And Be Pleased

"Jesus did not preach a sermon of damnation but the good news of salvation."

SPEAKING to a crowd is a rush. Having them respond brings goosebumps. Or trembling. But from the pulpit, in front of the children of God placed in your care, must come the love and kindness of a generous God, toward all men (John 3:16). People are not a picking point. We need people in order to be well-rounded. We should approach them to bring encouragement and find encouragement and not have our first response be to see what’s wrong with them. As to preachers (and sermons), all men hold value. We need what Bill Johnson carries, what Jesse Duplantis carries, what John McArthur carries, what Alistair Begg carries. I can learn as much from Warren Wiersbe as from Michael Todd. But what teaches me is that I refuse to take offense. Where they do not agree with the Spirit and the Word of God, I can see where God shines in them and be pleased.

“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” (Psalms 119:165 KJV)

“I am so thankful for you, that every time I speak to God I tell him how thankful I am.” (Philippians 1:3 Remedy)

Confusion comes from the enemy, who is forever confused (1 Corinthians 14:33; James 3:16). He doesn’t know Truth. Truth comes from God, and the life of God causes it to flourish in us (John 14:6). Like a seed, it grows and produces, not things, not rewards, but REVELATION. What the seed in the well-known parable bears as fruit thirty, sixty, or one hundredfold, is a view of the Father (Mark 4:8). Like produces like. From an orange tree, we do not pick onions (Matthew 7:16). From the heart of the Father comes the image of the Father in His Son, Jesus, who was God and is God. They are UNITED, INSEPARABLE. The Sower sowed the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and we know, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men (John 1:3-4).” Jumping to 1 John 1:2, we find out the Word of life, Jesus, was manifested among us. Then mix in Colossians 1, which says, “For it was God’s pleasure to have his entire identity, character—the fullness of his essence—live in Christ (John 1:19, Remedy).” What Jesus did was show us the Father (John 17:25). He revealed the mystery that had been kept across ages of time (Ephesians 1:9).

God’s intent was to live in each one of us, to be as united to us as They are to each other. So to make an example of another man or woman is to address God Himself. We don’t see it that way, but we should. JESUS TURNED AWAY NO ONE. He condemned no one (John 3:17; Romans 8:1). He is meekness, gentleness, and kindness. He died for Judas, for Nicodemus, for Saul, who would become the apostle Paul. He died as much for Hitler, a despicable human, as He did for President John Adams. He died for all men and woman, good and bad, and He died for us BY NAME (John 10:3). Not a corporate mankind of faceless nations, but each of us individually. We should mourn those lost to Him and not be the rich man who even in hellish torment wanted no more than the finger of the poor man to touch his lips.

“To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.” (John 10:3)

We love because He does and He is with us and in us. We fall in love with Him, and He becomes our reward (Hebrews 11:6). Whatever else we think we need becomes instead what He needs of us. We worry no more about things, about governments, about doctrinal differences. We look no more for exterior godliness but become settled in the godliness He’s placed in our heart. And the words of our lips are the exhortation and comfort spoken by Him everywhere He went. Jesus did not preach a sermon of damnation but the good news of salvation and how close it was and how soon they would see it.Then when they saw it and disbelieved it, He returned to them, Resurrected, walking right through the door itself into their presence where He breathed upon us as the Father, the Spirit, a first gift, we are told, and the best gift, to my mind (Ephesians 1:14). For there is Christ Himself, in power, in reflection, in understanding, in commitment.

He will never leave me or forsake me. Forever, God is on the throne. Jesus is alive, and He lives in my heart. The Holy Spirit is in me and has come upon me, as at Pentecost, and He helps me in my weakness (Romans 8:26). Even when I don’t know how to pray, He enables me, and all those words of sighs and groans are to heaven, around the throne, the will of God. The enemy can’t understand them. Nor can my neighbor, whom I love. But God can. And He is Truth.

WATCH:
The Power and Message of the Cross by Alistair Begg
The Man on the Middle Cross (portion) – In case you are in a hurry.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com