[Biblemat] S) A MAN OF HIS WORD

Wed Feb 7 04:56:28 CST 2007

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
recent files.  Use to the glory of God.

A MAN OF HIS WORD

     Who can you trust?  Is there a person in your life that you
could count on no matter what?  In your life is there a spouse, or a family 
member, or one of those close friends that never lets you down?  If you have 
someone like that, you
are truly blessed.  If you don't have that, you can be blessed
by One who will never let you down.

     Jesus is there for you, because He is a man of His word.
He keeps every promise He makes.  You can count on Him no
matter what is going on in your life.  Listen to some of His
promises: "Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in
Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing
Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they
loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
And Jesus cried out and said, 'He who believes in Me does
not beleive in Me, but in Him Who sent Me.  And he who be-
holds Me beholds the One who sent Me.  I have come as light
into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not re-
main in darkness.  And if anyone hears My sayings, and does
not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge
the world, but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My 
sayings, has one who judges him; the 
word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.  For I did
not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who 
sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what
to speak.  And I know that His commandment is eternal life;
therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has 
told Me'" (Jno. 12:42-50).  Jesus is a man of His word.  Notice
the promises and expectation we hear in these verses.

     Jesus Requires Living Faith: -- This text begins with the
fact that some men believed in Jesus.  These were men of dis-
tinction in their communities.  They were known to be good
men, men who knew the law of Moses and lived it.  That is how men became 
"rulers", that is, leaders in their synagogu-
es.  These spiritual men realized Jesus was all He claimed to
be.  They could see He was the Messiah.

     But, they had a problem with Jesus.  If they confessed
their faith in Him, they would lose their status as rulers and
would be forced out of their synagogues.  Their privileges,
their respect, their prominence would all be forfeited.  So, 
even though they beleived, they kept quiet so they could keep the praise of 
men.

     That is why Jesus insists that faith in Him is not just faith
in a Messiah, but in the God Who sent Him.  And that God re-
quires a living, obvious faith.  That is, He wants us to put Him
first, and declare our faith in Him.  This declaration should go
beyond our words and include our lives.  Jesus and God want
us to live our faith so that others can see that we belong to
the Lord Jesus Christ.  "But prove yourselves, be doers of
the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.  For if anyone is a 
hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like
a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he
he has looked at himself and goes away, he has immediately
forgotten wht kind of person he was.  But one who looks 
intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides in it,
not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer,
this man shall be blessed in what he does" (Jas. 1:22-25).  In
other words, there is no such thing as a closet or hidden be-
liever.  We should live our faith, doing the word of God, regardless of the 
approval or criticism of men.

     Jesus Reflects God's Nature: -- The Lord makes a start-
ling claim.  He says that if you have seen Him, you have seen
God.  If you come to know Jesus, you have come to know
God.  Just as "God is light, and in Him is no darkness" (1 Jno. 1:5), so also 
Jesus came into the world as a light so that
people could escape darkness.

     Claiming to reflect God's nature is a remarkable claim.  As
Jesus says, "I and the Father are one" (Jno. 10:30).  Jesus
wants us to realize that we can know God.  Although God is
a Spirit (Jno. 4) and God is so Holy He cannot stand our sin,
yet we can come to know Him when we come to know Jesus.

     Jesus reflects God's nature in every way.  "And He is the
image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.  For
by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or authorities -- all things have been created by Him
and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things
hold together" (Col. 1:15-17).  Jesus is the image of the invisi-
ble God, the Creator of all things, the One Who holds all things together.  
When you see Jesus, you see God.  When
you trust in Jesus, you trust in God.  If you fail to live for
Jesus, as these rulers did, you fail to live for God.

     Jesus Reaches Out To Save: -- Jesus came to bring light
so we could escape darkness.  He did not come to bring judg-
ment, but instead, He came to save the world.  This tells us a
great deal about God and Jesus.  "For God so loved the world, that He gave 
His only begotten Son, that whoever be-
lieves in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.  For God
did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but 
that the world should be saved through Him.  He who believes
in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judg-
ed already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son 
of God" (Jno. 3:16-18).

     First, we learn that God sent Jesus to save an already con-
demned world.  We stood guilty before the Lord.  He did not
send Jesus to make us feel worse, but to save us.  We learn
that God loves us enough to send His Son to reflect His nature among sinful 
people.  Jesus did not come to judge
you, but to save you.  He knows that you are already condem-
ned due to your sin.  But, you can escape the judgment of
God by putting your faith in Jesus and letting Him save you.

     The mission of Jesus was not one of criticism, condemn-
ation and judgment.  It was a mission of love, reaching out
to unworthy, undeserving, unlikeable people.  "But God demonstrates His own 
love toward us, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).  We should never
think of Jesus as our critic, but our Savior.  We should know
that we can come to Him for salvation, that is why He came to
us. 

     Jesus Repeats What God Says: -- When Jesus spoke, He
was speaking for God.  Jesus did not speak on His own, but
taught the word of God as given to Him by God.  Jesus was
careful to say only what God wanted said, because God's
message is eternal life.  And, Jesus know that the word that
He spoke will be our judge.

     Yes, Jesus came to save us.  But, how He lived, what He
taught, what He commanded, will be our judge if we reject
Who He was,  what He taught and how He lived.  This is sober-
ing when we consider it.  Jesus is a man of His word.  He has 
come to save us, but if we choose to ignore or reject Him or
hide our faith in Him (as these rulers were), we will face a 
judge.  And that judge will be the word of the One we reject-
ed.  And, Jesus will keep His word, even in judgment.

     "Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home
or absent, to be pleasing to Him.  For we must all appear be-
fore the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recom-
pensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has
done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:9,10).  Paul says it well.
Our task in life is to act our faith by pleasing Jesus in all things.  
Because, it will be the Lord's teaching that finally
measures us.  When that happens, we want to be safe in His
grace, walking in His light, living for Him, so that we have 
nothing to fear.  "By this, love is perfected with us, that we
may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He
is, so also are we in this world.  There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casts out fear" (1 Jno. 4:17,18a).

     So: Listen To The Word Of God: -- Since you will be judged by Jesus' 
words doesn't it make sense to listen to Him?  And listening is much more than 
knowledge.  It is living
according to His word.  These rulers believed, but their lives
did not reflect that faith.  "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will 
enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who 
does the will of My Father Who is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21).
Listen to Jesus' words and do them, and then you have noth-
ing to fear in the judgment.

     Live For Jesus: -- This is really the bottom line of this passage.  Some 
believed in Jesus, but would not live for Him.
They would not do what He asked by confessing Him as the
Messiah.  They wanted their own status more than they loved
Jesus.  You need to listen to Him and you need to live for Him.  That means 
doing what He says as He says.  "And He
said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to
all creation.  He who has believed and has been baptized shall
be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned"
(Mk. 16:15,16).  If you want to live for Jesus, you must die to
yourself and be baptized.  You will be saved, and you will have nothing to 
fear in the judgment.  These are the words of
Jesus.  Will you listen to them?  If you want to live for Him, be
baptized, today!    ------- David Thurman in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 56, No. 5, 
Feb. 2, 2007.
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