18.s. ““I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.”

John 15:26  “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

 Luke 24:49    And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you

 Matthew 13:21    yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

 1 Peter 2:8     and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

Jesus said; “When the Helper (Holy Spirit) comes.”  He did not say “if”, He said, “when”.  The gift of and sending of the Holy Spirit was and is promised.  Through this gift, those who believe receive truth and display various gifts of this truth; wisdom, power, courage, strength, love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, grace, mercy, unity, harmony, generosity, humbleness, patience….  These gifts all bear witness to the truth of love, grace, and mercy in and through Jesus Christ.  If we were left on our own without the helper, certainly we would be void.  All of our wisdom would be worldly foolishness. Our power, courage, and strength would be a worldly weakness. All love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, grace, mercy, unity, harmony, generosity, humbleness, and patience would be self-centered, selfish, and self-reliant.  Certainly, we would fail and fall short of bringing any honor and glory to Jesus Christ. 

We can surrender and yield and seek and desire to be led by the Holy Spirit of truth or we can deny and reject, and harden our hearts and minds making us deaf and blind to the things of the Holy Spirit.  Every moment of every day we will make a choice to surrender and yield and seek and desire to be led by the Holy Spirit or not.  In this surrender and yielding and seeking and desiring we will glorify and honor Jesus Christ.  Without desire and seeking to be led by the Holy Spirit we are surrendering and yielding to self and things of this world.  None of which brings honor and glory to Christ.  

Make an intentional choice every morning to be led by and through the Holy Spirit.  Spend time in His word seeking that which will bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ.  Listen for those quiet whispers of the Holy Spirits leading and be obedient.

15.x. “This is the bread that comes down from heaven”

John 6:35  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:48-58    I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Isaiah 55:1-3    “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant

“I am the bread of life”, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out”, “I am the living bread”, Jesus is both living water and living bread.  In other words He will satisfy Christ and hunger of the soul of all who come to Him.  Spurgeon said, “ coming is a very simple action indeed; it seems to have only two things about it, one is, to come away from something, and the other is, to come to something.”  What are we to come away from?   Unbelief, worldliness, sinfulness, greed, pride, self-reliance, fear, worry, and self-satisfaction are all aspects of life we are to turn away from and repent of, and come to Jesus Christ.  I guess I see that the coming part seems easy for some, it is the staying that is hard for them.  They come but do not stay.  It is as if they don’t like the taste of the Bread of Life and more.  Be mindful that there are many things in our culture that will pull you away from being a humble servant, honoring, glorifying, following, worshiping, and obeying Jesus Christ.  It does us well to keep a thirst and hunger for God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s leading in our life.  Come and stay at the table and eat and drink God’s Word each day.

15.p. “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

John 5:30   “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 14:10    Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

John 8:42     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.

John 8:28     So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

Psalms 40:7-8    Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:  I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

John 4:34     Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Psalms 96:13    before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

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.

Romans 2:5    But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Jesus explained that He is qualified as a completely righteous judge because His power is in submission too and to do the will of God the Father.  How much of our day(s) do we do our will without a single thought too doing the will of God?  I am certain there are those who believe there is God or a god but give no thought to having a personal relationship with Him.  There are fewer who believe Jesus Christ was the Son of God and even of these there are many who give no thought to having a personal relationship with Him.  If we are to come to the Father we must come through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Here is the difference between these and those who have had a personal relationship with the Son and the Father. Those who believe trust in, cling too and rely on Jesus Christ.  They are aware of sin, their sin, and the Holiness of the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Father, God.  In this awareness, they seek to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  In this awareness, they have an understanding that has been given to them by and through Jesus Christ.  In this awareness, they have intentionally chosen to seek this relationship and believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In this awareness, they have sought forgiveness, repented of their sin, and believed in salvation and redemption through Jesus Christ.  There is more than just head knowledge.  The difference is that they personally know Jesus Christ rather than knowledge of Him.  They have made an intentional choice to surrender, serve, listen, follow, yield, trust, obey, honor, and glorify Jesus Christ.  They do not seek their own will but continually seek to do the will of Jesus Christ every day.  They do not seek to honor themselves.

Judgment is coming and the wrath of God is being stored up against all who reject Jesus Christ.  Today we are closer to this coming judgment than before.  The warning has been given that this judgment is coming.  The warning has been given that all who reject Jesus Christ will go to hell and be tormented forever and ever in eternity.  It is out of love that God sends these warnings.  “For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whosoever believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” “But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

Knowing of Jesus Christ will never result in repentance or trust.  Knowing Jesus Christ will.  Behold, He stands at the door of your heart, knocking.  Open that door and allow Him in.