(Audio)
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.
Through the Son we receive the words of God and the gift of the Spirit. Believing these words and receiving this gift are the keys to having eternal life. If we reject the words of Jesus or resist too strongly the work of his Spirit in us will remain under the wrath of God.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God remains upon him.
Do we believe the words of Jesus? We often believe them when they are easy and make us feel good. What about harder words? Jesus never speaks hopeless condemnations to us (when we hear such words it is the Enemy), but he sometimes speaks to convict us. He calls us higher. He asks us to let his word and his Spirit bear fruit in the world. But when we hear challenging words we tend to do one of two things. We either reject them outright, or dash headlong into achieving them through human effort.
We gave you strict orders did we not,
to stop teaching in that name.
Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching
and want to bring this man's blood upon us.
The Sanhedrin were being called out from their complacency to a new life in Christ but they rejected his words, trusting rather in their own words, preserving their status quo. The alternative did sound challenging. They were to accept responsibility for the blood of Jesus Christ, for whose blood we are all indeed responsible. But they preferred comfort.
We must obey God rather than men.
Let us always choose the words of God over our words and the fruits of his Spirit over our effort. The initial call might be a challenge but grace is given to meet the challenge. The eternal reward is more than worth it.
The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,
though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
We are witnesses of these things,
as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.
Let us receive his grace. Let us taste and see that his promise true.
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