Reflections for October 5, 2011

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (KJV)

There is not many ways to forgiveness of sin and Heaven, and there are not many truths, and a person has no life apart from Jesus Christ only existence.

John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (KJV)

The Lord Jesus said earlier of Himself as being the truth and now He tells the Apostles of the Holy Spirit who will be given to them and He is the Spirit of Truth. How does one test if they are in The faith handed down from Christ to the Apostles and from the Apostles to us? Ask yourself these questions: 1) Do you receive truth from the Bible without trying to change it even if it makes you uncomfortable? 2) Do you love the truth revealed to you from the Word of God? 3) Do you practice (a customary way of operation or behavior or systematic training by multiple repetitions) the truth revealed to you from the Word of God by the Spirit of God? Worldly people are not yet able to receive the Holy Spirit. Why, you might ask? Because they are still in love with the World and under the influence of the evil one, therefore, the things of truth are foreign to their still unregenerate nature. Paul puts it much better in this passage of Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 Even the one whose coming is marked by the working of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, And with every deceit of wrongdoing among those whose fate is destruction; because they were quite without that love of the true faith by which they might have salvation. And for this cause, God will give them up to the power of deceit and they will put their faith in what is false: So that they all may be judged, who had no faith in what is true, but took pleasure in evil. (BBE)

Here is a part of Matthew Henry’s summary of this Scripture: “Their sin is this: They believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness: they did not love the truth, and therefore they did not believe it; and, because they did not believe the truth, therefore they had pleasure in unrighteousness, or in wicked actions, and were pleased with false notions. Note, An erroneous mind and vicious life often go together and help forward one another. Their ruin is thus expressed: God shall send them strong delusions, to believe a lie. Thus he will punish men for their unbelief, and for their dislike of the truth and love to sin and wickedness; not that God is the author of sin, but in righteousness he sometimes withdraws his grace from such sinners as are here mentioned; he gives them over to Satan, or leaves them to be deluded by his instruments; he gives them up to their own hearts' lusts, and leaves them to themselves, and then sin will follow of course, yea, the worst of wickedness, that shall end at last in eternal damnation. God is just when he inflicts spiritual judgments here, and eternal punishments hereafter, upon those who have no love to the truths of the gospel, who will not believe them, nor live suitably to them, but indulge false doctrines in their minds, and wicked practices in their lives and conversations.”

John 14:20-24 At that time it will be clear to you that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you. He who has my laws and keeps them, he it is who has love for me: and he who has love for me will be loved by my Father, and I will have love for him and will let myself be seen clearly by him. Judas not Iscariot said to him, How is it that you will let yourself be seen clearly by us and not by the world? Jesus said to him in answer, If anyone has love for me, he will keep my words: and he will be dear to my Father; and we will come to him and make our living-place with him. He who has no love for me does not keep my words; and the word which you are hearing is not my word but the Father's who sent me. (BBE)

We can talk about loving our Lord all we want, but the Lord Himself plainly tells us here that the measuring stick of our love for Him is in our obedience to His Word. As the Scripture says, “I have desired your Word more than my necessary meat.” The entire Psalm 119 is meditations of the excellences of the Word of God. How can we truly love our Lord Jesus Christ without spending time in His Word? Remember what our Lord said to Martha when Mary was sitting at His feet taken in His Words. Our Lord said, “She has chosen the best thing and I will not rebuke her for not helping you serve.” Luke 10:39-42 And she had a sister, by name Mary, who took her seat at the Lord's feet and gave attention to his words. But Martha had her hands full of the work of the house, and she came to him and said, Lord, is it nothing to you that my sister has let me do all the work? Say to her that she is to give me some help. But the Lord, answering, said to her, Martha, Martha, you are full of care and troubled about such a number of things: Little is needed, or even one thing only: for Mary has taken that good part, which will not be taken away from her. (BBE)

Judges 3:4 For the purpose of testing Israel by them, to see if they would give ear to the orders of the Lord, which he had given to their fathers by the hand of Moses. (BBE)

The Lord then and now will test His people to show them who they are in Him. As He allowed the devil to test Job, not so that He the Lord would find out what Job would do, (for He already knew), but that Job would know what was in his own heart. So our Lord Jesus Christ still does this to us today by allowing problems and difficult circumstances to remain in our lives to show us our own hearts and produce repentance in our lives where it is needed. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (KJV)

Judges 3:16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. (KJV)

Ehud’s dagger is a picture of the Word of God. This is our weapon against the devil and his demons. Just as Ehud thrust this double-edged dagger into King Eglon so must we thrust the Word of God into the devil?

2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (KJV)

Paul immediately summarizes what our actions must be to all the promises we have obtained through our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit is the Author of all the power in living a life here and now in Victory, but He will not and cannot do His freeing, liberating, and delivering work apart from our cooperation.

Proverbs Chapter 5

Lord Jesus imprint these words firmly on my heart today as you look on my recent past of folly and stupidity let these words of Yours found in this Proverb give me new strength to go forward for Your Glory. Amen