Bible Study: I am Loved and Accepted Completely in Christ Part 4

Hi Everyone - here's the next part of the "Who I am in Jesus Christ" study, under the topic of "I am Loved and Accepted Completely in Christ".

You can access the audio by clicking this.  Do suggest you listen to the audio as the notes are quite brief. 

Do share it as you are blessed!

Chris

Enduring, Eternal, Unchanging Love 

This is what everlasting life is all about. It is about everlasting love.  Outside of love, life isn't worth living for any period short or long.

We are all going to live forever anyway. What marks the difference is where we live it. I suspect the differentiation is not in the beauty of the place as much as the love there. The most beautiful place in the universe will decay outside of the love of God. Darkness will reign where there is no light.

God’s Love – Not a New Thing

Do you ever sometimes get that feeling from some Christian teaching/preaching that God’s infinite love for us is a new thing, something that really became apparent only in the New Testament?  Well, it’s not true – His love for us was from the beginning and will have no end.

Psalm 103:17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, (NKJV)

The word “mercy” is the same word used for “kindness” and “lovingkindness” in the Old Testament.

Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. (NKJV)

It has been the same from the beginning.  The fact that God loves us is not a new concept, a New Testament-only thing.  The fact that we have Him with us now is.  It is like a loving couple wanting to adopt a child from an orphanage – before the actual adoption takes place, this couple does love the child, but the child does not realize the love they have for him/her.  Once the adoption has taken place, the child will begin to experience the love of this couple.  The adoption for us took place when Jesus died and rose again, opening the way for God’s Holy Spirit to indwell us.

Only His Love Can Change Us

Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. (NKJV)

It is with this very love that He draws us, not with laws, rules or behaviour modification.  Christianity at its very heart is a love relationship with God, made possible by the redemptive work of Jesus.  It is this relationship, His love, that causes us to change our thinking (repent).

Romans 2:4b…the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 5:14a For the love of Christ compels us, (NKJV)

We see this over and over in scriptures, how we love because He first loved us, how we are to love as Christ loved us, how we love our wives as Christ loves the church.

This Love is Forever

Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (NIV)

Psalm 103:17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, (NKJV)

Again, note that "mercy" is translated as "love", "kindness", "loving kindness" in other translations of the Bible.

Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NKJV)

The key point in this verse is that Paul is persuaded.  He is convinced beyond doubt that nothing can separate him from the love of God in Christ.  Like him, we need to come to that same conclusion for ourselves, primarily from walking with God in His Word, taking Him at His promises and tasting to see that He is good (Ps 34:8).  The verse preceding this tells us the result of this knowledge, that we would be more than conqueror in Christ who loved us.

Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (NKJV)

As we are persuaded, that is when we are more than conquerors, through Him, because of His love.  We start to lead lives that are victorious and overcoming, reigning over circumstance, not being under them, giving glory to God.

Same Jesus, Same Love, Forever

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8).

Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (NKJV)

2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. (NKJV)

As we dwell in this love, we will be complete and established in every good work, giving glory to God.  This is who we are in Jesus Christ – loved enduringly, eternally, unchangingly.

Bible Study: I am Loved and Accepted Completely in Christ Part 3

Hi Everyone - here's the next part of the "Who I am in Jesus Christ" study, under the topic of "I am Loved and Accepted Completely in Christ".

Do suggest you have a listen to the audio to get the full sense of the message.

Do share it as you are blessed!

Chris

God’s Given Me Great Grace, Great Love

Hurt people, hurt people.  Only the loved can love.  Without the love of God, we are all the net product of all our experiences.

Sadly, the number of people who are loved today is quickly declining.  Outside of the knowledge of God, we as a society are collapsing when it comes to love.  Over 40% of marriages in Canada end in divorce.  14.6% of children come from common law families, which more often than not end in some sort of separation.  

Then there are the gay families…

How will these love if they have such a perverted view of love?  We think we know Jesus loves us but we are just starting to fathom the depths of His love.  Drugs, crime, bullying, broken relationships, financial ruin and other forms of unwholeness are a testimony of our need to understand His love.

Jesus beyond forgiveness of sins, came to restore, to bring back, to recover everything that was lost in the Garden of Eden.

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; (NKJV)

Grace is Much More…

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 

Jesus is a TYPE of Adam, a man made in perfection.  This Man of perfection came to do what Adam did not and in place came to die the death that Adam and the rest of us deserved.  

15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.  

The grace of God is manifested in the gift of grace, Jesus.  God gave His Son for the salvation of the world.  God so loved the world that He gave.  The gift only needs to be received.  Do you have to pay for a gift, especially a free gift?  Do you have to pay for the gift after you receive the gift?

If I have to do something to pay for the gift, because the giver makes me feel bad about it, its called “emotional blackmail” and that is not love. Unfortunately many of us Christians live like this, as if now that we have been saved, we owe Jesus a debt to come to church, to abide by certain rules, to do certain things to earn God’s pleasure.  If our service to the Lord is out of duty, not love borne out of relationship, it will not be sustainable.  This explains why some Christians go in circles without growing in the Lord.

16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.

NIV says this a little more clearly:

Romans 5:16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. (NIV)

The gift redeemed us from Adam’s sin and all the trespasses that followed!   

17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 

We need to receive His love, believe His love and the gift of righteousness, before we can reign in life.

18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 

The free gift came to ALL men. Gifts have to be received.

19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 

Sin is heightened by law, like how we can be caught for speeding only where there are speed limits.  Yet wherever there is sin, there is much more grace.

21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (NKJV)

Grace reigns much more than sin ever will.  Ever wonder why, if this is true, that many in the church are so enamored with the avoidance or the conquering of sin?

Love We Cannot Fathom

1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 

Ignorance can kill you.  It can make you into a blasphemer, persecutor and cause you to be insolent.

It will be default of knowing the Word of Christ leave you without faith (see Rom 10:17).

14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. 

God’s grace was exceeding to Paul!  God did that to show longsuffering to one who did not deserve it.  If He can forgive Paul and turn him around into a great man of God, how much more can He do with us?

17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (NKJV)

It’s the kind of grace that makes you just want to worship Him and give Him glory.

If we don’t feel like Paul does, it’s time to get a dose of what Paul realised.  Such realisation is called “revelation”.