone who believes will have eternal life in him.