Led By The Spirit

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King James Bible Study[Mark 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]

Date: Tuesday, October 04, 2022
Chapters: JOHN 1:15-51, MATTHEW 3-4
Study: Led By The Spirit

Hello My Friend,

[Jesus; Jehovah is salvation. Christ; Anointed, that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus:, Messiah; the anointed one] Jesus, who is God in the flesh, is salvation for everyone who believes that He is the Messiah. It had been told of old that the Messiah would come here in the flesh through the tribe of Judah, but it was Daniel who God had revealed how He would save believers who were not only Jews, but all who believe in and receive Him as their Saviour.

[Daniel 9:25-27  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  26  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.]

Of course, this is all relating to the week leading up to His crucifixion and death as well as His resurrection that would end the need for animal sacrifices that never took away sin, only made a temporary fix, [Hebrews 9:11-12  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;  12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.]

As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, we learn of John the baptist and what he was doing while Jesus was growing up and getting prepared for His ministry. People do not realize it, but Jesus lived as an ordinary man for thirty years, and yet remained sinless. You can get an understanding of how He lived His life and why many did believe Him to be the son of Joseph rather than the Son of God. I decided to retract a little bit and reread the first part of John’s testimony of John, the baptist.

[John 1:6-9,11-13,17  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  7  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.  8  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  9  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world  11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.  12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.]

[but was sent to bear witness of that Light.] Keep in mind that according to the flesh, John was born in six months earlier than Jesus, and even though they were cousins, they never met until Jesus came to him to be baptized. This was probably due to the fact that John grew up in Jerusalem since his father was a Levite priest and Jesus grew up in Nazareth, which was about eighty-five miles away, and as we learned from yesterday’s reading they only went to Jerusalem once a year for Passover and it took some time to get there. The other reason being is that he was sent to be the forerunner to Jesus coming, [Isaiah 40:3-5  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  4  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:  5  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.]

[and his own received him not.] Jesus, again, according to the flesh, Jesus, was born of the Jews, but He was not received by them at all. Remember also, there are different forms of Jews (those of the children of Israel and those of the religion). Remember also, that they were divided still, the only ones who really followed the Law would be those of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. By the time that Jesus would come here in the flesh, the Jews were pretty much traditionalist of their made up Jewish religion, [Mark 7:7-8  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.  8  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.]

John, himself told everyone that he is the one that was sent to bear witness of the Light. That did not stop the religious nuts from wanting to know who he was, and where he got his information from, John 1:19-24  And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?  20  And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.  21  And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.  22  Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?  23  He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. 24  And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.]

[And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.] The Pharisees are who I call the religious nuts, and who Jesus calls out as being traditionalist rather than actually religious. Religion itself is something that we all need to be careful of, we are not to follow tradition or some man made law that pretends to be witnesses for God or Jesus for that matter, and we are to make sure that the doctrine taught is from the Word of God, not some book that someone says they got the Word of God from, [2 John 1:8-11  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.  9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.  10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:  11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.]

Keep in mind that when John baptized the people before Christ’s passion, it was in the same manner that we get baptized, a public profession of our faith in God. When the people came to John to be baptized, they believed that Christ was coming to save them, they also repented of their sins, and trusted that when the Messiah did come, they would be saved, and not by any tradition. Believers, came from all over to be baptized by John, and the Pharisees, and another religious cult, called the Sadducees were not too happy about that at all. Watch how John responds to them as they question him.

[Matthew 3:5-9,11-12  Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,  6  And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.  7  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:  9  And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 11  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:  12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.]

[We have Abraham to our father:] John, is telling them not to think that just because they are the promised seed of Abraham that they will automatically be saved from hell. Many Jews still believe today, this is false, the only people in heaven that never needed to be saved are babies, young children, and those born with severe mental disabilities who never got a chance at life. The second that we understand and admit that we are sinners, that is when we will be held accountable, and God knows who we are and what we are capable of, [Romans 14:11-12  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.  12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.]

[he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost,] Do not think for one second that God created anyone out of error or as a punishment for sin. Jesus, said this when the disciples asked Him why a man was born blind, [John 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.] We are all precious to God and created for a purpose, and if we are honest, then we will admit that we all have some kind of infirmity. And do not make the mistake of believing that when Jesus saves us that it is just to save our soul, He saves us from a lot more than hell, but unless we are baptized of the Holy Spirit, then none of that applies. In order for us to understand this, Jesus, Himself came to be baptized by John.

[Matthew 3:13-17  Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.  14  But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?  15  And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.  16  And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:  17  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.]

[and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove,] Can you get a picture of the Holy Spirit coming down from the heavens as a dove and pouring His Spirit upon Jesus? John could, and he testifies that this is what he saw when Jesus came up out of the water, [John 1:32-34  And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.  33  And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.  34  And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.]

[and bare record that this is the Son of God.] We who believe in and receive Christ as our Saviour also bare record that we are sons and daughters of God, [1 John 5:9-12  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.  10  He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.  11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.]

Now, it did not take long before people started following Jesus, the next day, Jesus, met up with John once again, there were two men there who were actually John’s disciples first, one of them being Andrew, as soon as He left, they followed Him. Well, perhaps they expected Him to be living like a king, but what they found was the complete opposite, [John 1:38-42  Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?  39  He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.  40  One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.  41  He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.  42  And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.]

[And he brought him to Jesus.] This is how it works, we who are saved find someone who is lost, or rather, the Holy Spirit leads us to them, we bring them to Jesus by telling them the Gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection, then they believe in and receive Him and start the cycle over again. So, why did Jesus call Simon, who is also Peter, Cephas? Jesus answered that question, [Matthew 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.] Jesus. Would use Peter to build His Church, not a physical church, but the body of Christ, and incidentally, the disciples would become the first members of His Church.

[Colossians 1:18-20,23-24  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.  19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;  20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 23  If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;  24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:]

Jesus, had every intention of going to Galilee, on the way He found more men who were willing to follow Him, along with Andrew and Peter came Philip and Nathanael, [John 1:43-45,47-48  The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.  44  Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  45  Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 47  Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!  48  Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.]

[Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,] Nazareth, was the place where Christ had lived most of His days His days on earth, at this point, Philip was probably unaware of the Scriptures or the fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, just assumes that Joseph was Jesus’ father, as many of them did at the time, including Nathanael.

[Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!] Nathanael, did question if Jesus is the Messiah at first, but all it took was for Jesus to tell him that He saw him for him under a fig tree. Notice that Jesus is referring to him as an Israelite who is not full of deceitful sin. We are all sinners by nature, but that does not mean that we need to exercise that nature, we are all capable of avoiding sin, but those who choose to remain in it are that way because they enjoy the sin more than their relationship with Christ.

[2 Peter 2:12-15  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;  13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;  14  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:  15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;]

I cannot tell you how many saved, born again Christians that I have seen die prematurely because they could not let go of their sin. It is quite sad really, but some people will never learn from the constant warnings that God gives them and that is when God decides that they are best with Him. You know, Satan, may be the one who influences sin, but he has no more power to make us sin than God has to make us not sin. To prove this, Jesus, was led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted of the devil.

[Matthew 4:1-4,11  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.  2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.  3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.  4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.]

[Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted] Two things come to my mind as I read this, one; we who are saved are led by the Holy Spirit sometimes under some strange circumstances. And two; it is not the temptation that gets us into trouble, it is acting on it, [James 1:13-15  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:  14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.]

As soon as He came out of the wilderness He began His ministry and headed straight for Galilee as He intended, where He met back up with Peter and Andrew.

[Matthew 4:17-18,23-25  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  18  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 23  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.  24  And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.  25  And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.]

[And his fame went throughout all Syria:] When Jesus started His ministry He did something that no other prophet, man, or woman of God did before, He went into Gentile cities preaching the same message of repentance. Now, the prophets of old did preach of Jesus coming and judgment, but they did not speak with such authority or knowledge as Jesus did. The nature of true believers is following Jesus, and when they do see Him for who He is they gladly and quickly follow Him, devoting themselves to Him. Most of the Jews denied Jesus as the Messiah, but those who did believe followed Him as fast as their feet could move as well as everyone else who believed.

[John 3:16-19  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.  17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.]

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for bearing the shoes that I would never be worthy enough to fill myself. Thank You, also for lighting Your way to me with the help of some God fearing souls who shone through You. As much as I enjoy being a part of Your ministry, I know I could never do one thing without You, let alone serve You. I want You to be more than my Saviour, I want You to be LORD of my life, which I give solely to You. I want to be the faithful witness that You need me to be so they can follow You as quickly as I did once I learned the truth. Lord, Lead me, and guide me, give me Your strength to walk and talk as You do. Put Your hedge of protection around me, and keep me looking to You myself, and let me not fall into the temptations of the devil as he tries to hinder me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus, Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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