"And now little children,
abide in Him, that when He
appears, we may have confidence and
not be ashamed before Him at His coming."
1 John 2:28
*********
Good morning! Let's begin with prayer...
"Holy Father God I pray before You that You will teach me Your ways and Your statutes that I may keep them to the end. Teach me, Lord, how to love You more and to cherish Your words. Thank You, Father, for giving us Your word, the inheritance, and our citizenship in heaven. Thank You for being greater than our mere thoughts. Thank You for knowing all things.
I seek forgiveness of my sins this day, Lord, because I know my sins affect all around me. I pray that You will search me for the secret hidden sins of my heart and purge them from me. Release me from the bondage of sin in my heart and cleanse me this day that I may hear from You.
I lift up each lady reading this study that You may teach her Your precepts and statutes this day. I pray that she will be cleansed through Your words and that she will be prepared for Your service that she may know Your love for the brethren. Walk with her today, encourage her when she is low, lift her spirits up with Your Pslams of praise, and put Your song into her heart this day.
In Jesus' name......amen."
***********************************
The Outworking of Love
Last time we looked at by loving in deed and truth instead of just our words, we can "set our hearts" before the Lord in calm assurance.
Today we will look more into what "our hearts" truly means.
1 John 3:20-21
"For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God."
The word "heart" here means conscience. So John is telling us that if our conscience, or thoughts, condemn us...God is greater than our thoughts!
Please read:
1 Cor 4:4-5
1 Cor 3:13
The word "counsels" that Paul uses in 1 Cor 4:5 is translated as "motives".
It is God who reveals the motives of our hearts or conscience. He knows all things. There is no hiding from God. At the final judgment, nothing will be hidden from God.
Perhaps John was writing these verses in his letter to believers because they were experiencing doubt about whether or not they were Christians.
Many Christians experience this feeling: "Am I really a Christian??"
This is a common question that many believers ask themselves because of the sins they have in there hearts. Their "hearts" condemn them. Their thoughts condemn them. Satan uses these thoughts to condemn them and make them doubt.
But God is greater than our thoughts...
Ps 139:1-2
Is 66:18
Matt 9:4
1 Cor 3:20
Satan has a way of using our thoughts against us. For instance, when times get tough and we begin to feel that maybe God has left us alone, Satan will jump all over that thought and begin to make us doubt or salvation. But that does not mean we are "off the hook" so to speak for allowing those thoughts to permeate our minds. As Christians, we are never to forget what the Bible says about God:
Gen 28:15
Deut 31:6-8
Heb 13:5
Praise God for those incredible words of hope!
This is why we Christians need to know God's word deep within our hearts. In a perfect world, we would have the entire Bible memorized. I know of one man, Jerry Lucas, who has the entire New Testament memorized!
But since this world is not perfect, we Christians should make a point to have scripture verses memorized so that when Satan does try to use our thoughts against us, we can remember what God said. That is what Jesus did:
Matt 4: 3-4
Jesus quoted scripture each time the devil tried to dissuade Him from following God.
2 Cor 10:4-6
We are to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and our disobedience must be dealt with until we are obedient.
2 Cor 7:10
For Godly sorrow does not lead to death but repentance. It is the guilt and sorrow of Satan and this world that leads to death. How true that is!
In my testimony, I have shared how Satan used my self-condmenation, my self-loathing about the sexual sin I was in to try and lead me to death. It almost worked...and why? Because I had allowed my sin to push me away from the Bible, so I had forgotten who I was in Christ. I had forgotten scripture....I had forgotten Jesus.
But Jesus was faithful in that He did not leave me nor forsake me. Instead, He told Satan that I belong to GOD and therefore he cannot have me. Jesus was my Advocate before the Accuser of this world. Jesus stood up for me and defended me even though I had long forsaken Him for my fleshly desires.
John so clearly loved his fellow believers and that is why he wrote this letter to them. I love you all and that is why I do this study. I want you all to remember that God is greater than your thoughts...your conscience.
"Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God."
So when your thoughts condemn you, remember who you are in Christ Jesus: you are an heir to His throne, a citizen of heaven, a Child of God.
If your thoughts are making you sad because of sin in your heart or mind, then let that godly sorrow lead you to repentance. Confess it before the Lord who loves you and let it be dealt with.
Then and only then can we have that "confidence toward God" that John writes about. Remember that word "confidence" means boldness. If our thoughts do not condemn us, then we have that boldness to stand before the Lord with open arms when we see Him as He really is!
Praise God!
***********************
Life Application
Many times in our walk with the Lord we will have thoughts that are leading us to doubt our salvation or doubt God's word.
When this happens, it is sin because we are listening to the devil instead of the Lord. But Paul reminds us that godly sorrow deals with the sin and causes us to repent. World sorrow does not deal with the sin. It keeps the sin there by lying to us and telling us that it is ok. But that sort of sorrow leads to death:
Please read:
Rom 6:23
In a chat room I recently visited on the Oprah.com web site, I read about a book she is studying called "A New Earth" written by some New Age guru wanting to shed new light on what Jesus really said and how we can all achieve true happiness by helping others, etc.
In one conversation, I read that a lesbian "Christian" was so glad to have read the book because it "set her free" from the guilty feelings she had regarding her homosexuality. All the other posters were so happy for her that she finally felt free to "be who she was" etc. But Christian participants wrote the truth: she was in sin and that's why she felt guilt. They wrote to her about Christ and His saving grace. They told her about how she could be free from her sin and enjoy eternal life in Christ.
Which group of posters do you think she gravitated toward? How do you think the Christian posters were treated by the others who were defending this book, "A New Earth" ?
If you said that she agreed with the posters who were happy for her new found freedom, you would be right. If you said the Christian participants were excoriated for their thoughts, you would also be right.
The Christians were showing her love: the Love of Christ. It may have sounded harsh to her, but it was the truth. Through her repentance she would be set free. But through her worldly sorrow she will be led to death.
The wages of sin is death.
I found it interesting that one poster wrote to the Christians, "Leave her alone! What does her being a lesbian have to do with you? What she does with her life has no affect on you at all."
Yet the sin we all commit causes death...death to the earth and its creatures, death to our souls, death to our bodies. The sexual sin this lady commits daily will have an affect on us all. That's the truth.
Well, at least she was told the gospel message and hopefully it will lead to her repentance. If not, well, when she stands before God at the judgment she cannot say she did not know Jesus was the only way to salvation. God will remind her that she was told the truth.
**********************
Until next time.....
"No one is ever united with Jesus Christ until he is willing to relinquish not sin only, but his whole way of looking at things. To be born from above of the Spirit of God means that we must let go before we lay hold, and in the first stages it is relinquishing of all pretense. What Our Lord wants us to present to Him is not goodness, nor honesty, nor endeavour, but real solid sin; that is all He can take from us.'
-Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) (My Utmost for His Highest, 1935, March 8th devotional)
Blessings,
Ruth
No comments:
Post a Comment