We love Him because He first loved Us (Part 4 of 5)

Hello Friends! 

 

Welcome back to part four of “We love Him because He first loved Us.”

Let’s continue our study with the fourth lesson: THE POWER OF HIS LOVING DELIVERANCE…

We love Him because He first loved Us (Part 4 of 5)

Look at our verse again: “We love Him, because He first loved us.” John is saying that God’s love for us is the cause – the effectual cause – of our love for Him. Once again, he is not saying merely that God’s love is a motive or an incentive for our love. Rather, John’s point is that God’s love is the actual productive cause of our love. 

Remember that it is impossible for an unregenerate person to love God. The heart of fallen flesh is by definition an enemy of God. It has no power to change itself any more than a leopard can change its spots. It is the nature of a sinner to love sin and nothing is more contrary to a sinful heart than love for God. So it is morally impossible for the sinner to love God. 

“Who then can be saved?” Do you remember Jesus’ answer to that question?

 

With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible – Matthew 19:26

He does the impossible. His own love for us is such that He purchases us and pursues us and persuades us lovingly to love Him. And in order to make that love possible, He even graciously gives us new hearts that are capable of loving. That’s the promise He makes to His people in the book of Ezekiel: 

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them – Ezekiel 36:25-27

That speaks of God’s regenerating work, whereby He resurrects us to a state of vibrant spiritual life, enlightens our minds to understand His truth and makes the glories of His love so attractive to us that we find them absolutely irresistible. In fact, that is exactly the expression we sometimes use to speak of this truth – irresistible grace. 

Some people misunderstand that term and imagine that there is some type of violent force or coercion involved in God’s drawing us to Jesus Christ. But irresistible grace isn’t something that pushes us against our wills toward Christ – it draws us willingly to Him! 

It is similar to my love for my wife Ann. I find her irresistible. But she doesn’t force my love for her. It is her sheer attractiveness and charm that draws me to her... But she is irresistible to me! 

God’s saving grace is irresistible to the elect in the very same sense. We speak of it as “effectual grace” because it always secures its object. God always procures a reciprocal love from those upon whom He has set His redemptive love. As the Apostle Paul wrote:

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died – 2 Corinthians 5:14

He died for us – so we cannot live unto ourselves. Think about what this means: We cannot take personal credit for loving God. Our love for God is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is the work of God in us. “We love Him, because He first loved us.” – our love for Him is the natural fruit of His great love for us. This is the power of His loving deliverance!

Thank you for reading! Don’t miss next week’s edition as we investigate lesson #5…

May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect love, mercy and grace!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

Blessings!

Shane <><

 

All is not Lost

15 When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. Esther 8

I'm the type of person that wonders and asks questions a lot.  Sometimes it's seen as an offense, like I'm questioning authority or trying to poke holes in someone else's argument.  I just like getting all sides of the picture clear.

Reading the Bible, I have a lot of those questions, and a lot of those questions aren't answered in other historical texts.  I won't know those answers in this lifetime - and that's ok with me.  But I'll still wonder.

For instance, what was going through Mordecai's mind when he realized Haman's attack on the Jews was because of Mordecai's actions?  Was he immediately faithful in his heart, "That's ok, God can handle anything and we'll get out of this."  Was he second guessing himself, "That was a bad idea to not kneel to Haman.  What made me do that?"  Was he remorseful, "I'm so sorry that I brought this upon my people."  Or was he distraught, "I'm a failure.  Everyone will know my stubbornness got them into this mess and I've doomed everyone."

There's no way of knowing what it was, all we see are Mordecai's actions regarding Haman's proposed attack.  We see that he was rewarded upon Haman's death, when King Xerxes sees the mess Haman had created.  Things improved vastly for him, because he kept his faith in God.

He may have questioned things or felt depressed at first, but he got over it.  He ultimately trusted God.  You and I have the same human struggles.  Earlier this week, I felt like I had failed.  I was mentally beating myself up for having been unable to lead someone closer to Christ.  I was criticizing myself by asking, "If I can't help to lead this person, what chance do I have to lead my children?"  I went to sleep (it was really late night when this happened), and the next morning, I felt peaceful.  I could hear God telling me that it was one hurdle of many, but to leave my faith and trust in him.  He would take care of everything and do what I could not.  All was not lost, and I needed to put the situation back into God's hands.  He will triumph!

Justice Served

Have you ever wished someone would get in big trouble? Maybe you wished a reckless driver would get pulled over or that your boss would walk by when your co-worker walks in late or regularly surfs the net. Has anyone gotten in bigger trouble than you even dared to wish?

My uncle did. He had supposedly cheated on my aunt for years. After their divorce and on his wedding night with his new wife, he died suddenly of a brain aneurism. Rumor was, he died in the very “act.”

Well, some of the religious leaders thought Jesus deserved to get in big trouble. In fact, they tried to trap Him over and over and even conspired to administer “justice” themselves, but Jesus got worse than they even dared hope.

Matthew 26:1-5When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ² “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” ³ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, ⁴ and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. ⁵ “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

What I find so interesting is that the chief priests and elders didn’t even hope to arrest Jesus during the Passover or have him killed publically, but that’s exactly what happened. It seemed far better than they could have planned, but was just as Jesus prophesied. I wonder if the religious leaders celebrated their seemingly wonderful fortune?

They had a selfish and evil plan, but God used even them to accomplish His sovereign plan in His perfect timing. He is the only one who has authority to administer complete justice. Justice was served the day Jesus died, but it wasn’t for what Jesus did. Through God’s judgment of our sin by sacrificing Jesus, He chose to offer grace and mercy to you and me! Have you submitted to Him and now live under His grace? Or, will you suffer the full penalty for your sins?

For believers, when was the last time you and I humbly thanked Jesus for taking the punishment for what we deserve? Will you do that right now?

Alice

It's Not About Me

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
      my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
    and he will bring justice to the nations.  Isaiah 42:1

We all remember the first moments of our being born again.  I was reminded of that this past Sunday during church service.  The pastor talked serving God above all other things.  It took me to the very first thing that I learned in my first days as a born again Christian.  I had started reading Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life, and the very first sentence of the book has been my guiding principle of my walk of faith.  It simply says, “It’s not about you.”  That phrase always gives me peace and clarity as to God’s expectations of me.  When I feel like complaining or don’t really feel up to doing the right thing above ‘the easy thing,’ I am reminded it is about serving God.  It’s not about me.

We should always remember that our walk of faith revolves around serving God and not how God can help us.  In the book of Isaiah, the prophecy of the coming Jesus Christ is told.  While we know He is the son of God, He is noted as a servant who is upheld as an authority figure by God.  In living a life like Christ, we are to remember that our relationship with God is one of admiration, love, and servitude just as Jesus’ relationship as the Son is.  Put another way, we are to give of ourselves selflessly and completely toward being a servant of God.  We are giving without expectation, and following without question.  That latter one is tough for me because I always want to understand why.  However, my understanding is secondary to God’s expectation of me to be a good and faithful Christian servant.

While our walk of faith is both rewarding and fun, it is not always easy.  Even Jesus asked God for clarity when following the path which led to His crucifixion (see Matthew 26:42).  What is noteworthy is Jesus asked that God’s will be done over all that he might have wished for.  That is what we must understand.  Us doing God’s will trumps all.  What are your struggling with God about?  How can you be more submitting to God’s will?  My prayer is that we remember that it’s about serving God. It’s not about me.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Differences between pro sports and God...

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.”(NASB)

Hello,

As a sports fan you get used to players coming and going from your team. You look to each offseason to see if they will bring in the big star to help your terrible team (Come on Dumars!). Drama is created about who will go where, how they will fit together. Other players are asked to restructure their contracts to make more room for the new guy. Then, you play that year and do it all over again. Ironically, this verse that talks about being a steward of the mysteries of God made me think of free agency – and how they are the exact opposite!

The free agent touts their abilities and looks to be rewarded in a way that maximizes themselves. The steward touts the abilities of the one who entrusted it to them, and looks to maximize the owner.

The free agent is always at risk to move to another team. The steward is committed.

For success, the free agent needs just one good season to capitalize. The steward is asked to be found trustworthy on a consistent basis.

Now, I have nothing against pro athletes getting paid – if I was one I would be getting paid too – but I am concerned about the free agent mentality when it comes to our beliefs and actions. Are we looking to maximize our chances, or Gods? Are we looking to jump around to whatever seems fun and attractive, or are we committed to whatever it takes for God? Are we looking for the quick splash and fun, or are we ready to be consistently trustworthy for God?

Have a good day!

Will Hill