John 14:15-22 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 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.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
I had heard that the fourteenth chapter of the book of John is considered the favorite passage of scripture in the Bible by many, and (though I love it all) that includes me. Outside of three lines, every sentence is the Lord Jesus speaking, and on spiritual issues for our lives today and eternally with blessed assurance. One of the greatest issues is the giving and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to all Believers to live within their heart forever. This Helper, the third person of the Trinity, the Spirit of Truth, opens the eyes of the children of God to spiritual truth with godly understanding that the disciple of Christ may have guidance to discern and know the light of truth in a lost & dying world of darkness that is seeking love and happiness in people, places and things that do not satisfy or fulfill the desires of the soul which are in bondage to sin. This is what John 3:3 is saying: Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John14:23-27 “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. 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. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
In Christ, Brian
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
John14:23-27 “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. 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. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
The unbelieving world, rejecting God’s plan of salvation by the remission of sin through the death & resurrection of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, cannot receive the Holy Spirit and therefore remain in spiritual blindness. And for what reason except to believe the lies of Satan that we can be the god of our empty life, seeking happiness, meaning and contentment in the distractions of temporary pleasures of the sinful flesh, which can not satisfy the soul, never experiencing the true loving relationship with God, and leads to eternal damnation in hell. John 9:39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” This reality is not intended to scare, but to bring the unbeliever to see the truth that the Son of God is the only Savior of the world and to the “saving” knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Lord provides exactly what the world is looking for in this life and that is "life". It is the Holy Spirit in the heart of the Believer that produces the God given fruit of true love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control by being led by & walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-25). Possessions, position, power, prestige, parties, fame, fortune, looks, & luxury are nothing but distractions to the godless, hellbound soul. May reality set in. Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Those who have not accepted the free gift of eternal life through atonement death of Jesus Christ have been cheated out of the abundant life today, including the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and cheated out of future in the life to come, in the kingdom of Heaven with their Lord & Savior. Those who might read this, that do not know the Lord, don’t be cheated out of life. Those who know this truth, tell everyone you know that they are missing out on the “best” life and greatest gifts ... one being the gift of the Holy Spirit in their heart.
Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.”
In Christ, Brian
8 comments:
Great scripture and great post Brian. I love your soul winning zeal. I would say though that I wonder if the unredeemed are being cheated out of eternal life and abundant life, etc. They have no desire for life, they have no desire for the things of God . God is not keeping anything from them nor deceiving them, in reality their life, their death, and their end is simply what they want. God gives them what they desire, an absolute freedom from him.
Telling them they are missing out on their best life and greatest gifts means nothing to them, I pray that the God of grace might perhaps in mercy choose to open their heart and give them life so that they may repent and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Salvation is of God not of man. We need to tell them to repent or they will experience the judgment and condemnation meeted out for them by their desire and God's will.
Thanks brother Gregg for the comment. Comments cover the points missed for further understand of the issues and I think that the Lord wants us to always know the full context and the whole truth, I agree that the lost are blind and so many do not know what they are missing in the things of God for first for their salvation and secondly for their lives today, but as a witness for Christ we never know whose hearts have been hardened and whose hearts have been prepared in advance by God to hear the gospel of Christ, repent and receive the Lord. In evangelism, there are those who plant the seeds in the hearts of the unsaved, there are those who water those seeds planted by others and still others who see the harvest of true conversion, but all three are workers in the kingdom of God. I personally have found in speaking to many seekers that they realize that something is missing in their life and when I talk to them about the Christ that they do not know, they feel cheated of what they've been missing - not all, but I leave it to the Lord and keep bringing Jesus to any and all that I can. Thanks for writing.
Isn't that the truth? We plant, and water, but the increase comes form Him. Thanks be unto God that we get to share this good news, as Paul said, those who preach the gospel are a fragrance of Christ unto God!
Todd,
My first visit. I liked your comment over @ Off the Beaten Path. So I came to see who you were. I love this post. But I also love the conversation back and forth here in the comments between you and Gregg. I love Gregg's sharing of how those who are unsaved, and want to remain as such, can't know God as they are not even open to him . God therefore gives them to the desires of 'their' heart' . As you commented - they are blind and incapable of seeing spiritual TRUTH. But I also like how you brought it all back to the Grace of God and His Holy Spirit! The magnificent work of the helper - the Holy Spirit whom Christ left in His absence - to guide and direct us into all TRUTH. It is indeed the power of the Holy Spirit that blind eyes are opened and deaf ears are made to hear - the voice of the Lord calling them to repentance and salvation!
I would like to add that scripture also says that God will hold us responsible for those that He places in our path to share the good news with . Not that we are responsible for their ultimate decision - but if they die without having heard the message of salvation and we were given an opportunity to minister to them - and didn't - we would be held responsible for not being obedient to the call of Christ.
I'm sorry, I've searched for the location of this scripture but can't find it. I've read it many times though. maybe one of you know where it is found. It is a strong statement - that we should not take lightly. The call of Christ to evangelize the world around us is meant for all - Not just a call to those in ministry. But Todd is correct in that some plant - some water and some reap the harvest - but all 3 messengers of the KING and a viable part of His Kingdom work.
Thanks for allowing me to chime in here :) God bless
Patrina <")>><
His watchman on the wall
Expecting His return!
Great post bro. Brian! Came by to wish you a Happy 4th! How true, that aside from our spiritual enemies, we do have a daily battle going on....starting with our flesh! I'm glad that the Holy Spirit in us is faithful to help us in our weaknesses. God bless.
Wow, excellent comments and they each bring up major points here.
Thank you Gregg, Patrina, & Rosel for writing on these important issues - (1) These walking in the darkness of unbelief and want to remain there (2) Those who bring the light of the gospel into the darkness (3) The enemy (the flesh, the unbelieving world, & Satan)that battles us daily. Each of these spiritual truths need to be seen and addressed in the hearts, minds and souls of believers to properly understand our God-ordained & supported calling and the obstacles in our path as Ambassadors for Christ in this world, at this time.
To keep the comments brief, (as each issues deserves a thorough examination and discussion) let me say just a couple things. First, "We must be lost before we can be found". Those who do not know or believe that they are Sinners and lost in sin, do not know or believe that they have a need for a Savior to rescue them. A friend's Pastor told his congregation that in witnessing, he presents the gospel to all, but keeps moving person to person planting seeds and watering because we never know the condition of the soil of their hearts (Matt. 13).
Secondly, "The Great Commission" (Matt. 28) is not the "Great Suggestion". The Children of God are to take the whole truth of the gospel to the whole world; speaking the truth in love. Could you imagine appearing in front of our Creator Father God in Heaven and being shown all of the people that we knew who said "Brian never told me about Jesus."? Put your name in there now. God wishes no soul to perish. How many do we wish to perish in Hell? We each can tell our own story. It's the Holy Spirit that speaks through us to the hearts that He prepares.
Thirdly, "Understand, but do not underestimate the enemy (our flesh, the secular world, and Satan) or God either.”. We will be attacked by all three entities because the sinful nature of the flesh battle the Spirit (Gal. 5), the sinful world loves darkness instead of light (John 3:19-20 & 16:33), and the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy (John 10). Walk in the Spirit, engage the world, and put of the "full armor of God" (Eph.6) to stand firm against the Adversary, always knowing how big our Lord God is and who you are in Christ. Blessed to be a blessing.
Todd,
Great response! I loved every word! Thank you. You're good at this, ya know? I love the open forum here. Thanks for taking the time to address these comments. I feel like I've been with Godly 'like-minded' people. God bless you Todd for your delivery of spiritual TRUTH. I look forward to my return.
Patrina <")>><
His watchman on the wall
Expecting His return!
Brian, I would like to add something to this from my experiences witnessing on the street for over the last 10 years. We do run into many people who you described below that they want to be their own God and live by the rules they set up but they find that after a while it leaves them very empty. There is another large group of people who don't have a connection of, as you said, "the things of God" through family or friends so they don't hear the Word unless someone tells them. We turn to God through FAITH (Eph 2:8-9) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.NKJV and (Rom 10:17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. NKJV (Rom 10:14 -15)How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? NKJV (Mark 16:15 -16) And He (JESUS) said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. NKJV We talk about this group of UNBELIEVERS who love to SIN and don't want the "things of God". Don't be so sure they don't want the things of God. They SIN because that is what sinners do! Craig
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