August 22nd, 2014. DOES GOD LOVE CHRIST? And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:26 Here in John 17, the Lord prayed that the love with which the Father loved Him would be in us! The same love that is between the Father and the Son is now in us. How is it in us? The Lord said, I IN THEM. When He gets into us then the same love is flowing in us. When we sing or pray a little, just exercising our spirit, we discover that there is liquid love flowing there. That liquid love is the Father and the Son loving one another right within our spirit. When we sing and pray, we are merging into Their love. We are taking the on- ramp into the freeway- flow of the Father and the Son. They are loving one another and enjoying one another, and we have an on- ramp in our spirit to merge into Their love. Hallelujah, there is only one love in this universe. It is the love that is flowing between the Father and the Son. There is not another love that God has toward us. There is only one love. It is the love of the Father for the Son. And that love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). Brothers and sisters, we are in Christ. We are included in this beloved One. You ask, Does God love me? Actually, you need to change your question to, Does God love Christ? You are in Christ. If you are in Christ, you cannot help but be loved because we know that God loves Christ. You are in the object of the Fathers love. Regardless of our condition, we are eternally the objects of divine love and divine grace. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them [John 17:26]. AND I HAVE DECLARED TO THEM THY NAME, AND WILL DECLARE IT. Christ discharged the office of Teacher, but, in order to make known the:Father, he employed the secret revelation of the Spirit, and not the sound of his voice alone. He means, therefore, that he taught the apostles efficaciously. Besides, their faith being at that time very weak, he promises greater progress for the future, and thus prepares them to expect more abundant grace of the Holy Spirit. Though he speaks of the apostles, we ought to draw from this a general exhortation, to study to make constant progress, and not to think that we have run so well that we have not still a long journey before us, so long as we are surrounded by the flesh. THAT THE LOVE WITH WHICH THOU HAST LOVED ME MAY BE IN THEM; that is, that thou mayest love them in me, or, that THE LOVE WITH WHICH THOU HAST LOVED ME may be extended to them; for, strictly speaking, THE LOVE WITH WHICH GOD LOVES us is no other than that with which he loved his Son from the beginning, so as to render us also acceptable to him, and capablc of being loved in Christ. And, indeed, as was said a little before, so far as relates to us, apart from Christ, we are hated by God, and he only begins to love us, when we are united to the body of his beloved Son. It is an invaluable privilege of faith, that we know that Christ was loved by the Father on our account, that we might be made partakers of the same love, and might enjoy it forever. AND I IN THEM. This clause deserves our attention, for it teaches us that the only way in which we are included in that love which he mentions is, that Christ dwells in us; for, as the Father cannot look upon his Son without having likewise before his eyes the whole body of Christ, so, if we wish to be beheld in him, we must be actually his members. August 22 MORNING NONE OF US LIVETH TO HIMSELF, AND NO MAN DIETH TO HIMSELF. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lords.-- Let no man seek his own, but every man anothers [wealth].-- Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods. shall be magnified in my body, whether [it be] by life, or by death. For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain. But if I live in the flesh, this [is] the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better. I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. ROM 14:7. Rom 14:8-- 1 Co 10:24-- 1 Co 6:20. Phil 1:20- 23. Gal 2:19, 20. August 22 EVENING God gave Solomon... largeness of heart, even as the sand that [is] on the sea shore. BEHOLD, A GREATER THAN SOLOMON [IS] HERE.-- THE PRINCE OF PEACE. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.-- Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.-- The love of Christ... passeth knowledge. Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.-- In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.-- The unsearchable riches of Christ.-- Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 1 KINGS 4:29. Mt 12:42.-- Is 9:6. Ro 5:7, 8.-- Phil 2:6- 8.-- Ep 3:19. 1 Co 1:24.-- Col 2:3.-- Ep 3:8-- 1 Co 1:30.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 09:29:11 +0000
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