Chapter Ten
THE FIRST-BORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN
... in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.
There's hardly one of us who isn't carrying around inside his or her life a hidden volcano. From the outside our lives appear, most of the time, like serene mountains. But inside the mountain is a place where the lava is boiling and churning. Every so often, without any warning, the volcano erupts and out comes a river of things we didn't even know existed inside us - a torrent of venom spewing from our mouths, or we catch ourselves uttering ridiculous exaggerations or far-fetched excuses. Or someone is in trouble and instead of helping, we run away. Or out come compulsive acts of greed, lust, spite. And we say to ourselves afterwards, "How could I ever have done such a thing?"
Beneath this boiling cauldron of our inmost hearts are three flames that work together to keep it boiling. The first flame is called sin. Sin is not just something you do that's wrong, sin is a principle of evil within, a disease of the will that perverts our good intentions into deeds that are far short of the mark.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.
I promise myself again and again I'm going to control my tongue. Off it flies. I want to please God yet I end up again and again going to almost any lengths to please myself. Sin is to be wrapped up in self. And the most pitiful sinners of all are the religious sinners who are so sure they're right and are so miserably blind to how vain and barren and arrogant and evil their spirits are.
The second flame under this volcano is called Satan. Satan is evil that comes from outside us, like sin is evil that comes from inside us. And Satan uses lies to lure us into believing all the things our vanity wants to believe anyway. "You're such a wonderful person." "You're brilliant!" "God understands, go ahead and indulge yourself." Then when our dreams are smashed Satan comes along with more lies. "You're hopeless!" "Nobody cares about you." "God despises you!" "Why don't you give up?" Satan has one objective: to sidetrack you from reality so that he may have the satisfaction of being served by you in the Kingdom of the Unreal. It doesn't matter to Satan whether your delusion is that everyone is your enemy, or whether your delusion is that everyone is your friend, whether you believe God is your sugar daddy, or whether you believe God wants to torture you, as long as you don't believe the truth.
The third flame under this inner volcano is called death. There isn't a nerve in our bodies which isn't forever on the alert against death. Our own death haunts us, hangs over us, mocks us, laughs at us, eats at our hearts from the days of our childhood. We know in the marrow of our bones that one day we will open the door and there death will stand. And when he says, "Come," there's not a thing we can do but comply.
Sin, Satan, Death. Any view of life which fails to take into account these three realities may be beautiful, popular, but it isn't worth a dime. And any form of Christianity which fails to manifest power over these three things in daily life is a fraud. We can go to meetings, bible studies, seminars, and prayer groups till doomsday. We can think we're ministering in Jesus' name. We can be occupied seven days a week teaching others about scripture. If these three flames are still making the volcano within us boil, if we're not making any progress toward changing the volcano into a spring of living, water, there's got to be something wrong in our relationship with Jesus because Jesus promises to deliver us from these flames and replace them with His own life. The whole purpose of Jesus' coming was to conquer these three things.
When He began His ministry, the first thing He did was submit to baptism which means He identified with human sin. Though He never sinned He came down into the same waters of cleansing we enter and became sin for us. The second thing He did was to be led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. There He took on flame number two, Satan, and engaged in battle with him from that day. And the third thing Jesus did was to go forth to preach and heal. And with His words and His signs He entered into warfare with Death. Sin, Satan, Death.
Throughout His ministry Jesus battled these three flames of evil until finally He came to the cross. And at the cross these three flames, that usually operate beneath the surface, hidden under the volcano, came out into the open and literally piled themselves on top of Him.
Sin -
Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
Upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, And with his stripes we are healed.
It was not merely the weight of His marred, beaten body that bore down on those nails, it was the weight of human sin under judgment of a Holy God that tore His flesh and squeezed the breath out of Him.
Satan -
If we had had eyes to see we would have spotted nearby, gloating over Jesus' torture, the twisted face of the Father of Lies who had entered Judas, inspired the chief priests, transformed those Passover pilgrims into a vicious mob, added strength to the Roman soldiers as they threw the lashes across His flesh and beat Him until His face was a bloody pulp.
And death -
Soon it was all over. His head sank to His chest, His bloodshot eyes rolled back into His head, He was dead. But when He died, Jesus of Nazareth took Sin, Satan, and Death with Him into the grave. Like Samson pulling the Philistines with him in his death, Jesus in His death became master over these three enemies for all time. And the proof came two days later when the earth shook and the stone rolled away and this man stepped forth. For the first time since Adam fell a man was walking this earth who was absolutely invulnerable to these three curses. Sin couldn't touch Him. Satan couldn't touch Him. Death couldn't touch Him.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.
The first-born from the dead - of the new creation. But praise God Jesus is more than that. He is the first-born among many brethren. He is to be followed into this glorious supernatural life by others. By you and me, if we will. And the proof that we can follow Jesus out of bondage to these three curses does not come after we die. It comes now! If Jesus is, in fact, Master and Lord over these enemies, if Jesus can transform the volcano within us into a spring of living water, you have every reason to expect some evidence, some experience of this in this present life of flesh and blood.
You want to know for sure that Jesus rose from the dead, the first-born among many brethren? You want to be among those brethren? Step number one is to admit the truth of your present condition. Perhaps you've been following Jesus for some time. But if these three fires are still burning inside you, and the volcano still keeps erupting, don't deny it, admit it.
It's not just those outside the Kingdom who need to meet Jesus today in the power of His resurrection. It's also His followers who have been living low grade, deceitful, vain, self-righteous lives. His followers who have been laying on other men burdens hard to bear and never even touch those burdens with one of their fingers. His followers who keep saying, "Lord, Lord," but won't forgive their brother and sister though the Lord Himself tells them to.
Once you've admitted the truth of your present condition before God and man there are three things you can do. First, come to Jesus for forgiveness.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Lord, forgive! Are you too proud to ask? Are you too proud to get down on your knees and receive? There's not a soul who turns from his sin and cries for forgiveness whose cry will be unheeded.
Second, come to Jesus and let Him be Lord within you instead of the Father of Lies who has been leading you around by your vanity. Come out of the unreal into the real. Come out of that web of lies that has been your home for so long with its fears and its fantasies, and submit your heart to the Spirit of Truth who is Jesus.
Don't say you haven't been listening to voices, you have. Voices that were clear enough to tell you the very things that would suck you into the darkness. Now listen to the voice of the Shepherd.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
Third, come to Jesus and ask Him to pour out on you right now the life of His Holy Spirit.
It is the Spirit that gives life... the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Lord, give us the power to live as sons of God. Lord, pour out upon us
your life.
There are enough Christians who can quote their Bibles and talk about Jesus and make each other feel guilty. The need is for men and women who, by their living, manifest that they are truly Jesus' brethren, that Jesus has in fact overcome that triple death within them and made them springs of living water who bring life instead of death to those around them. Only when we are such people will any one believe us when we tell them that Jesus is Lord
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