"Stretch out Your hand from above;
Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,
From the hand of foreigners,
Whose mouth speaks empty worthless words,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
I will sing a new song to You, O God;
on a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You..."
Psalm 144:7-9
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Let's begin with prayer....
"Father, O God, You have given us Your holy word and You teach us how to pray to You. I thank You this day for giving us Your word. Thank You for the passages of scripture that teaches us how to approach You, for You are holy above all and I am sinful and depraved without You.
I seek the forgiveness of sins this day, O Lord. I pray that You will search me for the hidden sins of my mind and my heart. Search me this day and purge me of these sins against You. Wash me. Renew me. And keep me from sinning against You.
I pray for each lady reading this study today. I pray that she will seek Your forgiveness of her sins. I also pray for her ministry inside her home that she will dedicate each day to serving You. I pray that she will elevate You above her wants and needs and above her family. I pray that You will go to her and encourage her this day.
In Jesus' name..........amen."
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John 4:37
"For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'"
Remember how we looked at the concept of one sowing and one reaping?
Please read:
1 Cor 3:5-8
Here Paul wants to make sure none of the Apostles are taking credit for any conversions. He wants us to know that it is always of God and not of man.
Rom 9:16
So many times I have come across people who ache for their loved ones who are not saved. One time, a friend was near tears because her son was still not a believer though he was in his 40's and attended church regularly. She felt it was her "duty" to make sure he was saved. She went on to tell me how often she told him the gospel message and yet he still did not believe.
Can you imagine if a person's salvation was up to us?? No one would ever be saved! Thank the Lord that one's salvation is of the Lord and not of us. I tried to explain to my friend that her son has heard the gospel message and that is all she can do. It is not of her, but of God. If her son truly is one of God's elect, then before he leaves this earth he will surrender to Christ. It is that simple.
So, I hope she felt some relief from the pressure of trying to "rescue" or save her son from hell. By putting the task on the Lord, it releases us from that pressure. Jesus did not command us to go and "save" people....only He can do that. We are commanded to go and preach the gospel. It is the gospel that turns hearts of stone into flesh.
Dr. Mark Dever explains:
"Therefore, our job in evangelism is to pray for conversions, and work for them by regularly and faithfully sharing the Gospel as well as we can. Work on your own understanding of the Gospel. Think carefully about ways you may be able to improve in sharing it...you can't make sure someone becomes a Christian, But you can make sure they've heard the Gospel" (Tabletalk Magazine, 2007, p. 10).
My friend regularly told her son the Gospel message. Now it was up to God to change this young man's heart.
John 10:22-30
"If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
Notice how they said, "if"? These were not believers. For they heard the words of Christ, but they did not "hear" His words because Jesus did not open their ears. He was not their Shepherd.
But the Samaritan woman heard the words of Jesus and she believed. Her eyes, ears, and her heart was opened by Jesus alone.
In our openeing verse, David wrote of how God had delivered him from his enemies. David knew about sowing and reaping:
1 Sam 16:11-13
David had the Spirit of the Lord upon him. He had seen how Saul had not known the Lord nor did the Lord's work.
2 Sam 7: 12-15
Yet David ended up sowing iniquity and reaping the pain of iniquity tenfold:
2 Sam 11:1-27
We can learn alot by studying David's life in contrast to Paul's:
Acts 9: 1-9
Paul, as Saul, was sowing seeds of hate and murder and reaped the consequences of those seeds. But Jesus used Paul as He used David.
He can use whomever He choses to use because it is not of us who wills but of God who has mercy.
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Life Application
"One sows another reaps....."
So many times we get caught up in our own selffishness and we forget that our sins affect others. If we sow the flesh, we reap corruption....but are we the only ones who suffer?
Rom 6:23
What we "earn" by sinning is death. It doesn't say the wages of our sins is our death. It clearly states that the wages of sin is DEATH. All death is a result of all sin.
We must remember this and take it into consideration daily. If we love Jesus, we will not disobey His commandments.
If we sow seeds of iniquity....another reaps that iniquity and it all equals DEATH. Remember that.
Rom 6:16
It is best to be a slave to righteousness than a slave to sin leading to death.
Rom 6: 12
Remember what Jesus did for the Samaritan woman. He freed her from the curse she was under:
Num 5:11-31
The Samaritan woman was not with her husband. She had 5 husbands. She was cursed according to Jewish law for being unfaithful.
Num 5:17-18
Bitter water that brings a curse....
Num 5:20-22
Jesus knew this law as He spoke to this woman. Yet He was there to free her from the curse of bitter water and to remove that curse. He would give her the promise of Living Water that will quench her thirst forever and cleanse her.
He did this for us as well. Take the time today to praise Him for removing that bitter water that brings a curse upon you for your sins.
Only Jesus can do this......and only He will.
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Until next time.....
"The measure of God's love for us is shown by two things. One is the degree of his sacrifice in saving us from the penalty of our sin. The other is the degree of unworthiness that we had when he saved us. We can hear the measure of his sacrifice in the words, 'He gave his only son' (John 3:16).....there is only one explanation for God's sacrifice for us. It is not us. It is 'the riches of his grace' (Ephesians 1:7). It is all free. It is not a response to our worth. It is the overflow of his infinite worth. In fact, that is what divine love is in the end: a passion to enthrall undeserving sinners, at great cost, with what will make us supremely happy forever, namely, infinite beauty."
-John Piper
(The Passion of Jesus Christ, 2004, pp. 28-29)
Blessings,
Ruth
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