Miraculous signs accompany those who believe

Believers, see Christ's words in Mark 16: "17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in My Name, and they will speak in new languages.18 They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

This promise is for "those who believe" but many of us believers can hardly say that we experience these signs that differentiate believers from non-believers. We even believe that the signs are for deliverance ministers and the clergy in general; not so, beloved of God. Jesus was talking about you and I who believe! So why aren't these signs evident in the lives of many in the church today? We see the reason in the preceding verses of the same chapter (14-16:)

14 "Still later He appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen Him after He had been raised from the dead. 15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned."

Many in the church are yet to see/understand Jesus raised from the dead and so like the disciples, are stuck in a rut of unbelief and consequently, condemnation. How? By professing Jesus but not believing what He has accomplished for us through His suffering and His death at the cross. For example, through the finished work of Christ, we are made righteous in the sight of God. Romans 5:19 says-

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Also, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

But many in the church believe that it is their ability to do good and keep the Ten Commandments that makes them righteous in the sight of God, even when Romans 3:20 says "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

What's more, Galatians 5:4 says "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

Trying to keep the Law in order to get right with God is unbelief in what Christ has done so that we might be made righteous."These miraculous signs" can't follow such who do not believe. They follow those who believe that they are made righteous by Christ's obedience.

Then there's the issue of generational and other curses; people clutching their childhood photos at "special deliverance sessions" and binding generational curses without which they will remain under the curse! All of this when Galatians 3:13 says "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law..." Which curses are we breaking when we claim that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law? This is why the same set of people keep attending the same "curse breaking sessions" every month: there is no certainty that every curse has been broken. These are all signs of unbelief in Christ and His finished work of saving us.

See Christ's words in John 16:9- "The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me."

These miraculous signs accompany those who believe, not people who have paid their dues; not people who are keeping the Law in order to get right with God. These things, commendable as they are, are dead works; filthy rags according to Isaiah 64:6. There is no payment of dues in the story of our salvation in Christ. We are saved by grace (undeserved, unmerited favour.) Here, we get to produce faith works. We get to live right and the world sees it, yet not us but Christ in us. Because Christ is responsible for all of our accomplishments, we have nothing to boast about but Christ alone. This is Grace - undeserved, unmerited favour.

So much more.

Believe the perfect work that He has accomplished for you and "These miraculous signs" will follow you.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How does one partake of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner?

How do you partake of the Holy Communion in an unworthy manner and eat and drink judgment to yourself? The bible says there is none righteous, no, not one, so it is definitely not by partaking when you're not 'righteous' as is being preached in many churches today! No one is righteous on their own. 1 Corinthians 11: 29 says it's by "...not discerning the Lord's body." The bible says in 1 Cor 11:30 that "for this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep." Notice that it is for the singular reason of "not discerning the Lord's body" and not because you committed some sin before partaking. With Christ as our righteousness and forsaking that which is borne of works of the law, we are righteous in God's eyes 100% because "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ." 2 Corinthians 5:21. Bear in mind that without God's gift of righteous
Read more

Repentance - what is it?

When many of us believers think of the word Repentance, we think "feeling really bad because we sinned," "promising God that we will stop sinning," and "making the decision to live a holy life from now on." But did you notice that there is no Saviour Jesus in this equation? It all rests on you. Jesus does not do anything here. This is a Judas kind of repentance - towards self and not towards God. This is repentance to death and not repentance to life. The Parable of the Lost Sheep shows us what true repentance is - a gift from God. Luke 15: 4 - 7 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that li
Read more

What does it mean to be a "neither cold nor hot" Christian?

Before his conversion, Saul was very zealous for God, upholding the Law and ensuring that anyone who believed that Jesus Christ has fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law in all who believe landed in jail. Like his fellow Pharisees, his righteousness depended on his ability to keep the Law. His life and his ministry was all about "Thou shall not" and "Thou shall"... or else judgment, as it is with many who profess to believe in our Saviour Jesus today! Believers, don't be deceived! If you think that it is your various fasts, trips to some mountain, church donations and vigils and almost-strict observance of the Ten Commandments that makes God pleased with you or bless you, you are worse off than pre-conversion Paul and his fellow Pharisees whom Christ referred to as a "brood of vipers." What such people get in return for their self-righteousness is being cut off from Christ, according to Galatians 5:4 "For if you are trying to make
Read more