Month: October 2020

16.i. “Whoever is of God hears the words of God”

John 8:39  They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

“Because My word has no place in you” – Their rejection of the word of Jesus proved they were not yielding and trusting in God’s Word.  Spurgeon considered several ways that God’s word should have a place in the believer.

· The word of God ought to have an inward place.

· The word of God ought to have a place of high honor.

· The word of God ought to have a place of trust.

· The word of God ought to have a place of rule.

· The word of God ought to have a place of love.

· The word of God ought to have a permanent place.

How will we know true freedom without such reverence for His Word in our lives? If there is no hunger and thirst in your heart for His Word you have to ask yourself what is it that is filling your heart?

16.h. “And the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31  So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

Isaiah 61:1   The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Romans 8:15     For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Galatians 5:13    For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

2 Timothy 2:25-26     correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth  and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

James 1:25     But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

1 Peter 2:16    Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Jesus was speaking to those who believed Him.  There is a difference between believing Him and believing in Him.  Those who believe in Him will abide in His word.  Those who believe Him will not, or they may pick and choose what they want to abide in. Clearly, they were inclined to think what Jesus was saying was true.  But they were not prepared or willing to yield that belief into trust and reliance.  Abiding in His Word means “Welcoming it, being at home with it, and living with it so continuously that it becomes part of the believer’s life, a permanent influence and stimulus in every fresh advance in goodness and holiness.”

Abiding in His Word will open our hearts and minds to the truth.  It is this truth that sets us free.  There is nothing like the freedom we can have in Jesus. No money can buy it, no status can obtain it, no works can earn it, and nothing can match it. It is tragic that not every Christian experiences this freedom, which can never be found except by abiding in God’s word and being Jesus’ disciple.  There is freedom from worry, hate, anger, fear, greed, jealousy, envy, pride, self-reliance, and the want to sin.  But in order to experience this “Freedom”, there must be an intentional choice to die to self and its sinful nature and live for Christ.  In this complete surrender and yielding, we will find a mysterious freedom that seeks and desires to know, do, trust, and rejoice in the will of God.

16.g. From Compelling Truth

What is the significance of “sola gratia”?

Sola gratia is a Latin phrase that means “grace alone.” Sola gratia means that salvation from sin and death is provided by God’s unmerited favor alone, and we can do nothing to earn it. The concept is expressed in Ephesians 2:8-9 which reads, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Sola gratia is one of the five “solas” of the Protestant Reformation. The others are:

1) Sola scriptura: Scripture alone; God gave us His Word through Scripture, not papal authority or sacred tradition

2) Sola fide: Faith alone; salvation is by grace, through faith, not our works (Ephesians 2:8-9)

3) Solo Christo: Christ alone; Jesus is the only way to salvation (John 14:6)

4) Sola Deo Gloria: glory of God alone; everything we do should be for God’s glory (Colossians 3:17)

These were foundational beliefs during the development of the Protestant Reformation, and continue to be vital today.

Why is it essential to believe and teach that salvation is provided by grace alone (sola gratia)? First, Scripture is clear that no person seeks God of his or her own initiative: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:10-11). Instead, God must reach out to sinful humanity (Romans 3:23). Christ died for us while we were still ungodly (Romans 5:8). Further, Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). He actively pursues sinners, calling us to faith in His name.

When a person does accept Christ by grace through faith, Jesus is the One who gives eternal life (John 3:16) and makes us a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Once we have become a believer in Christ, God’s Spirit provides the power to live for Him and keeps us in the love of God (Roman 8:37-39). Ultimately, Christ also gives us assurance of eternal life (1 John 5:13).

Salvation is by God’s grace alone because He is the One who created us, provided a way of salvation for us, seeks us, gives us faith, changes us when we do believe in Him, empowers us to live for Him, keeps us in His love, and will take us to be with Him for eternity. At no point do our good works provide salvation. This is why sola gratia was not only an important belief during the Protestant Reformation, but remains essential to Christian faith and living today.

16.f. “For unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

John 8:21   So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

Proverbs 11:7    When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.

Matthew 25:41    “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 25:46    And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Proverbs 14:32     The wicked is overthrown through his evildoing, but the righteous finds refuge in his death.

“Unless you believe I am He you will die in your sins”  Jesus also said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

It doesn’t take the words of a learned professor for us to realize that we are living in a perverted, chaotic world in which we as Christians are a shrinking minority. It seems as though the country is divided by hate, anger, fear, pride, greed, and no sense of what is right and wrong. Yet in spite of that, Jesus said, we are to be light and salt in a dark world that has lost its thirst for God.  Even more so as we sense the day of Hie return approaching.

16.e. “To open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

John 8:12  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Isaiah 9:2     The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Isaiah 42:6-7    “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,  to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Luke 1:78-79     because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high  to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Isaiah 60:1-3     Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.  For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

Acts 13:47     For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

Job 33:28     He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’

We have all experienced physical darkness. We search for light when the lights go out during a storm when our car is broken down along the highway at night, or when we wake to a sudden sound in the middle of night.  When we are used to seeing things in the light, darkness becomes a burden without it.  Sometimes it is more than a burden of being out of light, it is and can be frightening.  Light takes away the darkness and allows us to see all of the obstacles we would not have seen in darkness.

Jesus Christ is the “Light of the world”.  His light shines in the darkness and exposes all that is unrighteous, unholy, and apart from God.  His light shines bright on the darkest soul, exposing sin and the need for salvation, redemption, repentance, and forgiveness.  There are two reactions to the light of Jesus Christ.  One can run from it and hide in the dark shadows of sin, or one can run to it and allow it to flood over them.  The world is in darkness and there are those who choose darkness over light.  They will even create their own fake light to guide their path.  They convince themselves that this false light is the one and only true light of the world.  They run and hide from the light of Jesus Christ that shines brighter. How many times do we run from the light of Jesus Christ?  How many times is our sin exposed in the light of His Word and we quickly close our eyes to it, choosing for that sin to not be exposed? God’s Word is light to our soul.  Jesus Christ is the light of salvation, redemption, and forgiveness.   The Holy Spirit is the light to guide us on the path to eternity in heaven.  Living any moment of the day without seeking and desiring the light of the Holy Trinity is living in darkness.

16.d. “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly and unspiritual.”

Philippians 2:4  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 13:13     Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

1 Peter 2:1-2    So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation

James 3:14-16     But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

2 Corinthians 12:20     For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

Unity is the goal, “Like-minded”, “having the same love”, “one purpose”, “On mind”.  What comes in-between members, families, and churches that cause a lack of unity.  The list is long. Pride, envy, jealousy, greed, selfish-ambition, quarreling, slander, conceit, hostility, anger, etc…… are all present in the worldly realm and should not be present in the church.  When we were born again we became new creatures, a new creation.  During our growth from an infant believer into a mature believer, we will encounter these worldly attributes in ourselves as well as others.  The Holy Spirit will bring these to light within us as we continue to grow in our walk with the Lord.  I don’t care how mature you are, there is always going to be something the Holy Spirit will bring to light in your life that is not in line with honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ.  We need to be mindful of worldly influences.  We need to be able to identify that which is of this world and at odds with living godly lives.  The church is made up of Christians both new and old to the faith.  Learning to live in harmony with one another requires each of us to ensure we are seeking unity and not being influenced by how the world thinks we should react to certain situations, comments, people, etc…. When we stay in God’s Word we will find peace, comfort, and strength to identify and keep out worldly influences.  Don’t you wonder how many divisions have taken place just because of pride, anger, gossip, slander, conceit, greed, jealousy, selfish-ambition, and envy?  Ask God to reveal what He sees in your heart so that you can confidently know you are living your life full of the Spirit and honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ in all you think, say, and do.

16.c. From Pathway to Victory

Philippians 2:5-11 is one of the greatest passages in the New Testament. It’s about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished for us on the cross. But sometimes we look at these verses only in terms of what they teach us about Jesus, and we forget there’s a practical application to this passage. When Paul wanted to illustrate humility with the best example he knew, he used the life of Jesus Christ to help us live above our circumstances and deal with difficult people.

First of all, Paul said humility means surrendering our rights to meet another’s needs. Paul said, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God” (Philippians 2:5-6). The word translated “form” refers to the essence of God. Paul was very clear in saying that Jesus Christ is God. Jesus didn’t appear on the scene for the first time in Bethlehem. Jesus didn’t come into existence when He was formed in Mary’s womb. Jesus Christ existed from eternity past just like God the Father. He is God in the flesh.

Paul said that Jesus “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself” (vv. 6-7). Jesus surrendered His rights. Notice that He didn’t empty Himself of being God. Jesus could not give up His deity any more than I could give up being five-foot-nine and having brown eyes. I can’t give it up because it’s who I am. In the same way, Jesus is God. He can’t give up being God. But during His time on earth, He temporarily set aside His rights as God. He let go of the perks and privileges of being God when He came to earth. Think about it: Jesus could have annihilated His enemies with a word. But He didn’t do it. He gave up his rights as God and came to earth in the form of a bond-servant. He emptied Himself. That’s what humility is. Humility means surrendering our rights to meet another person’s needs.

Humility also means submitting our will to God’s will. I admit that I don’t fully understand this passage. If Jesus is God, how He could submit His will to God’s will? There are many questions I will have when I get to heaven, and this is one of them. But I do know this: in the Garden of Gethsemane two thousand years ago, something unusual happened. Jesus knelt in prayer and said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus asked for another way besides Calvary to take care of your sins and my sins. He did not relish going to the cross. But in the very next breath He prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as You will.” Jesus submitted His will to the Father’s will. That’s what humility is. It is submitting our will to God’s will. We say, “Not my will, God, but Your will be done.” Humility is submitting our will to God’s will.

16.b. “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”

John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Psalms 143:6     I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

Psalms 63:1   O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Isaiah 12:3     With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Isaiah 44:3     For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Amos 8:11-13    “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

Revelation 21:6    And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

The celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles emphasized how God provided water to Israel in the wilderness on their way to Canaan. Jesus boldly called people to Himself to drink and satisfy their deepest thirst, their spiritual thirst. The invitation was broad because it said, if anyone. Intelligence, race, class, nationality, or political party don’t limit it. The invitation was narrow because it said, if anyone thirsts. One must see their need. Thirst is not anything in itself; it is a lack of something. It is an emptiness, a crying need. Jesus explained what He meant by the metaphor of drinking. To come to Jesus and to drink was essentially to put one’s faith into Him; to trust in, rely on, and cling to Jesus for both time and eternity. Jesus did not only speak of something coming into a person, but something flowing out of them as well. It was not only a blessing received, but also becoming a source of blessing to others.  This outflowing life and abundance comes in and through the presence of the Spirit in the life of the believer. This speaks of an experience that belongs to those believing in Him. The nature of that experience may differ among believers, but there is some aspect of it that is promised to all who will receive it by faith.

16.a. “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

John 7:21  Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Deuteronomy 1:16-17    And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him.  You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

Proverbs 17:15    He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

Isaiah 11:3-4    And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

James 2:9     But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Jesus had healed a cripple who had been an invalid for 38 years.  He did this on the Sabbath and the Jewish leaders immediately told the healed man that it was unlawful for him to carry the mat he had been laying on.  Jesus brings this up when the Jewish leadership was wondering how Jesus had learning when He had never studied.  He tells them that they marvel at this act and then proceeds to tell them that they are not seeing scripture with understanding.  It was man-made laws and traditions that resulted in them thinking that healing a cripple on the Sabbath was breaking the law.  “Judge with right judgment.”  We are all guilty of wrongly judging some on or something.  We judge by the action and not the intent.  We judge the guy or gal in the car that is going to slow or cuts us off and have no idea what might have distracted that person.  Did they just get a phone call with very bad news?  Are they heading to the hospital to see someone who is dying?  We just don’t know but we judge them guilty of intentionally doing this to us.  There are thousands of other examples of how we judge others and much of the time we are judging without the love of God in our hearts and mind.  We need to be mindful of how critically we look at others.  Maybe it would be good for us to look into the mirror and ask ourselves if we would like to be judged by others the way we judge them.  I wonder if we ever take the time to ask God to reveal our true heart to us and seek the Holy Spirit’s to lead us into this insight.  We stand before God through Jesus Christ alone.  We did nothing to deserve this grace and mercy.  And yet, we go about judging others as if we were deserving of redemption, salvation, and forgiveness. When you are humble in thoughts and actions you will find the spirit of Judging will find no place in your heart, mind, and soul

16. “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

John 7:6  Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

James 4:4    You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 John 4:5    They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

Proverbs 15:12     A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

Romans 8:7     For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

1 John 2:15-16     Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Acts 7:54   “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

“I testify about it that its works are evil.” “Friendship with the world is enmity with God.” “They are from the world.” “The mindset on the flesh is hostile to God.” “Do not love the world.” “Do not love things of the world.” “You stiff-necked people.”  I am not sure I have ever seen the division, anger, fear, and hatred that is around us today.  Surely it points to the condition of the heart of mankind without Jesus Christ in their lives.  Boasting, looting, rioting, lying, causing fear, anger, and division are clearly coming from the abundance of what is filling their hearts.  The love of God is not there but rather a love of self, self-centered, self-interests, self-reliance, self-power, self-worth, self-love, pride, greed, and arrogance.  They harden their heart into stone and close their ears to His calling.  They shake their mental fist at God, mocking the Creator, Savior, and coming again King of kings.  When they harden their hearts and stiffen their necks against God there is no limit to what sin they can commit.  Think about it.  Abortion is called, “Pro-choice”. Pornography is called, “adult entertainment”.  LGBTQ is called, “alternative lifestyle”.  Breaking a contract for the sole purpose of making money is called, “shrewd businessman”.  Lying in business is called, “manipulating the truth”.  Hate and violence are called, “justified”.  The list can go on and on.  Sin is no longer recognized as sin.  We can look at this list and say these are all sins against a child, person, business, or group of people.  The fact is these are not sins against man but against Jesus Christ himself.  When we sin it is not against man.  We sin against God.  We may harm man but we sin against God.  We may wrong a person but we sin against God.  When God is removed from our hearts and mind, there is no thought of sinning against God.  Even as Christians we fall into a false thought that our sin is against a person rather than the one and only Holy God.

We must have a proper understanding of “Sin”, or our lives will become more and more like the world’s view of it.