THE OPERATION OF GOD COL.2:12
Most of us know of people who have had some type of a heart operation and it usually helps these folks live a better life, in fact my dad; Paul Brown had a triple bypass operation and he was no longer short of breath, it helped him greatly. But later on his kidneys failed him.
So once again we’re reminded that these old bodies are not going to last forever. But I’m happy that I can say and know with out a doubt that God had performed a heart operation on him that allowed my dad to be assured of a brand new body and have life everlasting, it because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for all man kind in that He paid our sin debt as our substitute when He died on the cross, if mankind will only except Jesus as his personal Lord & Savior.
The Lord Jesus death on the cross was not an accident, it was the very reason He came to earth.
1st pet.18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20Who verily* was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
The only purpose He come to earth was so we could be saved from the wages of sin.
Lk. 19: 10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
All men and women the world over need to receive this heart operation of God.
Col.2: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Let me say that the operation of God covers a vast amount of many different subjects and people, places and things, He has a Great Master Plan that we can view as the operation of God, only God ALMIGHTY could have worked such an Operation as to make a way for man to be saved.
Gen. 8:21- for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth;
God the father has made the only provision that works for you and I to have a brand new heart.
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life
Ezekiel 36:25-27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, -{Necessary, ordinance} and ye shall keep my judgments,
{His determined decisions} and do them.
It is not enough to be exposed to Christianity. Man is in desperate need of a heart transplant.
. Without Christ actively working within, man’s heart is hard.
Man may look good on the outside but it is not what is on the outside that counts. It’s what’s inside.
Jeremiah 17:9 9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
People are some time sort of like an old watch. It looks like any other watch. It has a case, hands and a face. It has all the parts that are necessary for it to carry out its function as a timepiece.
It looks good on the out side, but there’s something wrong on the inside. It just doesn’t run. Well, why not? It won’t run because it has a problem with its heart.
There are people in the church and in religious circles who are just like a watch that don’t run; on the outside they look fine. They appear to be religious and they do good things, but they have a heart problem.
I Samuel 16:7 for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
Man’s heart is hardened by sin.
Hebrews 13:3 Ss 13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
• Psalm 95:8 –10 8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart,
Man’s heart is hardened by self-sufficiency.
• Daniel 5:20 20But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
Man’s heart is hardened by unbelief
• Mark 16:14 14Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
Man’s heart is hardened by neglect.
• Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
What people need is a new heart, a new character and personality: new thoughts, feelings, way of life, new ways of doing things.
Jesus summarized man’s heart,
Matthew 15:19-20 19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20These are the things which defile a man:
When Christ is allowed to work within, man’s heart is transformed.
Ezekiel 36:26 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
There was a certain businessman that was selling a warehouse property, and the building had been empty for months and needed a lot of work done on it. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and scattered trash around the interior.
And as he showed a prospective buyer the property, he explained to the interested buyer that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to fix and repair any structural damage, and clean out the garbage. Then the interested buyer spoke up and said, “Forget about the repairs,” “When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.”
And so compared with the renovation that God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are about useless as sweeping out a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball.
When we become God’s, the old life is over 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”
He makes all things new. All he wants is the site and the permission to build. Jesus Christ gives us a new heart that is not hard, that can actually respond to Him.
When man’s heart is transformed, that man is then empowered to live for God.
Ezekiel 36:27 “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
In Ezekiel 11:19-20 God says: 19And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 20That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
D. L. Moody said, “I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled.”
Psalm 139:23 23Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psalm 51:10 10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
When a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly it becomes a totally new creature.
Much like when anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come! The man with a new heart is a completely new man.
There are religions that emphasize keeping the outside clean and every thing will be all right, but Internal Redemption says, "Be born again and made into a new creature!"
External Religion says "A clean exterior makes a clean interior."
But Internal Redemption says "when the inside gets clean, it will clean up the outside."
External Religion says "You must develop some rules to govern your behavior."
Internal Redemption says "I love God, therefore by the help and grace of God I will live right!"
External Religion says "Be faithful to your church, its practices and its teaching and you will be clean."
Internal Redemption says "Be cleansed by Jesus and you will be faithful to your church, its godly practices and its biblical teachings."
External Religion is a man made system of ritual, ceremony, law and work. Internal Redemption is a work of God in the heart that produces a new creature!
