“Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:22-23) Here is one of the tried and true old paths in my preaching. I feel that the LORD gave it to me because there are so many preachers and people who parrot what they heard from someone about the Bible that sounds good, but they never think through what they are saying. There is a saying that is completely true and that is that God loves everyone (John 3:16); He loves the whole world. The Bible even says that He loves sinners; in fact it plainly says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). While those are truths, they only express half the idea of God’s love. It is like this: God loves even the most rotten sinner but He finds no pleasure in loving that dirty rotten sinner. In this sense He is like a father who loves his child even when the child is disobedient and may even cuss the father out and leave. That father loves that child, but that father does not find any pleasure in loving that child. In our verse of study, Judas asks a good question and Jesus gives an illuminating answer. Judas asks how can you show yourself to us and not the world (of lost sinners). Jesus answers with the idea of obedience. He says, “If a man love me, he will keep my words.” That means do the words and know them and study them. Jesus says if you love me you will do what I say. Then, Jesus said, “and my Father will love him.” Jesus is explaining the distinctions. This love can be translated as find pleasure in loving the person who keeps Jesus word. In one place, Paul explains it this way, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:10). The writer of Hebrews said, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21). God may love you, but does He find pleasure in loving you? Chris Fisher, Pastor The Church of the New Beginning 08-03-13 Originally written 5-03-12
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 02:27:17 +0000
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