Day 28, Saturday (April 6) - Living into His Name

Posted on: April 6, 2019
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

A PRESENT AND ACTIVE SAVIOR

The Last Adam
Day 28 Saturday

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EXPLORE THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST

For us there is one God, the Father,
from whom are all things and for whom we exist,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things and through whom we exist (1 Corinthians 8: 6).

ROMANS 5: 15-17

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

1 CORINTHIANS 15: 20-26; 45-49; 58

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

CONSIDER

Jesus is the new Adam. He is the re-start of the human race. He is a new kind of human. No longer subject to death. Outfitted for an eternal embodied life in the presence of his Father. The new Adam is not weighed down by sin and mortal frailty.

So when we are in Christ, we are new creations (2 Cor. 5: 17). We participate in his renewed humanity. We get transferred from being identified solely by the old Adam, prone to sin and condemned to die. We find our identity in the new Adam, Jesus, humanity perfected.

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PRAY THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Begin with the Jesus Prayer. Pray it reflectively several times, for yourself or on behalf of another.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Then pray the day’s prayer slowly and repeatedly for at least a minute (that’s about seven times). Allow the prayer to take you into the meaning of the day’s facet of Jesus’ name. Pray it for yourself and/or on behalf of another. Take your time and trust this process!

Lord Jesus Christ, Last Adam, clasp me by the heart’s hand,

and join me to humanity made new in you.

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LIVE INTO THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

He has granted to us his precious and very great promises,
so that through them you might become partakers of his divine
nature . . . For this very reason, supplement your faith with
virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness,
brotherly affection and love (2 Peter 1: 4-7).

EPHESIANS 4: 21-24 (NEW KING JAMES VERSION)

If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

CONSIDER

Jesus is the new Adam. We are in Christ. Our task now is to choose daily, hourly, to live from the new man, to draw from the One who renews us in himself. This involves consciously dying to the lusts of the old man and deliberately choosing to live both from and for the last Adam, even Jesus.

Close by singing these verses from Isaac Watts’ classic hymn,

Jesus shall reign, where’er the sun

Does his successive journeys run;

His kingdom spread from shore to shore,

Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Where he displays his healing power,

Death and the curse are known no more;

In him the tribes of Adam boast

More blessings than their father lost.

Let every creature rise and bring

Peculiar honors to our King,

Angels descend with songs again,