Message 10 - By
Jerry D. Green
Greater
Works
Introduction
When “greater works” are spoken of, most Christian people
immediately think of natural signs, wonders, miracles, etc. In other words, great
physical healings, raising the dead, casting out devils, and numerous other
things. But that is not at all what
Jesus was speaking of; for there is no greater work, no greater miracle, than
when a soul is miraculously born again and filled with the Spirit of God, which
was something that could not happen at the time Jesus spoke those words. It was only after He had cried from that cruel cross, “…it is finished…,” that we could be
born again of God, with the Spirit of Christ; and receive the Holy Ghost, the
Spirit of God. Many have striven all of their lifetime to see, and do, the
greater works, when all the while it’s just as simple as proclaiming the true gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost
and dying world. For it is only by the true
“…gospel of Christ…, (that) …IS the power of
God unto salvation to every one that…” believes it (Romans 1:16), that a person can ever be
born again of the Spirit of God. I sincerely hope and pray that this message
will help the reader to understand. JDG
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Greater Works
“Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he
do also; and greater works than these shall he do; (why?) because I go unto
my Father” (John 14:12).
Recently I was watching a minister on T.V. and he made the
statement, “It’s time for us to start doing the greater works.” But as I
continued to listen, I realized his concept of the greater works differed
greatly from mine. I can’t say for certain what works Jesus was speaking of
when He said “…than
these…,” but it doesn’t
really matter because there is no comparison between even those great
miraculous, natural works which He did, and the greater works of which He was
speaking. Both He and His disciples had already done many miracles. His
disciples had already, at His word, healed the sick and cast out devils. Would
they soon be feeding the multitudes and calming the storms? Were these the greater works He was speaking of?
Whatever they were, they were dependant on the fact that He was going to the Father.
The disciples could not comprehend what He meant, going to the Father. Actually it was
not so much that He was going to the
Father, but how He was going to the Father
which would make the difference in the works they would do: How, being by way of all those
atrocious things He would suffer at the hands of wicked men, consummating with
death on a cruel cross at a place called Calvary (or Golgotha); also, because of
His burial, resurrection, and ascension. These are what would make the
difference for all mankind forever more. Men before Calvary had already, by faith in God, done many great and
wonderful works (Hebrews, Chapter eleven). But the last two verses (Hebrews 11:39-40), say
this: “And these all, having obtained a good report through
faith, RECEIVED NOT THE PROMISE: “God having provided some BETTER THING for
us….” But how much better thing
could God possibly do than all those great miracles and mighty works? That “…which God has
prepared for them that love Him” (I
Corinthians 2:9), is certainly beyond the comprehension of the natural
mind. For who could ever have imagined that man could be made completely free from the influence of that old, fallen,
depraved nature of the devil, called sin,
of which he (man) was born. Before
Calvary (because of legal constraints), Jesus himself could not make a man free
from the works of the old man of sin.
He could forgive sins before
Calvary, but He could not make man free from sin. He could heal physical bodies before Calvary, but he could not
impart new life (the divine nature; which is the grace of
God) unto and into man. He even healed a man, saying to him, “…thy SINS be
forgiven thee,” and when challenged by the scribes and Pharisees He said, “…arise, take up
thy bed and walk. Which is easier to say, Thy SINS be forgiven thee; or to say,
Rise up and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth
to forgive SINS, I say to you, Arise, take up thy bed and walk” (Matthew 9:6).
Some will think what I am about to say to be sacrilegious, for
great religious movements and kingdoms have been built upon the scripture, “…with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). But God was healing His children long before those
cruel stripes were laid on the back of the Savior. Remember, this is a prophecy
about something which was to come. There was healing under the law. Healing has
always belonged to God’s children, how much more under grace. But the healing
which God is speaking about in this scripture is first spoken of in Isaiah 30:26; “Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day
that the Lord BINDETH UP the BREACH of his people, and HEALETH the STROKE of
their WOUND.” This great light of which Isaiah speaks, was the coming of
Messiah (the Christ) and His earthly ministry, before Calvary; but much more
so, it is that better thing (the greater work) of the covenant grace,
which He bought for all mankind through His death, burial, resurrection, and
ascension (Isaiah 60:19-20; Revelation 21:23; Matthew 4:15). The breach
of His people was the rending of fellowship with God which was brought
about by the stroke of their wound, which was, and is, SIN. Peter speaks of this great healing
after the fact (i.e., past tense), “Who His own self bare our (sin and) SINS in His own
body on the tree, that we, being dead to (sin and) SINS, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were (and we are) HEALED” (I Peter 2:24). Praise God!
For us, it is a complete, finished, work. The HEALING of the WOUND of sin closed the breach of fellowship which was brought about by the disobedience (sin) of one man (Adam), and was healed
by the obedience (the offering of Himself) of one man, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:19). By our “…great high priest…” Jesus Christ, we can “…come boldly (back into
fellowship with God) unto the throne of grace…” (Hebrews 4:14-16).
It was because He went to the Father by way of those horrible
sufferings and death on the cross that we are able to do the greater works. For what could possibly
be greater than for a “…born again…” child of God, to proclaim the true gospel of Jesus Christ to someone
else who was born in, and/or totally bound in sin; someone else who has the sentence of death pronounced over
them, and to see that person made completely free from sin through true repentance, and believing the true gospel message (Romans 1:16).
God said through the prophet, “…the SOUL that
sinneth… shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4);
and that sentence of death must still be fulfilled. For Jesus said, “I am NOT come to destroy… (annul; or,
abrogate) …the law, or the
prophets …but to fulfill…” (them; Matthew 5:17). “…The wages of SIN is (still) death…” to every person
who is born on the face of this planet; and the “…condemnation…” (the sentence of
death; John 3:16-19) is still in
effect to all who are yet sinners.
That includes everyone who has “…NOT believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God” (and His Gospel;
the gospel of Christ; John 3:18; Romans 6:23; 8:1; Ezekiel 18:20).
Jesus did NOT die on that cross and shed His blood to take away the penalty of sin (which is death), but to
fulfill the penalty of our sin in Himself, for all who can believe it. For as many as have believed the true gospel of Jesus Christ,
have died IN (union with) Him, thus satisfying the death sentence
of the law, in fulfilling it. If His precious, holy blood was only shed as
a covering for sin, why then did Jesus have to die? The blood of goats and
bullocks had done that (covered sins) for thousands of years; but the scripture
says, “…Behold the LAMB of God that TAKETH AWAY
the SIN of the WORLD” (John 1:29).
There are those who will defend their right to sin, because there’s pleasure in sin, and that is true
for the old man. But that short time of pleasure just isn’t worth the
consequences of eternal death in the lake of fire; Revelation 20:12-15; and sin
is not pleasurable to the new (born
again) man. His pleasure is to “…do always those things that please…” the Father. So
regardless of what many would have us believe, “…the wages of sin is… (still) …death….” Sinners will
still have to die the eternal,
spiritual death in the lake of fire because of sin. In fact, they are already dead, while they live (I Timothy 5:6). This is the primary
reason Jesus went to the cross for all who would ever believe the gospel of Him. We are “…crucified (put to death in
union) with Christ…,” “…that… (for the believer) …the body (NOT this
physical body; but the whole, the entirety, all) of SIN… (would) …be destroyed…” (completely stilled; Strong’s #2673; Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20). He, Jesus, the Christ,
was our substitute, or proxy. As true, bona fide believers, we died in Him. We get the credit for dying,
but He suffered the agony of our death.
He suffered for us. This is the
reason Jesus went to the Father (by way of death on that cruel cross) in order
that sin (the nature of Satan, which
we were all born with), and NOT the
sinner, would be destroyed.
“He that committeth SIN is OF THE DEVIL; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that He might destroy (loose us from both the devil, and his nature, which is sin) the works of the
devil” (I John 3:8). The Greek word which was here translated destroy, Strong’s #3089, means to “loosen.” Through faith
in the finished work of Calvary we are loosed, or loosened FROM sin, which is the sting of death, and
FROM the religious law of man, which is the strength of sin, and FROM the devil
(I Corinthians 15:56). We are MADE free FROM the works of the devil. That is to say, we are loosed from sin and its manifestations; and by the
shed blood of Jesus Christ, the devil
was, and is, also destroyed (completely stilled, Strong’s #2673) for the true believer (Hebrews 2:14).
“He that believeth on Him (Jesus, who is
the Christ, and His gospel) is NOT condemned (there is no sentence of death on that person) but He that believeth NOT (on Jesus and His
gospel) is condemned
already (why?) because he hath NOT believed in (or ‘…on…’) the name of the only begotten Son of
God” (John 3:18, 1:12). He who believes
in or on Jesus and in or on His name, which is to say, believes Jesus Christ is
the Messiah, the only begotten (of a fleshly body) Son of God (Hebrews 10:5) and the true gospel of Him (Romans
1:16) is made free indeed FROM sin, and, FROM death (which is “the sting…” and the “…wages [the end result] of sin…”) and, FROM the devil. Concerning the devil, I mean he cannot attack you or
your body directly. But he still has plenty of messengers by which to hinder,
and if they possibly can, discourage you through their buffetings (II Corinthians 11:15; 12:7).
Yes, it is time for the church of Jesus Christ to start doing the greater works, but the way to do those greater works is to proclaim the true gospel of Jesus Christ which “…is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that…” (believes it; Romans
1:16). A perverted gospel will never
do the greater work because there is
no power in a perverted, watered
down gospel. The true gospel however is powerful. It will take a sinner and make a new creature (a new creation) of him, if he will only believe it. And all we have to do is to fully preach the gospel of
Christ to every creature. “…The fields…are white… (and ready) to harvest.” There’s plenty of opportunity for willing
workers (John 4:35-36). So for all
those who desire to do the greater works,
what are you waiting for? Apostles,
prophets, evangelists, teachers, layman, or whatever position in the body of
Christ God has called you to; it is to magnify Him through the preaching of His
Son Jesus Christ and that which He did for all mankind at Calvary: the shedding
of His blood for our justification (Romans 5:9); The offering of His body for our sanctification (Hebrews 10:10); His death on that cruel cross for our reconciliation (Romans 5:10); and our salvation by His resurrected life (Romans 5:10). It is only through the preaching, the
hearing, the believing, and just as importantly as any of these, the submission
of one’s self unto the true gospel of
Jesus Christ, will produce the “…glorious church…” which God has
promised and Jesus will return for (Ephesians 5:27; Titus 1:2; Revelation 21:9).
What greater works could His
ambassadors possibly do?
Message 10 - Greater Works
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