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7 Things That Jesus Makes Possible

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A couple days ago, we listed seven universal problems that only Jesus can solve.

Today, I want to offer seven biblical ways that he solves these problems:

The problem: We are separated from God
Jesus’ solution: We are reconciled to God through the forgiveness of sins.

“God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
(Acts 5:31)

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation”
(2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
(Ephesians 4:32)

The problem: We are spiritually dead in sin.
Jesus’ solution: We are born again and made new.

“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'”
(John 3:3)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
(1 Peter 1:3)

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”
(1 John 5:1)

The problem: We are enemies of God.
Jesus’ solution: We are made members of God’s family.

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”
(John 1:12)

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
(Romans 8:15-17)

“he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”
(Ephesians 1:5)

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
(1 John 3:1-2)

The problem: We are slaves to sin.
Jesus’ solution: We are freed from sin and empowered to change and mature into Jesus’ image.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
(John 3:16)

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
(Romans 6:22)

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
(Romans 8:2)

The problem: We are unable to understand anything about God.
Jesus’ solution: We are given new minds with the ability to understand the things of God.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
(John 14:26)

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
(John 16:13-15)

“But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’– these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”
(1 Corinthians 2:9-13)

The problem: We are unable to live for God’s pleasure.
Jesus’ solution: Makes us a new person with the ability to live for God’s pleasure.

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,”
(Colossians 1:9-11)

“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”
(1 Thessalonians 2:13)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

Comments

  1. So true that our Savior, Jesus Christ, makes all these things possible. For a long time, I had trouble with understanding why it takes so long for the “new creature” to manifest. I want to bear the fruit of the Spirit consistently and it’s HARD work. What helps me now is knowing that while I have a hand in the matter, knowing that Jesus is the one doing the transformation, gives me more peace. It can take an apple tree years to bear it’s first apple so, I presume it will take years for me to bear fruit as well.

    • Sonia, you’re awesome. I totally sympathize with the impatience we as sons and daughters experience when it comes to sanctification. It seems like a long, grueling process.

      Something that has helped me in my growth is realizing that it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). The more we intentionally dwell on His love for us, the more we mature in our love for Him, which leads to us becoming better stewards of obedience out of sheer affection for our Creator. I’ve realized that everything always comes back to Him. He changes us through his wealth of mercy, forgiveness and love in ways that personal behavior modification can never come close to.

      He loves and adores you, Sonia. Walk with freedom and boldness; you’re an incredible creation in Christ.

    • Hallelujah

      Praise God for His Word – we are made alive by the words of Jesus Christ John 6:63 Our life is won by His blood. As it is written the “Life of a creature is in its blood”

      Sonia stand in His promises in faith and He who is faithful and true – because He cannot deny Himself, that ‘True Vine’ Jesus Christ, will enable you to bear fruit in the season He appoints. Psalms 1:1-3

      Blessings in our God and Saviour Jesus Christ
      Mark H NZ.

    • Sonia, I can relate. My Pastor makes the point that we don’t want to be yanking our process in the Lord’s Salvation by ‘putting fruit’ on a tree that is not naturally producing. How grateful I am for Christ’s High Priestly Ministry to myself in Abiding in Him. Galatians 5:22, 23. Dave C.

    • Sonia, As Mark says, YIELD and KNOW you will bear fruit as being of the Vine of Christ it is written you will in the season He chooses…I can tell you from experience I am sure you are already yielding where His light is the darkness is no more !!!

      Seek His purpose and plan and let Him lead you on daily field trips for His Glory and Kingdom 🙂

      It’s a Blast !!

      Be Blessed and Know You are Loved
      Donna

  2. Psssttt! Oh Chris…you’re changing the wording around. I’m not fussing but it makes me a little nervous. Are you using another translation like NLT or something?

    “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
    (Romans 6:22)
    Rom 6:22 NKJV – 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

    “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
    (Romans 8:2)
    Rom 8:2 NKJV – 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

    I know that’s a criticism and I’m sorry. It’s a wonderful beautiful post and wonderful lesson but I just can’t help it. God’s word is holy. Teaching is great but changing God’s word I get VERY uneasy about if it’s not very openly stated that the wording has been changed.

    • Tess,

      Tess I agree with you, not good to change or what I call PI, private Interpreting. But are you sure about your reproof here? How is Chris wrong and how are you right, what Greek or scripture build up do you have to rightly divide the truth. Not saying Chris is wrong, but what do you have?

      Jim
      Let’s keep it real

  3. I believe that 2 Tim.2:15, advocates correctly dividing the word of truth, this is required to being approved by God.
    Our discernment of scripture is critical to giving guidance to believers and to non-believers.
    We must look carefully @ the scriptures in Rev.chap’s 2 & 3, which shows that there were Churches in the new testament, that were given good and bad evaluations, by the Holy scripture. It should be clear to the student that of the 7 churches all but 1 had serious problems, and their candle sticks were removed. The church @ Sardis was already DEAD,except in name only, but there were some still clothed in white.
    The messages above do not provide advice that Salvation is conditional, therefore readers could be misinformed, and mislead.
    May all who make comments in the Blue Letter Bible, be very careful to make sure that comments made do not mislead readers.

    Daniel Paul Hitt

  4. I LOVED Chris’ post so I won’t say I have a reproof. I couldn’t find what translation he was using though. It may be a, “what you call PI” I’m not sure. If it is it’s perfectly within his right to do that. I just noticed it and it caused me concern is all.

    I wasn’t expecting it till I noticed it and then I kinda had a two fer job. Soak in the wonderful message and go make sure that’s what the bible really says and means. Is it? That’s up for the reader to decide but you won’t just know unless something catches your eye and you hoover over the text. I think it’s a legit thing to point out.

    One of the things I think we ALL must do is Act 17:11.

  5. One more thing. Every one of these has quotations surrounding it. What’s the definition of a quote? It is present to indicate exact wording by whomever is being quoted.

    • I do agree with you Tess. Thanks for pointing that out. A small point, but an important one. If you change the wording of a scripture, it does change the meaning, however subtly. Maybe it is from another translation, but we’re not told that.

      Helen

  6. I’ll take a ride on the general subject of Tess’s string.
    And remember all – I’m only discussing the “translation” of the verses in an effort to get to truth of the “good news” for all to see.

    Hbr 9:15-18 KJV – Without going from the English to the Latin, then the Greek, then the Hebrew. Just go to the English dictionary of your choosing and study the words “testament”, “covenant” (not used in KJV but used in other translation and the true meaning of the Hebrew word “brit”), “mediator”, “testator”, “death” and “blood”. I’ve lead you a little, but conduct an exercise and study how these “English” words fit together in concept and context based on what the English dictionaries have to say about the culture we live in.

    My take on it, the use of the English word “testament” is a poor translation of the Hebrew “brit” resulting in very erroneous theology. Those of you who know me can guess what that theology is.

    J.

    • Jerry~

      I’m not responding to your post. I’m just wondering if my comments are being posted. Without going into detail, will you respond if you can read this? Thanks.

      Barbara

    • No responses…

      What if I wrote – The titles “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are not only erroneous because of what I write above, but the dividing of the scriptures because of this error into two books is not the proper way to “divide the WOG”, (small joke there, a play on words to keep the discussion light) and should not have happened.

      J.

  7. I would agree Jerry. The best description I’ve heard is that the New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed and the New Testament is in the Old Testament revealed. A whole counsel of God perspective is very key.

    Translations, culture, languages, context, topical study and expositional study, symbolism, the study of the different types of rhetorical devises (there are over 200 in the bible) all designed by the Holy Spirit to lead us closer and closer to Him in our daily walk. And I would submit that the Holy Spirit guides every believer into the revelation of truth that believer needs at that moment.

    We’ve had 2000 years to study the Word of God. Millions of words have been written in an attempt to illuminate what the Bible says but each person is lead personally to each revelation by the Holy Spirit.

    I used to think 2 Peter 1:20 meant that you could not read the bible and come to your own conclusion about what it says. That’s wrong! You have to read that verse in the context in which it is written.

    You/We/I need to read all of 2 Peter 1:10-21 and 2 Peter 2:1-22 to understand 2 Peter 1:10-11. Many a church has stated that a believer cannot understand the bible on his own. That is false. The veil was torn in half when Jesus died and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. Believers don’t need the RCC and the pope to tell them what they are to believe. JW don’t need Joseph Smith, you can’t just take your favorite pastors word for it. It’s your personal relationship with God and your willingness to seek HIS face and know HIM not know your particular religious system.

    OK, now I’m SURE I’ve given you loads to mull over. 🙂

    • Tess~

      It’s Charles Taze Russell for JW. Joseph Smith was LDS.

      Barbara

  8. This may help,

    The old testament and the New Testament relationship.

    Gen through Mal. and the 4 gospels are with the old testament

    Acts then in and New Testament in action

    Rom. through Thess. is considered the 7 church epistles written to you and for you. And these books are Acts in operation.

    But anyway–4 gospels are or should be in the old testament–which the Christ administration is a transition to the new.

    We have to ask the question why Old or why new? What’s new, it’s still the same God–why new?

    Because the new testament starts with the new creature with in each other, new man, holy spirit with in, Christ in you–the new birth, now after the day of Pentecost–it’s available to be born again which leads to the “new man” .

    So anyway this is what separates the old and new.

    Jim

    • Jim,

      Thought I can appreciate your attempt to explain old and new. My question was about the word “testament” as in “last will and testament”. Also my question was rhetorical, which means I already know the answer and was trying to lead somebody into a discussion about the topic and the LORD brought you.

      Hbr 9:15-18 KJV – uses the English word “testament” that is translated from the Latin word “testamentum” (this is where the error occurs) that was mistakenly used as the translation for the Greek word “diatheke” (found in the Septuagint, a “Jewish Greek” translation of the Hebrew Tanak) that is used for the translation of the Hebrew word “brit”. The Hebrew word “b’rit” or bĕriyth is normally translated to English as “covenant”, whew! Look this up in the BLB search engine. Ask yourselves, why the change to “testament” in these verses?

      I attempt to encourage believers in the Hebrew Messiah Yeshua to study what they read to truly understand what they believe and truly know who HE is. This is just one example of errors in the translations, translations, translations of the Bible, not the Bible itself. The word “testament” is a good example because its error is broad and reaching in the problematic theology it presents i.e. the division of the WOG into two books for two people groups.

      Jim, the “new” and “old” are referencing the “new covenant” Jer 31:31-34 HNV Yĕhovah made with Israel and “old covenant” Exd 24:8 HNV Yĕhovah made with Israel. Nothing more, nothing less.

      J.

      • Thank you Tess, it’s very pleasant of you to say so… (now comes the but), but what I write is much more than good points to be tallied in my plus column or for shock value or to impress or for money. The implications of what I write, if somebody takes the time and energy (and with the www there is no excuse) to follow the path they point towards undermine the foundations that Traditional Church Theologies have been constructed upon in my attempt to always point away from those Religious Traditions and Institutions and then towards Yeshua the Hebrew Messiah, nothing more, nothing less. Act 18:5 HNV, Gal 3:14 HNV, 2Cr 3:3 HNV, Eph 1:17 HNV, Phl 1:27 HNV, Phl 3:3 HNV, etc. These are Earth moving words that can be likened to Copernicus’s challenge to the Church, that the Universe (I AM) does not revolve around the Earth (Church) as it may seem apart from those wandering Planets (Jews), but in fact revolves around the Sun (Israel).

        By no means an exhaustive survey, but the lack of discussion, debate, even argument telling me to go away on it makes me at least wonder… and just serves to encourage me (always room to joke);-)

        J.

        • Jim,
          I couldn’t agree more. As a matter of fact while studying the WOG the other day a revelation came to me that most of the time folks will use the WOG to support their particular viewpoint of scripture rather than adjusting their viewpoint to support the word.

          So many times we can go to His word with good intentions, but with a set ideology that prevents the Holy Spirit from revealing His truth to our hearts. Rather we should go to His word with willing hearts. Hearts willing to hear Him and not our idea of Him.

          Unfortunately, man seeks to make God about his religion rather than making his religion about God.

  9. Jim, I did read what you wrote and below are my comments;

    Jim – “The old testament and the New Testament relationship.”
    Jerry – Dump the word “testament” and use “covenant” in its place. From there you’ll find many “covenants” in scripture, so the use of “new / old” does not apply because there are more than two.

    Jim – “Gen through Mal. and the 4 gospels are with the old testament”
    Jerry – I agree with what I understand you to be saying. So, the question remains, why the division into two books? Also, dump the transliterated word “Gospel” for the English words “Good News”.

    Jim – “Acts then in and New Testament in action”
    Jerry – Clever play on words, but “Acts” is a “recorded history of events” and can be argued that it was Luke’s written defense to Theophilos for Paul’s trial before Caesar.

    Jim – “Rom. through Thess. is considered the 7 church epistles written to you and for you. And these books are Acts in operation.”
    Jerry – If we include “Hebrews” there would be eight, but that’s being picky. When studying scripture, start with the understanding of who it is being directly being written to, and then make analogies and applications for Believers in general. This method will reveal much and help steer away from faulty interpretation.

    Jim – “But anyway–4 gospels are or should be in the old testament–which the Christ administration is a transition to the new.”
    Jerry – Dump the word “Christ” and use “Messiah” in its place. Messiah has been administering all of Creation and the Spiritual Realms from before and after our brains can comprehend. He didn’t just start this “new position” at the beginning of the “new book”. Also, what you write is a bit of an insult to HIS office(s) in my opinion.

    Jim – “We have to ask the question why Old or why new? What’s new, it’s still the same God–why new?”
    Jerry – Well you’re correct, why? The Hebrew Messiah is the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), so why two books? Why two people groups, Jews / Christians?

    Jim – “Because the new testament starts with the new creature with in each other, new man, holy spirit with in, Christ in you–the new birth, now after the day of Pentecost–it’s available to be born again which leads to the “new man”.”
    Jerry – You’re a bit spread out here, but what I believe you’re trying to convey can be found in Jer 31:31-34 HNV. Also, if what you said previously “4 gospels are or should be in the old testament” is true, then the question remains, why the word “New”?

    J.