Before
I begin my teaching on John, I have a plea to those who receive and
are hopefully blessed by the revelation knowledge the Lord has
so graciously given me. If you are taught and blessed by these
teachings, I ask you to share them and my website with others. The
only way these can reach the Body of Christ is if each one of you
share them with others. Christ wants His Body to receive them first
so they can teach it to others. This is how God's grace and truth are
multiplied. My heart wants more than anything to see the Body of
Christ matured and ready for His coming. The beauty of His Bride
dressed in white will bring great joy and glory to Jesus.
Money
has never been my focus. I give His gift to me away freely and
willingly to all who desire to hear. There has been a cost. It has
cost me many, many years of continual study. I pray that you will
help me in getting these truths out to others. The Lord needs every
one of us to do His work. In order to do His work, we must know the
Truth and be "pregnant with the Word." Thank you for all
that you do for our Lord, and for helping me get the truth that He
shows me out to others. In His love and service, Sandy
I
have spent a lot of time showing you the harmony and agreement of the
Older Testament and the New Testament -- that they are both a
revelation of Jesus Christ. There is much more that I could teach you
regarding this, but the Lord is telling me to teach on the Apostle
John's writings.
The
word "love" is used in John's writings more than any other
gospel. John's writings draw us closer to Jesus' heart and His
Eternal Truth.
Love—Relationships
are to begin and end with love
In
the paintings of the Lord's Supper, John is the one leaning over the
Lord's heart .(John
21:20) John
was a man after God's own heart like David in the Older Testament.
John heard the heartbeat of God. John understood God's heart. He
wanted to be connected to Jesus heart to heart in an intimate
relationship. John drew close to Jesus and saw things more deeply.
The closer we draw to someone, the more intense and intimate the
love.
In
the "natural," a growing baby can hear the heartbeat of its
mother. It is a steady rhythm of love and comfort to the child as he
or she grows in her womb. The same is true in the "spiritual."
We must know and hear the heartbeat of the love and comfort of God
and Jesus as we grow spiritually. These three -- Father,
Son/Word and Holy Spirit-- are in fullness in Christ.
- He had the fullness of the Father because He did only what the Father told Him to do and spoke only what the Father told Him to speak
- He had the fullness of Truth because He is the Truth-- the Living Word.
- He had the fullness of the Holy Spirit because He had no sin.
So,
when we believe in Jesus, we too have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
in us because we are "in Him" as His Body. When Jesus
ascended to the Father, those who love and follow Him became His
flesh body. He works through those who love and serve Him. We are His
flesh now.
God
has poured out His love upon us through His precious Son Jesus.
Before we were even born or had a chance to say “I'm sorry,” God
sent His Son to die for our sins to show His love for humanity who
were originally created in God's image and likeness. “For
God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 Jesus
loved us first. Love emanates from God!" We love because He
first loved us."1
John 4:16 Out
of the love of Our Heavenly Father, Jesus came to lay down His life
for sinners so we could be restored to the Father for all eternity.
Jesus said, “Greater
love has no man than this, that He lay down His life for His friends.
You are My friends if you do what I command.” John 15:13
Jesus
not only said this, He showed
the greatness of His and the Father's love by laying down His fleshly
life on the cross.
- This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16
- Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18
- This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-12
- How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. 1 John 3:1
The
Apostle Paul understood Jesus' love for him. Galatians
2:20: The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.” It
was God's grace and love for mankind that moved Him to send His Son
to save the world by His shed blood. Grace is God's love, goodness
and favor extended to sinners through no merit of our own but because
of the finished work of His own precious and beloved Son. When we are
"in Christ," God's unmerited favor is upon us solely
because of Jesus' perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.
All one must do is accept His grace and truth through His Son. A
person can set aside God's grace. Paul understood this too. He
said,“I
do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be
gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” Galatians 2:21
In
other words, if God's grace and love could be gained by obeying the
Law, then Christ died in vain. There is nothing -- no ritual, no
works, no merit of our own-- that can save us. Only the sacrifice of
the Perfect Man and Perfect God -- Jesus -- can do so. The first Man
-- Adam -- was holy and perfect when the Godhead lovingly shaped and
formed him and breathed the breath of life into him making him a
living being. Adam and the Woman's sin had to be atoned for by a
Perfect Man--Jesus--who was also fully God.
There
was no doubt in John's mind that Jesus loved him. He knew that Jesus
loved him just as he was, right where he was at. Jesus called John to
follow Him when John didn't know Him and he was full of sin. But John
began to really know Jesus as he walked with Him and talked with Him.
He also learned about Jesus through Jesus' life example. The Holy
Spirit had taught John that in order to draw close to One who is
holy, he must allow Jesus and His Holy Spirit to walk him into
holiness also step by step. As the Holy Spirit removed more and more
of John's fleshly, sinful ways, the more He reflected the
righteousness of Jesus whom He loved, and the closer and more
intimate their relationship became. Love
must be returned to be complete.
It
is important for every believer to be assured that Jesus loves them.
We don't have to earn His love or measure up. Romans
8:38: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels
nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Jesus
loves us and nothing can take His love away from us. We can take our
love away from Him, but He will never take His love away from us
because He is LOVE. God
is love. 1 John 4:16
Jesus died for us in payment of every sin we have committed, commit
and will commit because of the weakness of our fleshly nature. God
poured out His love upon all who come to His Son so we could be
restored to Him eternally. He didn't wait for us to be fixed or
righteous. But
when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us,
not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His
mercy. Titus 3:4 Mercy
is God's love and compassion. The Bible shows us that God's mercy is
great (Isaiah
54:7), sure
(Isaiah
55:3), abundant(1
Peter 1:3), tender(Psalm
25:6)and
new every morning (Lamentations
3:22-23)
Jesus'
love is a royal love--a high, holy love. Jesus gave His life and love
willingly for sinful humanity. We don't have to earn it. If we did,
it wouldn't be love. Love must be given away, not earned. Jesus wants
us to also love Him willingly and freely from our hearts. He says
three times in John
14 that
the way we show Him that we love Him is by willingly obeying His Word
out of our love for Him.
Jesus
and others referred to John as the “disciple
whom Jesus loved.” (John 13:23; 19:26;
20:2;
21:7, 20)
John
is referred as this five times in the Gospel of John. Five is the
number of grace. God in His grace had put this desire to know Jesus
and the Father's heart of love in John. This didn't mean that Jesus
didn't love the others. It means that John had drawn closer to Jesus
in a close, personal and intimate relationship like a husband and
wife draw close to each other in a close, intimate union. "Draw
near to God and He will draw near to you." James 4:8 It
is a mutual drawing. John's desire to know Jesus in a deeper and
deeper way by drawing close to Him was seen by the others. John
understood that believing and serving Jesus is a matter of the heart,
not rules, rituals and regulations. Mark
12:33 shows
us that our love for God is more important than any ritual. To
love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with
all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more
important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. 12:33
Love
on the part of both
parties
is the basis of any relationship. Without love, there is no
relationship. So willing love is the key. God and others are to be
the objects of our love. Jesus said the most important commandment is
this: “Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this:
“Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater
than these.” Mark 12:30-31 God
wants us to learn how to love with His love which is higher and
deeper than our human love. Jesus wants us to imitate Him and His
love as He imitated the Father's love.“As
the Father has loved Me,” so have I loved you. Now remain in My
love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I
have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love.” John
15:9-10 Jesus
tells us to remain in Him and in His love. How? Jesus gives us the
answer in John's Gospel.
a)
“If
you remain in Me, and My Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it will be given you. This is to My Father's glory, that you bear
much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” 15:7 The
Word of God remains in us when we do it. "We
know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. 1 John
2:3 If
we ignore the Word or cast it aside, it does not remain in us. It is
in the doing of the Word that it abides in us and we bring glory to
the Father. Since Jesus is the Living Word, when His Word abides in
us He abides in us in greater measure. As we keep the Word of God in
our hearts and let it guide our actions, Jesus and His ways will be
established in us. We must yield to the Holy Spirit and the Truth and
resist sin. We worship Him when we walk in Spirit and in Truth. Jesus
said in John
4:23-24, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they
are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and His
worshipers must worship in Spirit and in Truth." Jesus
is Truth and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Christ's life
flows through His disciples when they remain in Christ. If we fail to
do this, we will be fruitless and of little worth to His Kingdom. In
Luke,
Jesus
tells us what he or she is like if His Word is put to practice in
their life. Jesus said,"Why
do you call me, 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say?" I will
show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and puts
them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down
deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent
struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
But the one who hears My words and does not put them into practice is
like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The
moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its
destruction was complete. Luke 6:46-49 When
we are established in Jesus by obeying Him, our house is solid. When
a storm comes, we don't collapse but have a deep foundation in the
Rock Jesus and will not be shaken because our house is well
built. The storms of life strike every person, but when we are
solidly rooted and grounded in God's Word, we can withstand any storm
until we reach the other side of it.
b)
“As
the Father has loved me,” so have I loved you. Now remain in My
love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I
have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love.” John
15:9-10 We
remain in Christ's love by developing spiritual intimacy and
communion with Him through obeying His Word just as He did with the
Father. Jesus and the Father were so connected in love, actions,
words and deeds, that they were as One.
How
do we know that we are "in Him?" 1
John 2:6: "Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus
did." The
truth was seen in Jesus.. The truth must also be seen in believers.
If we are to have an effect on the world and others to bring them to
Jesus, we must allow the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help
us walk as Jesus walked. 2
Peter 1:3-4: His divine power has given us everything we need for
life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His
own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great
and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in
the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by
evil desires. God's
grace and mercy must not be used as an excuse to enter or remain in
sinful behavior.
It
is important to understand that spiritual maturity doesn't happen
overnight. We don't go from a babe in Christ to a full-grown
spiritually mature man or woman of God instantly. It is a progressive
process that takes place when we are willing to hear the Word and
allow the Holy Spirit to help us do the Word. It is in the doing that
the Word/Jesus abides in us. We must be patient with ourselves and
with others as we attempt to progress in our walk with the Lord. As
God is patient, kind and long-suffering with us, we must be patient,
kind and long-suffering with ourselves and others as we spiritually
grow and mature. The Godhead is steadfast in mercy, grace and
kindness as we are learning and growing.
David,
the “man
after God's own heart,” wrote
about hiding the Lord's Word in his heart in Psalm
40. “I desire to do your will, O My God; your law (Word) is within
my heart.” v8 He
went on to say that he proclaimed righteousness to the people. He
also didn't hide God's righteousness in his own heart from them, or
God's love and truth. v10
David
was not ashamed of his relationship and his knowledge of God and His
Truth. “May
your love and your truth always protect me.” v 11
David
knew that God's love and His Truth would always protect Him. We
are protected when we are within the boundaries of God's truth. We
must learn to love God's Truth if we are to spiritually grow in our
relationship with Jesus and the Father and with others.
May
we be ever mindful of your generous love toward us, and may we return
that love to you through our own marred and weak human love, Lord
Jesus. We thank you for your gift of unfailing love toward us, and we
pray that you will help us to do your Word so your love, life and
ways are established and abide in us so we will bear spiritual fruit
for your Kingdom. Give us hearts of love. Make your heart our heart,
Heavenly Father so we can love others with your heart also. In the
precious Name of your chosen and precious Son Jesus, I pray. Amen
Blessings and love,
Sandy
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