Will of Man or Will of God?

John 1:1-5 ESV

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

When we read further on down in this passage of Scripture, we soon see that “the Word” being spoken of here is none other than Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus didn’t just come into being when he was born as a baby to Mary. He always was, and he always will be. He was with God in the beginning, and he is God. And, he is our creator God. He was in heaven with God, but then he came to earth, was born as a baby, and he became a man, yet he was both fully God and fully man when he walked this earth.

Jesus is the creator of life, and he gave life to all of us humans. But in him is also the life of the Spirit of God which he gives to all who humble ourselves before him, who repent of our sins, and who turn away from sin to follow him in obedience to his commands for our lives (Rom. 6:1-23).

And, the life of the Spirit of God is truth and righteousness, which shines in the darkness (in wickedness, evil, godlessness). And, it exposes evil for what it is, and it calls all humans to repent and to obey God. And, darkness (evil) cannot overcome the light of God (of Christ) and of his righteousness.

So, no matter what evil exists out there in this world, through faith in Jesus Christ we can overcome the darkness so that it does not overpower us. We can resist Satan, and flee temptation, and we can live in victory over darkness. We don’t have to succumb to the enemy. For God has given us the spiritual armor that we need to be victors over darkness through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen! (Eph. 6:10-20)

John 1:6-8 ESV

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.”

God sent John the Baptist to bear witness to Jesus Christ and to prepare people’s hearts to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. He was to make a straight path for the people to receive Jesus Christ, and that straight path was the way of holiness and righteousness. Therefore, his main message was to call the people to repent, to turn away from their sins, and to follow Jesus in his ways, and in his truth.

So, when we are bearing witness to Jesus Christ and to his saving grace to us, we all need to call people to repent of their sins, and we also need to prepare a straight way for people to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, we should be teaching them that faith in Jesus means we die with Christ to sin that we might live to Christ and to his righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24).

John 1:9-14 ESV

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

When we bear witness to Jesus Christ, and to his death and resurrection, and when we call people to repentance and to obedient faith in Jesus Christ, we need to be prepared to be rejected as Jesus was rejected. We need to anticipate that people will fight against us. And, we need to be emotionally and mentally prepared to even have our own family members turn away from us and to even persecute us because of our faith in Jesus Christ.

For, when we shine the light of truth into the darkness, we are going to be hated, and we will be resisted, and people will fight against us, because they are fighting against the truth. For people love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil, and so they won’t come into the light lest their evil deeds be exposed. So, we need to be prepared for this.

If we are living and if we are proclaiming the truth of the Word of God, in the power of God’s Spirit living within us, and people reject that truth, we need to understand that they are really rejecting Jesus and his gospel message. They are refusing to receive him into their hearts and lives.

But “receiving” Jesus is not just words we say or some formality we go through to “get saved.” To receive Jesus is to accept him and his divine character and will and all that he is and all that he stands for into our lives and into our daily practices.

To receive Jesus, thus, is to receive him as Lord (owner-master) of our lives and to submit ourselves to his will and purposes for our lives and to walk in his ways and in his truth.

And, it is through this type of “receiving” of Jesus that we are born of God, and that we become children of God. But notice with me here that not only is this a spiritual birth, and not only is it of God, but that it is NOT of the will of man. In other words, we can’t make up our own gospel. We must follow the gospel as Jesus and as his NT apostles taught it.

Thus, those who teach that we can be “saved” from our sins, and that heaven is guaranteed us, but that how we live doesn’t matter for eternity, they are feeding you lies that they made up. That is a gospel or a spiritual birth that is of the will of man, not of God.

For, Jesus Christ, God the Son, died on that cross to redeem us, i.e. to buy us back for God so that we would now honor God with our lives. He died that we might die with him to sin and that we might live to him and to his righteousness. And, he died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us (1 Co. 6:19-20; 1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:15).

High Above the Seraphim

Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16

High above the seraphim

Sounds an everlasting hymn;

Voices echo thro’ the hall

And shake the temple wall.

Living creatures bless the King,

Four and twenty elders sing,

“Worthy, He who overcame;”

“The Word of God” His name.

Praise the Seed of Abraham!

All dominion to the Lamb!

Sing of Him, in glory slain,

“Lord God Almighty reigns!”

Shout the God-breathed prophecy;

“He who was will ever be!”

“Kings of earth have passed away!”

The Son is Lord this day!

Night to night I come to Him,

Kneel before His diadem;

While a thousand thousand sing,

I fall before the King.

Soon will He be changing me,

Clothed in immortality,

Swallowed up in victory,

And evermore to be.

Used by permission

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzVaX3wwUyE

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