The Second Sending
 
A comprehensive, verse by verse, study of the Gospel of John with an emphasis on the love of God and the way of faith in the life of the believer in Jesus Christ.

Notes and references for Sunday, July 7, 2003, The Conflict of Two Loves.

Hymn, Take My Life and Let It Be

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.

John Hintz may come back to complete the book of Malachi.

May be nice to go through some of the unfamiliar books, major and minor prophets.

Prayer:  Estelle, Brian & Julie, Wes & family, Herman & study, Alta, Lonnie, Vic & family, Anita, Herman's mother, Mitch & Susan, John & Jeanette, Betty, Ann, missionaries and outreach

Offertory

Love from the flesh has no merit, even motherly love; just as our righteousness has no merit.

There is nothing from our flesh nature that honors God, the flesh you is always there and continuously being corrupted.

Ephesians 4:22  

that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

Human love and righteousness comes from a corrupted being therefore they are corrupt.

Jeremiah 17:9  

"The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

Human love is deceitful and desperately sick, well what does God want!  What do you want God?  Accept His love and righteousness by faith.

Ecclesiastes 9:3  

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.

Human love is continually being corrupted, deceitful and desperately sick, full of evil and insane.

Job 15:15  

"Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones, And the heavens are not pure in His sight;

God doesn't trust us, He loves us, He knows we are going to fail.

If you build relationships on trust, they will fail because you will fail; build your relationships on spiritual love, faith in the Holy Spirit, on the rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ.

If you walk in the power of the Holy Spirit you will be trustworthy.

If you can't trust God it is over; life is over, He is the only one trustworthy.

Job 15:16  

How much less one who is detestable and corrupt, Man, who drinks iniquity like water!

 

Man drinks iniquity like water, man is detestable and corrupt, therefore what comes from him is detestable and corrupt.


Psalm 14:1-3  

For the choir director.  A Psalm of David.  The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.  The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand,  Who  seek after God.  They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.

 

Our love is corrupt, it is not good, don’t mix it with His love, something that is so pure and so wonderful.


Psalm 53:3  

Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.

 

In summary:  Ephesians 4:22,  Jeremiah 17:9, Ecclesiastes 9:3, Job 15:15-16, Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:3 teach that the flesh you, our heart, human love and righteousness:

 

Is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit

Is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick

Is full of evil and insane

Is not trustworthy

Is detestable and corrupt

All have turned aside, all have become corrupt, no one does good, not even one.

 

Don’t try to offer God something for or from yourself, God does not accept our production.

 

Genesis 4:3-5

3   So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.

4   Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering;

5   but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.:

 

What did Cain do wrong?  Cain brought God his very best, and God said no, yet He accepts Abel’s.  What’s going on God?  The work of the hands, trying to offer God something that is cursed, “Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.”  This is similar to Balaam, he attempted to curse those who God had blessed.

 

Faith is our only acceptable offering, and by faith in the Holy Spirit we are enabled to return to God life rather than dust and ashes.

 

Isaiah 64:6  

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

 

Our love and righteousness have no merit, there is nothing we have for God, we are in a hopeless and helpless situation, our flesh nature must be crucified, and we must be resurrected to newness of life in the Holy Spirit, by faith in the Holy Spirit; now the love and righteousness that comes from us is of the Holy Spirit; this love and righteousness is glorifying to Him.

 

Therefore we are not to wrap our human love around His spiritual love.  He discards our love, and by faith in the Holy Spirit pours into us His love.

 

John 11:1-10

1   Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2   It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
3   So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."
4   But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."
5   Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6   So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
7   Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
8   The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?"
9   Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10   "But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

Sisters plea on the basis of human love, God’s love comes under scrutiny.

 

Sometimes our greatest problems with God come from the belief “He doesn’t love me.”  Why?  Because we have decided what God’s love is; this is from human wisdom, now we judge how God loves.  Stop.  God is love, accept it, believe it!  God’s love can delay, just trust him, never try to interpret God’s love from the circumstances of your life.  This is why it is called a battle of faith.  Just trust him.  Just trust Him when you don’t see what’s going on.  Just trust him.

 

The isolation of suffering and testing is very rare, others are usually involved. 

 

Are you willing to follow the Spirit to the place of danger?  Fear stops you from walking in the Spirit by faith, causes you to run away, blinds you to the plan of God.  Fear is one of the most damaging strongholds in the soul, we must allow the Spirit of the Living God to tear down the stronghold of fear. 

 

Fear blinds; faith is the battle, and faith needs scripture and doctrine in the soul, so it is a desire of the Spirit to lead you to the scriptures and reveal the truth of them which give and strengthen faith.  A love of the scriptures is characteristic of walking by faith in the Holy Spirit.  The scriptures will lead you to a life a faith, just trust God, it is not for you to understand all that God is doing, just trust him. 

 

Walk in the light.  Trust in God, He will direct your paths, just trust him.