I Have Loved You John 15:9-17 (AMP) 9 I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [continue in His love with Me]. 10 If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love. 11 I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing. 12 This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do. 15 I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.] 16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as presenting all that I Am], He may give it to you. 17 This is what I command you: that you love one another. Jesus and His disciples were sharing their last meal together. Jesus knew He would be facing the cross the very next day and that this would be the last opportunity He would have to share His personal thoughts with them before that awful event occurred. What, therefore, was on His heart that night? His primary concern was to make sure they understood how much He loved them and that His love for them was in the same proportion as the Father has loved Me. Furthermore He wanted them to abide in His love. Two things pop out from these statements. How could Jesus say that the Father loved Him knowing the horrible things that His Father would allow to happen to Him - the mocking, the ridicule, the scourging, the physical and emotional abuse by the Romans soldiers plus the bystanders, the spikes driven into His hands and feet and the sword piercing into His side? After all, didnt Jesus cry out from the cross, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? Doesnt it seem like an oxymoron or contradiction, therefore, to say that you love someone and then allow them to endure intense pain and suffering, especially since you have the power to put a stop to it? Is that the definition of love? The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans that the Lord allowed His Son to die in our place to save us from His wrath and to demonstrate His love for us: Romans 5:3-16 (ESV) 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows [demonstrates] His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one mans trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one mans sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. The Apostle John confirmed the fact that God shows [demonstrates] His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, for he wrote the following in his first letter: 1 John 3:16 (NKJV) 16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. The second thing that pops out is His statement: abide in My love. How could they abide in His love whenever very soon they would feel abandoned or forsaken by Him? Where was He when they needed Him? It was too soon for Him to die. They could not do this alone. Jesus understood their dilemma and thus He spoke to them and said: John 16 (NKJV) 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper [the Comforter] will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 16 “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” 17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. The greatest way we can demonstrate our love for Him is to keep His commandments [for if you continue to obey His instructions], you will abide in His love. And the greatest commandment is for you [to] love one another [just] as I have loved you. This too means a willingness to to lay down (give up) your own life for your friends. Jesus thus set the example and He calls us to follow suit. Love Came Down By Kari Jobe If my heart is overwhelmed And I cannot hear Your voice I hold on to what is true Though I cannot see If the storms of life they come And the road ahead gets steep I will lift these hands in faith I will believe Ill remind myself Of all that Youve done And the life I have Because of Your son [Chorus] Love came down and rescued me Love came down and set me free I am Yours Lord Im forever Yours Mountains high or valley low I sing out and remind my soul I am Yours I am forever Yours When my heart is filled with hope Every promise comes my way When I feel Your hands of grace Rest upon me Staying desperate for You, God Staying humble at Your feet I will lift these hands in praise I will believe Ill remind myself Of all that Youve done And the life I have Because of Your son Love came down and rescued me Love came down and set me free I am Yours I am forever Yours Mountains high or valley low I sing out and remind my soul I am Yours I am forever Yours I am Yours I am Yours All my days Jesus, I am Yours [x2] Love came down and rescued me Love came down and set me free I am Yours I am forever Yours Mountains high or valley low I sing out and remind my soul I am Yours I am forever Yours [x2] Yes, I am yours, Im yours, I am yours Jesus I am yours https://youtube/watch?v=2LNxDzhoey8
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 12:36:30 +0000