Accepting, Acknowledging, Acquiring, Appropriating, And Applying The Knowledge Of Jesus Christ Our Lord

My people perish for a lack of knowledge.
Hosea 4:6

I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Philippines 3:8

This I say then, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the works of the flesh.
Gelatins 5:16

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Matthew 6:10

Accept - verb - To receive willingly. (the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord)

Acknowledge - verb - 1) To admit the reality or truth of. a. To express recognition of. b. To express gratitude for. c. To report the receipt of. (the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord)

Acquire - verb - 1) To secure possession of. 2) To come to have. (the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord)

Appropriate - verb - 1) To set apart for a particular use. 2) To take or use often, without permission. (the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord)

Apply - verb - 1) To put to a special use. 2) To give one self or one's efforts to. (the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord)

Human beings are triune beings. We are spirits, we have souls, and we live in bodies. We were created in God's image and likeness who is also a triune being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God in three Persons, Blessed Trinity.

“The knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord” incorporates the Christian believer’s past justification in Christ (which took place when we first believed the gospel message), present sanctification in Christ (which takes place as we continue to believe the gospel message and follow the directives of the Holy Spirit instead of the dictates of the flesh), and future glorification in Christ (which will take place when we finish the course, having kept the faith).

Believing the gospel message results in the salvation of the human spirit through translation, the human soul through transformation, and the human body through transfiguration. This great salvation that incorporates the past, present and future; the spirit, soul, and body; translation, transformation, and transfiguration; or, if you will, justification, sanctification, and glorification, is provided through Jesus Christ’s past death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, His present intercession in Heaven for the saints, and the on going work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. This great salvation will be finalized in the future at Jesus Christ’s second coming, when He will rapture His church (the dead in Christ from Paradise and those who are alive in Christ from the earth) and establish His millennial rule on the earth. At the time of the rapture (the first out resurrection), the redeemed of the Lord will receive immortal and incorruptible bodies. There will be 1,000 years of peace on earth because the earth will be ruled by Christ and His saints.

Preceding this, the earth will experience the "beginning of sorrows," (chaos among nations and disasters in the earth.) There will be manifestations of false teachers and false Christ. The wrath of God will be poured out on the earth. There will be dictatorship in the Middle East, led by the anti-Christ and False Prophet. There will be a falling away in the church. The anti-Christ will stand in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem a declare himself to be God. He will require the whole world to worship him and to receive his mark (666) in order to buy and sell goods. Those who receive the mark of the Beast will experience God's wrath in it's fulness. Many who refuse the mark will be beheaded for their faithfulness to Christ, but they will not taste of the second death, which is Hell. There will be great persecution and martyrdom of the elect of God. There will be Trouble like the world has never seen before or will ever see again. If those days were not shorten, even the very elect would be deceived, if possible.

At the end of this Great Tribulation Period (3.5 years), and at Christ's second coming, (in the eastern skies of Jerusalem with His fiery angels and redeemed saints) the anti-Christ and False Prophet will be defeated along with their armies by Christ at the battle of Armageddon. He will cast those two buggers into the Lake of Fire. Satan will be bound with a great chain and cast into a bottomless pit by a large angel.

At the end of Christ’s millennial reign Satan will be loosed from his chain and pit for a season and lead a final rebellion against Christ and His saints. Christ will quickly defeat him and his followers. There will be a second out resurrection of the dead from Hades as Hell's inhabitants receive immortal bodies. (Prior to this they where disembodied human spirits held captive and awaiting God's final judgment.) Christ will judge both saints and sinners at the Judgment Seat of Christ and The Great White Throne Judgment. He will judge the saints for their works, both good and bad. Some will receive rewards and some will suffer loss. Every faithful believer in Christ will be saved, however, for some, it will be as those barely escaping through the flames. Unrepentant sinners and "Christian" backsliders will be judged and condemned to Hell for having rejected and denied Christ in both word and deed. Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire along with Hell and its inhabitants, the hypocritical and heretical, the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable and murderers, the whoremongers and sorcerers, the idolaters and all liars, along with those who practice adultery, fornication, sexual immorality, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition's, heresies, envying, drunkenness, reveling and things such as this. The overcoming saints who have walked in the Spirit, and have thereby cultivated the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, will be preserved by God as the heavens and the earth are destroyed by fire.

Thus says the Lord, “He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be His God, and he shall be My son.” Jesus said to His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, and this is that which overcomes the world, even your faith.” God will create “a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.” The Holy City of God will descend from Heaven and rest upon the new earth. There will be the marriage supper of the Lamb. The prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray will have been answered. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

When an individual human being believes on the name of Jesus Christ, and Christ is received into his heart by faith, he is forgiven of his past sins inherited through Adam’s transgression, and propagated through his own ignorance and/or rebellion. He is thereby “born again, not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of the will of God.” According to the words of Jesus Christ, in order to see the kingdom of Heaven, we must be born again of the Holy Spirit.

“No man can come to the Father unless the Spirit draws him.”

This revelation knowledge or, if you will, this wisdom from above which is the grace of the Holy Spirit in bringing saving faith to a human being through leading him to believe in and receive Jesus Christ for his justification, is further accomplished through the provisions of God by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who comes to reside within the Christian believer’s born again human spirit at the moment he becomes justified (innocent) through faith in Jesus Christ. Again, this residency of the Holy Spirit takes place when an individual believes the gospel message and is born again of the Holy Spirit. This residency is increased and enhanced when one is baptized in the Holy Spirit and receives power from on high to be a witness of Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth. Being born of God’s Spirit and being baptized in God’s Spirit are two separate and distinct experiences of grace made available to the Christian believer, and therefore required by God for the believer’s initiation into Christ. These two experiences of grace walk hand in hand with two other experiences of grace, which are repentance from dead works, and water baptism in the name of Jesus.

But God has established and ordained even more than these great enterprises and sacraments to assure our salvation by grace through faith. He has instructed us to remain filled with the Holy Spirit, to live in the Holy Spirit, to walk in the Holy Spirit, to be led by the Holy Spirit, to pray without ceasing in the Holy Spirit, and to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth! He has given us these instructions through the written word of God, the Holy Scriptures. Jesus testified, “My words are Spirit and they are life.”

He has also given “some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

In order for us to benefit from this revelation knowledge which is the truth expressed in the Holy Scriptures and revealed to our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, and brought to our attention by the five fold ministry gifts mentioned above, we must accept, acknowledge, acquire, appropriate, and apply this knowledge of the Son of God by exercising a living faith in Him. Remember, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

Consider these words of the Apostle Paul that were given to him through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. “It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life that I now live in the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Paul was granted a revelation that an exchange had taken place. This exchange incorporated Christ’s life of righteousness imputed unto him through the redemptive power of faith in His Blood, and imparted unto him through the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. This grace resulted in his justification and sanctification in Christ through faith. This saving grace was exchanged for his life of self-righteous religion and unrighteous rebellion. Thus, he came to realize that he was totally dependent upon a relationship and fellowship with Christ through His Blood, His Word, and His Holy Spirit in order for his salvation to be attained to by faith. Through faith in the accomplished work of Christ, and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit, he was enabled to account himself dead indeed to sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He encouraged the church to receive, live in, and walk in this revelation also, by walking in the Holy Spirit! “If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creation, old things have past away, behold, all things have become new,” and “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.” We are to “mortify the misdeeds of the body through the Holy Spirit.”

Paul accepted this truth by faith, and thereby consistently acknowledged it. By consistently acknowledging this truth, he acquired it, and having acquired it, he was enabled to appropriate it. In appropriating the knowledge of the truth, the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ by faith, he continually applied it in every situation and circumstance that he faced throughout his difficult and challenging life of faithful service to Christ, His church, and the world. This was all accomplished through his relationship with the Holy Spirit. He testified, “The same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead now dwells in us to quicken our mortal bodies.”

This revelation knowledge imparted to him by the Holy Spirit led him into a lifestyle and lifetime of faith and faithfulness to Christ, or, if you will, “the obedience of faith.” Towards the end of his life he testified, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” 2 Timothy 6-8.

The grace of God is the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:1-14.

Let us also consider this proverb. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.” Proverbs 3:5-6.

We cannot experience the salvation that God has provided for us in Christ by leaning on our own understanding or looking to ourselves. We can only experience it by trusting in God with all of our heart, because “without faith, it is impossible to please God. They that come to God must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.” “All things that pertain to life and godliness have been provided for us in Christ.” “But of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That according as it is written, ‘He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.’ ” “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” “The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” And again, “The life that I now live in the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Jesus promised, “I will not leave you alone, I will send the Holy Spirit, and when He is come He will lead you into all truth. He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.”

“Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three.” All three of these godly qualities and character traits (faith, hope, and love) have been provided for us through Jesus Christ, but in order for us to benefit from them, we must accept, acknowledge, acquire, appropriate, and apply them consistently and continuously in every situation and circumstance in our lives. This, of course, is a learning process, and it is the work of the Holy Spirit to help us to do so. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who has been sent by Christ to lead us into all truth. May we learn to follow His lead! As we learn to obediently follow the leading of the Holy Spirit more closely, our spirit man, the hidden man of the heart, will begin to gain the ascendancy over our souls and bodies, instead of our souls and bodies having the ascendancy over our spirit man. When our spirit man, in submission to the Spirit of God, has the ascendancy in our lives, it leads to true spirituality and eternal life. This results in us receiving our inheritance in Christ, which is an abundant entrance into the kingdom of Heaven starting now and continuing for all eternity. When our flesh (sin nature) is given the ascendancy in our lives, it leads to carnality and eternal death, which is Hell. In our spirit man we have the unlimited knowledge of God, the unlimited faith of God, the unlimited hope of God, the unlimited righteousness of God, and the unlimited love of God. “We have the mind of Christ” for “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” In our souls we only have a limited understanding regarding the things of God, which is, in essence, a lack of knowledge. If we choose to live by our own limited understanding, we will perish, but if we live in, and walk in the grace of the Holy Spirit, through faith in the knowledge of the Son of God, we will experience eternal life both now and forevermore.

To be spiritually minded is life and peace, but to be carnally minded is death. The spiritually minded man accounts himself dead indeed to sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He knows that sin shall not have dominion over him because he is not under the law, but under grace. He makes every effort to be found in Christ without spot or blemish, but his efforts are not only in trying to do right through following the commandments of Christ, but also in making every effort to grasp a better understanding, a greater revelation, of the fact that he has been made the righteousness of God in Christ. In other words, he does not get the cart before the horse by merely trying to do right, but he does right because of the revelation of the Word, the Blood, and the Spirit, that he has been made the righteousness of God in Christ. All of our righteousness apart from His gift of righteousness is as filthy rags. The operative phrase for us to contemplate is “In Christ.” The spiritually minded man recognizes that any good that comes from him is a result of him coming to Christ and continuing in Christ, and ultimately finishing his spiritual course in Christ. For it is "in Him that we live and move and have our being." If we are struggling with sins, strongholds, and curses in our lives and being overcome by them, we must examine ourselves to see if we are still in faith. If we are not, we must repent and return to our first love, and do the first works again. God has granted us the grace to do so. May we not receive His grace in vain.

I will leave you with a few scriptures to contemplate.

“This day I have placed life and death, blessings and curses before you. Choose life that you and your children may live.”

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not profitable to me.”

“Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him, 'if you continue in my words, then you are my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. If any man is overcome by a sin, he is the slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever. A son abides forever, therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.' ”

“It is for freedom that Christ has made us free.”

May we learn to walk in the Holy Spirit and thereby accept, acknowledge, acquire, appropriate, and apply God’s amazing grace (which is the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord) in every area of our lives. (Spiritually, mentally, physically, financially, and socially) May we also continue in His words, the Holy Scriptures, “which are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Amen!