Category: faith

Be Not of the “So What!” Persuasion

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21 KJV).

As the Christmas Season winds down, we remind ourselves to be thankful saints, not spoiled brats.

Having recently witnessed ungrateful children unwrap their numerous Christmas presents, and then whine in dissatisfaction, I could not help but think of today’s Scripture. Most of mankind shares this unthankful attitude when it concerns God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. They willfully trample the energy, time, and funds used to purchase the gifts!

Before God gave up the Gentile nations of Genesis chapters 1-11, and before He began to form the nation Israel in Genesis chapter 12, He had given Gentiles 2,000 years to approach Him by faith and to accomplish His purpose on earth. Nevertheless, the Gentiles (nations) wanted nothing to do with God. Hence, God chose Abraham to be His servant, to be the father of a new nation, Israel, a people He could use to fulfill His will on earth. Today’s Scripture describes the Gentiles while God dealt with Abraham and his seed—they had empty, worthless thoughts and callous, unbelieving hearts (today’s Scripture). This spiritual darkness plagues much of mankind even today!

Sadly, Israel was just as unthankful and unbelieving toward God as the Gentiles were! They worshipped and served the same silly idols, they wallowed in the same spiritual ignorance, and they too were content in leading vain, godless lives. They had a chance to know the God of heaven and earth, but they spurned that opportunity to worship and serve everything else. Let us not be as foolish, dear readers.

Let us always be thankful that God was gracious enough to “love the unlovely,” to “give heaven’s best to save earth’s worst,” to “offer heaven to those who deserve hell,” and to “give life to the dead.” Let us not treat lightly the high price of eternal life—the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. God offers eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. Let us open that gift by simple faith, avoiding the “So what!” persuasion.

Do We All Worship the Same God? #4

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat” (Psalm 115:4-7 KJV).

Two common misconceptions are: (1) everyone worships the same God, and (2) everyone will eventually make it to heaven. Today’s Scripture answers both with a resounding “NO!”

Verse 8 continues, “They that make them [idols] are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” God’s Word is very frank: those who make and trust in idols are just as foolish as the idols themselves. The idols can do nothing, so they can do nothing for anyone. Consequently, the Bible encourages Israel (and us) to trust in the true God, not those idols.

“O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield” (verses 9-11). Observe how God directs Israel to put their trust in Him rather than trust in the idols that the heathen make and worship. God’s Word encourages us to do the same thing today—trust not in idols, but trust in the living and true God.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, former pagans “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” Once the Apostle Paul and Silas preached the Gospel of the Grace of God to these Thessalonians in Acts chapter 17, they realized their idols could not save them from their sins. Their idols were worthless and useless, just as today’s Scripture affirms. They understood that the God that Paul and Silas preached was “the living and true God.” Unlike their dead idols, this God was living, and He was the true God. And, most importantly, they learned this God alone paid for their sins!

What is the Grace Life?

Friday, October 19, 2012

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” (Titus 2:11,12 KJV).

The only life acceptable to God in the Dispensation of Grace is the grace life!

When the Bible speaks of God’s grace to us in Christ (as in today’s Scripture), it refers to “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” The cost to enter heaven is far, far too great for us sons and daughters of Adam to ever pay. But, we have a wealthy relative who paid our sin debt in full. God became one of us: “God sending his own Son [Jesus Christ] in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3). Sin separated man from God, so God did for man what he could never do for himself—pay for his sins.

Unquestionably, the greatest life ever lived in a human body was that of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is always well pleasing to His heavenly Father (John 8:29). Even in death, as His body beaten beyond recognition hung limply on Calvary’s cruel cross, His sinless blood literally gushing from His veins and falling to the ground, Christ was well pleasing to Father God. The greatest human life ever lived then ceased…. He gave up His life, to take it up again (John 10:17,18)!

On Calvary’s cross, Jesus Christ gave His life for us, allowing us to die to sin with Him (Romans 6:3,4a). But then He was raised again, so He could give that resurrected life to us (Romans 6:4b,5). God accepts us in Christ (Ephesians 1:6). We appropriate (impute) Christ’s perfect sacrifice on Calvary by faith alone in the Gospel of Grace—“Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).

The Gospel of the Grace of God is not only meant to impact our eternal destiny, but our life now (today’s Scripture!). The Christian life is not us keeping rules, but us walking by faith in God’s Word to us, letting Christ live His life and through us (Galatians 2:20). That, dear friends, is the grace life! 🙂

*These past seven devotionals are advanced versions of our “Original 7.” With our blog’s second foundation laid, we now press on to deeper Bible teaching!

Who is Jesus Christ?

Monday, October 15, 2012

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6 KJV).

While many know about Jesus Christ, very few personally know Him and trust in what He did on their behalf.

Cemeteries confirm, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a): death and sin are inseparable. Sin kills not only our outward man (physical body), but also our inward man (spiritual body, soul and spirit). Therefore, Romans 6:23a says there are “wages” (plural) of sin.

Sin separates us from God (spiritual death). We are born “dead in trespasses and sins,” “children of disobedience,” and “children of [God’s] wrath” (Ephesians 2:1-3). God’s justice demands that we sinners receive the just penalty for those sins by enduring His wrath in everlasting hellfire (Romans 2:6-9). Thankfully, Jesus Christ suffered on Calvary’s cross and endured God’s wrath for us!

Jesus Christ is everything that the triune Godhead is: “In him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Christ is “the brightness of his [Father’s] glory, and the express [exact] image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus Christ is God manifested in human flesh (John 1:1,14), so He can mediate between Father God and us. In today’s Scripture, Jesus Christ explained that He is the “one mediator between God and men” (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5). He later stated, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also” (John 14:7a). The only way to know God the Father is to know Him through His Son Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:40b).

Jesus Christ’s perfect blood was shed to pay for our sins, to reconcile us back to God. Father God “made [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him [Christ]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23b). Will you trust Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection alone as sufficient payment for your sins, and be permanently reconciled to God?

Who is Jesus Christ? Your ONLY way to heaven!

Why Am I Here?

Sunday, October 14, 2012

“For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:18 KJV).

Although philosophers and religious “scholars” still stumble over the age-old question, “Why am I here?,” God’s Word settled the matter long ago.

Creation is not the result of some random, mindless, cosmic explosion billions of years ago, as scientists often tout. Our universe exists with “divine design in mind”—this is particularly true of Earth. Today’s Scripture explains that, in addition to creating the heavens (outer space), God also created planet earth “not in vain.” God had a special purpose for Earth. It is no accident that mankind lives here, as opposed to other celestial bodies.

We exist because the triune Godhead (God the Father, God the Son [Jesus Christ], and God the Holy Spirit) wanted to share with us the love and fellowship they shared with each other before creation (John 17:5,24). In the person of Jesus Christ, the triune Godhead would manifest itself to mankind, a unique race of creatures whom the Godhead appointed to rule over Earth (Genesis 1:26-28). But, why Earth?

When God placed the first man, Adam, on earth, God was preparing to establish His kingdom on earth (Matthew 25:34), where He Himself would live with mankind: “For the LORD hath chosen Zion [in Jerusalem]; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it” (Psalm 132:13,14). Unfortunately, Adam sinned, postponing that earthly kingdom for 6,000 years now. God formed Earth, not to simply give us a home, but to one day make Himself a home (Christ’s Millennial Reign on earth). “He formed it to be inhabited”… by Himself! Amazing!

Friends, we are not accidents. We exist for God’s glory, not for our own glory. God wants us our faith, our trust, to rest in His Holy Word, the King James Bible, the record of how He paid for our sins, and thus restored His fallen creation unto Himself.

A New Creature

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV).

As today’s Scripture suggests, when someone trusts Jesus Christ alone as his or her personal Saviour, he or she receives a new identity in Christ!

Although we could list more, here are five things that happen to a person the instant he or she trusts in Christ’s finished crosswork on Calvary as sufficient payment for his or her sins:

  • Circumcised: God severs the old, spiritual, sinful relationship the individual had to Adam, and gives him or her a new relationship with Him, one no longer hindered by sin, but permanently maintained by Christ’s performance and mediatorship (Colossians 2:11-13).
  • Regenerated: The individual, once “[spiritually] dead in trespasses and sins,” is now given new life, eternal life, the life of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 2:1,5).
  • Indwelt: The Holy Ghost comes to live in the inner man of the individual, and He will use God’s written Word—which is studied and believed rightly divided—to transform the mind and heart, and ultimately the lifestyle, of the individual (Romans 12:1,2; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:14).
  • Baptized: The Holy Spirit baptizes the individual into the Church the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). This is not water baptism, but a supernatural baptism that the Holy Spirit performs (Colossians 2:12). This is the only baptism needed today, and it is the only baptism that saves us today!
  • Sealed: The saint is sealed by and with the Holy Ghost until the day of the rapture (Ephesians 1:12,13; Ephesians 4:30). Salvation is permanent, for Jesus Christ paid the price of our sin debt in full, and we can rest in His finished crosswork.

The individual is now a saint, one who is “holy,” separated unto God for the purpose for which He originally created him or her.

Saints, we are dead to sin, so let us walk by faith in our new identity, in our “new creature” status, the “one new man,” everlasting members of the Church the Body of Christ (Ephesians 2:15). 🙂

A Popular Promotion That Ought Not Be Coveted

Monday, October 1, 2012

“The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools” (Proverbs 3:35 KJV).

Today’s Scripture describes one highly popular “promotion” that ought not be desired.

Our world abounds with foolishness because God did nothing more than give sinful mankind over to what he wanted. Humans “knew God, [but] they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain [worthless] in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,… And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate [worthless] mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” (Romans 1:21,22,28).

God values free will so much that, if someone does not want to think about Him, he or she is free to be a “vain” thinker, someone whose mind continually devises worthlessness (that bad thinking process then leads to sinful actions, which are graphically described in Romans 1:29-32).

Fools—that is, those who reject God’s will for them regarding salvation—seem to be successful in this life, but today’s Scripture will certainly hold true for them in the next life. The ultimate “promotion” of the ultimate fool—one who physically dies in his or her trespasses and sins, one who refused to trust Jesus Christ alone as his personal Saviour—is mentioned in Daniel 12:2: “[to awake/resurrect] to shame and everlasting contempt.” This is the eternal version of the “shame” referred to in today’s Scripture: bodily resurrected, condemned to the lake of fire, forever given over to think even more vain, foolish thoughts. Horrible—but you do not have to go there, friend!!!

“The wise shall inherit glory,” today’s Scripture also declares. Do you want honor (“glory”) rather than “contempt” (hatred)? Do you want God’s acceptance (heaven) rather than His righteous indignation (hell)? The wisest person is one who recognizes his or her ultimate failure as a sinner, and who will then trust Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for his or her sins.

Everlasting shame in hellfire—a popular “promotion” that ought not be coveted.

 

The Flesh Straineth, Christ’s Love Constraineth #8

Monday, September 17, 2012

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14,15 KJV).

We would do well to memorize, meditate on, and believe today’s Scripture, a wonderful encapsulation of the Christian life.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate [hinder, disrupt] the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:20,21). We could not achieve righteousness (salvation) by our performance, and we cannot achieve righteousness (godly living) by our performance. If our performance was ever the issue (for salvation or godly living), “Christ is dead in vain [is (present tense) dead for nothing].”

Our Christian lives are really Christ’s life! “Christ liveth in me.” We live by His faithfulness, by His performance working in us. Compare “the Son of God… who loved me, and gave himself for me” with today’s Scripture: “the love of Christ constraineth [motivates] us… [Christ] died for all… [Christ] died for all… [Christ] died for them.”

God’s grace—everything that He has done for us on Calvary’s cross—teaches us: “Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly [responsibly], righteously [acceptable to God], and godly [reflecting God’s values]” (Titus 2:11,12).

We who have trusted Christ are “new creatures in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our lives should reflect this new position/identity. God died to save us from our sins, so why should we return to them? We should let Christ Jesus live His life in and through us, “to prove that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). We do this by placing our faith in this sound Bible doctrine, which God uses to transform our minds, and then our lives!

“The flesh (always) straineth, Christ’s love (always) constraineth….”

*The past eight devotionals have been combined and expanded to form a larger Bible study with the same name, which can be read here or watched here.

The Flesh Straineth, Christ’s Love Constraineth #6

Saturday, September 15, 2012

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14,15 KJV).

We would do well to memorize, meditate on, and believe today’s Scripture, a wonderful encapsulation of the Christian life.

In Colossians 2:6,7, we read: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” How did we “receive Christ Jesus the Lord?” By our works? NO! By faith in His finished crosswork on Calvary. How does our Christian walk function? By our works? NO! By faith in His finished crosswork on Calvary.

Sinful mankind could never please God, so God did for mankind what he could never do for himself: pay for his sins in full. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure [perhaps] for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

This love—the love of God, “the love of Christ,” not our (feeble) love for Christ—forms the basis for our Christian life, and it “constrains” (empowers, motivates) us (today’s Scripture). Jesus Christ loved us enough to die for our sins, be buried, and be raised again the third day to make us (positionally) accepted before God (justification). “We thus judge [conclude]” that we Christians should allow Christ’s love for us to work in and through us by means of His indwelling Holy Spirit, as we walk by faith in an intelligent understanding of His Word to us (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon), thereby making our lifestyles (practically) acceptable to God (practical sanctification).

“The flesh straineth, Christ’s love constraineth….”

Full of Foolishness

Thursday, August 9, 2012

“Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him” (Proverbs 27:22 KJV).

What does today’s Scripture mean?

Firstly, “bray” means “to crush or grind.” Secondly, the pestle and mortar, in case you are unfamiliar with them, are used to grind up grain, spices, and medicines. Ingredients are placed within the cup-shaped mortar, and the pestle, a heavy wand-like tool that is round at one end, is used to pulverize them into powder.

For further explanation, we can consider Numbers 11:7,8, when the children of Israel are gathering manna: “And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof was as the colour of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.” The Jews would take the seeds of manna, and pound them in the mortar to produce flour, which they would then use to make cakes.

So, the analogy in today’s Scripture is simple. You can place wheat berries (grains) into the mortar, and repeatedly pound them with the pestle in order to extract the whole-wheat flour found inside. But, if you put a fool into the mortar, and pound him or her with the pestle, you cannot extract the foolishness found inside!

Proverbs 26:11 illustrates: “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” The fool never permanently abandons his idiocy. In fact, the Apostle Peter, referring to false teachers and prophets living during the future Tribulation period, writes: “But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again: and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22). They understood God’s Word, and then they foolishly turn away from it / apostasy (verses 15-21).

Let us continue by faith in sound, Pauline grace Bible doctrine, lest we too be found full of foolishness….