Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down His life for His friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:13-14 NASB. Jesus is the good shepherd who laid down his life for His friends! Jesus said, “Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?” Luke 6:46 NASB. We are Jesus’ friends if we do what He says. Doing everything that He said is doing everything that He has commanded us.
What did Jesus command His friends? “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” John 15:12 NASB. How do we love one another? By keeping the Law. Paul says that “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10 NASB. What law is Paul talking about here? The 10 Commandments. “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:8-10 NASB. Paul is listing some of the 10 commandments here, but not all of them. But we believe that even though he is not mentioning all of them, or that he specifically is not mentioning any of the commandments regarding how we should treat God, that he is meaning them as well. Thus we see that the fulfillment of the Law is love.
Jesus told us that if we are His friend, that we will do what He has commanded us. If we refuse to do anything that He has commanded us or do not ask for His help to keep His commands, we are not His friend. What has He commanded us? “And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."” Matthew 22:37-40 NASB. Jesus clearly states here that all of the Law, which are the 10 Commandments, and the Prophets are dependent on loving God first, and then loving everyone else second; there are no laws greater than these. Thus love is the fulfillment of the Law, as Paul stated in Romans 13:8-10. We cannot love our neighbor as ourselves if we do not first love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul and all of our strength. See also Mark 12:29-31.
If you are Jesus’ friend, you will want to keep all of His commandments, which are to love one another. If you are Jesus’ friend, that means that you love Him. If you love Him with all of your heart, and all of your mind and with all of your soul and with all of your strength, then you are keeping the first great commandment that Jesus commanded. Jesus laid down His life for His friends, which will be you, if you love Him. You cannot be Jesus’ friend, if you do not love Him or want to do everything that He has commanded.
How can you love Jesus? “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.’” John 14:23-24 NASB. Is that what you want? Do you want to keep Jesus’ word? Then Jesus and the Father will make their abode in you!This is the secret to how you can love Jesus! When you learn that you are a sinner and in need of Him, and that He laid down His life for you, then you will learn to love Him, if you choose to believe it! There can be no greater love than Jesus, the Son of God laying down His life for you, except for the love of the Father who gave His only Son Jesus to die for your sins! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:16-17 NASB. So we see that the Father greatly loves us too, for He gave His only Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins!
How do you prove that you are Jesus’ friend and do everything that He commanded, which is to love Him and one another; which is to keep the 10 Commandments? It is God’s gift to you, if you will accept it. The Holy Spirit will produce this desire in your heart, if you will let Him! See John 16:7-11 for more on how the Holy Spirit will give you the desire to be Jesus’ friend, by convicting you of sin. The Holy Spirit will also give you the ability to do everything that Jesus’ commanded, if you invite Him into your heart and make a confession of all your sins. Jesus promised that if anyone would keep His word, that He and His Father would come and make their abode in them! Oh precious sweet promise! Jesus wants to abide in your heart, if you will ask Him to! This is how you can keep His word, the only way: If Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit abide in your heart continually. God so longs to give you this precious gift! “We love Him [God], because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 KJV. When you finally see your great need of Him, and that He is your only hope, and that He will provide all the help that you need, then you will love Him. Let God’s love penetrate your heart, and come boldly to Him before the throne of grace, that you may obtain help and mercy in time of need. Hebrews 4:16. Amen.
By John Foll, 12/8/2016.
#holy #spirit #happy #love #peace #God #Salvation #riches #joy #life #mercy #friend #word #command #greater #secret #commandments #Jesus #perish #believe
Originally posted 2016-12-08 15:03:00.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. The reason for this is that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23), and of course sin cannot please God. "The knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired." And for this cause we shall hereafter, in this place in each number of the Review give a Scripture lesson on faith -- what it is, how it comes, how to exercise it -- that every reader of this paper may have this knowledge that "is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired." And for this cause we shall hereafter, in this place in each number of the Review give a Scripture lesson on faith -- what it is, how it comes, how to exercise it -- that every reader of this paper may have this knowledge that "is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired."
Faith is the expecting the word of God itself to do what the word says and depending upon that word itself to do what the word says. When this is clearly discerned, it is perfectly easy to see how it is that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
If we have given our heart completely to God and have been born from above, we are following Jesus every step of the way, and God is leading us in triumph! This will manifest itself by others seeing our love for God in the way we treat them and others, and the way we speak of our God whom we love! Our face will glow like an angel, when we are animated with God’s love! He gives us the sweetness in life that attracts others to Him. We cannot help but do this, if we love God all the way and are born from above!
Some may not be aware that in order to get answers to prayer, that there are conditions for many prayers that must be met. We want to give some texts and ideas that everyone might not know or may have forgotten. This is not intended to list everything that could be a problem as to why you are not getting an answer to your prayers, but to give the most common problems that may prevent you from getting answers to your prayers, and to give you the prayers that God will always answer. We are giving the general conditions whereby you can know the will of God, when you can expect to get your answer or not from Him. We want everyone to be able to get what they need from God: life, peace, joy, love and happiness, now and forever! So we are sharing with you the principles that will lead to your salvation and happiness! We want to share with you how you can get the blessings from God that your heart craves. You want this, don’t you?
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” Matthew 28:18-20 NASB. Jesus has paid the price for our sins, and has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. He commands all who are His to go and make disciples of all men. And He is with us until the end of the world. This is a wonderful promise! If we wish to go out and tell others about God’s love and the salvation that Jesus bought for us, Jesus will be with us until the end of the world! It is because of the price that He paid for our sins, that we can go out and help win others for the kingdom. Let us rejoice and be glad for the great salvation He bought for us!
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.” 1 John 5:1 NASB. The child born of Him represents primarily Jesus, the Son of God, but could also mean any child of God who is truly born again. If we are born of God, we will also love all others who are born of God too. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. I.e. whoever believes that Jesus is the Savior of the world is born of God. He who is not truly born again or born of God does not truly believe that Jesus is the Christ. This is the test to whether we are born again or not or please God or not: whether we truly believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world! Do you believe that Jesus is the Savior of the World? Then you are born of God. Are you born of God? Then you are born again and are overcoming the world, have faith, and are keeping the commandments of God, and have life from God and this wonderful change in your heart.
“But Peter and John answered and said unto them, ‘Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’” Acts 4:19-20 KJV. Their answer to the rulers at Jerusalem indicates that they were determined to keep the command of Jesus to tell of God’s love to the world (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 5:19-21), regardless of what their religious leaders told them. They didn’t mind the obstacles that were placed in their way to hinder them, or the mistreatment they received, but counted it all joy to suffer for Jesus’ sake. “And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” Acts 5:40-42 KJV. They didn’t stop preaching Jesus, even after they were beaten and warned to stop. The prophet Jeremiah states the desire to speak of what he had seen and heard of God like this: “But if I say, ‘I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name,’ then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.” Jeremiah 20:9 NASB. Thus when you love Jesus, you cannot help but speak of what He did for others and for you, like the Apostles and the prophets of old did!
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: […]
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us [or given unto us], that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” 1 John 3:1 KJV. Yes, it is a great love that the Father has bestowed on us! He has given us His only Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins, and if we will confess our sins, He will forgive us (1st John 1:9), and He will fill us with His precious Holy Spirit (if we desire), so that we can have the power to become His son or daughter! This is the true meaning of this text! If we desire, God will forgive us and change us into His likeness, so that as we draw closer and closer to His love, we will more and more reflect His love to the world. This is what it means to be a son or daughter of God! Oh wonderful love of God! Not only does He grant us mercy and help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16), but He also wants to grant us the joy of serving Him, and sharing His love to the world! Luke 12:32.