'Appreciating God's Love'
Final Week of Jesus
The New Commandment
Mat 5:43-44 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,"
In the Old Covenant, the Jews were to love their neighbours but hate their neighbours. In the New Covenant, our Lord will give us a new heart so that Christians can love not only their neighbours but also their enemies.
In this New Covenant, God also expects Christians to bless all those who curse them; help, care and do good to those who hate you; and pray for all those that spitefully use you and also persecute you.
Without our transformation by the Holy Spirit into new hearts, none of us will be able to keep His new commandments. Our Lord Jesus loved and died for all His enemies, who persecuted, whipped, chastised and crucified Him, as an example of how Christians should love their enemies.
John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
God's Friends Know His Will
John 15:14-15 "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."
Brethren, out of His great love for men, God gives us this opportunity to draw closer to Him. He promised us that if we keep His commandments we will no longer be His servants but His friends.
Once we are His friends, He will made known to us the knowledge, plan and will of God.
Abraham was a Friend of God
Jam 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
Similarly, when God called Abraham His friend for he believed God and obeyed His commands, He revealed to Abraham His imminent judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins and abominable practices.
Gen 18:17-18 And the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?"
New Spirit of Truth
John 14:15-17 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."
The Lord knows that the failure of men is mainly in these three areas - the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
So He promised to give the Spirit of truth (New Spirit) to every Christian who keeps His commandments so that they will be free from worldliness.
Truth Will Set Us Free
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So when the Word was made flesh, our Lord was full of grace and truth, so that all those who abide in His word will know the truth. This truth will set everyone free from worldly bondages.
John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
