Tag: came

15.p. “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

John 5:30   “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 14:10    Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

John 8:42     Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

John 8:28     So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

Psalms 40:7-8    Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:  I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

John 4:34     Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Psalms 96:13    before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Isaiah 11:3-4    And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Romans 2:5    But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Jesus explained that He is qualified as a completely righteous judge because His power is in submission too and to do the will of God the Father.  How much of our day(s) do we do our will without a single thought too doing the will of God?  I am certain there are those who believe there is God or a god but give no thought to having a personal relationship with Him.  There are fewer who believe Jesus Christ was the Son of God and even of these there are many who give no thought to having a personal relationship with Him.  If we are to come to the Father we must come through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Here is the difference between these and those who have had a personal relationship with the Son and the Father. Those who believe trust in, cling too and rely on Jesus Christ.  They are aware of sin, their sin, and the Holiness of the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Father, God.  In this awareness, they seek to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  In this awareness, they have an understanding that has been given to them by and through Jesus Christ.  In this awareness, they have intentionally chosen to seek this relationship and believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In this awareness, they have sought forgiveness, repented of their sin, and believed in salvation and redemption through Jesus Christ.  There is more than just head knowledge.  The difference is that they personally know Jesus Christ rather than knowledge of Him.  They have made an intentional choice to surrender, serve, listen, follow, yield, trust, obey, honor, and glorify Jesus Christ.  They do not seek their own will but continually seek to do the will of Jesus Christ every day.  They do not seek to honor themselves.

Judgment is coming and the wrath of God is being stored up against all who reject Jesus Christ.  Today we are closer to this coming judgment than before.  The warning has been given that this judgment is coming.  The warning has been given that all who reject Jesus Christ will go to hell and be tormented forever and ever in eternity.  It is out of love that God sends these warnings.  “For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whosoever believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” “But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

Knowing of Jesus Christ will never result in repentance or trust.  Knowing Jesus Christ will.  Behold, He stands at the door of your heart, knocking.  Open that door and allow Him in.

14.s. “And they followed Jesus.”

John 1:35   The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

I really did not give much thought to “John was standing with two of his disciples” before.  I guess I just glanced over this and thought John was standing out in some body of water and telling people to repent and be baptized.  John the Baptist preached a message of repentance expressed in water baptism and bearing active fruit in one’s life in preparation for the appearing of the Messiah. Mark 1:4  John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John was sent to call the people to urgent repentance in light of what God would soon bring about.  John had disciples who learned from him.  Acts 18:25 introduces us to a man named Apollos of whom it is said: “This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John.”  While Apollos still needed further instruction and clarification in the faith, accounts like this make it clear that the core of the gospel was preached and taught by John.  When John saw Jesus walk by he said to the two disciples standing with him, “look, the Lamb of God”.  John preached repentance, confession, baptism, and the coming Messiah.  Even unto death, John called people high and low to turn their hearts and their lives from their sin unto God.  John preached warning people of the wrath to come.  Luk 3:7-10  He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?”

Many times people were cut to their heart and asked “What then shall we do?”  From the warnings of the wrath of God to come, people made intentional choices to repent, confess, and be baptized.  Some of these men stayed on with John.  We see Andrew was one of the two and when he heard John say “behold the Lamb of God” they immediately followed Jesus.  Andrew did something else too, he first went and told his brother, Peter, “We have found the Messiah”.  To the heart that is seeking, Jesus will be seen. If the warning about the coming wrath of God is rejected the need for Jesus will never be seen as needed.  Sin is always at the door of our heart, knocking and trying to open the door to entice us to live for self, rely on self, and deny there is any need to change.  There is a yielding that allows this door to open just as there is a firm resistance to keep it closed.  It is an intentional choice and both become easier over time.  Yielding day after day to sin will harden the heart to the point where the door is wide open and wrong seems right and false seems true.  The intentional choice doesn’t even need to be made anymore because this way of life has become common, regular, and established.  Resisting day after day will keep the door firmly closed. The intentional choice to keep the door closed is made every waking moment.  God’s Word will strengthen the resistance and give power to the weak who intentionally choose to resist.  Sometimes we don’t even know what to resist until God’s Word reveals it to us.  That is the power of His Word.  Be mindful of your heart and bath it in God’s Word every day.