Author: words and signs

The snake bite

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 3:14-15

It seems like an unusual picture to speak of to show mercy and peace. A snake on a pole is not a naturally attractive image to endear a person to hope. Yet, God used this picture and the reality of it to save His own people from the effect of their own sin and His own righteous judgment.

The people of God had wandered far away from Him and were sinning and complaining about their lot in life. God was very angry with His people and sent a judgement that would cause them to die. He sent them serpents to bite them and they died very quickly from the poison. This seems like a harsh judgement but it was to teach them seriousness of sin and the outcome of sin in the life of a person.

“The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.”

Ezekiel 18:20

This is the righteous judgement of a holy God on the sinner and each one of us is under the same condemnation. Many of God’s people died this horrible death and we can only imagine the horror that it had on the community. In moments of wisdom they cried out to God for help and for some way to recompense the sins that they have committed. God is merciful and He is not willing that anyone should perish, so He sent a remedy. He told His servant Moses what to do to help the people.

“Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.”

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.”

Number 21:7-9

All the person had to do to save their lives was to look at the bronze servant on the pole – all they had to do was look and live. It was that simple. They didn’t even have to pray – they didn’t have to do anything; didn’t have to pay for anything; it was just a simple look of faith to the serpent nailed to the pole. It was a simple look of obedience to what God had told them to do, that was going to set them free from the condemnation, which they so righteously deserved.

Anyone who was bitten by thepoisonous snakes and looked up to the bronze snake, was instantly made whole and cured from the poisonous snake bite. They saved their lives through a simple look of faith.

The serpent on the pole was set up as a spectical and placed where everyone could see it. It was a replica of the one thing that was killing the people. The remedy became the sacrifice for the sins of the people.

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 3:14-15

I am sure you can see the analogies already…

The Lord Jesus became sin for us. He bore away the punishment for sin, so that we might never have to suffer. He was lifted up on a cruel cross, and made a public humiliation, so that we could look to Him and live.

“For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:21

We need this remedy, for without Him we will die in our sins we will perish before a holy God. Sin is so serious. We do not understand because we are so deep dyed sinners, and we think we are okay. We think the things that we do are okay and we soft-pedal on our sins. But God is not like us – He is holy and he knows what sin is doing in our lives. God knows our lives and our souls are ruined if we do not confess our sins and repent to him. He has made it so easy. All we have to do is look to the cross and put our trust and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is the remedy for sin.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

John 12:32-33

The Son of Man is already lifted up. We see Him in the holy Scriptures with the eyes of faith, and all who believe are saved and have eternal life. We don’t have to perish, we can have an amazing quality of life forever in peace and love with God. All for a look of faith. The love of Christ for us is amazing- He has made it so easy, He has taken the guilt and the pain all on Himself and He called us to look and live.

This Old Testament picture was a foretaste for the people of God of the realty of the cross of Christ. They knew the Messiah was coming and would bring the healing for the nations. We are those nations, and God calls us to come and be healed spiritually of our moral disease of sin, which will surely kill us forever. We will perish in our sins if we do not look to Jesus Christ and find the only remedy for our souls.

Will we be wise or foolish? Will we look or look away? Will we believe or keep our unbelief in our hearts? It is a viper that will bite us to death and poison our souls. Only the healing balm of the Lord Jesus Christ can cleanse us for its sinful power and make us alive to God.

Understanding

“We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding,…”

1 John 5:20

There is only one way to gain spiritual understanding… through the gift given by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The understanding we need to relate to God is a God-given understanding. It cannot be learned through education, or even helped by it. It is the gift of God.

We can put ourselves in the way of it by reading the Bible and listening to the gospel explained, but we cannot work it out, or work it up in ourselves. The understanding of the Scripture is spiritually discerned and comes through the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person. The understanding we receive will lead us to God. This is the point of it.

It is not for the benefit of our standing in this world, like education or a good job, but is to lead us to eternal life and a place in heaven forever. It is to know the eternal God and love Him forever. It is a spiritual state of mind and not physical, and can only be found by people with spiritual desires.

We can ask for understanding, as Solomon did, and God will give it to us. He does not hide from us and is not willing that any should perish without this understanding, but come to a real and genuine faith in Christ. It is the greatest gift, because we get to know the Lord Jesus and get to be part of His family. He will forgive us for the sin that keeps this knowledge away from us, and give us new hearts that love what He loves, and understand the Word of God.

Without this spiritual understanding we are blind and foolish and do not know God at all. We live under the condemnation of the sin that infests our lives, and remain blind and without hope. Only as we seek the Lord, and ask for this understanding, will He work in our lives to bring us to know Him personally.

This is the key, and we look for God in the Holy Scriptures, and listen to people, who explain them, and God will answer our prayers for this gift. He is not far from anyone and waits for us to seek Him.

Some helpful passages:

• Romans 3:23-24

• Galatians 3:13-14

• Isaiah 53:4-6

• Titus 3:4-7

• Acts 4:5-12

There are so many others…. Read the Bible and find someone to explain to you what it means and ask God for the understanding of the Word. This is so that we can believe and be released for our sinful mindset. If you understand already, you will know your need of Him and must come to Him in repentance and faith, being sorry for your sin and putting your trust in what Jesus did to pay for it and to rescue you from its power in your life. We repent of our sin and are changed for good….

“Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into the Kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit…..”

Some people call this experience of coming to God, the New Birth, and this passage shows us why.

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 3:4-8 and 14-15

There is no ritual to be followed to enter into the experience of new birth, but only faith in Christ. A look to the Saviour is all it takes, we can do nothing else….

Synergy

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”

1 John 5:13-15

There is this synergy suggested here between the holy God and the human creatures that he has made, and has given eternal life. John has written his Epistle so that the Christian people will know that they have eternal life, because they continue to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The existence of our faith is the proof that we are born of God and that we are believers in his holy word.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is not a blind hope or an empty wishing. It is a kind of evidence for the things that are hoped for. It is the evidence of the things that these unseen and spiritual entities exist. The faith in the human soul is out worked in the love that John has talked about in his epistle. The faithfulness of God, and God’s faithfulness in us is the synergy that is spoken about here.

John is building our faith by showing what it is and what it is not. It is not blind but bears the fruit of love for God and our fellow human beings around us. Without this love we have no assurance of faith, or the salvation that is promised here. Without this love we have no assurance that we belong to the household of faith, because love is the identifying mark of the Christian believer. Our love for God is the motivation behind all we do, and motivates our love for other people. As we examine ourselves to see if we are true, let us put love on the throne of our hearts and as the thermometer of the hotness of our faith towards God.

We must not be unrealistic and imagine that we love God when we don’t. We cannot love God and at the same time wish ill for other people. If we do not love other people and yet insist that we still love God we are actually kidding ourselves and the truth is not in us. The synergy between ourselves and our creator should be obvious and it centres itself completely around the existence of eternal love in our hearts. It is the synergy between the three persons of the holy Trinity who are bound together with love towards each other at all times. This eternal love makes the three persons of the Trinity into one person – the one person of the holy God, the one true God.

This leads to an understanding between the creator and his redeemed creature, the Christian. The person who believes in him will get to know the will of God in their lives, and will pray accordingly. The synergy is so great that God and the person work together in prayer that his holy purposes will be carried out in the life of the person and in the things that are prayed for. There will be no empty prayers but prayers that are in conformity with the will of God because the person who is praying knows what God wants and prays for what God wants. This ultimately means that their prayers are always answered.

“…he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ…”

Ephesians 1:9-10

Whatever we ask according to his will he hears us and he will give us what we ask for. Knowing God is the key – knowing him in the forgiveness of sins and a daily walk of devotion and obedience with him, through the days of our lives. And if we pray according to his will He hears us and if He hears us, He will answer the prayer that we have prayed because it is according to His will. We walk in conformity with His will for us, and we have the presence of God in our lives. We can walk in this way because of what Jesus did for us in shedding His blood to cleanse us from sin and guilt.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

1 John 1:7

Faith is the active ingredients and the catalyst that makes the synergy happen and keep the Christian in tune with God and walking with God every single day. Love is the motivation, love for God that feeds our desire to know Him and love and obey Him more. It is not a woolly feeling of goodwill, but the heartfelt desire to keep his holy commandments and walk with Him.

“If you love me, keep my commandments.”

John 14:15

Dust to dust

“For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals: for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.”

Ecclesiastes 3:19-20

Solomon shows us the commonality between us and the animals. As they have physical life, so also be we. They lose their lives and their breath fails and they die, and so also with us. We are no different from the animals in this regard. We have nothing to stop us dying more then animals and we must realise that God is in charge of life and death and not ourselves.

We trust Him completely in this, for we must. He is the God who we must stand before and answer for our lives. Our lives are in His hands, and he decides when we live and die. God orders all the things in our lives in conformity with His holy will and He works all things out for the good of those who love Him. We were made by Him and for Him and for His glory, and all that we are belongs to Him. To keep striving for more and more is folly, even the animals know that. God cares for them and feeds them every day from His hand.

“See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?”

Matthew 6:26

God’s people are worth much more than animals, and His care for us is so deep and profound that He works out His will in our lives with great care and love. God’s will for our lives is according to His tender care for us personally, and not in the hands of other people.

He is working out His purposes in your life and He will bring your life to full fruition and show the wonder of His glory through the circumstances of your life. No one can hinder the work of God, or put a stumbling block in His way. Even Satan cannot hurt or tempt God’s people, unless God allows it.

“in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will;”

Ephesians 1:11

Our inheritance is not in this world, but in heaven, kept for us by the power of God. No one can touch it or deny us the right to have it. Animals do not have this right, nor do people who refuse God. We might die physically like the animals, but we live eternally after we die.

Without the Lord it is all futile, vanity, a chasing after the wind. We can never know it, or trust it, but only in the person of Christ can we know true freedom and forgiveness and an eternal hope of heaven.

When all flesh dies, it returns to the rot of the dust of the ground, but not the soul. The soul of the human goes to God and He will judge their lives. The soul is the part of us that can relate to God, and needs to be made alive to Him through faith in Jesus. Those who are safely hidden in faith in Christ, enter into their eternal inheritance, but those who do not believe and have no salvation in Christ, face eternal death. We do not die like animals, and our lives don’t need to be futile. Solomon is showing us the futility of life without God and the hopelessness of a body without soul. We must remember our Creator and put our hope in Him.

Overcome the world

“For whoever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.”

1 John 5:4

The world is a very oppressive place. It tires us and leads us down many wrong alleys. The things of this world do not lead us to God but distract us from our devotion and take us away from spiritual life. 

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.”

1 John 2:16

John has explained this to us already and shows us that the desires of the flesh, the eyes and the pride that infests our human hearts, is what takes us away from the Father. This world would tempt is always from God and our hearts follows it because they are fallen and dead to God. We must be born into the family of God through the new birth, and have spiritual life in our minds and hearts and souls, so that we know God. 

When we are born of God, we can overcome the world and we have the precious commodity of faith that is the one thing that will help us to be over-comers. Faith is not something that can be worked up in ourselves, it is the gift of God. 

“ for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

When we seek God, His grace works in our hearts and gives us the desire to know Him. As we seek Him, we see our sin, which is the one thing that keeps us away for God and we repent of it and He forgives us. It is the work of God and not something we conjure up in our own mind, but comes from the work of the grace and mercy of God in our lives. God gives us the gift of faith to believe, because we cannot even do that by ourselves. Salvation is of God and our response is to accept it gratefully with hearts that love Him. We love Him, because He loved us first. 

As we walk through our Christians life, we are kept by God and He continues to give us faith and hope in Him. He moulds the circumstances of our lives so that faith can grow and we become His witnesses in a corrupt world. The world becomes less and less attractive to us, as our faith grows and our desire for God increases. We find our sustainance in Him and all our delight is in Him. 

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:57

We  are victorious through Him who loves us and gave Himself for us. We can overcome our sinful desires and propensities through the power of the Spirit and through what Jesus has done for us on the cross. He has broken the power of sin and death and has paid the price for sin. Therefore, is does not have to have dominion over us. This is the point about faith. Our faith in Christ actually makes us over-comers and we do not have to succumb to the things of this world. 

Because we are born again and have spiritual life, we desire the things of God rather than the things of this fallen world, and it’s fleshly desires. We seek God continually and not ourselves or the things of this life. We have a different way of thinking than what  we had before. The Scripture is attractive to us and we love to study and mediate upon it, and prayer is the life- blood of our spiritual life and the breath that we breathe. 

If we are born of God, we will overcome the world through the faith that we have received. All who overcome are saved…

Keeping our minds true

What ever we suffer, it is all in the plan of God for our lives. That can be very hard to take in. God’s Word says….

“He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

These are the faithful words of a faithful saint of God. Christians are different and their lives are lived for another person. Our lives do not belong to us, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. He gets a greater and greater part in our lives and we decrease…

Let us look at the situation of how our minds work and how God has made us in a particular way..

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.”

Romans 12: 1-3

Our minds are precious. If our mind goes a bit wrong, it effects every part of us. Our minds are not just the physical organ of the brain. We are not computers. Our minds can grow and shrink. What we do with our minds is crucial. Our minds, like our souls, must be given over to God and daily renewed and put on the altar of sacrifice.

As part of our bodies, we are urged to give our whole minds over to God. This is true worship. It is not the 30 minutes on Sunday morning. Every Christian is urged by God to give their bodies as “living sacrifices.” Our bodies and everything attached to them are to be holy. We are to be godly and holy in mind, body and soul. As Christians our souls are alive to God and we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. We should be so earnest about this, that we daily seek the filling of the Holy Spirit, to live our lives fully for God.

Maybe you are not a Christian. Your body works and your mind works, but the soul is not alive to God. This makes a gulf between you and God. It affects your mind and you do not think as God thinks.

If we do not know God, we don’t understand the Bible and we find all sorts of stuff pouring into our minds from the outside world. If we are to know God, who knows our thoughts even before we think them, there must be a complete turn around. We must face our sins and see our need for forgiveness. As we seek God and to be forgiven for our wrong doing, so we are made new and we get a new heart and mind and our soul is made alive in Christ.

“That you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit; and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.”

Ephesians 4:22-24

We only make progress in spiritual life with the daily renewing of our minds and the daily devotion of our hearts to God. Only the deliberate and ruthless putting to death of the desires of the flesh will enable us to grow as Christians and become closer to the holiness that God requires of those who love Him. It is a battle with the old sinful self that must be overcome and the putting away of the desires that are so deceitful. The old sinful self loves these things, and it must be denied them. Self must die daily to the desires of this life and the human heart, and the new person in Christ must be encouraged to make us increasingly like the Lord. We fight this fight in our minds and therefore fill our minds with the love of God and His holy Word.

“Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.”

Philippians 4:4-8

What we let into our minds is so important. Our frame of mind should be rejoicing because the things in our mind do not oppress us and are full of positivity and purity. If we want pure minds, we must fill them with the good things in these verses. Lovely things, pure, virtuous and praiseworthy things. There is so much out there that is not praiseworthy and our conversation should be tempered with the good things God gives, and not the gossip and slander that our minds come up with. We are to be gentle and rejoicing people, and not striving and harsh in our judgments of others. It is too easy to lose our peace in God and fall into worry, doubt and anxious thoughts. We should be identified as praying people, and not as complainers and people who moan about our troubles. We keep short accounts with God and a thankful heart that rehearses its blessings and keeps the mind busy with the gifts God has given it. Our thoughts are then guarded by the Lord and His Word. It will be so wonderful, we will know it is from Him and be glad, and our Christian assurance will be full.

“My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.”

Proverbs 4:20-23

We are to so treasure the Word of God, that it is always close to us and infiltrates our minds and hearts so that we think of it often. It is the very centre of our psyche and the bedrock of our thought processes. When we are in trouble, we think of it. When negativity strikes, we have the Word of God in our minds to help us to fight the wrong thoughts. The Word of God will bring health to our body and mind and we guard our minds for they are the well spring, the fountain of our lives.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”

Proverbs 3:5-7

We entrust the thinking of our minds to the Lord. We do not trust our own thought processes, but simply commit our way to the Lord and He will guide us. It is He who sees the way ahead and we do not know the outcomes of our lives, but we know God is in control. He will make our paths straight and not our own planning. If we lean on our own thoughts, we will surely go wrong. We can think that something we are planing to do is a good idea, but God might not think so. We should be guided by Him and not ourselves. Being wise in our own eyes is just pride in thinking that we can work out the right way to go and the right decisions to make. We fear God and humble ourselves under His mighty hand and turn our minds from all evil.

“Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.”

Colossians 3:2

We are to think of the things of God always. We are to be conscious of Him and His Holy Spirit at all times. The things of this world do not have a hold on us any more, and we settle our thoughts on God and His purposes. We are to be heavenly minded people and people who love God with all that we are – heart, soul and mind.

“Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”

Matthew 22:37

So, with all this encouragement and instruction for the Scripture, we set about guarding our minds and keeping them in the love of God. We allow in no unwholesome thought, or allow any ungodly thought, to take root in our minds. We commit our way to the Lord and trust Him to give us the strength to follow His pathway.

First love

“We love him, because he first loved us.”

1 John 4:19

This verse makes it very clear where love comes from. Our natural, human hearts have no love for God. We do not want Him, seek Him or even believe in Him. Many refuse to believe that God even exists at all. The Scripture says they are “fools.”

Our love, such as it is, is based on what we want and can get. It is circumstantial and depends of something else to make it work out. It works for a time and then eventually fails, because we are only human. We make romance stories that elevate our love into something more, but they often fail too.

God is love. His whole nature and being is love. The relationships in the holy trinity are bound together by the love of God. It is eternal and unconditional, and God’s love never fails. This should be the greatest comfort to us, as this is exactly the kind of love we need as sinful creatures.

God loves His people. Not one of them will eventually be lost, because His love holds them fast. He demonstrated His love to us in a way that we could understand and in the way His holy law required. He made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up His beloved Son to die for sin. He suffered so much, for our sake and showed us what the love of God is like. It is frightening in its laying down of all privilege and taking on the form of a servant and allowing the Lord Jesus to suffer in such a cruel way for His people. Yet He did so willingly and with His eyes on the future when He would have us with Him for eternity. No one else would or could do this for us.

Our only appropriate response is to love Him back. We should love Him with every part of our character and mind and heart. We willingly give up our life to Him and give ourselves to Him, since He has given all He had for us. We love Him because He loved us first.

He loved us from eternity, and will bring us safely into eternity, if we trust in Him and turn from the wickedness, which keeps us away for Him.

His love reigns supreme. All other loves pale into fog. The love of God in Christ shines out to us from that cross and is the beacon that will guide us safely into heaven.

Why would we not love Him? We remain unmoved at that love and decide we want our own way rather than His way, so we reject it. When we reject Him, we turn our back on love and we will ever know love, especially in eternity. Why reject love forever? It really is foolish.

“…..this is love for God: to keep his commands.”

1 John 5:2

Love for God is not a one off experience of conversion, but is a life long walk with God. It is not woolly or non-specific, but shows itself by keeping the holy law of God. The law does not save us, and we cannot keep it anyway, but when God is in our lives, we have a new ability to keep it and love from God gives us the desire to do so. We express our love for Him, by obeying what He tells us to do.

Jesus fulfilled the law of God when He died for sin, and showed the love of God, because He is love. He loved us first, when we were still sinners, and so now we can love Him.

“We love him, because he first loved us.”

1 John 4:19

God is love

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

1 John 4:7

The exhortation is in front of us. “Let us love one another.” What if this was on the media every night? What sort of effect would it have?

It would make us behave like Jesus, if that were possible for us. It is not possible without the power of God in our lives. Love comes from God and not from sinful human hearts. The unbeliever is moved by God to love and be loving by the effect of the good around them and the work of the Holy Spirit restraining the bad influences we have in our nature. The believer has the Spirit within and are completely different people. Is this the case, from what we observe? It is sobering to see that so many that name the name of Christ, are so hard hearted and unloving.

Our loving nature from God should be the most obvious attribute about us as Christian people, because God is love. He is in His very nature and existence the personification of love. He loves unconditionally and completely. He never breaks His Word and never doesn’t care. His love is righteous and pure and full of the sacrificial spirit that allowed Jesus to suffer and die for our rottenness, so that we would not have to face the wrath of God against the sin that infests us.

God’s wrath against sin and evil doers is the expression of his righteous love. He hates the things that ruins us and that makes us unloving. Sins hardens us and makes us more and more unfeeling until we are hard hearted against God and all that is good. It is like a process that gradually turns our hearts to stone and petrifies us. God also hardened hearts that continually and repeatedly refuse His love, and that is a very serious state to be in. There is no love there and no possibility of reprieve. We must respond to His love when He calls us and not harden our hearts.

Love is sacrificial in its nature, as the love of God is. It will put itself out for other people and give to others until it hurts. It will keep giving until the work is done and God has the glory for what He has done in the lives of his own people. We are display cases for His love and should radiate His love and glory in all, we do. There should be a freshness about us that encourages other people and expresses itself in deeds and words of love towards others. There will be no prejudice or selfish attitudes toward people, even if they are considered our enemies. We love our enemies and do good to those who use us and treat us badly. This is the work of the Spirit of God and definitely not the human way. All who love like this, so that it is their constant demeanour, are the children of God, at least we ought to be!

The phrase “born of God is the key.” We cannot be loving people if we are not born of God. It doesn’t matter how correct you are about doctrine or how great your organisation is in helping people, if there is no love, it is not of God. For God is love. We must be born a second time into that love. It is the work of God and not something we train ourselves to do or be like.

“Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see the Kingdom of God.”

John 3:3

Unless we have the experience of being born again, born of God, we cannot see the kingdom and have no part in it. We do not love and cannot love without the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our lives. We are born physically at our birthday, and we are born spiritually the day we repent and put our faith in Christ. Without this second birth, the new birth, we are still dead in our sins and God’s love does not love in us.

To know God is to have His Spirit living in your life and motivating you and strengthening you to live a holy life and to have love in every part of you. Love loves goodness and gentleness and peace. Love is distressed by rancour and ill feeling and violence. Love portrays the fruits of the Holy Spirit and does not blame.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23

We cannot work this up in ourselves and sustain it forever. It is the genuine work of grace in our lives and proves that we are born again and one of the children of God.

“He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.”

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love…”

1 John 4:8-16

Destroying foolishness

“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.”

1 Corinthians 1:18

The gospel of the cross of Christ in foolishness to people who are dying in their sins and refusing to believe. It does not appeal to our human preponderances and is unattractive to our thought processes and emotional responses. We think it is a silly idea to die for the ungodly, showing what we think of God’s ways. God’s ways are not our ways, and his remedy for sin is not a good idea to our way of thinking. But to people who have had their spiritual eyes opened and their understanding enlightened by the Spirit of God, it is actually the power of the almighty God!

“For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”

1 Corinthians 1:19

God will show up human wisdom for what it actually is – foolishness. He will show the faulty mindset that comes up with the foolish attitudes and motivations towards Himself and His infallible Word. The wisdom of this world, which comes from the human psyche, will be destroyed and the foolish interpretations that human minds have about God and what he instructs us to do, will come to nothing. God has made the foolishness of this world as nothing, and those who follow it become foolish like it is.

All human arguments will come to nothing.

“Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”

1 Corinthians 1:20

The wise people of this world also come to nothing. Set against the grace of God they are silent and gone. The wisdom of the world is foolishness to God and cannot compete with the truth of the Scripture. Even the person who wrote down the Scripture and knows it so well, cannot stand against its power to change lives and alter completely the mind and heart. Those who have arguments are rendered silent by this wisdom, of God, for it is indisputable and cannot be refuted. Christ has risen and the proof is there. The gospel is preached and people are changed and saved from their sinful lives, and it is irrefutable. It all comes to nothing in the eyes of the God who is calling people to Himself, to be part of His kingdom and share in His glory.

“For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.”

1 Corinthians 1:21

God has made it so that it will be through the seeming foolishness of speaking the Word, that people will be saved. It is not through learned debate, but through the simple presentations of the gospel message and the call of God to repent and believe that we are to be saved. Anyone who is enlightened by God to know His truth from the Scripture, and has a heart for other people, can do it. It does not require world orientated qualifications or lots of top class education. We need the lack of art and the heart of the evangelist to present the gospel in a way that people can understand and can access the message. It must be clear and direct so that when listening, the mind and heart are turned to God; the soul is convicted of its sin; and the desire is put there to repent and believe the truth being presented. People should be able to become Christians from listening to that preaching and know what they have to do to come to Christ. It must be clear and plain, for we are responsible for the souls that are listening.

“For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,”

1 Corinthians 1:22

The Jewish people wanted their cultural equivalent to be met before they would believe. They wanted the signs of His coming, and yet when the signs were already in place and could be clearly seen, but still they did not believe. They did not want signs or any proofs, but just the meeting of their particular demands. We cannot come to God in this way. The Gentile Greeks want wisdom to guide them to God, but God has destroyed the worldly wisdom that they crave. It is like a drug to them because it validates their worth and feeds their pride. We cannot come to God on these terms either. We can only come in repentance and faith. We must humble ourselves and seek the Lord and His way and not our own way. This is also the disposition of the Christian walking with God and is the demeanour of the believer in Jesus – to walk as He walked…

“But we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks”

1 Corinthians 1:23

The answer to the worlds problems in reaching out for God, is the presentation of the simple, straightforward and clear gospel message. Not embellished by our art and science, but the words that will penetrate the soul and cause discomfort at sin and a fear of punishment and a desire for God, forgiveness and a life of faith. This cannot be produced by worldly wisdom or miraculous signs. Therefore the message is a stumbling block to everyone. Acceptance of Christ and His death in the cross, is a stumbling block for the Jews, and the lack of worldly wisdom is foolishness to the outsiders, the Gentile Greeks, as it offends their pride.

“But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 1:24

But to those who are marked by a God and who’s minds and hearts will be opened to receive the message and believe in the Son of God, Christ Jesus is the power of God to save them and the wisdom of God to believe. God calls Jews and Gentiles to Himself as the message of the gospel is preached through the power of the death of Christ on the cross and the mighty wisdom of God, which humbles us and makes it possible for us to believe.

The gospel must be preached in its clearness and simplicity so that all can believe. We preach the wisdom of God and not this world. Worldly religion and gospels will never save. Only the humility that comes for reiterating what is said in the Word, will save souls. Repent and believe is the only message and that is what saves the sinful person, who seeks the Lord.

Binding up

The Lord is near the broken hearted especially when we fail

He does not hurt without a cause nor make us unnecessarily frail

His love is everlasting and forgives when the sinners prayer

Is spoken from a heart that reciprocates His love and care.

God will not leave you comfortless but listen to your prayer

He will extend His majesty and lift you up from there

He draws us safely into His refuge and place of safety

Extend His loving hand to us and gives us liberty.

He does not hold on to His anger, but is ever willing to forgive

More willing then we to repent and turn and spiritually live.

All it takes is a soft reply and gentle sweet release

He binds our wounds and pours in the joyous oil of peace

Jesus is our Loving Lord and He will not terrify

The enemy will try to pull us down and fearfully petrify

We do not allow him the house room to hurt

He cannot put us down and into the dirt

We are lifted up in the gracious hands of our Lord and God

And find ourselves by magnifying His glorious name abroad.