Devotional Notes Psalm 128+John 16

MORNING

Psalm 128

B1 What does this mean?

C1 The fear of the Lord

D1 Most say this is to respect Him, not be afraid of Him, but the word fear is the word to be afraid.

D2 Two things about the fear of God.

E1 It refers to the fear of judgment.

F1 Those who do not believe and do not obey have one type of fear.

G1 Unclean, evil spirits: Matthew 8:28-29 NKJV When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?"

G2 Unclean, evil people: Acts 24:25 EMTV And as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment which is going to be, Felix became afraid and answered, "Go away for now; but when I have opportunity I will summon you.

F2 Those who do believe and do obey. This is a different type of fear.

G1 Isaiah, the prophet: Isaiah 6:5 NKJV So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts."

H1 Note what happened though: Isaiah 6:6-7 NRSV Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."

G2 John, the Apostle: Revelation 1:17 NRSV When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

G3 All people: Luke 12:5 EMTV But I will show you whom you should fear: fear Him who after He kills, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!

G4 Perfect love drives out fear. Note how this was true with both Isaiah and John. It is also true for you and me. 1 John 4:18 NRSV There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

C2 The blessings in this Psalm refer to God’s blessing of children. The PRINCIPLE taught though is there is blessings to fear God in the correct way. He tells us to not fear.

C3 We also need to walk in His ways. This means to obey the rules the Lord Jesus gave us in the New Testament in thoughts, desires, words, and deeds, have a godly lifestyle, have a godly worldview, etc.

C4 Some other blessings in this Psalm. God gives

D1 Financial stability. This is true if governments, etc. obey God’s rules too. Most never have.

D2 Happiness and joy. This is the idea of the word well.

D3 Family stability. This is true when all live God’s ways.

D4 Peace. This is inner peace with God and outer peace with all we meet. Sad, isn’t it, that most will not live God’s ways, so those ungodly choices lead to sorrow and pain for others?

B2 How do I apply this to my life? Fear God.

EVENING

John 16

B1 What does this mean?

C1 Jesus Tells Disciples He Is Leaving But the Comforter Will Come

D1 Jesus foretells persecution. This is because others will not live God’s ways. The choices they make are evil. Because of this they hate God and those who follow God. Their solution is to cause pain for God’s followers and even death. They do these things to God’s people because they did not know God.

D2 Note how Jesus tells us these things so we will be aware and not turn away from God (stumble, offended, fall away).

D3 Note how it bothers Jesus when He detects their sorrow.

D4 The Counselor (Advocate, Comforter, etc.) is the blessing of Jesus to us. The Holy Spirit is this counselor. There is no better Counselor. He is the Counselor of all counselors. He will listen to us and intercedes for us. You can tell Him anything. Tell Him your pains and sorrows. He will listen. Why doesn’t He deliver? It is because of the freedom of humans to do things God’s ways or some other way. The evil choices of others affect all of us.

D5 The Holy Spirit has 3 other ministries: to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit convicts us that we are not good in God’s sight, that we will be judged and sentenced to eternal punishment, and that we can distinguish between righteousness and not unrighteousness.

D6 Verse 13 is primarily for the Apostles and disciples hearing Jesus but is to be applied to all of us.

C2 Jesus Tells the Disciples of Their Coming Sorrow

D1 Verse 16 primarily refers to Jesus being absent from death (gone) and His resurrection (present with them again, though for a short time).

D2 Verse 26 might be primarily referring to the time that Jesus was present with the believers from His resurrection to ascension.

D3 Verse 32, of course, was fulfilled when Jesus was arrested. Jesus in wisdom, love, and holiness, showing compassion for His followers wanted to warn them what lied ahead.

D4 Overcome the world. Bible Illustrator NT has this comment on verse 33:

II. IN WHAT MANNER DID OUR LORD OVERCOME THE WORLD.

1. He overcame the world's falsehood by the power of His truth. Others were sent to denounce the falsehood, but the world smiled or frowned on them, and silenced them by its seductions or threats, and many of them learned to repeat the wicked shibboleths. The faithful were murdered, one after another, and finally Christ came, born to this end to bear witness to the truth, and sealed His testimony with His blood, and by so doing won a victory such as the Church does not need to win again.

2. He overcame the world's wickedness by His holiness. Till He came, the idea of absolute holiness was never presented to the mind of man. But He presented to the end an image of perfect purity.

3. He overcame the world's malice by His infinite love. Only love can be victorious. The measure of malignity is the measure of defeat. Animosity is only roused by those who have in some sense gained an advantage over us. Here, then, is the peculiarity of the Lord's triumph. He was at war with the world openly and persistently, but the world never had a better friend; and He turned its murderous rage into an occasion for manifesting His most benignant gifts.

B2 How do I apply this to my life? Beware of sorrows and persecution.

I hope to have a devotional every day on John’s Gospel starting with the last chapter of Luke’s Gospel. This is the way I do my devotions. You may notice grammatical and spelling errors. It is my hope you will also start or continue in your daily reading and thinking about the Scriptures. I do this Monday through Friday. It is a 3 year plan of reading and thinking on 1 chapter in the Old Testament, which takes 3 years, and reading and thinking on 1 chapter in the New Testament once a year for a total of 3 times. So, I read through the Old Testament 1 time and the New Testament 3 times over a period of 3 years. I do this Monday through Friday and use Saturday and Sunday for other devotions.