"But from there
you will seek the LORD
your God. When
you are in distress,
and all these things come upon you in
the latter days, when you turn
to the LORD your God and obey His voice
(For the LORD your God is a merciful God),
He will not forsake you
nor destroy you, nor forget the
covenant of your fathers which
He swore to them."
Deut 4:29-30
************************
Hello ladies! The love of a merciful God....let's seek Him together:
"Holy Father God, thank You Lord for indeed being that merciful God of all creation. Thank You , blessed father, for remembering us when times are hard. please remember us in the end times when we suffer persecution. Thank You for being faithful even when we are not faithful.
I seek the forgiveness of my sins. I pray that You will wash me clean of my sins and make me whole again in Your presence. I pray that You will purge me with Your hyssop and cleanse me. I pray that You will fill me with Your Holy Spirit to overflowing.
I lift up each lady reading this study today and ask that You walk with her this day. I pray that when times are distressing for her that You will reveal Your love to her and Your faithfulness to her. I pray that she will seek You this day and read Your word. I pray that she will yearn to have fellowship with you each day.
In Jesus' name...amen."
*********************************
The Consummation of Love
As we complete this section of 1 John, we will continue to look at the love of God and how it consumes the Christian.
We have learned that perfect love casts out all fear...so we Christians should have no fear of the world, but we should fear God.
We learned that perfect love is in us because of what Jesus did for us: He died for us. Now that love has been perfected among us, we can boldly stand before Jesus at His coming. Amen.
Now we will look at that perfect love even closer....
1 John 4: 19-
"We love Him because He first loved us."
Because John had witnessed the life and death of Jesus, we can read the impact of this fact in this letter to believers. He desperately wants his readers to know and remember just what it was that Christ did by coming to this earth and dying for us: He revealed the Love of God toward us.
Please read:
Titus 3:4-7
Paul writes that salvation is not perfected by works of man...it is complete in the work of Christ Jesus who was both God and Man.
The Book of Titus clearly reveals that Jesus was both God and man in that He is called Savior right along with God as Savior too:
Titus 1:3- God our Savior
Titus 1:4- Jesus Christ our Savior
Titus 2:13- both God and Savior Jesus Christ
The whole book reveals that Jesus and God are both One: they are both Savior
Is 45: 21
Is 63:7-9
So we read here that it was God Himself who became our Savior to save us from His wrath and to redeem us to Himself.
And it was God who chose us to receive this redemption...
Eph 1:3-7
Not of any works, but of God's mercy. As we read in the opening verse, our God is merciful in that He loved us from the foundations of the world.
John 3:16
Ro 8:28-29
1 Pet 1:2
We love others only because God first loved us. He gave us that capability to love others simply and perfectly through Christ Jesus.
Luke 1:67-80
In this incredible prayer by Zacharias, we read about the redemption of God through Christ. That God had "visited His people" after being silent for 400 years. Zacharias reminds the people that God did remember His covenant, that oath He swore to Abraham long before.
Imagine what comfort those words gave to the people near Zacharias? That now God has granted them deliverance from their enemies and the ability to serve Him without fear, but in holiness and righteousness before him!
And then he announces that his son, Joh, will prepare the people to hear about the salvation that has come to them and the remission of sins through God's tender mercy.
Only through "the Dayspring from on high" can we come before God now. Only through Christ's blood can we serve the living God without fear.
John 1:12-13
Ro 3:21-26
John 15:9
John 17:23
Gal 2:20
Eph 5:25
Rev 1:4-6
Through Jesus we are loved by God and are made kings before Him. God demonstrated this love...it wasn't just a verbal act, it was a physical act as well.
Ro 5:8
Eph 2:13
Heb 10:19
1 Pet 5:10
By Christ alone...
-His blood
-His torn flesh
-His obedience
-His faithfulness
-His works
...not ours!
John 15:5
Because of Jesus we can now do all things!
Phil 4:112-13
Phil 4:19
2 Cor 2:14-15
We are not triumphant through Christ. We have victory through Him!
1 Cor 15:56-58
And as a result, we shall be steadfast and immovable..."always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
Take time today to mediate on all that you have learned here. Take time to really praise God for what He has done for you.
Ps 31:23-24
Ps 45:7
Ps 145:20
John 15:13
Now that's love!
*************************************
Life Application
No one wants to be made a fool. No one likes to look foolish.
When my son started his Bible Study blog, he was excited at first to show his friends what the Bible says about the end times. He wrote some really nice lessons for them. You can read them here:
But as time went on, fewer and fewer of his friends visited his blog and now the excitement has worn off. He has become frustrated and dissillusioned by the disinterest of his friends.
He once asked me, "What if we find out that Jesus didn't exist and that the Bible isn't true?" I could tell that he was worried that he would be made a fool of in front of his friends.
That is why I love 1 Cor 15:56-58
God assures us through Paul's writings that our work will not be in vain. Paul reiterates God's words through Isaish in Romans:
Ro 9:33
I suppose Paul was being told of doubters among the believers in Rome and Corinth. Heck, even John the Baptists doubted at one time!
Luke 7:18-22
So, the Lord laid it upon Paul to reassure believers that they will not do the Lord's work in vain nor will they be put to shame for believing in the risen Christ. On the contrary..we will be victorious. We will be overcomers and have that final victory if we remain and stay and stand until the end.
This is what I tell my son: Do the Lord's work, not for praise from man....but to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
We will not be made to look foolish nor will be ashamed. God is merciful and loving. He sees all that we do. Thank the Lord for that!
********************
Until next time.....
"God sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins to bear the righteous judgment that our sins deserved. That is why John says, 'Herein is love'. At our best and highest, at our finest and purest, we are still sinners deserving God's wrathful judgment. But he loved us. And what God has done for us is the primary incentive for us to love one another."
-Dr. Joel Beeke (The Epistles of John, 2006, p. 161)
Blessings,
Ruth
No comments:
Post a Comment