Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’
Do Not Say “God Loves You!” – Unless…..
How many times have you heard a well-meaning Christian – Pastor or not – tell someone “God Loves You!” ? Most likely it is said to someone who is not a disciple of Jesus. Someone who does not love God nor has submitted to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
However, you really should “not” say that to someone “UNLESS”… unless they are a disciple of Jesus. Here is why.
I am sure you have heard it said that God loves everyone and just about all of the time it is based on John 3:16 but, have we all mis-understood that scripture? To find out why John 3:16 is not talking about individuals please read the article at the following link:
Have We All Mis-Understood John 3:16…
In actuality God does love individuals but who are these people whom God loves?
Let me just list a few scripture verses and you should be able to figure out for yourself who it is whom God loves… and why.
John 13: 1
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
John 14: 21
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
John 14: 23
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
John 17: 20 – 23
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
In short, just look at these phrases…
having loved His own who were in the world,
he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him
that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
God loves only they who are disciples of Jesus; who are obedient to Him and love Him. You see, God does “not” love everyone, as you have been told so many times. His love is only for born again believers in Jesus. These verses are very clear in that point and if you still do not believe it is because you do not understand what God is saying in His Word, nor do you want to do so because it is against what you have been made to believe; believing in something that is not in the Bible.
Jesus loved His own who were in the world. Whoever loves Jesus will be loved by the Father and whoever the Father loves Jesus also will love. They who love Jesus and keeps His word will be loved by the Father. The thing is the world is supposed to know that the Father has sent Jesus and that only they who believe in Him is loved by the Father as the Father loves Jesus and Jesus, too, will love them… and only them. For they are His own who are in the world.
Are you loved by God? Do you believe in Jesus and are obedient to Him? Do you love and cherish the salvation that God has so graciously given to you? Then, do not say to any and everyone that God loves you. If they are “NOT” disciples of Jesus you are only deceiving them and are actually lying to them. Instead, tell them that they can “know” the love of God and feel the kind of sweet love that only Jesus can give, and then tell them how they, too, can receive this love of God by submitting to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
So, do not say that “God loves you” – unless … unless you know for sure that the one to whom you are talking is a true disciples of Jesus and are a child of God. You see, God does love, but He only loves they who love Jesus. We know He does because, in His Word, He has told us so…
How Is One Born Again?
In the Gospel of John, chapter 3 we read the following:
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
And in verse 5 Jesus said this:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
These phrases stump so many people. Can you blame them? Even Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, was stumped. Born Again? What does it mean to be “born again” and how does this happen? Well, these are very good questions and let us see if we can talk about this in basic every day language.
In Ephesians we read the following:
Ephesians 2:1
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins
Basically, because of our sin nature we are spiritually dead towards God. All of us were born this way. In fact everyone down through the ages was born with a sin nature and spiritually are dead towards God. It is for this reason that we can read the results of being dead in trespasses and sins in this passage from Romans:
Romans 3:10-12
10 As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
Being spiritually dead in our sins separates us from God and unless we are “born again” in the spirit we will never see God, we will never want God and we will never enter Heaven. So, the need to “born again” is very important and that is the reason why Jesus started from this point with Nicodemus and to impress upon him the need for being so.
Knowing about the need for being “born again” is one thing and it can happen without knowing how it happens. In fact, it always happens without the knowledge of it actually happening until after it happens. A very good example of how this works actually comes from the Bible and it is something that Jesus did in front of many people, and this one time occurrence by Jesus is a specific and quite plain way of how being “born again” happens according to the Reformed view of salvation.
This one event by Jesus shows that He not only has power over life but life in a spiritual way as well. Both physical and spiritual life comes only by way of Jesus. Maybe that is why He said that “no one comes to the Father except by me”.
In John 11 we read the story about Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, about he became sick and died. Then after he had been in the grave for four days Jesus finally came by to visit the sisters of Lazarus named Mary and Martha, and He had them lead Him to his tomb. Upon His arrival we read the following:
38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Now where Lazarus lay dead there were also other dead people in their graves around him. So, the first thing that Jesus did was to call out the name of Lazarus and command him to “come forth”. Had He not done so, everyone would have come forth out of the graves. But Jesus specifically called forth Lazarus; He chose Lazarus and no one else.
Now stop and think about this for a moment. When Jesus called out the name of Lazarus and commanded him to come forth was there anything within the body of Lazarus to allow him to respond? Of course not! For he was dead and there was no life within that dead body. Before Lazarus could respond in any way, shape or form he “first” had to have been given life in order to hear the command of Jesus and to obey that command to come forth.
The same is for anyone who needs to be spiritually “born again”. In John 8 you can read where Jesus tells the Pharisees that they cannot understand what He says, nor can they listen to Him as He speaks spiritual things and because of that they cannot “hear” Him, and the reason they cannot do any of this is that they are spiritually dead. They first need to be made spiritually alive to be able to respond at all.
In John 10 where Jesus is talking to the people about His sheep and how they hear His voice and obey Him to follow Him we read we read this about “why” they believe:
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Lazarus was a sheep of Jesus. Just like all of us who are truly “born again” by the Spirit of God. Unless Jesus first gives us life, that is, unless we are “first” Born Again we cannot hear His voice and follow the command to “come forth”, we cannot understand what He is saying, since we cannot hear Him, and we cannot, and will not, believe in Him as Lord and Savior of all who will be “born again” because we are “dead in trespasses and sins and, in that state, we do not want God nor desire Him.
Being spiritually dead in our spiritual grave the first thing that must be done to us is to be given life, and that is the act of being “born again”. Once Jesus calls us by name, gives us life, then, and only then, can we hear Him, believe in Him and become willing to obey the command to “come forth”, and we do obey and we come forth gladly.
In short, faith in Jesus is the action of the heart, having first been quickened (born again) by the sovereign grace of God. That is why Jesus was so adamant about being “born again”. Without it you will not hear, understand, and obey the command to “come forth” and be given the right to enter into Heaven. How about you? Has Jesus specifically called you by name to “come forth”? Have you truly been “born again” by the Spirit of God?
As Jesus impressed upon Nicodemus about the need to be “born again”, I do the same to you. You must be “born again” if you want to enter Heaven.
I pray that today, even right now, that this wonderful phenomenon will happen to you in a most personal, knowing and loving way, and that you will “come forth” to be with Jesus.
What Guides Your Truth?
Without sounding “churchy”, here is how I perceive things. There is relative truth and there is absolute truth.
Relative truth blurs the lines between right and wrong. Depending on the situation, depending on the person, what may be wrong at one time could be right another time. In this view, relative truth is based on the wisdom of man in any situation or circumstance in which they may find themselves. Basically there is no specific right or wrong in which a person can be guided. As such, relative wisdom is based in man’s wisdom.
Absolute truth is where there are specific rights and wrongs; do’s and don’ts I guess you could say. With absolute truth to guide you no matter what the circumstance or situation is in which you find yourself you are guided by these truths so that you know how life should be lived guided by what you know to be right and wrong. Absolute truth can be found in God’s word the Bible.
So, basically one is guided either by man’s wisdom which is based in relative truth or they are guided by God’s wisdom which is absolute truth. However, even true Christians can be tempted by, and give into, relative truth, which is a wrong as seen by absolute truth, because at that moment it seems right to them, but they will not stay in that wrong because God will show them the wrong they are doing and bring them out of it.
The problem is that there are many people who are Christians in name only, because they have no root grounded in the Bible because they have never experienced being “born again”, and when they do fall into the gray area of relative truth it seems right unto them and there they remain with the feeling that all is OK.
Then there are those who are not Christians and they will look at the world through the dark glasses of relative truth and most anything looks good to them, even if they would not participate in it themselves. It is not for Christians to judge them but a Christian does have, and should have, the right to say that in God’s wisdom a certain activity is wrong and should not be done.
In short, morality is based either in God’s wisdom or man’s wisdom. God’s wisdom is the basis for absolute truth and man’s wisdom is the foundation of relative truth. A true Christian will find themselves on the side of God’s wisdom and non-Christians will see things through man’s wisdom, and that is just the way things are as man’s nature is bent towards that way.
Having tasted Christianity you might remember the verse that says:
“But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
1 Corinthians 2: 14
Relative truth or absolute truth, where does your wisdom lie? Before you answer remember this from 1st Corinthians 1: 19 – 21 and I pray that God will open your understanding to receive these verses and apply them to your heart:
19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
May you be among those whose heart God will change and bring you into the Kingdom to be included with those who believe; disciples of Jesus and followers of the way.
Everyone Does Not Go To Heaven
Almost daily you will hear or read about someone who has died and there will be those who will say something like, “Well, they are in a better place now.” even though there has not been one bit of evidence of them ever being someone other than a “good” person.
Being just a “good” person will not get you into Heaven. What you may not know or realize is this:
10 As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10 – 12
No one is good, not one of us. In fact God looks at our “righteousness” – that which makes us look good – in this way:
6 “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;” Isaiah 64: 6
God knows that we are not good. We have no righteousness of our own. There is nothing we can do to deserve to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. We all belong in the trash heap of life called Hell.
However, God has made a way for one to be allowed into Heaven, to spend eternity with Him and to enjoy what He has done for us. As the God Man, whose name is Jesus, God told us plainly what is needed for anyone to enter into Heaven:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3: 3
For anyone to be able to see and to enter into Heaven all that is require is to be “born again”. Basically what this means is that we must turn away from our present self-righteousness and to believe in and to submit to the Lordship of Jesus, who has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves – be found worthy of entering Heaven for all eternity.
Think of this. No matter what religion to which one belongs, even if you belong to no religion, unless you are “born again” you will not go to Heaven after death, and you will spend eternity in Hell. When you really give that some thought, just think of all of the people who has ever lived who has not been “born again” who will be spending eternity in Hell. God has provided us with only one way for us to be found “qualified” for Heaven and that is only by being “born again” by the Spirit of God.
So, how does one know if they have been born again? It is very simple and it is something that we do in response to the Spirit’s working within us in giving us a new heart, in washing us clean of our sinfulness, and in applying God’s forgiveness to our lives.
In Romans 10: 8 – 13 God tells us:
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
You see, we cannot work our way into Heaven, we cannot “accept” that Christ died for us, we cannot rely on what our family has done for us in order to be given the right to spend eternity in Heaven. Only by what Jesus has done for us will we be granted this right. Only by God’s mercy on our souls is this made possible, and we show this be admitting that we are sinners in need of being forgiven for our sinfulness, believing in the fact that Jesus died and rose again (bodily) from the grave and by submitting to Him as Lord of our life, and by showing our willingness to do His will in working in us what He wants for our good and for His glory.
You can know if you have been born again, and you can know this right now. Can you cry out to God to be forgiven for your sins? Can you confess, right now, that Jesus is Lord of your life and that you are willing to do whatever it takes to become the person that God wants for you? Do you believe that God the Father has raised Jesus from the grave? If you can then you have all the proof that you need that you have been born again by the Spirit of God.
Won’t you do this right now? Remember what God has promised… “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”… Will you not call upon Him right now? I pray that God is working in you right at this very moment and is leading you into that glorious place of being forgiven and of being “born again” into the Kingdom of God.
Be Reconciled To God
A new year has come and with it comes the continuing promise by those of us who are Ambassador’s of God that forgiveness of sins is offered to all who will heed the call to be reconciled with God.
In 2 Corinthians 5: 20 we read the following:
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
All too often, people believe that everyone who dies will go to Heaven. Nothing is further from the truth. You see, sin in our lives have separated us from God, and in that separation God does not see us nor does He hear.
Isaiah tells us in his writings the following in 59: 1, 2
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
We are all sinful people. Just one sin, even just one little lie makes anyone a sinner who has been separated from God. Any wrong doing on our part has created a rift between us and the Creator of life – the Creator of you. But you have forsaken Him and have gone your own way to do your own thing and have walked away from God. You have created this separation and God, in His justice, has become angry with you and is hiding His face from you so that He cannot see your sinfulness.
In Palm 7:11 the writer has told us:
God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.
Think about that for a moment… God is angry with you because you have turned away from Him and have sought to do what “you” believe is right in your own eye instead of living in obedience to Him. Your sin has separated you from Him. You need to be reconciled to Him, to have your sins forgiven, in order to be made righteous in His sight and be given the right to spend eternity in Heaven.
Do not be deceived in your thinking that you are not a wicked person. For anyone who has sinned and done a wrong of any kind has committed a wicked thing before God. That is why God is angry with you and has turned His face and ear from you so that He cannot see nor hear your wickedness. You have separated yourself from God and have placed yourself on the path to spending eternity in Hell.
Please… do not refuse the hand of God in offering you salvation! In your sinfulness you cannot do anything to deserve forgiveness nor be given the right to enter Heaven. But God has done this for anyone who will obey the call to be reconciled to Him. You see, He has offered Jesus to us, to suffer the punishment that we deserve, to die for sins and to be resurrected from the grave to overcome death in order to provide eternal life for all who will call upon Him to be Lord of their life.
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 10: 9, 10 the following:
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Being reconciled to God is as simple as confessing your sinfulness in proclaiming Jesus as Lord of your life, and by faith you must also believe that God the Father has raised Jesus up from the grave to provide eternal life for all who call upon the Lord. By proclaiming Jesus as Lord and believing in the resurrection brings you into a right standing with God. In short, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord Jesus for forgiveness will be reconciled to God.
Faith is a simple word, but only by faith can one be saved and be reconciled to God. It is in trusting in Jesus for salvation that provides forgiveness for sins; God hears and turns His face back to you. His anger against you is kindled and God will clothe you in the righteousness of Jesus to keep you safe from your sins and will give you peace in His love until He calls you home – to spend eternity in Heaven.
In Romans 5: 1 we read:
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Imagine how glorious it must be to have peace with God. Only by being reconciled to God can anyone know this peace. Why would you not want to have this peace? I implore you to heed the call of God and cry out to Jesus for forgiveness. Proclaim Jesus as Lord and by faith believe that He has died for your sins, and that He has been raised from the dead to overcome death in order to provide you with eternal life in Heaven.
I emphatically implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. Make peace with God now through our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever calls upon the Lord Jesus will be saved.
Why A Savior?
It is December and, of course, it is time to celebrate Christmas. Well, most of us do anyway. But, have you ever wondered why there was, or is, a need for a Savior?
In the Christmas story, where we find the babe lying in a manger because there was no room at the Inn, an angel of Lord came to some shepherds to announce to them about the birth. The story goes like this:
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2: 8-14)
In verse 11 we read about the angel telling the shepherds that a Savior had been born. A Savior? Why a Savior? In short, a Savior is needed to save us from ourselves, because of what we are unable to do for ourselves.
To begin, we need to go back all the way to the book of Judges, to the very last chapter – Chapter 21 – and to the very last verse of the chapter – verse 25:
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Look where it says, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” It does not say they did what was right in God’s eyes but in their own eyes. Very much like today.
The Old Testament is a story, albeit a true one, about God choosing a people for His own, and giving them the opportunity to prove that they could be obedient to Him and, by doing so, earn a place in Heaven. However they continued to show that this was not possible and they constantly sought to do their own will and not God’s. They could not be completely obedient to the Laws that God had given them; basically the Ten Commandments which was part of the covenant that God had made with them. In doing so, that is in doing what they saw was right in “their” own eyes, they gave evidence to God that they could not do anything to earn forgiveness for their sins and to be found worthy of acceptance into Heaven.
They would not do what God wanted of them, they desired to do what they felt was right in their own eyes; regardless of what God wanted.
In Hebrews 8: 8, 9 we read:
8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.
If God’s chosen people could not continue in the agreed upon Covenant with Him, then how could anyone do so? The answer is they can’t. No one can. No one has and no one will ever do so. For that reason mankind, based on the continued disobedience of God’s chosen people, proved that because of their sin nature they would never be found acceptable in God’s sight and could never fulfill the righteous requirements of this same Covenant. Thus mankind was condemned to spend eternity in hell. Unless someone would stand in their place and fulfill the requirements of God so that we could be forgiven and find a place in Heaven for us.
In short, mankind needed a Savior!
In Romans 8: 1-4 we read:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For what the Law “could not do” Christ did for us in our place. Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law and because of that all who put their trust in Him will receive forgiveness for their sins and be found worthy of being accepted into Heaven based on what Jesus has done for us.
This is the Savior that we are told about in the Christmas story. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
That is why we were sent a Savior. Without one there would be no way to Heaven; we would all stand condemned before God for our sins. Jesus is the only way. He is the gate by which we must pass through in order to go into Heaven and go out into eternity with Him.
So, this Christmas be as the shepherds and believe in the miracle of the virgin born Savior. Come to Him with praise and thanksgiving and receive Him as your Lord and Savior. Be as the shepherds and hear the Heavenly multitude say:
“Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, and toward men good will.”
Why a Savior? Because we can do nothing to save ourselves. Jesus is that Savior. Come to the manger now and receive Him into your heart.
Obedience Proves Your Faith
So many people call themselves Christian yet by their life they say otherwise. Cheap grace has infected the Christian church due to the fact that so many people, although they say they are believers in the Gospel of Christ, are not showing their faith by their obedience to God. The excuse they give is they say that it is done out of love.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, said, “Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.” This is a great example of what Christians are supposed to be doing when they declare their faith.
This is the same as when God tells us in James 2:18:
But some man might say, Thou hast the faith, and I have works: show me thy faith out of thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
In other words, if you say that you are a Christian what you do everyday, how you work out your faith in everyday living, should be proof that you are in deed a Christian. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, if you truly believe then you will be obedient in your service to Christ, and by your obedience you will show that you truly believe. However, so many so-called Christian choose not to be obedient because they say that they do so out of love. Love has become the all-inclusive reason for “not” being obedient to Jesus.
I love money so I will do whatever it takes to get it. I want to be with that person even if it is wrong because I love them. We don’t have to get married to have physical intimacy because we love each other. I will leave my spouse to be with another because I no longer love my spouse because I love that other person. These are just a few examples of disobedience because of love for something or someone other than Jesus.
Now I am not talking about or judging people outside of the Church as God will judge them. Who I am talking about are people who call themselves Christian but live a life of disobedience to the Word of God.
In John 14: 21 Jesus said the following:
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Jesus is very plain in saying that you truly show your love for Him by your obedience. Then He reinforces this statement with the following from verses 23 & 24:
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
The Bible is the Word of God. Christ is in the written Word. While there are commandments that were in the Old Testament that are not for today, they were only for certain individuals or for the People of Israel, there are commandments from both Testaments that we are to follow today if we are a Christian. And we are to put Jesus first in everything if we are to follow Him and show that we are true disciples. Jesus made this very clear in Luke 14: 26 & 33:
26: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
33: So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Using love as an excuse for being disobedient to the commands of Jesus is hypocritical. Our first and greatest love is to be Jesus. All other aspects of our life is to play off of that. Anyone we say that we love, any material thing that we say we love, any emotional feeling that we say that we love, no matter what we say that we love is to be second only to Jesus. The love that we have for Him should guide us into the love that we have for anyone or anything else.
So, how about you? Do you show that you believe in Jesus, and love Him, by your obedience to Him? Do you show your obedience because you truly believe in and love Jesus? How much do you really love Jesus more than anyone or anything?
The good thing is that it is never to late to repent. So much that is being taught in the Church these days is not from the Bible but from people who either should not be in the position of leadership, or are not even a Christian themselves, and are only teaching the commands of what man says that you should be doing.
All you need to do is to read the Bible for yourself, especially the New Testament, and submit to the teaching of the Holy Spirit as you read the Word, and you will find out what it is that you should and should not be doing in your change to loving and be obedient to Jesus above all else.
Remember, Jesus said that “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word“. Do you really love Jesus more than anyone or anything? Your obedience to Jesus will be the proof of that. Please, do not use love as an excuse for being disobedient. It will not get you into Heaven.
Are You Sure Of Your Call and Election?
Many people call themselves a Christian. For many different reason they believe they are and even they who have “accepted?” Jesus as their personal Savior are sure that they are going to Heaven, even though the life they live does not show it. In Matthew 7: 21 – 23 Jesus says the following:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Now why would Jesus say this if everyone who calls Him “Lord” is saved? Is it because many people believe that because they have answered an alter call of some kind and have “accepted” Jesus as their personal Savior, and go on with their life believing that they have been forgiven and that God loves them just as they are? In most cases, Yes! The Apostle Peter knew this and in his letter (2 Peter 1: 5 – 11) the Apostle wrote the following:
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Peter reminds those, who say they have obtained like faith, that if you are a follower of Jesus then these characteristic should be apart of their lives. If not, they are blind and unfruitful in their knowledge of the Lord Jesus. They may not be true followers at all. For this reason Peter reminds them about this and tells them that they should make sure that the calling they say they have received is because of God’s election of them and not because of some action they took to receive salvation; to make sure that their works and actions will show their faith and that they have been cleansed from their sins. What Peter reminds these followers basically is the same thing that Jesus preached to they who were following Him while He was on the earth. Just because someone has “accepted” Jesus as their personal Savior does not necessarily prove that they are true-born again, called by God, followers of the Lord Jesus. In fact they really are not Christians, elected of God, but workers of lawlessness blinded by their unfruitful works and not realizing that their religiosity is just for show; much like what the Pharisees of the time were doing. They were relying on their works and not on what Jesus has done for them. How about you? Maybe you should take a look at your life, your works, the fruits of your salvation and to check to make sure that your life does show your call and election is sure and real. It would be a terrible thing to hear after death the words of Jesus, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Now is the time to find out the truth of your salvation. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Importance Of A Father
As I write this it is Father’s Day. It is a day to honor Dads everywhere. The importance of a Father can be found no where better than in the Bible, and no one can be a better example of a child calling on His Father than Jesus.
On the day that Jesus was betrayed by one of His closest friends, and during the night before He was crucified, knowing what was about to befall Him Jesus talked to His Father. In Mark 14 we read:
32 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. 34 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.”
35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
In the midst of great turmoil Jesus went to the one person who He knew was the only one He could call upon and depend on for doing what was right. Even though He knew what He had to do He still cried out, “Abba, Father”. Jesus wanted His Father. He needed Him and His Father was the only one who could take away from Him what He was about to face. Yet, in the midst of all of this He knew that doing the Father’s will, and not His own, was the best course of action for Him to take. He set aside His own will to do the will of His Father and, in doing so, He did the right thing in providing forgiveness for those who would be saved from having to pay the penalty for their own sins.
In the family, the Father, or a Father figure, is still the one person that a child should, at any age, be able to count on to go to when there are troubles or problems of any kind and be helped in making the right decision; even when that decision is not the one that they want to do. We, too, can call “Abby, Father”, not only to our Earthly Father but also to our Heavenly Father to help us in time of need, knowing that if we belong to Him He will guide us in to making the decision that will be the best one for us and one that will bring glory to our Father.
When we honor our Earthly Father in doing his will, if he is teaching us Christian principles, we often find that what he has taught us is, and was, the right thing to do. How much more, then, can we expect to be guided by our Heavenly Father to do the same? When we come to realize that our Heavenly Father, the same One to Whom Jesus called “Abba”, guided Him perfectly to make the right decision, we can be assured that His will for us is just as great and is just as perfect as it was in guiding Jesus.
A family without a Father, or a Father figure, is not one that God has designed for us to be in. Realizing that there are times when a Father is not present, a Father figure should be readily available for children to call upon for guidance. If Jesus needed to call upon God the Father, calling Him “Abba”, how is it that we feel that we do not need the same for us to call upon our Earthly Father or even our Heavenly Father for guidance as well?
Before we can call upon God the Father we must first become a member of his family. The Apostle Paul knew this when he wrote in Romans 8: 15 the following:
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
When we call upon God to forgive us for our sins, realizing that our sinfulness has condemned us already to spend eternity in Hell, and to believe in Jesus as the one who died for sins and proclaim Him Lord, and believe that God the Father raised Him from the dead, it is because we have been born again into the family of God; being adopted as such and because of us receiving the Holy Spirit at the time of our rebirth, we can than call upon God the Father and, as Jesus did, call Him “Abba”, as He is now our new Father. Jesus said that no one can come to the Father except by Him (Jesus).
Every child should be guided by a Father or a Father figure, as every child and adult should be guided by God the Father. By knowing and doing His will we can understand that no matter what it is that He may want us to do we can do so with the knowledge and courage that what we are doing is the right decision to make. And, if we falter, become scared or disillusioned, we know that there is one upon Whom we can call for help. All we have to do is to just look up and cry out, “Abba, Father”!
