December 4, 2020 -- John 16:1 -- Great warning and greater assurance

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

John 16:1 English Standard Version

There is tremendous assurance and great warning in these 14 words! The warning is that there will be great persecution and struggles in our faith. The warning is that the disciples themselves will face the sin of their own hearts and wonder “can God really love me still?” No doubt, that is a question many of us wrestle with, “Can God, Who sees all and knows all, love me still?” So often we are cast from from our moorings and the temptation is to throw in the towel and stop striving for holiness.

The tremendous assurance is this: God is not done with you. God is not done with me. In Jesus Christ believers are rescued from their allegiance to sin. Sin is thrown down. Sin is made powerless over us. Christ has taken away the wrath of God which was properly leveled against us and against our sins. Jesus took our place at the cross. Jesus keeps us from falling away.

See the manger there—Christ the Lord, the newborn King—has come to live a life without sin and without any rebellion against God. He is the spotless Lamb of God Who takes away our sin! He is glorious. He knows our need and to our weakness is no stranger—as the carol “O Holy Night” reassures the singing-believer.

I can’t do this. I can’t live for God as I am supposed to do. True that. Jesus told His disciples and tells us these things, all these things—the Spirit Helper, the Spirit of Truth will bear witness to all Jesus taught and strengthen the believer so that are kept from falling away. Confess you need. Fall on your knees—His power and glory ever more proclaim!

The prayer today is Zechariah’s prophesy-song, Luke 1:68-79

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

https://youtu.be/fB3Fo6yG2n0