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Christian Network
Jesus speaks plainly
Here's what I said at the 8 am service this morning;
Gospel : John 16:25-end
1. JESUS SPEAKS PLAINLY OF THE FATHER 25-30
Hitherto He had always spoken in parables; now the time has come for plain
speaking.
a. The Father does love us, because He sent Jesus.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (3:16). "God commends His love
towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans
5:8). His task now finished, it is time for Jesus to return to the Father in
triumph.
b. The Father does hear us, because we received Jesus.
Jesus doesn't say He will intercede for us: the Father Himself loves us and
will hear us, because He knows that we love Jesus and believe that He was sent
from God to die for our sins that separated us from God. Jesus knows
everything; we can ask anything. We don't need to test this: He knows all our
needs before we ask, and our ignorance in asking. Today is Rogation Sunday,
when prayers are traditionally offered for the forthcoming harvest.
2. JESUS SPEAKS PLAINLY OF THE FIGHT 31-33
a. We will have Enmity in the world.
Grievous wolves want to kill the Shepherd and scatter the sheep. On the first
Good Friday, in what seemed to be Satan's hour, the disciples all forsook Him
and fled. All through history there have been times of persecution when true
believers seemed to be losing out. Today in the Communist world, it is
political persecution. In the Islamic world, it is religious persecution. In
the Western world, it is moral and intellectual persecution. Who will dare to
assert Biblical standards against Political Correctness?
b. We will have Victory in the LORD.
The challenge is "Do you now believe?" (31). Peace is not the absence of war;
peace is the presence of God even in the midst of the battle: "I am not alone,
because the Father is with me" (32; except in the final crisis, "Eli Eli lama
sabachthani" (Ps 22:1)). We are not fighting *for* victory; we are fighting
*from* victory: "Courage! The victory is mine; I have conquered the world"
(33). "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Rom 8:37). "The
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Cor 15:26). He destroyed death
in His resurrection from the dead, and now he is alive for evermore
(Revelation 1:18).
______________________________________________________________________
In Christ,
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
