Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The son in whom He is well pleased.








And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”Matthew 3:17

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:26


 Have you ever considered how wonderful a truth it is to be a child of God? There are several Scriptures that reveal we, who believe and have accepted Christ, are now adopted into the Family of God. 

And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. Galatians 3:29
(Being a child of God offers us exceeding great promises and blessings.)

 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. Romans 8:15-16
(We can call on our Father. He has adopted us as His own. We are not orphans or abandoned or alone.)

 With this established foundation take a closer look at a portion of Scripture where Jesus faced the enemy, satan and overcame him.
 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ”
 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the Lord your God
    and serve only him.’”
Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.           Matthew 4:1-11 
Having a solid foundation in faith teaching the obvious truth we focused on was the fact that Jesus withstood the enemy and his lies through standing on the Word and speaking God's Word. Now I am not taking away from that truth.  We do see Christ standing on the everlasting Word of God. It does make satan flee in terror when we know the Word of God and stand firm on it!
 What I want to reveal to you is a point many fail to recognize. What gave Christ the boldness and the confidence to resist the devil? Was it just the fact that He confessed a few passages from the book of Deuteronomy? 
 I submit to you that, that was only a partial truth. I believe the whole truth began at the last portion of Chapter 3 of Matthew. What did the Father tell Jesus? 
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” Matthew 3:17 NLT
Jesus went into the wilderness temptation having just heard this Word from God. In other words, Christ rested in the knowledge that His Father loved Him and was well pleased with Him. 
 When the enemy came tempting Jesus, notice what satan always said. The enemy said, "if you are the son of God...". What didn't satan say? He never used the words the Father spoke over Jesus. The devil never used the words if you are God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased do this or that. Why? Because the devil knows if he reminded Jesus that God loved Him unconditionally, that love would sustain Him during any onslaught he could bring. 
 Even though satan never quoted fully what the Father said Jesus still remembered. In fact, the first line of defense Jesus used against satan's temptation was man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from God. Well, what Word had just proceeded from God to Jesus? That He loved Him and was well pleased with Him. This Word was the foundation for victory in overcoming all the onslaught of satan.
Now we who are God's Children have this same love offered to us. Did you know God is also saying this to you every day? "you are my dearly loved son who brings me great joy". Doesn't this stir you heart more for our Father? 
Some will say that is only for Jesus, not us. Well, Paul didn't think so.  Look at Romans 8 again:
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory...Romans 8:17a                 
We are joint heirs with Christ Jesus. We are cleansed and holy by His blood. God now sees us as His Children. We are the beloved children of God in whom He is well pleased.

When the enemy comes to accuse you. When he comes with lies that you are not going get the victory in your situation. When he comes with a temptation to get you to fall into sin. You remind yourself and the enemy you are God's dear child in whom brings Him great joy! This knowledge of unconditional love we have from God will put us over in every situation we face. Every sin will lose its appeal when we rest in His love for us. When we know we bring Him pleasure and joy what can the enemy offer us that compares? We have complete victory through this love.

Again thanks for taking the time to read. I pray this message has encouraged you and strengthened your walk with the Lord. May God's richest best be yours. Feedback is always welcome and prayerfully consider sharing or signing up via email to receive future posts. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Truth! Thank you so much!
What Jesus did for us was not in any way simple. What we "do" is extremely simple. Believe, what God says!
C

John W Reed said...

Amen. We are His beloved children. Knowing we are loved enables to overcome all obstacles.