MAN CANNOT DO WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO

MAN CAN NOT DO WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO

Table of Contents

1. A Greeting to the Blameless and Holy Ones
2. Stand Firm in the Assurance of Who You Are
3. Releasing the Supernatural from Within
4. Jesus on the High Mountain
5. Bashan: The Place of the Serpent
6. The Redeemer Revealed in Enemy Territory
7. His Raiment Became Shining
8. What No Fuller on Earth Could Accomplish
9. The Law of Moses Could Not Produce Glory
10. Man Cannot Make Himself Righteous
11. The Miracle God Accomplished Through Jesus Christ
12. The Revelation of Grace in the Transfiguration
13. Stop Trying to Clean Yourself Up
14. Begging, Pleading, and Doing More
15. The Miraculous and the Glory Are Within You
16. Jesus Did It All
17. Walk in Your Blessings

A Greeting to the Blameless and Holy Ones

Pastors Leonard and Lori Rola begin by warmly greeting everyone. Pastor Leonard introduces himself along with his “wonderful, beautiful, amazing wife,” Pastor Lori. He speaks affectionately about her and talks about the wonderful time they recently had in New York City.

They had traveled there to support their daughter Allison at Healing Journeys Today. Pastor Leonard calls Allison a fan favorite and says that he has always considered her the best preacher in the family. He jokingly places Pastor Lori second and himself after her. He also believes that there may be another preacher waiting to emerge in the family through his oldest son, even though his son does not know it yet.

They enjoyed spending time with the speakers and leaders of the organization, including Julianne and Butch Hartman, and were warmly received. Pastor Leonard talks about looking at his wife during the event and thinking that she had to be the prettiest woman in the room. After sharing those personal moments, Pastor Lori greets the audience as the “blameless and holy ones” and as saints. This is not simply a pleasant introduction. It is a declaration of the believer’s identity in Jesus Christ.

Stand Firm in the Assurance of Who You Are

Pastor Leonard explains that this declaration is extremely important. He refers to what Paul wrote in Colossians 1:21–23:

Colossians 1:21–23- And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable in his sight. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.

Believers are to stand firm in this assurance and refuse to drift away from it. They have been reconciled to God through the body and death of Jesus Christ. Because of what Jesus accomplished, they are presented to God as holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight.

This is why Pastors Leonard and Lori repeatedly remind believers that they are blameless, holy, righteous, sanctified, and just like Jesus. The believer’s identity is not based upon personal performance. It is based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.

This truth is worth repeating every time they come before the audience. Believers are constantly surrounded by messages that encourage them to judge their standing with God according to their behavior, feelings, or performance. The gospel tells them to remain grounded and settled in what Jesus has already accomplished.

Releasing the Supernatural from Within

Pastor Leonard explains that this teaching adds to the message he shared the previous Sunday. That message was titled “How to Release the Supernatural from Within.” It also taught believers how to live in the miraculous and, secondarily, how to receive healing.

He encourages everyone to listen to that complete message because it provides the details and foundation for what he and Pastor Lori are discussing here. This session focuses on one particular part of the transfiguration account and the powerful revelation of grace contained within it.

Pastor Lori reads the portion of Scripture from which Pastor Leonard taught:

Mark 9:2–3- And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him to a high mountain. While they were there, He was transfigured before them. His outward garments began to shine with a whiteness and brilliance that no fuller on earth could produce.

Jesus on the High Mountain

Pastor Leonard explains that when people read this passage, they may see only that Jesus went to a high mountain in a particular region. Without knowing more about the location, readers can easily miss the significance of the setting God chose for this revelation.

The details of where Jesus stood and where this unveiling took place matter. Pastor Leonard points back to the more extensive explanation in his Sunday message because that teaching examines the location and the truths associated with it.

The mountain was located in a land formerly known as Bashan. Philip the tetrarch changed the name of the area, but many Jewish people living then would have recognized the older name and understood what Bashan represented.

Bashan: The Place of the Serpent

Pastor Leonard explains that Bashan was known as “the place of the serpent.” This adds tremendous significance to the location of Jesus’ transfiguration.

Jesus did not reveal His glory in a random place. He stood on a high mountain in territory associated with the serpent. In that very place, the glory, majesty, and true identity within Jesus were openly revealed.

Pastor Leonard emphasizes the importance of understanding these details. God took care of everything, including the location in which the revealing occurred. The setting itself contributed to the message being declared.

He encourages listeners to return to the earlier Sunday teaching because it contains historical information and an explanation that he describes as hermeneutically correct. Some listeners may never have heard a message presenting these particular details. However, he encourages them to investigate the information for themselves and believes they will discover its truth and be blessed by it.

The Redeemer Revealed in Enemy Territory

In the place associated with the serpent, Jesus was transfigured. Through what happened on that mountain, the Father was effectively calling out the serpent and announcing the arrival of the Redeemer. The declaration was clear: the Redeemer was there. The Redeemer had come. The Redeemer would now be revealed.

Jesus stood in the place of the serpent while the glory within Him became visible. His majesty was not produced by the mountain, the land, human effort, or an external religious system. It came from within Him.

Pastor Leonard connects this revelation to the believer’s experience of the supernatural. Understanding what happened within Jesus at the transfiguration can help believers recognize what God has placed within them. This recognition allows the miraculous and supernatural life of God to spring forth from their lives.

His Raiment Became Shining

Pastor Leonard focuses specifically on the words describing the raiment of Jesus:

Mark 9:2–3- And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

The raiment was the outward garment or clothing Jesus wore. That outer clothing became shining and exceedingly white as snow.

When people casually read that description, they may miss its significance. The passage is showing the glory that was within Jesus becoming visible. The glory He possessed, His anointing, and His divine nature were revealed in splendor and majesty. The brilliance was so great that no fuller on earth could make any piece of clothing that white. This was more than the result of washing, bleaching, cleaning, or human workmanship. It was a supernatural manifestation of the glory within Jesus.

What No Fuller on Earth Could Accomplish

Pastor Leonard asks Pastor Lori what she thinks the statement about the fuller means. He assures her that there is no wrong answer before drawing attention to the central truth of the passage.

Mark 9:3- And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Only God could accomplish what no fuller on earth could do.

The statement points to glorification, majesty, brilliance, and supernatural radiance. No fuller could manufacture or produce the glory that appeared through Jesus. No person could take an ordinary garment and make it display this degree of supernatural purity and brilliance.

Pastor Leonard then applies this revelation to the believer. The majesty and glory within believers cannot be accomplished through the work of a human being. No person can manufacture the life and glory of God. A human being cannot create it within himself, and another human being cannot create it for him. What God gives the believer must be accomplished miraculously by God.

The Law of Moses Could Not Produce Glory

Just as no fuller could produce the shining brilliance revealed through Jesus, the law of Moses could not produce this glory in humanity.

Rules and regulations could not accomplish it. Obeying rules and regulations could not accomplish it. Striving to become righteous through keeping the law could never produce the majesty and glory of God within a person.

The law could instruct people about righteousness, but it could not miraculously transform them into new creations. It could expose behavior, but it could not place the glory and life of God within them.

No degree of human religious effort could cause a person to become what God alone could make him. The glory revealed through Jesus was not the reward for human effort. It was the manifestation of something divine.

Man Cannot Make Himself Righteous

Pastor Leonard repeatedly emphasizes that no man could accomplish this. A person could not do it for himself, and another person could not do it for him.

Human effort cannot produce divine righteousness. Toiling, striving, and performing works of righteousness cannot create the miraculous transformation that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

People frequently attempt to clean themselves up. They search for something they can do to improve their standing, change their condition, or make themselves feel worthy before God. They look for actions that will make them believe they are finally good enough for God to respond to them.

However, the message of the shining raiment is that no fuller on earth could produce it. In the same way, no amount of human effort can produce the righteousness, holiness, glory, and new life that come from God. Man cannot do what only God can do.

The Miracle God Accomplished Through Jesus Christ

Only God the Father could accomplish this through the power of the Holy Spirit because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God alone could bring this reality forth in believers’ lives. It could not happen through personal works of righteousness, religious toiling, or human striving. It had to be accomplished miraculously by God when people placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

This is the miracle of the new creation. God does not merely give believers instructions for improving the old person. Through Jesus Christ, He creates something new and establishes new realities within them. Believers are reconciled to God and presented as holy, unblameable, and unreproachable in His sight.

Colossians 1:21–23- And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.

This is not something believers accomplish after years of successful religious performance. It is the result of what Jesus accomplished through His body and death.

The Revelation of Grace in the Transfiguration

Pastor Leonard explains that the account of the transfiguration contains a revelation of grace that many people may not recognize.

Moses represents the law, but grace, truth, glory, and the revealing of the majesty of God can only be known and brought forth in believers’ lives through faith in Jesus Christ.

The shining raiment demonstrates the difference between something produced through human effort and something revealed through divine life. A fuller could work on a garment, but no fuller could give it the supernatural brilliance revealed in Jesus.

Likewise, the law could command people to live righteously, but it could not place God’s righteousness and glory within them. Only God could accomplish that through Jesus Christ. Grace is not God helping people become better at producing their own righteousness. Grace is God freely giving believers what human effort could never create.

Stop Trying to Clean Yourself Up

Many people are still trying to clean themselves up. They continue searching for something they can do to change how they feel about themselves and how they believe God feels about them.

When they make a mistake or believe they have failed, they immediately turn toward increased religious effort. They think they must press in harder, read more, pray more, plead more, beg more, or do something additional. Their goal is often to make themselves feel better. They hope that if they do enough, they may persuade God to listen to them, hear their prayer, and act on their behalf.

Pastor Lori describes this struggle as something that occurs in both the mind and the body. A person says, “I just blew it,” and then begins searching for something he can do to correct his standing before God. The person may believe that reading more, praying more, pleading more, or begging more is the right thing to do. Underneath those actions is the hope that God might finally hear and respond.

Begging, Pleading, and Doing More

Pastor Leonard explains that this kind of thinking misses the truth. God does not act on the believer’s behalf because the believer has accumulated enough good works, prayed for enough hours, pleaded with enough intensity, or successfully made himself feel worthy.

It is not by the works of man. It is not by works of righteousness. It is the gift of God. When believers think God will respond only after they do more, they are attempting to accomplish through human effort what only God can accomplish through grace.

They are behaving like a fuller trying to reproduce the supernatural brilliance that appeared in the clothing of Jesus. No matter how hard the fuller works, human labor cannot produce divine glory.

The answer is not to work harder at creating what God has already freely given. The answer is to understand the gift, recognize the new reality, and believe what God accomplished through Jesus Christ.

The Miraculous and the Glory Are Within You

Pastor Leonard teaches that believers must understand the gifting of God and the reality of what He has placed within them.

The miraculous is within the believer. The glory is within the believer. God placed it there. When believers understand this truth, envision it, see it, and truly know it, the reality of knowing what is within them begins to become the visible reality of their lives.

This is when the miraculous and supernatural begin to take place. Believers are no longer attempting to create the supernatural through human effort. They are allowing what God has already deposited within them to be revealed. At the transfiguration, the glory within Jesus became visible through His outward garments:

Mark 9:2–3- And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

The glory was not created by the garment. It came from within Jesus and affected what was outside Him. In the same way, believers do not produce the miraculous by cleaning up their outward lives through self-effort. They recognize the new life and glory God has already placed within them through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Did It All

As the teaching closes, Pastor Lori again reminds believers that they are blameless, holy, and glorified. They do not have to accomplish this transformation for themselves because Jesus did it all.

This does not mean believers have never made mistakes or that their behavior is always perfect. It means their righteous standing, holiness, reconciliation, and new identity before God were accomplished by Jesus rather than earned through their own performance.

Believers are called to remain grounded and settled in this truth:

Colossians 1:21–23- And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.

The believer’s confidence rests in Jesus Christ. Man could not accomplish this work. Religious effort could not accomplish it. The law could not accomplish it. Jesus did it all.

Walk in Your Blessings

Pastors Leonard and Lori thank everyone who supports the ministry. They recognize that God blesses people so they can help bless others and keep the ministry going.

They direct viewers to the ministry website, where a drop-down menu explains how they can give. They thank in advance those who are being moved by God to support the work. They close by expressing their love for everyone and encouraging believers to have a wonderful week and walk in their blessings.

The glory, righteousness, holiness, and miraculous life of God cannot be produced through human effort. No man can accomplish what only God can do. Through the finished work of Jesus Christ, God has already placed His life and glory within every believer.

Thank you for taking the time to study this message. If it has helped you recognize what God has already accomplished within you through Jesus Christ, please share it with someone who needs to stop striving, rest in grace, and understand that Jesus did it all.