“Denied Me Three Times” (John 13:36-38)

“Jesus answered him, Will you lay down your life for my sake? Truly, truly, I say unto you, The rooster shall not crow, till you have denied me three times” (vs38).

Even though we love God, we are sinners, and there is no way around it. Sin keeps us LOVING God instead of complaining, and it makes us LOVE the brethren in repentance and faith. The fact that God loves sinners is the beginning, middle, and end of the gospel; it is the fact that while we were sinners Christ DIED for us, and the fact that I am a sinner still (1 Tim 1:15).

Never think of yourself as strong or able to stand in your strength, and don’t look down upon your weaker or failing brethren. They are NO different before God: He had to pay for your sins, the ones you and I do daily, as well as theirs. No one is saved or blessed by merit, and no matter how greatly you’re blessed now, there is SIN in you, so you don’t deserve it (Ps 115:1).

If you preach or teach, it is by grace. If you have power to obey, then it is the mercy of God GIVEN to you in Christ. We must be thankful and exalt the Only One that is able to save, the One that obeyed God perfectly, and the One that loves us as we are because of His blood, Spirit, and the promises of the Father to us.

Jesus is Lord. Let everyone bow to Him willingly, knowing you’re the SINNER He both saved and saves. He found you in the ditch, and He pulls you from sin continually (Rom 6:14).

Let no man say, “I’m a sinner, so I will sin”, but let us obey the gospel, trusting Christ, and being thankful rather than short with people and proud (Col 3:15). Set before you the Lord’s mercies. You and I will have PLENTY of occasion to think upon Him (Col 3:2).

And, do not let your sins EVER keep you from grace. You will hate your deeds repeatedly, but the Son of God says, “I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not”, so He WANTS us to believe, and we’re to believe always (Luke 22:32). Just never look upon yourself as less than mercifully saved.

True Hope and The Word of God

Here is a man who hopes to get to heaven because he has such blessed feelings. Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear! How many times should I be without any hope of getting to heaven if I had to go by my feelings, for they are just as wretched as wretchedness can be! Here is another man, who thinks he is going to heaven because he has a sound creed, but the more I read the Bible, the more find that I do not know everything, and that there is something more to be learnt; and so, if my knowing everything, and having a perfectly sound creed, must save me, I shall be lost. There are some who are hoping to go to heaven because of this, and some because of that; but, as for you and me, dear friends, we had better end all fancies, and resolve, by God’s grace, that we will go there because “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” So, casting everything else away, we lay hold of the covenant, come what may.

Spurgeon

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I was sitting, one day, in the New Forest, under a beech tree. I like to look at the beech, and study it, as I do many other trees, for very tree has its own peculiarities and habits, its special ways of twisting its boughs, and growing its bark, and opening its leaves, and so forth. As I looked up at that beech, and admired the wisdom of God in making it, I saw a squirrel running round and round the trunk, and up the branches, and I thought to myself, “Ah! this beech tree is a great deal more to you than it is to me, for it is your home, your living, your all.” Its big branches were the main streets of his city, and its little boughs were the lanes; somewhere in that tree he had his house, and the beech mast was his daily food, he lived on it. Well, now, the way to deal with God’s Word is not merely to contemplate it, or to study it, as a student does; but to live on it as that squirrel lives on his beech tree. Let it be to you, spiritually, your house, your home, your food, your medicine, your clothing, the one essential element of your soul's life and growth.

Spurgeon

Repents of the Evil (Joel 2:13)

“And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repents him of the evil.”

Read: Joel 2:12-18

God repents of the evil that He will do us, if we repent of the evil that we are doing.

If I come back to God in Christ, admitting my sins, then God will remove the punishment of estrangement, the curse of His chastening love, and the power of sin shall be crushed. My enemies shall not defeat me, but they shall be defeated RUTHLESSLY, if I repent. The things that are destroying me, things too much for me, where I have gone astray, will no longer have power. God will give the victory to me, His son.

I don’t have to think, “It is over”, because it isn’t. If I believe God, then I will have Him now. Like Paul, who fought the way, but became a servant of Christ, I who have fought God, can be reconciled and BLESSED. The blessings I have despised can be mine now, and the way that I should be living will be mine also – “And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25).

God will not say, “You have sinned, I won’t forgive”, but He forgives FREELY and restores Himself to us completely. There is never a loss when repentance happens, for we get Christ in full.

Christ won’t say, “Ok, you have been bad, and the other has been good, so I will manifest myself to him, but not to you. You will live in the ghetto, while he enjoys the penthouse”. This cannot be. God has one thing to give sinners that repent, and that is EVERYTHING, all spiritual blessings in Christ, and everything the Son earned – (Eph 1:3-4) “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”.

We are not in Christ and out, dealt with by God less favorably now because of the past, but EACH AND EVERYONE that beholds the Lamb of God shall get what the Lamb earned; it is not us.

If you and I will be saved, then repent. Stop going your way, and through FORGIVENESS and GRACE go God’s way now: He takes you and gives you Him.