Bob Cassell, Messenger, RFTC
Have you lived a godly life? I will presume to answer the question for you. No, No, and No! This quickly passing world has seen but one truly godly life. To examine that life is to discover true Godliness. When Jesus Christ came into the world He proclaimed, “Lo I come to do thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9). There is no ambiguity in this declarative statement from the Son to the Father. His explicit purpose in coming to this sin cursed world was to do the will of the Father. Any other purpose was secondary to this supreme purpose. He lived for thirty-three (33) years and never deviated once from this amazing purpose.
The will of God the Father was always the first and foremost controlling motive of His perfect life. In a statement to His disciples when asked to eat, He responded, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work” (John 4:34). To the Jews He said, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). Further He said, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me” (John 6:38). In facing the greatest issue of His life and in knowing the horror that He would experience on the cross, He prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). Again, He prayed, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (Matt. 26: 42). In the third prayer the same words were uttered. He was truly facing this supreme test as a man, as true humanity. “Being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).
This firm purpose to do the will of God was never in doubt. Here is the unique God man who never failed once to honor the supreme authority of the will of the living God. This unique and Holy one was God and not a created being. From a human point of view, he might have claimed the right to exercise a will that differed from His Father’s, but he voluntarily chose to be subject to the will of the Father who is the great planner of the salvation He was destined to purchase. What a contrast to the created man (Adam), who desired to become like God and be free to act according to his own independent will.
In total harmony with the declaration that He had come to do the will of God, He perpetually proclaimed that He had been sent by Him. “I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent me” (John 8:42). You may be surprised to find that no less than forty times, in this gospel, reference is made of the fact that the Father had sent Him. Surely this was His authority for all that He said and did. It was also an acknowledgement of His dependence upon the Father.
Even more so, He attributed all His works and words to His Father. When the Jews charged Him with breaking the law by healing the impotent man on the Sabbath, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19). Also, before healing the blind man He said, “I must work the works of Him that sent me” (John 9:4).
At the feast of Tabernacles Jesus declared, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (John 7:16); and further he stated, “I have not spoken of myself: but the Father which sent me, he gave me commandment, which I should say, and what I should speak” (John 12:49).
Jesus was perpetually conscious of the fact that it was not His own personal life that was being expressed by Him, but it was from the very life of the Father. He proclaimed, “I live by the Father” (John 6:57).
His dependence upon God the Father may be observed in the frequency and intensity with which He prayed. He prayed when He was baptized by John (Luke 3:21). Before choosing His twelve disciples, He “went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer” (Luke 6:12). After the intervention of a miracle, He prayed. Also, after the healing of multitudes, “he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16). After healing and driving out devils in Capernaum he prayed, “rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed” (Mark 1:35). Subsequent to feeding “five thousand men, beside women and children,” “He went up into a mountain apart to pray” (Matthew 14:21, 23).
After foretelling Peter’s denial of Him, Jesus said, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke 22:32). He prayed for His disciples in the upper room and “for all who through their word should believe on Him” (John 17:20). He prayed three times on His own behalf in the garden of Gethsemane, (Matt. 26:36, 39, 42, 44). While on the cross He prayed for His enemies, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Incessantly He prayed with absolute assurance of being heard. At the grave of Lazarus He uttered, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always” (John 11:41, 42). There has never been a trust greater than this.
In numerous other ways Jesus expressed His dependence upon the Father and an unmistakable consciousness of union with Him. “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father” (John 10:15). “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30.
“I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32). The certainty of this amazing relationship with the Father clearly indicates His perfect dependence upon Him.
This unique dependence was for one super surpassing purpose— that the Father will be glorified in Him (John 7:18). Having finished His unique ministry of amazing grace, He said to the Father, “I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4).
Jesus perpetually lived in absolute dependence upon God the Father: even as He drew His last breath on the Cross He said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
This unique Son who was co-equal and co-existent with God: even He whom the Father loved before the foundation of the world, He who with the Father created man, He who came forth from the bosom of the Father, He who became the instrument for the clear expression of the Father’s infinite love for the lost world, He by whom came grace and truth is He who took upon Himself the form of a servant in order to express absolute dependence upon God the Father and to demonstrate a pattern for living in fellowship with Him.
Prior to His departure from the earth Jesus said to His disciples, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). Certainly, this beautiful challenge includes a supernatural life that is to be lived by means of the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is grace, and grace alone that teaches how to live this challenging life. This supernatural life demands a supernatural means of execution. The means of execution is by the controlling power and teaching ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit who leads in and through every foible or exigency that may be faced in the believer’s quickly passing life.
God has a perfect plan for you, and that plan was designed by Him in eternity past. In this plan a lowly human being can learn to orient to the amazing grace of God and live a life in fellowship with Him that will glorify Him in time. It is not so much the construction of a life that is filled with human activity and is performed in multiple services to humanity. Certainly, man can give of his substance and remain active in service of God through his final day on earth…. he can persevere and be steadfast in all that is before him. However, until he learns to serve far removed from the energy of the flesh and begins to produce in the power of the Holy Spirit his efforts will be in vain. Why? Because every work performed in the energy of the flesh only produces wood, hay, stubble and not gold, silver, and precious stone. One is human production; the other is divine production. One is for the glory of man the other is for the glory of God. lt is not so much what man does; it is what is done for the glory of God while under the controlling ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is not so much what man does; it is who is controlling him while he is doing it. Divine production only comes by the Spirit.
The presence of the Holy Spirit means that He is indwelling you. He indwells because, by the grace of God, you have believed in Christ as your only hope of heaven. The moment one’s faith is placed in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit regenerates, indwells, fills, and abides forever to guide in all truth. This truth is the word of God that enables grow in grace and in eternal knowledge.
“Come and listen all you that fear God. Let me tell you what HE has done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel” (Proverbs 12:15).
“Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord” (Proverbs 16:20). “He that believes on me has everlasting life” (John 6:47).
