“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In this sermon I consider that of the Holy Lord’s gospel. I consider of how the world was given the gospel of Jesus Christ by considering of the grace and love of God. Next, I look at who the Gospel was given to; the lost. I then reconsider the unimaginably great love of God that is truly awesome.
My consideration is that there is no greater love that exists than the Father has for His only begotten Son. Consider again Scripture that teaches that God gave his only begotten Son that the lost could believe upon him and be saved, receiving eternal life. The Bible teaches that God is love. It is by the grace of love who is God that we can hear of the great and glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
That which was lost and is now saved by His grace and love cannot measure either his grace or love. We cannot fully fathom the great love God has loved the world with that the lost can be saved. The Bible teaches that the Lord is mysterious with respect to His creation and that His depths are unsearchable. I take it that the measure of His great love that gave the world His Son’s gospel will be an awe-inspiring mystery for the believer for all times.
The bride of Christ, that which had been lost but is now saved by His grace and love, has been given the first and greatest commandment to obey and that commandment being that it is to love the bridegroom, the Christ, with all it’s heart, mind, soul, and strength. Christ is the bride’s first love and without Him the bride would have no capacity to love at all. The worthy Christ is the Creator and has loved the unworthy sinning mankind with a love so great that the saint has eternal reasons to love back with passion.
A man without belief upon Christ is not a saint and therefore not part of the Christ’s bride but rather is wicked and lost and under the dominion of Satan. The lost are in danger of eternal destruction. The cost of not believing in Jesus Christ is an ultimate cost and the fate the lost who die in their sins go to is a fate too terrible for the mind of man to construct or fully fathom. The sinner without the saviour, who he is in need of, in and of himself is the child of Satan and is worthy of a fate of eternal death which is hell.
There is no good in the lost. The Christ taught that only God is good and that He and the Heavenly Father are one.The lost are after the image of their father, who is the Devil, and who is a liar, murderer, and thief. This is some of what Satan is with respect to His Creator. Whereas Jesus Christ is the truth, there is no truth in the lost or the Devil. Satan is an abomination unto God. The Bible reveals Satan’s children to be known as the children of wrath.
By Christ’s grace, love, suffering, and victories that which had been of the abominable has been transformed into that of the bride of life. The bride has the God given capacity to love the truth above all. The saints in light have eternal reasons to exist with passion for their Lord and to love Jesus Christ, who is the truth and King of kings, with all of their persons.
The Holy Father’s Son, the Son of man, fulfilled God’s law while living as the lamb without blemish. His life he lived was sinless. He walked amongst the lost and helped them come to believe upon Him. The Bible teaches that, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Among His works, the Christ himself healed the sick, befriended evil men, such as his disciples, and taught truth to the lost. He battled against wickedness and delivered humans from demons.
Upon reconsidering the love of God, I consider again that the God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth upon him shall not perish. With love amongst the worthy, God the Father and His only begotten Son, being unthinkably great, how great is the love of the gospel for the lost? For the believer, who is saved by Christ, the love of the gospel is unimaginably great as well. The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly worthy of being believed and kneeling in awe of.
On considering the Lord and the adversary who is Satan I consider here the Creator and the worst of His creation. The Lord is the greatest person and is above the creation. He is the only truly good person and is both the source of wisdom and goodness over the creaturehood. Satan is the greatest of wicked creatures and is the adversary to the saints in light. He is a liar, murderer, and thief and has no truth and the truth has never been in him. In this work I consider some more of what Satan is, and some more of who Christ is, and then I consider what an effort of a direct comparison between the two persons would be like.
Satan is the worst of the fallen persons. He is the biggest enemy to what’s good for man and works to blind the minds of nonbelievers lest the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ should shine into them. Lucifer, another name for Satan, tries to have it that humans spend eternity in eternal damnation. Lucifer is a being that had desired to be as the holy God and warred against the Lord and has fallen to be the cursed Satan the Devil. Satan is so abominably prideful he tried to tempt the lamb without blemish to bow down and worship him. In the gospel according to Matthew, Christ is reported to have rebuked Satan from having taken part in such an effort.
Jesus Christ, also known as the Lord God almighty, the alpha and the omega, the holy, and the Saviour is the good Lord who is over all of creation and is the source of justice, knowledge, and integrity above all of creaturehood. His creatures outside of His hell all depend upon His mercy. Jesus Christ is the Almighty God. He is love, truth, and the judge above all. Christ is of the holy Trinity, as is Father God and the Holy Ghost. He has revealed of himself to man since the times of Adam. In the book of Jonah, the Lord is described by his servant Jonah as being a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. I am happy to say that I have known the Lord to be as this as well. Praise God.
Would a direct comparison between Christ and Satan be blasphemous in nature? How could one compare love, truth, and justice with the abominable? Is it love has been so giving to His creation that He would even allow so much freedom as to accommodate a man to make such a comparison? If there ever was a true comparison between the Creator the Lord and His creation Lucifer who wanted to be as the most high what would it look like? Would it be seen that Lucifer is a disappointment to behold and the god of perversion as his desire to be as his Creator was a perverse one?
If Satan was to be put to the test to put in his best effort to be god of man or of woman would the result ultimately get called “freak” and be a grave disappointment to the heavens Lucifer desired to be god of? Methinks yes. In his abominable pride would Lucifer essentially continue as a little fool to try to be god despite the ‘freak’ that resulted and not know any better until the laughs at his expense began to dawn on him that he was an idiot to try to be as God in the first place? Methinks yes. Would it be that in his abominable pride Lucifer would still continue to try to be as God? Once again, methinks yes. Is that what would happen if there ever was a true direct comparison made between God and Satan?
The Lord Jesus Christ who is worthy of his believers living for him with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength is truly incomparably better than all of His creatures. He and He alone is worthy to be worshipped and be called God. Satan is an abomination and a creature destined by Christ his Creator to have the worst fate. He is a deceiver and has bad intentions for other creatures. How is it that a true comparison between the risen Lord and His creature Lucifer wouldn’t essentially be a no brainer?
Jesus Christ taught, “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” Resentment in the Lord is as common as it is common and blessed is he who is not resentful of the Lord. There is great difference between being resentful in the Lord and being grateful in the Lord. In this sermon I look to discuss what resentment in the Lord is, some common resentments, and how a saint can possibly overcome resentment in the Lord for good.
What is resentment in the Lord? Have you been angry, bitter, enraged, or annoyed at perceiving having been treated unfairly by God? Do you feel wronged by God? These are signs that you are offended in the Lord. Where does resentment in the Lord come from? Each case is unique for you are unique in the Lord and I consider that, generally speaking, resentment begins with the perception that one has been treated unfairly, or wronged, by the Lord.
Is your perception of being wronged by the Lord in part to you being tested by Him? God is the greatest tester of man there is. Consider Jeremiah 17:10, “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Has God been testing you? Have you been blaming Him for being God?
Consider the life and mind of Job. Job experienced being tested in his life and went through great personal misfortune while doing so. We find out as the story progressed that Job was rewarded twice as much as he had before the testings of him. Job’s story doesn’t parallel every believer’s life. There are believers that have gone through tremendous loss in their lives and are not directly visited by God during their lifetime and that things don’t get revealed or resolved until the afterlife. How many saints have gone through testings done by God and have not officially been told this and resented the trying experience they had gone through? Is this you?
Some other common resentments in the Lord, aside from the testing of a believer, could possibly be being angry at God for what’s happened during a person’s lifetime; including blaming God for what a person got or didn’t get. Some examples include: did one get an illness or in an accident? Did someone lose a loved one? Did someone not receive answer to a prayer or prayers? These examples could all be common grounds for a believer to blame God.
Though there are many examples one could list of reasons why a believer might blame and resent the good Lord, there are good reasons why resenting the Lord is wrong. The Bible teaches the Lord is blameless. His ways are above the ways of his creatures and His thoughts are above the thoughts of His creatures. With that said, there is an onerousness on the believer to not blame God though the believer feels wronged by His good person. Who is the believer to not line up his thoughts and feelings with the Word of God?
Another reason why resentment in the Lord is wrong is because it can lead to a strained relationship with Him. Sin can possibly result from chronically blaming God for one’s misfortunes. Such sin might include mocking at God, accusing Him, and blasphemy.
Blaming God for the day to day stresses that happens in life is a bad effort on the saints part and how is it that it isn’t giving Satan a foothold in one’s life? It’s for the saint to take proper care so as to not give the adversary a foothold to try to cause some form of division between the saint and the author of their salvation, who is Christ. Therefore, the saint should look to overcome resentment to promote a healthier relationship between him and his Creator.
The question “How does one overcome resentment in the Lord?” is now asked. Regarding overcoming resenting the Lord I recommend considering what the greatest a believer has in his life. It is his belief upon Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift of the good Lord depending upon whether one believes upon Jesus Christ or not. Consider how one believes upon Him. By me believing upon the sinless blood of the risen Lord means what? Among what it means includes me believing upon He that fulfilled God’s laws and willingly gave Himself as a sacrifice that the sins of the world could be forgiven. I know that I have sinned against God and that if I say I have no sin I deceive myself. I can be forgiven my sins and ultimately I am forgiven of my trespasses against God all thanks to the sinless life lived by God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ. If I meditate on that, which is of truth, then what happens to me? I appreciate more of what it means to be a believer in the Lord and resentment is no longer what I am experiencing.
What’s to resent if one has grown in knowledge of Christ’s worthiness and one’s own unworthiness? On overcoming resentment in the Lord I find it necessary to recognize that I owe Christ my all. Of my all is my love for truth which is Jesus Christ and which I love more than my life itself. I am a truth lover and I cherish that I love truth and am grateful to Jesus Christ that be the case. I consider that I owe my love for truth to Christ but again there is greater of my life than my love for truth that I owe to the Lord and that is my belief upon the blood of Jesus Christ. I owe my all including my salvation to Father God’s only begotten Son and the sinless life that He lived that the sins of the world could be forgiven. With that realized how can I possibly be resentful?
I find, though I have realized that, I have at later times still gotten resentful from time to time and it’s for me to realize again that I still owe my all to Christ and why that be the case. It’s for the saint who stumbles and falls to get back up and move forward : that is to say, it is for the believer who is also a sinner and who sins to confess the sin to the Lord and repent of the sin and move forward to his good calling.
To facilitate me moving forward can come in the form of me actively working with truth. When I do so I find the resentment is essentially no more. Working with truth makes me interested, fascinated, and content as opposed to resentful, angry, and bitter. Too much focus on worldly concerns can distract the saint away from his first love, which is truth, who is Jesus Christ.
Regarding more with respect to overcoming resentment in God: Related to what is the greatest in a saints life, is acknowledging what He has already done as opposed to what He hasn’t done. He has already given His gospel. What is that with respect to what will happen in a saint’s lifetime? Consider the book of James chapter 4 verse 14, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Now consider 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
In this world how is it that one doesn’t see through darkened lenses? If I find myself offended at the Lord in the recesses of my mind how much darker is it for me to see clearly? One day one’s life will be over and how did they live their vapour? How much time was spent offended at the Lord? How much time was spent doing good works with Him? Resentment can be likened to a disease that eats away at the time a person has thus interfering with their ability to do good works and thus affecting heavenly rewards in the life to come.
If it be true that one’s life in the world is as a vapour, and it is, it seems to me to be of the wise to not be vapour-centric with respect to one’s attitude towards God. Don’t get overly focused on worldly concerns. This world will pass away. Rather than resent Him for what He hasn’t done for one in this lifetime why not appreciate his unimaginably great gospel more and be transformed for the better for having done so? Like appreciating and understanding that belief upon Christ is the greatest a saint has, I think appreciating God for his gospel is necessary to getting to know the Lord better and overcoming resentments.
With being offended at God having been overcome for good, one is in a better position to do good works. Consider Paul writing in Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” How much greater is it to “live is Christ” than to live as the offended at Christ? How much more free and enabled is the saint that doesn’t resent his Creator who is his Saviour as well? How much more likely will it be for the saint to express heartfelt praise and gratitude for Christ when he isn’t brought low by being wrongfully offended at the good Lord.
Blessed is the man not offended in the Lord. Resentment of God can have a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of the saint and his ability to do good works. By identifying why a person is resentful and putting it in a proper context with respect to who Christ truly is can help a person overcome resentment. By appreciating what God has already done rather than considering too much on what He hasn’t done in the saint’s lifetime can help the saint to passionately live for Christ and, if need be, truly die for gain.
What does it mean to be an overcomer in the Christ? What is better for the christian than to be victorious in his personal walk with the Lord. En route to victory what is there to struggle against for the soldier of the Christ if not sin, the flesh, one’s own evil mind, the world, wicked society, and spiritual wickedness in high places. Sound like a war? Does it sound overwhelming? Consider that Christ has already overcome sin, the world, and Satan as well as death and hell. With Christ as conqueror over all of life how can a saint of His go wrong but tragedies have happened. In this essay I consider some of what can contribute to overcoming in the Christ: to live in fear of Him and His gospel, choosing Christ over the creation as you seek Him, and to live passionately for Him with all of your person.
Fearing the Lord is fundamental to succeeding as a saint. What is fear of the Lord? The Bible teaches that fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 14:27 speaks, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.” To fear the Lord includes being in awe and reverence of His Holy Majesty. To fear Him includes esteeming Him above all of creation for He is worthy and all of His creation is unworthy of Him. Of fear of the Lord is of the reason or reasons why one would treat that which is sacred of the Lord as sacred; For instance, one that would not misrepresent His gospel at all costs for fear of Him.
If fear of the Lord is the beginning to wisdom, which it is, how is it that it is also not the beginning to overcoming in the Lord? Proverbs 19:23 teaches, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.” A consideration I have is for the saint to start each day meditating on some of why he should fear the Lord. I consider it to be of great benefit for the believer to begin his waking hour with speaking, “Now is the day of salvation.” and to proceed with meditating some on who Christ’s person truly is. What a blessing it is to have Jesus Christ to believe in for how is it not that meditating on who He is doesn’t bring one to a good place of awe and good wonder?
The day of salvation is now and what are the choices the saint in light has to make to help shape his destiny that he be an overcomer in the Lord? Consider seeking the Lord and how is one going to go about it? A few suggestions: consider reading His Word for His Word is living Spirit. By looking for Him there in His Word how is it the saint won’t find out more about His good person; the worthy person the saint is called into a relationship with and if the believer works his own self properly he will find himself in heartfelt passion for Christ. Having sought the Lord there is also reflecting on truth throughout the day to consider as well as turning away from lusts of this world that interfere with one’s first love, who should be God.
Consider: How can one be an overcomer in the Lord if one is first a lover of mammon and not the Lord? The Bible teaches: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” What is it that you desire the most and if it be not God how is it that ultimately your desire is not good. If you turn away from it in favour of seeking the Lord how is it you won’t be rewarded your desire after you have found greater. Consider: Matthew 7:7-11, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
Ultimately, to succeed in the Lord requires what it requires and given what the Lord has commanded of His believer in way of His first and greatest commandment how is it then that to overcome in the Lord doesn’t require all of one’s person to live in passionate devotion to God. The believer is called to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength. To me this is a call of passionate devotion that will, at a time or times, call for the believer to make sacrifices for the Lord’s sake. Will the believer do so?
John 14:15 teaches Christ spoke, “If ye love me keep my commandments.” How is this not a call for the believer to esteem Jesus Christ above all and to give him his all, including his soul, in living dedication to Him? Be ready to live for Christ with all a saint’s person and know that if the saint does this that ultimately he will never go wrong in doing so. Prepare himself to the best of his ability to be the person that can give the Holy Lord his all by turning away from all of that which would come in between him serving the first love, who is Christ, with his all.
I consider that to overcome in the Christ should be a passionate desire of the believer. To impress the great God Almighty is both a call and a privilege of the faith. Consider God describing His child and servant Job to Satan when He said, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” Now consider the New Testament instructing the believer to remember the patience of Job. It is clear to me that Job was an overcomer in the Lord and was richly rewarded. The saint is called to be as Job in such a manner, to overcome the trials before him for Christ’s sake. By fearing and seeking God to choosing Him over the creation, the saint can help forge out his life to help him reach his call to be a passionate overcomer for Christ.
