The Love of Christ

In John 11:35 we read;  Jesus wept.
The familiarity of this verse, for many people, lies in the fact that it is the shortest verse in the Bible. But this is a very profound verse. It reveals Jesus' perfect human nature and deity in His compassion for people because He loved them with the perfect love of John 3:16... “God SO  loved the world...” God expressed His love for His creation in that verse... and His plan for redemption. This kind of love does not bring a reserved compassion, but mournful grief for the state of creation. As Isaiah 53:3 says, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

Jesus the Lamb of God

Isaiah 9:6-7, For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end... upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Christ Is All

"It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error"... is an erroneous truism. One cannot have a schism with each side claiming the truth. Truth will indeed divide, but from the lie. Truth will indeed cause separation, but from falsehood. Truth, in fact, will unite those of same faith. And isn’t that what the Gospel does, and what the Apostles urged us “to contend” for?

Beloved... it was necessary for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Jude 1:3

He Who Has Suffered

1 Peter 4:1-2 says, Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he should no longer live the rest of his time on the earth for the lusts of the flesh, but for the will of God.

“He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”

It should be clear that physical sufferings alone do not lead a person to cease from sin. I don’t believe that if I suffer from chronic excruciating back pain I will cease to sin. One will suffer “spiritually” though, while in the flesh in our struggle against sin. As Eph. 6:12 tells us... we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Christ suffered in the flesh when He came in the likeness of man, and was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin, Heb. 4:15.

This Do In Remembrance of Me

In Luke 22:19&20 we read the very familiar passage, And he took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

And so we remember the Lord every Sunday morning in our worship around these elements. This morning, I would like to remember our Lord by way of Genesis 18. We know the chapter where the Lord (Jehovah) appeared to Abraham on His way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. They had gone too far. Their sin was VERY grievous.

OUR nation has gone too far.

Thou Shalt Not Hate

There is a movement, a program in the world to eliminate hate. At first consideration, it would appear to be a great idea. Let’s put all our energies into LOVE. We must not “hate” our neighbor, but we must “love” our neighbor. Now that is not only scriptural, but it is a commandment.

Scripture tells us of a certain “expert” in the Law who asked Jesus concerning “loving your neighbor” saying, “Teacher, who is my neighbor?” You can, and should read about it in Luke 10.

That Which Edifies

During the course of every week lately, I pray and hope to find something from the Word which edifies us in Christ. In one sense, just about anything from God’s word edifies, because, as Jesus said, “they speak of Me!”

But I hope to find that which would build us up together, as the Lord wills, of course.

Jesus came to edify... before the cross and after the cross. If the scriptures, in their entirety, speak of Jesus, it’s for the purpose of edification. Nothing that God does for us through and by Jesus excludes edification.

“Edify” means “to build up.”