John 7 & 8It matters whether or not you and I love the Lord. Chapters 7 and 8 of John are all about the confusion and distrust of the people in considering Jesus and the Way He was preaching. If we love Him, we will want to follow His Way; we will want to please Him. If we love Him, we will know Him. The following sentences (confessions) are meant to position Jesus properly in our lives, to overcome our own little confusions, traditions, and lack of trust. Say them out loud to yourself. They help me. I hope they help you. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come (1 Corinthians 16:22)! That’s a strong and fearsome statement. I certainly don’t want to be accused, and I’m sure you don’t either. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:11). The real truth is that Christ is all. He is everything. There’s really nothing else to love. If I love Him, I will find myself loving every other person on the planet because He does. He is everything worthy of being talked about. If He’s not in it, it’s not worth-while to waste words on the subject. Apart from Him—since He is the Everything—there is nothing worthy of my attention.
Do you love Him? A big number of people believe in Jesus as an historical character. They believe in Him as a moral teacher. They believe He sets high standards. But these people do not love Him. They don’t know Him. And they are lost. They might be good, moral people, and do some good things. The identifier is this: do they love the Lord? Do they trust Him and rely on Him? He is absolutely everything. Everything from Genesis to Malachi points to Him. Every prophecy, every type, every shadow, every sacrifice points to Him. Everything that has happened since then is pointing to Him, telling us what He did, how He did it, and how He finished the work. He rose triumphantly over death, hell and the grave. He sat down at the right hand of majesty on high. He’s waiting until all His enemies are made into His footstool. He’s coming back again! He’s coming in great clouds of glory. He’s coming with all the saints that have gone before us. Those who are alive and remain are going to see Him as He is. I’m going to be changed. I’m going to become just like Him. I’m going to be caught up and be with Him. And so shall I always and ever be with the Lord. My name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life. My name is there because I love the Lord. He’s the one who existed before there was a world. He’s the one by whom the Father has created everything. When there was no planet, He existed. Yet, He became a man. He took on flesh. He laid aside His mighty weight and power and glory. He became just like me. I can never say, “Nobody knows what I’m going through.” That’s a lie. “Nobody knows how I feel.” That’s a lie. “Nobody knows what it’s like to be here and have to feel like this and to do this.” He knows. He has gone beyond where I am. Nobody has ever been tempted like He has been. Nobody has been pushed to the limit like He has been. I have not yet resisted to the point of sweating blood. He has. He knows exactly what it is like to be in my shoes. He overcame. He overcame, making the way, showing me how to overcome. I can follow in His footsteps. I can overcome just like He did. I can resist temptation like He did. I can find and follow the plan of God for my life, like He did. He’s made the way for me to do that. He’s made me to be His own brother (sister). He’s given me His own Spirit. He’s given me His own name. He’s given me His own word. He’s given me all my brothers and sisters in Christ who help me. He’s given me angels to help me. He’s given me everything. Through Him I am more than a conqueror. I can be an overcomer by the Blood of the Lamb. Do you know Him? Is He real to you? If not, you’ve got to get that changed! You must be born again. First John tells us we get born again by believing that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Son of God. When you do that, you have an experience with Him. Everybody does. It’s called the New Birth. In this experience He becomes very, very real. I know Him. Not like I know an historical figure, but I know Him like a close relative. To know Him is to love Him. Taste and see that the Lord is good. He is so good! When people talk about the Lord and their speech is cold and unemotional, I know right away, they don’t know Him! I can tell somebody who knows Him by the way they say His name. I can tell somebody who knows Him by the way they hold the Bible. I can tell somebody who knows Him by the way they say “Glory to God!” There’s something in their voice when they say “Hallelujah!” that lets me know they know Him. I love the Lord! Jesus said, “If you are ashamed of Me and of my Words, I’ll be ashamed of you.” If I deny Him, He’ll deny me. I do not want to be ashamed of Him in any way, no matter what the cost. If I will confess Him before men, Jesus will confess me before the Father and His angels. I have time and opportunity right now to claim Him. I can confess Him in front of believers and unbelievers. I am not ashamed of the Good News, for everybody and to everybody. There’s coming a day when the mountains will run and hide. A day is coming when the sky will roll up like a scroll. A day when men will beg the mountains to fall on them and look for a place to hide. In that day, everybody who doesn’t know Him will run away. But in that day, I will be bold. How can I be bold on a day like that? Because I know Him and He is claiming me. Jesus is going to stand before the Father and the angels and say, “She (He) is Mine!” He’ll say, “I know her/him and he/she knows Me!” Who are the “She/He,” “he/she,” and the “her/him”? Me! I’m one of “them.” I’m one of His! Are you? I love Him. He’s my life. He’s my everything! I gave up my life. I died and now I’m His. He’s alive in me. He is my life. I have to check in with Him about everything. And I want to! Because He is right about everything. He knows what to do all the time. He’s so good to me! He always makes sure I’m at the right place at the right time. He always shows me what to do. I always know what to say. I always know where to be, how to do whatever I need to do. Whatever I say He is to me, He is able to manifest Himself to me like that. When I say how good He is to me, I then am amazed how good He is to me. The more I say it, the more He notes what I say and becomes for me what I say. He truly loves me and wants to be for me all I want Him to be. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him (1 John 5:1). Everybody else, those who don’t believe that Jesus is the Christ, is not saved. Faith in Him is the only way to God. People get upset. What about other religions? There is only One Way. That Way is Jesus.
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Marty DelmonWriter
Evangelist Teacher Writing has been in my blood, so to speak, but when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and He told me to write, all my trepidations rolled away and I began in earnest! After all, if God Almighty says it was His idea that I be a writer, who am I to stand in His way? My hope is that you not only like what I write, but that your life is moved by it, and that your party to Jesus and with Jesus turns your life into days of Heaven on Earth.
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