Series One: What Is the Problem?

Copyright © 2005-2025 by Terry E. Manning

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow slave with you, your brothers the prophets, and those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” He also said to me, “Don’t seal the prophetic words of this book, because the time is near. Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy go on being made filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; and let the holy go on being made holy.” Revelation 22:8-11 HCSB, [emphasis added]

On the "grand scale" of things there is an all-encompassing problem and one divine Solution. God created the first living soul: "The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7 AMP).

Adam sinned against God who created him. This unrighteous choice was catastrophic in its consequences. Because of this one man's disobedience (a son of God) all of humanity have been born into a realm of spiritual darkness—the dominion of Satan (Acts 26:15-18).

From that moment until the present, the descendants of Adam and the woman (later named Eve), have existed in a fallen world; alienated from the Life of God, slaves to self, subject to divine curses and oppressed and dominated by the destructive forces of spiritual darkness (Ephesians 6:12).

Early on, the Lord God promised a Solution for mankind's insurmountable problem (Genesis 3:15). A man would be born of a woman and would deliver humanity from God's wrath, spiritual darkness, the rule of Satan and the strong inclination to sin, worship wealth, power, themselves; everything but their Creator. This divine Savior would also deliver mankind from an inescapable death sentence (John 3:16-18; 16:11; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8).

For thousands of years, from Adam's second son Abel to the appearing of the Savior, a remnant of each generation lived righteously before God by their obedient faith in God (Genesis 4:25-26). This should not be confused with having faith in ourselves or in human ability which is just Adam's legacy of choosing self over God. The majority of people who ever lived and the greater part of those alive today have only known spiritual darkness, futility and death.

At the precise moment in the Almighty's blueprint for mankind, the promised Messiah appeared (Ephesians 1:9-10). The Word was made flesh (John 1:1-5). He was miraculously conceived and born of a virgin. His name is Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus. During His time of public ministry, Jesus revealed the holy nature, power, character, wisdom and love of the Lord God in all that He did, spoke and taught (John 5:19). Consider the jaw-dropping miracles that He performed. Jesus truly was and is God with us (Matthew 1:23).

According to Almighty God's plan for the ages, Jesus was betrayed by one of His close followers, falsely accused and found guilty by dishonest Jewish religious leaders and then turned over to Roman authorities for punishment. Jesus was mecilessly tortured and nailed to a Roman cross to die an agonizing death. On the third day in the grave, Father God resurrected Jesus from the dead. This secured Jesus' victory over His last enemy; biological death (Romans 14:9).

Jesus' faith in His Father, sinless life and sacrificial death judged Satan and overturned his claim on the lives of all of humanity (1 John 4:9, Ephesians 1:20-22). Through His obedient life and shed blood Jesus made atonement to Almighty God for all of mankind's sins enabling every individual who has come to repent and believe in Him to enter into the Life, Light and Love of God (John 3:16).

The resurrected Jesus was seen of His followers and family for forty days before He ascended to His Father (Mark 16:19; Acts 1:1-3). Jesus is mankind's only true Savior. Lord Jesus is enthroned above the highest of the heavens and in the hearts and lives of all who are led by Father God to repent, believe in and obey Lord Jesus.

As promised, beginning at the first Pentecost after Lord Jesus was exalted, He poured out the Holy Spirit on all flesh. The gift of and infilling (baptism) with the Holy Spirit has continued to occur in the lives of God's elect to the present day (Ephesians 1:13-14).

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” Acts 2:32-39 ESV, [emphasis added]

Jesus, the second man Adam, became a Life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). In light of the full message of the gospel, believing in Jesus is obedient faith in God. For those individuals called to become Jesus' disciples, it requires a commitment and submission of their life to the direction and will of God. Progressively repenting of their dead works corresponds with an individual believer's growth of their faith in God. Learning to become quick to repent is a spiritual discipline worth pursuing because dead works are what our human nature produces naturally and abundantly (Romans 6:13; Hebrews 6:1; 9:14; 1 Peter 4:2).

Our Creator's "answer" for our propensity to sin and the sins we actually commit is believing in Jesus—not just initially, but as we obediently follow, serve and learn from Him. Becoming part of Almighty God's Solution; Jesus the Messiah, begins with a spiritual new birth and progresses as a believer answers their calling in Christ. After being baptized with the Holy Spirit, we can choose to be led, enabled and empowered by the Spirit to grow up into the image and stature of Christ. The elect of God follow Lord Jesus on a spiritual journey of obedient faith and spiritual transformation.

Our Messiah's sinless life, suffering, shed blood, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension and glorification opened the Way for all who are drawn by the Father to the Son (and repent of their sins and choose to obediently believe in Him). Hearing, following, serving and interacting obediently with our sovereign Lord, the only begotten Son of God, are essential to gaining close, personal "first-hand" knowledge of Him (Philippians 3:10). Sincere repentance, faith in Jesus and obedience to Jesus as Lord are paramount for "the righteous to go on in righteousness" and for "the holy to go on being made holy" (Revelation 22:11).

Our great Salvation—the forgiveness of our sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, vital submission to and fellowship with our Lord Jesus, learning to live according to the Spirit of God and the promise of eternal life (sharing in Almighty God's Life) is most precious and deserves our heartfelt response.

Series One: What Is the Problem? is an anointed look at the challenges that face men and women who desire to live their lives in the awareness of God's Presence; in obedience to the will and word of God. Through their faith in God they press on, that they may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of them (Philippians 3:12).

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Philippians 3:12-16 NKJV, [emphasis added]

Like the Apostle Paul, above all things pertaining to your life; choose to press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-16). If this is your desire, these essays may be of benefit to you as you follow hard after Jesus, live according to the Holy Spirit and learn to stand firm in the Lord.

— Terry E. Manning

John 3:13-21

13 And yet no one has ever gone up to heaven, but there is One Who has come down from heaven—the Son of Man [Himself], Who is (dwells, has His home) in heaven.
14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must [so it is necessary that] the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],
15 In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!
16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.
18 He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ’s name.]
19 The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil.
20 For every wrongdoer hates (loathes, detests) the Light, and will not come out into the Light but shrinks from it, lest his works (his deeds, his activities, his conduct) be exposed and reproved.
21 But he who practices truth [who does what is right] comes out into the Light; so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—wrought with God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence upon Him]. John 3:13-21 AMP [emphasis added]

Philippians 3:7-11

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. [My goal] is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. Philippians 3:7-11 HCSB, [emphasis added]