Tag: sent them

18.x. “I have given them your word”

John 17:14  I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

“See how the Lord Jesus himself takes all his teaching from the Father. You never hear from him any boast about being the originator of profound thoughts. No, he just repeated to his disciples the words he had received from the Father: ‘I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me.’ If Jesus acted thus, how much more must the messengers of God receive the word from the Lord’s mouth, and speak it as they receive it!” (Spurgeon)

The whole revelation of God was and is manifested in the words, works, and actions of Jesus Christ.  We would be in spiritual darkness without the revealed Word in Jesus Christ and the written Word of God.  We are called to bring and reflect the Light of Jesus Christ into the darkness of this world.  We do this for His honor and glory.  Our goal is to be in the world but not of it or of the evil one.  We are not to be fearful of this darkness.  We are not to be surprised by the evil one directing the dark and evil deeds of those who are his captive.  We are to live with a desire to continue to grow in our understanding and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We are to live with a  continued desire for His Word.  We are to live with a desire to be obedient, faithful, and reliant on Him.  How can this be if we choose to become complacent and neglectful of the very Word that will continue to grow us in this understanding?  Christianity is not a course we take for a semester and think we have acquired knowledge for a lifetime.  A believer is forever in study, forever gaining knowledge, and forever becoming so that no matter how dark the darkness is, people will see the light of the Gospel and give glory and honor to Jesus Christ.

The sheep hear His voice

“They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.  They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

“They say, ‘Declares the LORD,’ when the LORD has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word.”

“hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

“having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people”,  “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”

John 10:1  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.  But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.  A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Proverbs 19:27    Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

2 Peter 2:1     But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies

1John 4:1    Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Colossians 2:6    Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,  rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.  See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

1 John 4:5    They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Living for the single purpose to humbly serve, honor, follow, and obey Jesus Christ is driven by a deep heart desire, want and commitment.  Knowledge, understanding, and ability to hear His whispers of guidance into our life has firm root in and through His word and is a reflection of this desire our time spent in it.  How many days are spent complacently neglecting our purpose this side of eternity.  These scriptures are directed toward those who have an appearance of walking with the direction, power, and light of Jesus Christ.  Yet, in reality, they have none.  Our purpose is to be more than an appearance.  in Malachi it says :“They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.  Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.  Walking with and serving God is not to be a self directed life but rather one that seeks to know, wants to know, and is ever listening for God’s direction.  Do you want to find a place of comfort, refuge, hope, joy, love, courage, peace, and purpose?  Set your heart, mind and soul on Him. Spend time in His word.  This side of eternity is filled with cultural lies, false hope, and non-God seeking purpose.  Each day we must fight off these lies with truth which is found in and through Jesus Christ.  Think about the commitment David had in his heart, mind and soul – “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!