We need to look to Jesus in order to know how to exercise faith.

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

For us to be Christians we need to live by the faith of Jesus.  That requires us looking at him in order to see how it is that he went through his life.  Jesus made a statement as his mission. His whole purpose of living was this.

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 

He also said of himself he can do nothing. Jesus came into a position where he could not do anything from his own motivation in order to be a sinless example in order to show us how to exercise faith. Therefore faith is the exercising of Gods will.  This study is to look at how it was that Jesus went through his life from the beginning to the end.  He did Gods will. How did Jesus know Gods will? Some think that when Jesus was born he still had the memory of everything in heaven as if he knew everything.  He didn’t.  He said as I hear I do.  Did he learn in a different way in which we need to learn?

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Is there anything of Gods will that you need to know not revealed through a prophet?  Sometimes we think God gives us imagination and we go and do things.  If it is not written in the prophets that God has given us, we would be careful to do such a thing.

Christ Came Not To Do His Own Will

Romans 15:3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. 4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

I always thought this scripture was written in relation to the Hebrew wilderness wanderings but its not.  This is clearly whatsoever things, not just the journey of the Hebrews but everything written before we lived including Ellen White because she wrote aforetime for our learning.  Did Jesus live by this rule?

Psalms 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [it is] written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart. 9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. 10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

Notice what this prophecy says.  Lo I come, it is written of me which means he would have read something and said ah that’s me. If he read here is someone born of a virgin he would have said it is written of me.  His thought was lo I come it is written in the book of me of to do thy will O Lord.  Then he read a text of what he thought.  You can see what it would have done to Jesus. When he was a young boy he read the Bible and was taught of his parents and the scriptures depicted the event and the thought that went with the event. Those two things combined make it unmistakable.  It was what he thought when he saw himself written in the Bible.  When it says lo I come, it’s an expression of, oh there I am.  It’s an acknowledgement. In this text is a revelation of the thought not just the action.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Bible will tell you what you are going to be thinking, not just doing. It will tell you what the wicked will think.  Could Jesus read peoples thoughts?  If you study the Bible and are thoroughly acquainted with conversion and being lost, you will know what people are thinking according to what is written and what the program is. John the Baptist was preaching of repentance and the scribes came along and he said think not that you are Abrahams seed. He knew what they were thinking because in the scriptures is the mental exercise of Gods people and the wicked.  The data is in heaven. Jesus had to rely on what the Father’s revelation was to him.  The Holy Spirit can only do according to the word. If Jesus never studied the Bible he wouldn’t have known. You can study psychology in the Bible. We are reading the development in the human brain from birth to sanctification or from birth to death. That is what the book is about.

Observe Jesus

Look at Jesus’s secret. The secret that Jesus had in knowing what was happening. He was always 100 steps in front of the disciples of what was going on. The disciples were saying things like you are upsetting the Pharisees, and Jesus was ahead of them. We are to be as wise as serpents and not gossip about people.  They will look at a situation and study a person and backbite.  We have read the Bible and understand certain things and they testify of what is written.  Is it my mind or Gods mind?  I can’t do my own will. If I have a dislike to someone I can think wrong of them.  We need the Holy Spirit. You can’t think from information only. You need the Holy Spirit to guide you.  Why were Cleopas and his friend sad? Jesus had died and they thought the prophecies had failed. What were the prophecies?  Jesus would reign as king of the Jews. They had prophecies of that but they misapplied them.

Luke 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

How could Jesus know that? How could he expound unless he already studied it? Was Jesus a Bible student? If the Son of God was a Bible student how much more should we be Bible students?  If he had to do it and was the Son of God then we must do it as much. Notice what he said – to believe all that the prophets had spoken. Sometimes we want to believe certain sections but not all.

You can’t take some and say it doesn’t apply.  When people see a contradiction they choose the one they like. Is that believing all that God has said?  That is the attitude we need in our Bible readings.

Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me.

He knew this before he was crucified. He didn’t know all this because he was raised.

Luke 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

Has our understanding been opened?  This is what we want to ask God to do.  God can open our understanding and we have to ask God for it.  When we read the Bible we have to tell God we want to understand what his will is. Notice what Jesus has done to consolidate his walk on earth.

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Does that prophecy give a specific time to the anointing and the death of Jesus Christ? Did Jesus read the book of Daniel?  He mentions it in Matthew.

Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)Where in Daniel was that abomination to come upon Jerusalem? Where was it written in Daniel?

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

That is talking about the city being desolated by the prince that shall come which was Rome.  We know that Jesus understood Daniel chapter 9.  Therefore Jesus knew the dates that he was to be baptised and crucified.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth [have been] from of old, from everlasting.

We are looking at the time, place and the event.  When Jesus was born he didn’t know he was the Son of God. He had to understand through the Holy Spirit the words he had.  He had to calculate a time and that it was virgin birth and in Bethlehem.  Can you see how consolidated Jesus was of whom he was and his mission? Many have claimed to be Christ but have they had a virgin birth in Bethlehem or were they born when Jesus was born? They become unstuck at one point or another to fulfil God’s word. He identified that he consolidated who he was. Once he knew who he was he could then read the events that were to be done by the messiah and could do them.

Isaiah 61:1 The spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to [them that are] bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Because Jesus knew who he was, when he read that scripture he knew it applied to him.  So it was after his baptism and the temptations there was delivered to him the book of Isaiah.

Luke 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Why could he say that? Had he already been anointed in the correct year? He knew from that time after he went into the wilderness the first sermon was preached there. He saw it must now be fulfilled.

Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to [him that is] weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

As he read that he knew he was not to be rebellious and he had to fulfil it.  He had to pray in the morning what it was he was to speak to other people.  Morning by morning.

Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. 5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: 6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, [and] them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

As he read this he knew he must not make his voice heard in the streets. He also read that he must open the eyes of the blind people.  Sometimes we think, why can’t I just go up to someone that’s blind and really believe that is going to happen and say open your eyes.  It is written we can heal in a different way. The prophet that has written a foretime has written of a method that was different. When Jesus was alive he saw what was written for him and according to the word he did it.

Not because he had magic in himself, he of himself could do nothing but relied heavily on Gods word and he was a diligent servant. Not to win arguments or points, he was reading to find out what he is to do in his life. He knew who he was and he identified what he must do at the given time and if the time wasn’t right, could he do it?  He couldn’t do it.

Isaiah 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. 2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; 3 And said unto me, Thou [art] my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: [yet] surely my judgment [is] with the LORD, and my work with my God. 5 And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb [to be] his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

When he sensed that he failed in his mission because there was no one with him at the end, he realised that he didn’t fail. Why did he realise he didn’t fail? It was written that he thought he failed. As soon as he thought he failed he said, though Israel be not gathered yet I will glory in the Lord because what was written in his failure was a proof of his success. We don’t study the Bible like that. When it says the company traveling in the light would see the company would drop and lessen, no one has read the prophecies of what was happen but when you read the negative thing it is to encourage you to keep going.  We get warmth from other peoples coldness and loyalty from their cowardness.  We know what we are doing when we see it take place.  Do we study the Bible like that?

I once read that God would call mechanics from their mechanic shop.  When I read that I said Lord in your time lets do it.  Was that magic? No, it was written a foretime for my learning that I would have comfort of the scriptures and it is written that people moved of the Holy Ghost would not coldly calculate their words.  When we are being attacked by everything we have said and we feel bad it is written, praise the Lord.  Many read the prophecies that say in the loud cry that millions are coming into the church and when it doesn’t we will be like Cleopaths. Everything is finished and they will realise they aren’t saved as they didn’t apply the prophecies.

If I say the King of the North is the papacy and the tidings of the north are the pope, what time does that happen?  Can they put a date on when the tidings of the north were the pope? When you understand the King of the North is the Arab world and the tidings of the north is Russia do you have a date?  Are you living before or after that text? If we get our eschatology wrong we can’t read the rest of the details of the events. If we get the timing wrong, we will misapply the event and the experience to be made in that event.  It is very important that we keep the words of prophecy. Not just the prophecy of Daniel and Revelation but the prophecies in the last days.  You can read the thoughts that were to take place in Jesus experience that thoughts are revealed in the prophets of the Bible of what is going to take place at the end.  The scriptures have been written for two main time periods.  The first time period that the scriptures were written for were for the time period that Jesus lived in. Many point to that time. There is another time period that the scripture was written for our time as for thousands of years the scriptures were not available or collated properly of the two testaments.  Now the Bible has come out and God has allowed the Bible to be free use now. That means the Bible is to be for our time. When Abraham was alive he didn’t read the Bible so God spoke to him.  When Moses was alive God spoke to hm. God won’t speak to people to day as he has already written it.

John 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

From the time of Jesus and the completed the New Testament Jesus wasn’t going to speak much to his disciples as the devil was coming into the world. As Satan was falling from heaven it says woe unto servants of the earth. That was after the crucifixion that the devil gained.  God zipped up into the audible and got into the written.  Was it written of Judas that he was going to do did what he did? Today if I’m on the right path, will it be written of my thoughts and experience?  If I am doing the wrong thing will it be written? If I read that there will be children becoming disobedient to parents then do I need to stay disobedient to my parents? If I am then what side am I on? If I am doing that it will put me in a class as good as I think I am, it puts me in a class on the wrong side. Do you see how personal the Bible can get if you read it like that?  We need to find ourselves in Christ.