Wisdom Will Guard You

Proverbs 4:5-6

Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.

Get wisdom

Solomon warns us consistently throughout the Proverbs to obtain wisdom. Though we are inclined to think of wisdom as something that must be earned over time, Solomon reveals a secret early in his writings:

• Proverbs 2:6; The LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Wisdom is a free gift available to anyone who simply asks the Lord believing He will give it to them.

• James 1:5; If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

She will guard you

Wisdom itself—a supernatural understanding that the Lord created even before the earth (Proverbs 8:22-24)—will guard us as long as we seek shelter under her. As long as we keep ourselves humble, understanding how much we need her, knowing that only God has her and only God can give her to us, she will protect us. In essence, it is God Himself who protects us. He guides us with His wisdom, His counsel, His word. He is faithful to guard anyone who puts their trust in Him.

• Proverbs 6:20-23; My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching [the wisdom God has imparted to us through our parents or any authority who has taught us]. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life….
• Proverbs 2:6-12; For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech….

Come Up Here

Proverbs 25:6-7

Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.

Do not put yourself forward

It is better to be given the righteousness of Christ than to try to earn your own. It is better to approach the Father on the basis of the work of his Son than on the basis of the works of your flesh. It is better to humble yourself to receive His forgiveness than to exalt yourself before Him as if you don’t need it.

• Luke 18:10-14; “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Pharisee put himself forward in the presence of the King. The tax collector humbled himself instead. The latter was justified, the first condemned.

Or stand in the place of the great

When we humble ourselves before God, He lifts us up.

• 1 Peter 5:6-7; Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

It is better to be told, “Come up here”

When we recognize that we are not fit for heaven, He qualifies us.

• Colossians 1:11-12; May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

It is when we acknowledge our complete dependence on Him and our own inability to attain to His righteous standards that He says, “Come up here”.

• Philippians 3:4-9; Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

The Love of God vs. the Love of the World

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions–is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Do not love the world

After coming to Christ the Christian becomes increasingly weary of this world. He finds himself despising the flesh. He abhors the depravity he sees in himself. The lusts of the flesh agitate him. The evil he sees in and around him “torments his righteous soul” (2 Peter 2:8). I know this because all Christians have been given the Holy Spirit. If the Christian could love the world–if he could get comfortable here and never long for a better country–God’s love would not be in him at all. But it is, and so he struggles.

• Galatians 5:17; For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
• Romans 7:15-25; I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

The love of the Father

The Christian wrestles internally because the love of the Father is in him. He has been born of God. His flesh is altogether evil and his spirit is altogether righteous. The two cannot, and will never, coexist in peace.

He is God’s child now. He cannot love the world. It’s foreign to him. His citizenship is in heaven.

So if you are a Christian, don’t even try to love the world. It will only make the battle more intense. Stop investing in it. Seek the things which are above.

• Colossians 3:1-4; If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
• Philippians 3:20-21; Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

The world is passing away

This life is excruciatingly short. “You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes;” James 4:14. So instead of loving this world, love the life to come. If you have Christ, you have eternal life. Make that your joy. Make Him your love. Make your desire to do His will while you are here. Not because you fear damnation but because you joy in salvation–the eternal life He has freely given to you.

• 2 Corinthians 5:1-9; We know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
• 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Our Great Shepherd

Hebrews 13:20

“Our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep”

Great

Initially I assumed our English word for great would be inferior to the Greek word used in this text. I thought it would be something more descriptive like wonderful, magnificent, illustrious, awesome, clothed in grandeur. But no, it means great. In fact, its even more plain than the word great. It literally means big. But there’s nothing insufficient about that word when it’s used to describe God. It means powerful. It means preeminent. It means majestic. It means exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever imagine or describe.

• Psalms 145:3; Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
• Psalms 48:1; Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God!
• Psalms 86:10; For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
• Psalms 147:5; Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
• Psalms 96:4; For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
• Psalms 135:5; For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.
• Jeremiah 32:17-19; Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.
• Revelation 15:3; Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
• Malachi 1:5; Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!

Shepherd

Anyone would be willing to lead from a throne, or an oval office, or a corner suite on the twentieth floor. How many would be willing to lead the way a shepherd does? Instead of sitting on a throne, sitting on a rock. Instead of walking through palaces, walking through mud. Instead of mingling at cocktail parties, living with the sheep.

• Ezekiel 34:15-16; I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
• Micah 5:2-5; But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. …And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.
• Isaiah 40:11; He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
• Revelation 7:15-17; …He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Sheep

Understanding Christ to be our Great Shepherd requires us to understand who we are in relation to Him. He is our God, we are His people. He is the potter, we are the clay. He is the Shepherd, we are the sheep.

• Psalms 95:7; For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
• Psalms 79:13; But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
• Psalms 100:3; Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
• Ezekiel 34:31; And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.

He saved us according to his own mercy

1 Kings 20:15, 29

“…He mustered all the people of Israel, seven thousand. …And the people of Israel struck down of the Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day.”

The Lord makes it clear to us why He chose to work in such a miraculous way on behalf of Israel in this particular battle. Verse 28: “Because the Syrians have said, ‘The LORD is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,’ therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

Because the Syrians have not recognized Me as God and because you haven’t either, I am going to prove Myself to both of you.

It is typical of the Lord to intervene in the matters of men, not for the sake of the righteousness of men, but for the sake of His righteousness and for His name’s sake. Remember what the Lord told the people of Israel when they first came into the promise land:

• Deuteronomy 9:3-7; “Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you. Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.”

This correlates directly with the Gentile’s inclusion in the body of Christ. Listen to Paul’s words in Romans chapter 11:

• Romans 11:15-24; “For if [Israel's] rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.”

The Lord has not saved us because we were deserving. If that were the case it would not be “saving” at all. God saved us because He decided to. He purposed to bring us to Him. He set His love on us even though we had spit in His face and rejected Him. Our inclusion in His family, our stake in the inheritance of eternal life, is only based on His mercy and grace which we receive through faith.

The overriding theme of Paul’s thought is “Do not become proud, but fear.” You do not support God, but God supports you. You did not initiate a relationship with God, He did. And just as He did not act on behalf of Israel in the Old Testament because of their righteousness, so He has not saved you because of yours.

• Titus 3:3-7; “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
• 2 Timothy 1:9; “[God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began….”
• Ephesians 2:1-9; “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience–among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The Lord made it clear to Israel that He set His love on them and chose to help them just because that’s what He wanted to do. His mercy directs His actions. His grace constrains Him to act on behalf of man. It is also true of us that He has saved us based on His mercy, His grace, and His love alone.

Every man, woman, or child is included in His sphere of love “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life;” John 3:16. And this He has done not because the world first loved Him but because He loves the world and “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth;” 1 Timothy 2:4.

Celebrating Jesus’ birth, remembering why He came

Matthew 1:21

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

The news of Jesus’ birth came with the simplest of explanations of his mission: He will save his people from their sins.

He will

He has. As we celebrate Christ’s birth we look back in faith to a work that is complete.

• Hebrews 10:10-14; By [God's will] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Save

To save: to preserve from destruction, rescue from danger, deliver from calamity. He didn’t came to exalt Himself or condemn us to hell but to save.

• John 3:16-18; For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

His people

Not only Israel but all who share the faith of Abraham. Anyone who calls out to the Lord for mercy qualifies.

• Romans 10:9-13; If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

From their sins

Just as the law of gravity says “what goes up must come down,” so the law of sin says “the soul that sins shall surely die.” But by becoming the sacrifice that appeased God’s wrath, Christ has rescued us from sin’s penalty.

• 1 John 4:10; In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

This Christmas let’s celebrate Jesus’ birth, life, and death—the single demonstration of His great love for all time.

Righteous Confidence

2 Samuel 22:21-25

“The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and from his statutes I did not turn aside. I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt. And the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.”

According to my righteousness

I am struck by David’s boldness. How could a man, especially this man, stand before a nation, much less God, and claim he has perfectly kept God’s law? David the adulterer? David the murderer? How could he say his way was blameless? How could he claim that he was guiltless, innocent, or clean? As is says in the Proverbs, “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin’?”

“The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness,” he says in this Psalm, and I am tempted to laugh. I would consider him to be delusional at best, or heretical at worst if I didn’t look at the rest of the bible.

In the Psalms David reveals the reasoning behind his boldness. He says here in this text that God deals with him according to his righteousness, but in other Psalms he takes it a step further.

• Psalm 103:10-12; “[God] does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us;” Psalms 103:10-12.
• Psalm 32:1-2; “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”

Blameless before him

David understood that his righteousness was not a result of his ability to maintain his own perfection. David trusted in God who justifies the ungodly.

• Romans 4:4-8; “To the one who does not work [toil and strive to make himself right before God] but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’”

These words were not written for David’s sake alone, “but for ours also,” Paul continues in verse 24 of the same chapter. “[Righteousness] will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”

We, like David, can confidently believe and confidently say that we are blameless. Not because we have kept the law or because we have abstained from immorality, but because Jesus Christ was killed for our trespasses and then raised from the dead for our justification: to declare us innocent.

• Colossians 1:20-22; “[Through Christ God reconciled] to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”
• Ephesians 1:4-7; “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

Guilt

Like David, we can say with confidence that we’re blameless, and we can say with confidence we are guiltless.

• 1 Corinthians 1:8-9; “[God] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Righteousness

We are blameless, we are guiltless, we are righteous.

• Romans 3:21-25; “The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:21; “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
• Philippians 3:8-9; “Indeed, I count everything [all my self attained righteousness] as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

Righteousness before God is not something that is earned, it is something that is given. It is not something that fluctuates, it is something that is sure and stable. It is not something that can be lost but something that is kept by God in Christ. We stand before Him, if we have faith in Jesus Christ, 100% pure, 100% clean, 100% righteous, 100% perfect. We can share in David’s boldness because we are persuaged that we share in David’s blessing.

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life;” Titus 3:3-7

The Hope of the Righteous Brings Joy

Proverbs 10:28

“The hope of the righteous brings joy”

Hope

When you read about hope in the bible, it’s not the kind of hope that says “I hope it’s sunny today.” The hope the bible speaks of us an absolute expectation of coming good. The book of Hebrews calls it “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” because it’s based on Jesus Christ. The faith we have in Him and what He has promised us is the “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The Greek word translated hope in the New Testament is “to anticipate, expectation, confidence.”

• Colossians 1:3-5; We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel
• Titus 1:1-2; Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
• Titus 2:11-14: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
• Titus 3:4-7; But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
• 1 Peter 1:3-5; Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Of the righteous

Hope founded on one’s own righteousness would not be hope at all but a false expectation. Let the double-minded man not suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. But those who are made to be righteous through trusting in Chirst’s death and resurrection–they have a hope sure and steadfast.

• Romans 3:19-22; Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
• Romans 4:4-8; Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
• Philippians 3:8-9; Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

Brings joy

When the vanity of this life is overwhelming, when the trials and sufferings cause you to groan in anxious anticipation, let that desire for a better country where righteousness dwells bring you joy. For soon–very soon, in the twinkling of an eye–we will be with the Lord forever.

• Psalm 16:8-11; I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
• 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17; Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
• Psalm 116:15; Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Your Hope Will not be Cut Off

Proverbs 23:17-18

“Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”

There is a future

There’s no reason to envy those who do not know God yet prosper in this life. He blesses the good and the evil. They are getting right now the best they’ll ever have while we have an eternity of joy ahead. We have a future, a blessed hope to look forward to.

• Jeremiah 29:11; “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:1-7; “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
• John 14:1-3; “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Your hope will not be cut off

The hope we have for eternity–the absolute, unchangeable expectation of God’s promise to us of eternal life–will never be cut off. We have confident assurance that He who is the resurrection and the life will give raise us who believe to incorruption.

• Titus 1:1-3; “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior.”
• Hebrews 6:17-20; “So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Follow Without Being Forced

Proverbs 26:3

“A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.”

Don’t be a fool. Don’t be like a horse who needs to be whipped before she responds to a command, or as a donkey who needs to be bridled to keep it in the way. Be willing to learn. Be attentive. You are not a fool, nor are you an animal without understanding.

• Psalms 32:8-9; I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.

The Lord wants to lead us, not as if bridling a horse or pulling a stubborn mule, but as a Shepherd walking with and among His sheep.

Stay near to Him without being forced. Walk with Him without being constrained. If you are compelled let it be by His miraculous love.

• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Labor for What Truly Satisfies

Isaiah 55:2-3

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread?

In John chapter 6 we read about a crowd of people who were following Jesus, not because they believed in Him necessarily, but because He fed them physically. It says there, “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal;’” John 6:26-27.

Do not expend all of your effort in the pursuit of physical things. Do not exert yourself in toil for things that cannot satisfy. On the contrary, be diligent to seek the food which does not perish. Seek the Bread of Life.

• John 6:32-35; “Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’”

Listen diligently to me…Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live

The only thing that will ever truly satisfy us is God Himself. We were created for fellowship with Him and will find our true belonging, our only true contentment, when we turn our ear to Him and come to Him.

• Psalms 63:5-8; “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
• Psalms 65:4; “Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!”
• Psalms 107:8-9; “Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.”
• Jeremiah 31:12-14; “They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD.”
• Jeremiah 31:25; “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

Donning the Proper Attire

1 Peter 3:3-6

“Do not let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear– but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.”

Though this text is specifically addressed to women, I don’t think it would be a stretch to apply it to all Christians. Submissiveness to authority, quietness, gentleness, humility, trust in God–all these things are befitting and proper for any Christian.

All of us know the feeling of wanting to look our best. We all know what it’s like to look in the mirror–and look again–and wonder how people perceive us. Are these clothes out-of-date? Does my hair look alright? Should I trim my nose hair or can I get by another day or two?

Our looks are important to us, and to some degree, that’s okay–we should care about our physical appearance. But much more important is the adorning of our heart. The beauty of a gentle heart, a quiet spirit–a person who is submissive, humble, and trusts the Lord–is imperishable. Outward physical beauty fades away, but inward beauty lasts eternally.

So let us ask the Lord who dwells in our hearts to continue working through us. Let us ask Him to produce the fruits of His Spirit through us so that by being properly adorned inwardly we may win souls through our outward conduct. People will see the Light of the World shining through us, His gospel clothing us, and Jesus will draw all men to Himself.

• Titus 2:9-14; “Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
• 1 Peter 2:11-12; “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
• Philippians 2:12-16; “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”
• Matthew 5:16; “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

God is Faithful

Joshua 21:45

“Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.”

Not one word

The Lord is not loose with His tongue like we are. Every word He says, He means. Every thing He promises, He will carry out. He is trustworthy. He is reliable. He is faithful.

• Exodus 34:6; “The LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness….”
• Deuteronomy 32:3-4; “I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”
• Psalm 36:5; “Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.”
• Psalms 40:11; “As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!”
• Psalms 57:9-11; “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!”
• 2 Corinthians 1:18-20; “As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

All the good promises that the Lord had made…all came to pass

God’s faithfulness to Israel serves as an assurance of His faithfulness to us. According to Romans chapter 11, we have been grafted into the olive tree of Israel and stand by faith. Furthermore, according to the book of Galatians, we are sons of Abraham by faith. We are the circumcision–Israel–who worship by the Spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in our flesh. As surely as God was (and is) faithful to Israel, He is faithful to the church.

The promises He has made to us will be kept.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

Sanctification: practical righteousness here on this earth. Blamelessness at His coming: an eternal righteous standing before God. He who calls us is faithful, He will surely do it.

• 2 Thessalonians 3:3; “The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”
• Philippians 1:6; “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
• 1 Corinthians 1:4-9; “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge–even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you–so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In everything, God is faithful. Faithful to return for us, faithful to give us eternal life, faithful to make us righteous, faithful to guard us against the evil one. He is faithful to sustain us, faithful to present us to Himself without spot or blemish. And since He is faithful, let us now, with confidence, draw near to Him with a true heart in full assurance of faith, through the body and blood of Christ.

• Hebrews 10:19-23; “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places [God's presence] by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

Cling to the Lord

Joshua 23:8

“You shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day.”

Webster’s 1828 dictionary of American English defines cling as “To adhere closely; to stick to; to hold fast upon, especially by winding round or embracing; as, the tendril of a vine clings to its support. To adhere closely and firmly, in interest or affection; as, men of a party cling to their leader.” Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions defines the Hebrew word here translated as cling as “to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, overtake, catch.”

Clinging to the Lord is clinging to His word. It’s holding fast to the promise He has given us of eternal life. It’s believing Him. It’s regarding Him as faithful. It’s abiding in His love. It’s continuing with confidence in the gospel He has preached to us through Jesus Christ. It’s hanging on the certainty of forgiveness, righteousness, justification, salvation, eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

• Psalms 119:31; “I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame!”
• Luke 8:15; “As for [the seed that fell] in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
• Hebrews 3:5-12; “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, “They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.” As I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”‘ Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”
• Hebrews 4:14-16; “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
• Hebrews 6:17-20; “When God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
• Hebrews 10:19-23; “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

The True Longing of our Soul

Psalms 84:1-4

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!”

Your dwelling place

The house of the Lord that was constructed on earth was only a copy of true things–of heaven itself. Hebrews 9:24 says, “Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”

Even Solomon after constructing the temple confessed, “”Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” 1 Kings 8:27.

• Isaiah 66:1; “Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?’”
• Psalm 11:4; “The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.”
• Psalm 103:19; “The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.”
• Acts 7:47-49; “It was Solomon who built a house for [the Lord]. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?’”

My soul longs…for the courts of the Lord

The true longing of our soul is to be where God is.

• 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
• Romans 8:22-25; “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Open our Hearts, Lord

Luke 24:44-45

“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures

Reading the bible can seem daunting, boring, pointless, difficult, incomprehensible. There are times when the words on the pages seem to mesh together into a big ball of mushy thees, thous, begats, and verilys.

That is, until the Lord opens our minds. Then we see Him who the entire bible speaks about. “You search the Scriptures…and it is they that bear witness about me,” Jesus said in John 5:39. And Romans 3 says that the righteousness of God which comes through faith in Jesus Christ is witnessed by all the law and prophets. The entire bible is about Christ: his life, death, resurrection, glory, His people, their salvation…. Christ is all in all.

But we will not benefit from the scriptures unless the eyes of our mind are opened and unless He reveals Himself to us through His Spirit.

• 1 Corinthians 2:11-14; “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

So let us pray to Him. He has opened our minds initially for salvation and our minds remain open. He will continue opening our minds as we grow in our relationship with Him. This is the best kind of open mindedness we can have: an open heart to know the Lord through His word.

• Psalms 119:18; “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”
• Ephesians 1:16-23; “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
• Ephesians 3:14-21; “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith–that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
• Colossians 1:9-12; “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

God is Faithful to Keep us from the Evil One

John 17:15

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”

Keep them from the evil one

Christians have the confidence of knowing that God will keep them. We have Jesus’ prayer for assurance–the prayer of a righteous man has great power as it is working–and we also have the promise that God will answer His prayer.

• 2 Thessalonians 3:3; “The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”
• 1 John 5:18; “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
• Psalms 121:1-8; “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He owns His sheep, He keeps His sheep, He protects them.

• John 10:8-15; “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

A hired hand flees

If a hired hand watched over Jesus’ sheep, he would surely flee at the first glimpse of danger. Why? Because, Jesus says, he doesn’t own the sheep–he doesn’t care for them. In contrast, Jesus purchased us with His own blood and, consequently, cares for us more deeply than we could ever imagine. He will never flee, He will never run, He will always protect us.

His sheep may go through difficult times. We aren’t excluded from trials and troubles. And though we have the promise of God’s protection, we have seen how he allowed Satan to test Job. But let us be comforted that He will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to endure.

• 1 Corinthians 10:13; “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

God is faithful. He will establish us and guard us against the evil one and He will never allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to endure. Nevertheless, will not put our trust in our strength. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1, “We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

When it seems God has left us (He hasn’t), when it seems tribulation is greater than we can endure (it will never be), let us follow Paul’s example and rely, not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Jesus Prays for Us

Luke 22:31-32

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Satan demanded to have you

The devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We learn from Job’s story that he even asks permission from God to harass people. He is not a make-believe entity who merely represents evil, He is real, and He spends his time ravaging the earth.

• 1 Peter 5:8-9; “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”

But I have prayed for you

The warning we have concerning the devil is not to make us afraid, but to make us aware and watchful. And we have the same encouragement Peter had: Jesus prays for us.

• Hebrews 7:23-25; “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
• Romans 8:34; “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

Though the devil wants to destroy us, we have an advocate.

• Zechariah 3:1-5; “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?’ Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ And to him he said, ‘Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.’ And I said, ‘Let them put a clean turban on his head.’ So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by.”
• 1 John 2:1-2; “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
• Hebrews 9:24; “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”

As for Man, His Days are like Grass

Psalm 103:15-18

“As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.”

His days are like grass

The realization of the futility of life can overwhelm and debilitate even the strongest of men. Even King Solomon, in all his pomp and all his wealth, wrestled with the emptiness of life.

• Ecclesiastes 2:4-11; “I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was
  vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”

And the result of Solomon’s striving to find purpose in life?

• Ecclesiastes 2:17; “So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.”

The scriptures are not silent about the brevity of life.

• Psalms 39:4-5; “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!”
• Psalms 62:9; “Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.”
• Psalms 144:4; “Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”
• Psalms 102:11; “My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.”
• Job 8:9; “For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow.”
• 2 Samuel 14:14a; “We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again….”

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting

In contrast to the fleeting nature of our days on this earth is the steadfast love of the Lord. His love endures forever. His mercy lasts eternally. His grace will never end. This is good news for us if we are gripped with the vanity of life like Solomon was. Because in His steadfast love, God has made a way for us to live eternally in His presence where there is joy forevermore.

• 1 Peter 1:23-25; “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

The good news about Jesus Christ has been preached to us; that is, that through faith in His name we are forgiven of all our sin, made completely righteous in His sight, and born again to a living, eternal hope. All flesh is as short-lived as grass, but this word of His grace is forever. Through this abiding word we who believe have been born again to an imperishable hope. We will not die. We will go on living with Him for all eternity.

• John 11:25-26; “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”
• 1 John 5:10-12; “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Do you believe this?

Do you believe that God has provided us His Son so that we may have life? If so, then death has no power over you. The debilitating knowledge of the brevity of life is swallowed up in the immortality promised to those who believe.

• Hebrews 2:10-15; “For it was fitting that [God], for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation [Jesus Christ] perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again, ‘Behold, I and the children God has given me.’ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself [Jesus] likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Agony Drives to Prayer

Luke 22:44

“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

He prayed more earnestly

The agony Jesus endured pushed Him deeper into prayer.

• 1 Peter 2:23b; “When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Jesus’ suffering, first and foremost, was to bring us to God. His suffering also gives us an example. When we go through trials on this earth, we, like Jesus are driven to pray all the more earnestly.

In the Psalms there’s a story of men at sea caught in a storm. It says, “They reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” Often times it’s when we’re at our wits end that we cry out to the Lord. It’s then that it says, “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” Not always does He immediately change the situation, but He always hears; and, the affliction that we go through always causes us to grow in our trust in Him.

• Romans 5:3-5; “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
• 1 Corinthians 1:8-10; “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.”

Indeed, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

• Psalm 50:15; “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

Pray that You May Not Enter Into Temptation

Luke 22:40

“And when he came to the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”

Ephesians 6:16 tells us that in the spiritual battle we wage, faith is a shield for us in very circumstance. No matter what fiery dart the devil shoots at us, faith will quench it. One of the ways faith manifests itself in our lives is through prayer. That is, if we truly believe God–if we truly rely on Him–we will be inclined to call out to Him in trouble.

The first line of defense we have against temptation is prayer. We can think of it simply as taking refuge in God, seeking His protection, taking shelter under His wings. Before temptation comes, we can run to the Lord, petition Him to strengthen us and lead us, not into temptation, but into righteousness.

Now, the Lord knows how weak we are without Him. He knows our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. He even knows we may not know how to pray, so He has given us some psalms for guidance.

• Psalm 19:13; “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”
• Psalm 119:116-117; “Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope! Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually!”
• Psalm 119:133; “Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.”

Not my Will, But Yours be Done

Luke 22:39-43

“And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’ And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.”

If you are willing

We can look back at this moment of Christ’s anguish and rejoice, not in the physical pain of His suffering, but in that God was not willing for His work to go unfinished. If there could have been any other way to forgive our sin, perhaps God would have spared His Son. If there had been any other way to make us righteous, Jesus would not have had to die. But there was not.

God was willing, in this hour, to crush His Son so that He might secure for us an eternal redemption.

God’s desire, since time began, has been to bring man to Himself. He accomplished this through Jesus Christ. So when all the purpose of God for all eternity was focused on Christ on that night in the garden, God’s answer to Jesus’ prayer was already known.

• Isaiah 53:10; “It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”
• Hebrews 10:5-10; “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.”‘ When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And by that will [the will of God] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

God’s will has always been to sanctify us through the offering of Christ’s body. Jesus came to complete that will–to crushed for our iniquities and raised for our justification.

Not my will, but yours, be done

We might, at first glance, think that Jesus didn’t want what God wanted. Detach yourself from human logic for a minute to remember that Jesus was both fully God and fully human. It was the physical pain, the separation from the Father, the tormenting act of bearing an entire world’s sin that brought Jesus into agony that night. He did not resent the result–it was His will, just as it was God’s, to bring all men to Himself even if by means of His death. He knew what He had to go through to make us His, so He endured the cross, despising the shame in light of the joy that was set before Him.

• Luke 13:34; “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”
• John 17:24; “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
• John 12:32-33; “‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”
• John 3:14-18; And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Walking by the Spirit

Galatians 5:25

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

We live by the Spirit

It is the Holy Spirit that has given us life. When we first believed in God through Christ, we passed from death into life. The power that raised us up is the Holy Spirit.

• John 6:63; “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
• John 1:12-13; “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
• Romans 8:11; “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Let us also walk by the Spirit

The Spirit is the means by which we became alive. Let it also be the means by which we live and walk. We received the Spirit by faith, let us also walk in Him by faith.

Walking by the Spirit isn’t referring to proximity like walking near the Spirit. It means that we walk in the power of the Spirit just as we were born again by the power of the Spirit. If it is in the same way, let us remember how we were born again. Was it a result of our effort? Or, was it by simply believing?

• Galatians 3:1; “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain–if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith–just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’?”
• Romans 1:17; “The righteous shall live by faith.”
• Colossians 2:6-7; “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

The Certainty of God’s Word

2 Peter 1:17-20

“For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.”

We ourselves heard this very voice

Oh the majestic, wonderful, awesome privilege of hearing God’s voice!

• Psalm 29:3-9; “The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’”
• Psalm 46:6; “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.”

God’s voice is more powerful than we could imagine. The very sound of it strips a forest bare. Just image hearing Him speak from heaven testifying of His beloved Son!

And we have something more sure

More sure than the distinct, powerful, audible, spoken word of God is His written, prophetic word.

I’ve heard people say, “If only I could hear God’s voice, then I’d believe.” Really? It didn’t work for Gideon. “If only I could hear God’s voice, then I’d believe.” Really? It didn’t work for Cain, or Balaam, or Saul, or….

We have something much more certain, much more trustworthy, much more reliable than God’s own voice: we have His immutable written word.

If all we had was His spoken word, we’d be susceptible to the failings of our memory. We’d be susceptible to the imperfections of our ability to call to mind His tone, His inflections, His choice of words. We’d end up paraphrasing, then guessing, then twisting, and ultimately going astray.

We have something absolutely trustworthy: God’s incontrovertible word.

• Psalm 19:7-8; “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.”
• Psalms 119:89; “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”
• Matthew 24:35; “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
• 1 Peter 1:23-25; “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

The Proper Mindset

Colossians 3:1-3

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Seek the things that are above

In the Greek text, to seek means specifically to worship. It can also be translated as to go about, desire, endeavor, or inquire. I’ll paraphrase further it as to be occupied with.

Chapter two ends with an exhortation to quit trying to make ourselves righteous by setting up rules, neglecting our bodies, and performing self-made religious duties in false humility. Paul says, “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom…but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” They make you look spiritual but can’t really help you overcome sin.

Therefore, in the endeavor to live a holy life, instead of focusing on our body and on sin itself, seek those things which are above; specifically, seek God through Christ. Worship Him. Pray to Him. Read His word. Commune with Him. Be occupied with Him.

He is your life.

In this way your life will be purified. As you set your desires toward Him, as you devote yourself to Him, as you look to Him, He transforms you by His Spirit into His image.

• 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

How to Fight Temptation

Ephesians 6:16

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” [read context]

In all circumstances

No matter what Satan throws at us in the form of temptation or trial, Paul reveals to us the secret to quenching his flaming darts: faith.

• 1 John 2:16; “For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions–is not from the Father but is from the world.”
• 1 John 5:4-5; “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

The world is full of temptation–that will never change. You can’t isolate yourself from sin, and even if you did, your heart will still betray you. The victory that overcomes the world and its lusts is faith. We place our faith in Jesus Christ and are born-again. This faith not only gives us life but sustains in it as well. “The righteous live by faith.”

In every circumstance we quench the devil’s flaming darts by faith.

Search the internet for self-help advice concerning addiction. You’ll read a lot about willpower, you’ll read a lot about accountability, you’ll read a lot about ways to distract yourself or change your habits. What you won’t likely see is this simple solution: put your faith in God–trust the Lord.

The reason you won’t see this is because trusting the Lord is not self-help. People want to fix things themselves; they don’t want to give up control. Faith doesn’t depend on our methods but on God.

Faith is trusting Him who gave us these promises:

• Philippians 1:6; “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
• 1 Corinthians 10:13; “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
• 2 Thessalonians 3:3; “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”
• Psalm 121:7; “The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.”

The shield of faith

Now, any warrior would tell you, when you are in battle you should carry your shield at all times. In other words, don’t wait till the enemy shoots his darts. Always be ready.

As Christians, we need to strengthen our faith before we are tempted.

How do we strengthen our faith?

• Romans 10:17; “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

The Lord’s word; specifically the bible–and even more specifically, the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed throughout the entire bible–will grow and strengthen our faith.

• Romans 16:25-27; “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith–to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

As we read the Word of God we are edified. We are built up and encouraged. We are prepared to defend ourselves within this spiritual battle we wage. We will be ready in every circumstance of life, when Satan hurls his flaming darts our direction, to take up the shield of faith, placing our trust, not in ourselves, but in the Lord.

Peace with God

Romans 5:1

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Justification is being declared innocent; and not only being made innocent, but being counted righteous. We obtain this standing by believing in Jesus Christ who was put to death for our transgression and raised from the dead to acquit us.

Since we have been justified by such an eternal, complete work, we have peace wih God. We, who spit in His face, rejected Him, and jammed a twisted a crown of thorns on His brow, have been reconciled to Him. There is no more strife between us. We have peace with God.

• Colossians 1:19-22; “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”

Don’t ever let the magnitude of this truth escape you. Don’t pass by it lightly. We have peace with God.

Understand that peace with Him doesn’t simply mean He tolerates us. It doesn’t mean He puts up with us reluctantly. It does not only mean that He is not against us, it means He is for us. He favors us. He rejoices over us. He loves us.

• Romans 8:28-39; “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Value of Life

Acts 20:24

“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Jesus told us, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Paul modeled this attitude. In Philippians he said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain;” Philippians 1:21.

There are those today and those through history who have died because of their faith in Christ. Paul, along with thousands of others, have embraced the opportunity to lay down their lives for the one who first died for them. They counted it joy to suffer for Jesus’ name in order to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

For us 21st century American, to live for Christ doesn’t necessarily mean being persecuted and killed. Nevertheless, Jesus’ words are no less relevant to us: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:23-25).

Living for Christ requires a forfeiture of self. Living for Christ requires the kind of attitude Paul had: “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself.” It’s a renewal of perspective, a reversal of priorities: counting the things of the kingdom of God and its King of more importance than my own desires and plans.

• Romans 14:7-9; “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

Doing God’s Will Through God’s Empowering

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

This is the will of God

Usually when I consider God’s will for my life, I am more apt to think in terms of the course I should take. Where should I go? What should I do? However, the more I read the scriptures I am becoming persuaded that, though God does provide guidance and direction for our life’s path, He is much more concerned with our conduct. Instead of asking where I should go, I should be asking how should I conduct myself wherever I am.

I cannot open my bible and defend my course of life. I can not say for sure that God wants me to be working where I work or living where I live. I can, however, open my bible and tell you exactly what God’s will is for me as concerns my conduct. According to the passage before us, I know without a doubt: “this is he will of God, your sanctification.”

• 1 Corinthians 6:18-20; “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
• Romans 6:12-14; “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
• 1 Peter 2:11-12; “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

Who gives his Holy Spirit to you

You’ve probably heard the adage: “When the Lord guides, He provides.” Another saying that’s similar is: “The Lord’s commandments are His enablements.” This is never so true as when said in context of our sanctification. He reveals His will to us: I want you to live a holy life. He provides the means: the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit we are both born-again and sustained through life.

• 2 Peter 1:3; “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”
• Philippians 2:13; “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
• Hebrews 13:20-21; “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.”
• Galatians 5:22-25; “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

Watch Yourselves

Luke 21:34-36

“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

After Jesus tells the disciples about the end times, He warns them: “Watch yourselves.” Don’t watch the signs of the times or the things of this earth, but your own heart. Stay awake, pray; keep your lives free from the sin that so easily hinders us.

• 2 Peter 3:11-18; “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not
  carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.”

Lest your hearts be weighed down

We are called to live our lives differently in light of Jesus’ promise to return. Considering our hope of eternal life, we are commissioned to conduct ourselves in holiness. This is not to for the sake of earning favor with God or impressing each other with greater levels of self-attained righteousness. The purpose of our calling to holiness is so that our hearts will not be weighed down. Sin is an entrapment. It burdens us. The Lord wants us to be free from the cares of this world. He wants us to be free from the encumbrance of sin.

• Hebrews 12:1-2; “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Stay awake at all times, praying

Psalm 127:2 says, “He gives His beloved sleep.” Jesus is not asking us to stay awake physically but to stay awake spiritually. Be alert. Be watchful. Be aware. Do not be spiritually lazy. Keep watch, not for signs of the times necessarily, but of yourselves. Set your eyes on the Lord and so keep yourself in the love of God.

• Colossians 3:1-10; “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

Watch yourselves. In lieu of Jesus’ imminent return and your guaranteed inheritance in heaven regardless of whether He returns in your lifetime, live your lives in holiness conducting yourself throughout the time of your stay here in godly reverence. Don’t become entangled in the overwhelming weight and hindrance of sin, but set your eyes on Christ, our life. When He appears, we will appear with Him and be evermore in His presence where there is fullness of joy and pleasure forever.

I Am Your God; I Will Strengthen You, I Will Help You

Isaiah 41:10

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

In Psalm 124, David said, “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side–let Israel now say–if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive;” Psalms 124:1-3. If the Lord was not with us, we would have every reason to sink with dismay; we would have every reason to be disquieted, to be disheartened, to feel dejected, to lose our courage. Without God, we would be swallowed alive.

• Psalms 40:11-13; “As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!”

He is a very present help in trouble. We can run to Him and be safe. We may approach His throne of grace freely and with boldness in our time of need. He is with us to strengthen us, to help us, to uphold us with His righteous right hand.

• Psalms 56:1-4; “Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”
• Psalms 56:10-13; “In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”
• Psalms 27:1-5; “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.”

In Jesus Christ we have assurance of God’s perpetual presence. We have the covenant sealed in His blood: the forgiveness of sins, life everlasting. We stand justified–innocent, righteous–before Him and completely sure that He will never abandon us. He who did not withhold His only Son to purchase our redemption–He who did not withhold His only Son in order to reconcile us to Himself–how shall He glibly forsake the sheep of His fold? We know God is for us; so then, who can be against us?

• Romans 8:31-39; “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Fear not, He is with us. He is our God. He will strengthen us. He will help us. He will uphold us.

Giving, Jesus’ Way

Luke 21:1-4

“Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, ‘Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’”

Giving of one’s money as a sacrifice for the sake of redemption is futile. No matter how much a person gives, he cannot purchase the salvation of his soul.

• Psalms 49:7-9; “Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.”‘

Giving of one’s money (especially when in want as this widow was) as worship to the Lord to honor and thank Him for His blessings is joyful and rewarding.

• 2 Corinthians 8:1-5; “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints–and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”
• 2 Corinthians 9:6-11; “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”

Our motivation to give is not to approve ourselves before the Father or to get something in return; our motivation is to give back to Him who first gave everything for us.

• 2 Corinthians 8:9; “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
  • Philippians 2:6-8; “Though [Christ Jesus] was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
• 1 Peter 1:18-19; “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

The Almighty Lord of Glory set aside His kingly vesture to wear a crown of thorns for us. He who is the owner of cattle on a thousand hills humbled Himself low enough to be born in a manger–a cold, stone feeding trough for livestock. He had no place to lay His head while He walked the earth and no place to lay His body when He died. He became the poorest of the poor for you and me. He left His heavenly throne and the angelic choir who sang, “Holy, holy, holy,” day and night to be spat upon and mocked, beaten and nailed to a cross by the people He created.

All of this to make us rich.

All of this so that by faith in Him we could be made sons of God and heirs with Christ. Heirs of eternal life, recipients of mercy, portraits of grace.

Giving Jesus’ way is giving everything for nothing in return. Although through His sacrifice He did gain something. He gained us.

• Isaiah 53:11; “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

He gained a kingdom of priests set apart to offer spiritual sacrifices to Him. He gained children made righteous: sinners justified and made to stand in His presence for eternity.

The Eye of the Lord is on Those who Fear Him

Psalm 33:18-19

“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.”

On those who fear him

Verse 13 of this same chapter says the Lord sees everyone. He knows everything. He is aware of all circumstances. In Matthew’s gospel were even told He blesses both the evil and the good alike.

But for those who fear him, those who hope in his steadfast love, they can trust in the certainty of the promise: he will deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.

Deliver their soul from death

It’s not that those who trust the Lord will never physically die. However, we have the eternal hope of life after death. Our soul shall never die.

• John 11:25-26; “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”
• John 5:24; “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
• 1 Peter 1:3-6; “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

And keep them alive in famine

We rejoice in God and our hope of eternity, though now for a little while, if necessary, we have been grieved by various trials. As the hymn writer sang, “Whatever my lot, though hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul!” We don’t have a promise of never going through famine, but of being protected in it. We don’t have a promise to never endure any hardship, we have the assurance that the Lord will always be with us in them.

Just ask Job.

• Job 1:21; “He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’”
• Job 13:15; “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.”

Just ask Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

• Daniel 3:17-18; “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. When we go through times of trial on this earth, we can rejoice that the Lord has delivered our soul from death and that He promises to sustain us in difficult times. Whatever ill this life can throw at us, we know God is with us.

• Romans 8:35-39; “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

He is All in All

Romans 11:36

“From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

1 Corinthians 8:6; “There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

From Him

He is the author of all things. He is the giver of all things. He is the instigator, initiator, originator, mastermind. All things are from God.

When we were gone astray, it was He who sought as out. When we were at enmity with Him, it was He who wanted reconciliation. He is the source of our salvation. He is the one who initiated a relationship with us. It was His idea, His desire, His plan.

• Ephesians 2:1-9; “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
• Titus 3:3-7; “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Through Him

Through Him—by means of Himself. Our salvation—our reconciliation with Him—was His own work. We had no righteousness of our own, so He provided it.

• 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:21; “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
• 1 Peter 3:18; “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”
• Isaiah 59:16-17; “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.”
• Isaiah 63:5; “I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.”
• Psalms 98:1; “Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.”‘

To Him

Having wrought salvation for us, our calling is to live unto Him. He brought us to Himself through Jesus Christ so that we could live to Him.

• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; “The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
• Romans 14:7-9 “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
• 1 Peter 4:1-2; “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”

Hang on His Words

Luke 19:47

“And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.”

The people were hanging on his words

The words of Jesus were unique. When officers were sent by the Jews to arrest Him, they returned empty handed saying, “No one ever spoke like this man!” In Luke 4, after He stood in the synagogue to read the scriptures, it says, “All spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.”

Jesus’ words were the very word of God. His words were truth, they were compassionate, they were merciful, they were perfect.

Hang on to His words. Cling to His promises. Hold fast to what He has written down for us. Abide in the truth of His unconditional love. Adhere to the promises of the eternal life He has promised through faith in Him.

• John 8:31-32 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
• 1 John 2:24 “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.”
• Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
• 2 Timothy 3:14 “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.”

Truly, abiding in His words, clinging to His promises, is in fact holding fast to Him.

• John 15:4 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
• John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
• 1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.”
• Jude 1:20-21 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.”
• Colossians 2:6-9 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”

Continual Refuge

Psalm 71:3

“Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”

A rock of refuge

God is a shield for us, a very present help in time of trouble. He is a Rock, a fortress, a mighty God able to protect us and defend us.

• Psalms 31:2-5 “Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.”
• Psalms 91:1-4 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.”
• Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”
• Psalms 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”
• Psalms 18:2-6 “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.”
• Psalms 144:2 “He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”

To which I may continually come

The refuge we take in the Lord is inexhaustible. The dwelling place we have in God is permanent. He invites us to come to Him without end. He wants to gather us under His wings and is always available for us to approach and be safe.

Once we come to put our faith in Christ, our life is hidden in Him forever. We are under the shadow of His wings and eternally safe. We continually reside in His refuge. We are safe from the condemnation of the devil, the law, the accusations of man, and the accusations of our own conscience. His blood has purchased for us an everlasting, continual salvation wherein we may always take refuge.

• Colossians 3:3 “For you have died [been crucified with Christ], and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
• Hebrews 9:12 “[Jesus] entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
• Romans 8:33-39 “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Continue to abide in Him

Jesus is an everlasting refuge for us. Let us continue to abide in Him. Let us not shrink back but continue to live by faith in Him.

• John 8:31-32 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
• John 15:4 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
• John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
• 1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.”

Looking to What is Unseen

Joshua 19:51

“These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel distributed by lot at Shiloh before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.”

They finished dividing the land

Hundreds of years have passed since God made His promises to Abraham. We get the privilege of reading this testimony of God’s faithfulness as it unfolds. Too bad Abraham didn’t get to read what we are reading! Having the promise of an inheritance in Canaan and of an offspring as numerous as the dust of the earth, he believed God without receiving the outcome. He “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar;” Hebrews 11:13.

• Romans 4:18-21 “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

Abraham looked forward to that which was unseen. His faith, we’re told, was reckoned to His account as righteousness. The Lord considered Abraham to be a righteous man because he took God at His word and trusted Him as able to do that which He promised.

We have received promises like Abraham did. With some of the promises we even have their fulfillments written down for us in the book of Revelation. Having witnessed the Lord’s faithfulness to Abraham, and having every reason to believe He is both faithful and able to carry out His promises to us, let us also grow strong in faith.

We have the promise of Jesus’ continual guidance and presence on this earth

• Hebrews 13:5-6 “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”
• Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
• Psalms 48:14 “This is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.”
• Matthew 28:20b “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We have the promise of Jesus’ return

• John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

We have the promise of Jesus’ kingdom

• Luke 12:32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
• Hebrews 12:28 “Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.”
• James 2:5 “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?”
• 1Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

We have the promise of being brought into Jesus’ presence for all eternity

• 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
• Revelation 21:3-5 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’”
• Revelation 21:22-23 “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
• Revelation 22:3-6 “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. And he said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true.’”

I have only mentioned a fraction of His promises and a fraction of the verses concerning the fraction of promises I mentioned! How overwhelming does the Lord need to convince us before we believe in Him wholeheartedly?

• 1 Thessalonians 5:24 “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

A Heavenly Kingdom

Luke 19:12

“He said therefore, ‘A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.’”

A far country

Jesus is telling this parable because He is on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified, but those who were with Him thought He was going to establish His kingdom immediately. The death of their promised king would be misunderstood. So, just as He did in His upperoom discourse in the book of John, Jesus tells them beforehand that He would be leaving. “You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe;” John 14:28-29.

Jesus always conducted Himself in light of His heavenly citizenship. He knew His kingdom was not of this earth. He knew He was a sojourner here.

• John 18:36 “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’”

It was not that He disassociated Himself from the world; on the contrary, He loved the world and desired to gather all men to Himself.

In leiu of His belonging to a heavenly kingdom, He spent His life loving people.

• John 13:1-5 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

To receive for himself a kingdom

Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands. He knew where He had come from and where He was going. In light of this He stripped Himself and served.

• Philippians 2:4-11 “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

God has highly exalted him

It was not Christ who exalted Himself, but God.

• John 8:54 “Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, “He is our God.”‘”
• John 3:35-36 “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
• Ephesians 1:16-23 “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that He worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

And then return

Just as surely as He came, Jesus will return.

• John 14:1-3 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Jesus promises He will return because He wants us be with Him (John 17:24). He has every intention–He is purposed, He is resolute to keep His promise: He will return.

• 2 Peter 3:9-14 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”

Joy to the Fullest

Psalm 16:10-11

“You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

You will not abandon my soul to Sheol

In his first sermon, on the day of Pentecost, Peter quoted this verse saying it speaks prophetically of Christ’s resurrection. Christ, the Holy One of God, was not abandoned to hell nor did He see corruption. He rose again!

Now, since Christ rose again, we know for certain that we who believe in Him will also rise again.

• Romans 6:5 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:21 “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
• John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.’”
• John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

In your presence there is fullness of joy

The joy we so desperately seek after will never be found on this earth. Yes, we can be joyful in part, we can be happy and content to an extent; but true, full, complete joy will only be found in God’s presence.

• Psalm 17:15 “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”
• Galations 5:5 “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”
• Romans 8:23-25 “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 “For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

In this life we will always groan. We are homesick. We want to be where God is. In His presence there is fullness of joy.

Forevermore

It shouldn’t be necessary to say, but just as a reminder: eternity is forever.

Forever.

No more sorrow, no more pain, no more tears forever. Not just the numb absence of pain, but pleasure forever. Always joyful, always happy, always content, always in God’s presence.

• 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Fostering a Willing Spirit

Psalm 32:8-9

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.”

God desires that we stay near to Him without being forced. He promises to teach, counsel, and guide us; He promises to watch over us and instruct us. As our part, He asks that we be willing. He asks that we be inclined to Him. He asks that we not be like stubborn beasts that have to be pushed and pulled, but rather like trusting sheep who follow their Shepherd unreservedly.

Stay near

We all were once like sheep who had gone astray. We all can relate to the words the hymn writer sang, “Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.” But when we first came to God in faith, He gave us a new heart. Ezekiel tells us He transplanted our heart of stone with one of flesh. We have a new nature and the Holy Spirit residing within us. We reciprocate God’s desire for fellowship with us. We have a soft heart toward Him and a willingness to be lead.

• James 4:7-8 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

Since we have a new heart, let us pursue an enthusiasm for walking near to the Lord. God wants to foster within us a heart that is submissive to Him without compulsion. He wants us to cheerfully, willingly love, follow,, and live for Him.

In light of all He’s done for us, this should be easy; we just need to be reminded from time to time.

• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
• Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”
• Romans 14:7-9 “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

We are not our own. We have been purchased with Christ’s blood. He died for us so that we might live with Him. He wants us near to Him, following Him, listening to Him, obeying Him with a willing heart. Furthermore, the very God who desires these things of us has given us the means. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me,” Paul said in Galatians chapter 2. Christ lives in us, His Holy Spirit lives in us, to give us not only the desire, but the ability to do that which is pleasing to Him.

Gracious Speech

Colossians 4:6

“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Your speech

The words of our mouth are powerful.

• Proverbs 15:4 “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”
• Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
• James 3:5 “The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.”

Therefore…

Always be gracious

If everything you say is always full of grace, if every word from your mouth is laced with it, you’ll always have the right answer.

The untamable tongue

It’s easy to say, “From now one, I’ll speak with grace;” the problem is, the tongue is uncontrollable.

• James 3:2, 8-12 “We all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so..”

Trust in God

It is impossible for you to get your tongue under control. What you need to do–what we all need to do–is trust the Lord. We should pray like David did in the Psalms, “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” (Psalms 141:3).

Every word from His mouth is perfect. Every word from His mouth is full of grace. With He and His Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we can trust Him to speak through us.

• Psalms 45:2 “You [speaking of Christ] are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.”
• John 7:46 “The officers answered [concerning Jesus], ‘No one ever spoke like this man!’”
• Luke 4:22 “All spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’”

If you have trouble summoning gracious words by your self, ask God to do it through you. Ask Christ to fill your mouth with words of grace through His Holy Spirit and you will find that His Word is always the answer perfect for any occasion.

You Are Not Your Own

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

You were bought with a price

You belong. You are the property of somebody and as such you are linked with somebody, you are classified as a part of something, you are accepted by somebody. If you were owned be a man, this would be a terrible thing. Where men are owned by other men there is oppression and abuse.

But we are owned by God. We were purchased by Him with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God without spot or blemish.

• 1 Peter 1:18-19 “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
• Acts 20:28 “The church of God, [He] obtained with his own blood.”

You are valuable

If in God’s sight Jesus is more precious than any other thing, if Jesus Christ’s blood was of surpassing value to the Father (and it was), then we can know that we are that precious to Him. He did not withhold even His only son to make us His own. To say we are valuable to Him is a dramatic understatement. We are priceless to Him.

You are His

Let this truth sink deep into your heart. Let it comfort you. After it has comforted you, let it instruct you. The verse before us, and the context of this verse, teach us how we should live in light of the fact that God purchased us.

You belong to the Lord as a sheep to his shepherd. You are His people, His own cherished possession.

• Psalms 100:3 “Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
• Psalms 79:13 “But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.”
• Psalms 95:7 “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”
• Ezekiel 34:31 “You are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.”
• 1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
• John 10:11-14 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.”

What Must I Do?

Luke 18:17-18

“‘Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’ And a ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’”

Receive the kingdom of God

Receiving the kingdom of God is a matter of faith. In the same way a child unreservedly, without prejudice, without pride, ambition, and vanity (John Gill) receives what is promised to him, so ought those who desire eternity receive the kingdom. Jesus promised, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom;” Luke 12:32. As a child resting in the secure care of his parents are those who receive the promise of God’s kingdom.

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is the absolute assurance of an expectation, the conviction concerning something unseen. Faith is the response of one who receives a promise and believes it, trusting in the character of the one who made he promise. Like a child unreservedly trusting in her parents, we receive God’s kingdom.

• 1 Peter 1:8-9 “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:18 “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know [have assurance] that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

What must I do

I doubt it is a coincidence that the ruler’s question is so closely recorded after Jesus’ words about child-like faith. Jesus just finished saying, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” The ruler subsequently asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” It’s just like us adults to be thick-headed and clueless.

Jesus said in the negative tense, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” So, we can obviously accurately assume the positive form is true: “Whoever does receive the kingdom of God like a child shall enter it.”

What must I do to inherit eternal life? What must I do to live forever in God’s kingdom? You must receive Him–the King–in the same simplistic dependency as a child.

By receiving Jesus Christ, you receive life and are made to be fit for heaven.

• John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
• John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
• John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
• John 6:40 “This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

There’s nothing you can do but believe

The ruler addressed Jesus as good when he inquired about the kingdom. Jesus responded, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” He then proceeded to tell him that the way to inherit eternal life was through absolute perfection. But no one is good. No one but God. So, in essence, what Jesus was saying was, “There is nothing you can do; only God can.”

Luke 18:27; “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

It is impossible for man to maintain the required perfection to enter heaven. “Then who can be saved?” (18:26). Anyone who believes in the Lord–anyone who receives Christ and His kingdom through faith.

• Galatians 2:16 “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law [by maintaining a self attained righteousness] but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
• Romans 3:21-25 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”

No one but God is good. If you receive Him, you will be given His righteousness and made fit for the kingdom and an heir of eternal life.

What must you do? Believe.

Freely You Have Received, Freely Give

Matthew 10:8

“You received without paying; give without pay.”

Even though it means the same thing, I like the way this verse reads in the New King James Version better: “Freely you have received, freely give.”

Since you have been blessed and have received free gifts abundantly from God (who the Psalmist says “daily loads us with benefits”), you must also give without expecting payment in return. You have received freely, therefore freely give.

You received without paying

God has given to us with no strings attached. Every good and perfect thing comes down from Him, the Father of lights. A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. How graciously He has given to us who only deserve His wrath!

He has given us eternal life

• Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
  • John 3:14-16 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
  • John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life , and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

He has given us righteousness & justification

• Romans 3:21-25 “The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith….”

He has given us His Holy Spirit

• Luke 11:13 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
  • John 3:34 “He whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.”

He has given us salvation through faith

• Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

What marvelous gifts the Lord has given to us! How thankful we ought to be! How ready we ought to be to give back to Him and to others of our lives!

Give without pay

Not only has the Lord given us an example that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21), but He has also given us His Holy Spirit. With His Holy Spirit inside of us we gain the desire to give to others. He compels us, through the knowledge of the vastness of the love of Christ, to live our lives for Him giving to others just as freely as He has given to us.

• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
• 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
• 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”
• Luke 6:30-35 “Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”

Knowing how much God has given to us, let us be impassioned to give back to Him by giving to others expecting nothing in return. “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”

The Word of God is at Work

1 Thessalonians 2:13

“We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

You received the Word of God

If we have received the written word of God, or the spoken word of God, what we have received is the Living Word: Jesus Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Receiving Him has caused us to pass from death to life and has given us a new birth into His family.

• John 1:11-13 “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
• 1 Peter 1:23 “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”
• 1 John 5:1 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God….”

Which is at work in you believers

We have been born, not of a perishable seed, an inanimate seed, or a lifeless seed, but of the imperishable, living word of God. He is at work in us.

• Philippians 2:13 “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
• Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
• Hebrews 13:21 “[May the God of peace] equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.”

Disquieted One: God will Establish You

Isaiah 54:11-14

“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.”

Afflicted one

Does this text seem to address you by name? It does me. All of us, though in varying degrees and in various ways, are storm-tossed. We have good days, we have bad days. The ocean swells up and down; all through life we reel to and fro. We long to be at peace, we long to be stable.

• Psalm 42:5-6 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”
• Psalm 42:11 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
• Psalm 43:5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

The Psalmist was one to admit the weakness of his heart and command himself to turn his eyes to the Lord. In the midst of a storm, he called out to the One who even the wind and the seas obey.

In righteousness you shall be established

“Just a I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt. Fightings and fears within, without; O Lamb of God I come! I come!”

When we come to the Lord, having been storm-tossed and afflicted, disquieted and unstable, He establishes us in righteousness–His righteousness.

• 2 Thessalonians 3:3 “The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”
• 1 Peter 5:10 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
• 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

Always Pray with Confidence

Luke 18:1

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

They ought always to pray

Though Jesus was speaking specifically to the disciples, all of us can take the exhortation of this parable as if spoken directly to us: we ought always to pray.

• Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
• Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
• Ephesians 6:16-19 “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel….”
• Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:17 ‘Pray without ceasing….”

And not lose heart

Constant prayer is difficult to maintain. It’s exhausting. But we ought not to loose heart in our asking. We ought not to be discouraged. We should always be confident that the God who spent His blood to purchase our right to approach Him will always listen and always act. We don’t know how He will choose to answer us, but we should never doubt that He hears, and never doubt that He will show perfect love in His response.

• Hebrews 4:14-16 “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
• Hebrews 10:19-23 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
• Ephesians 3:12 “In [Christ Jesus] we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”

When it comes to praying we should not lose heart but gain confidence. We approach a God who, though we went astray, reconciled us to Himself through the offering of Jesus Christ. He took the initiative to gain fellowship with us. Let us take advantage of our audience with Him: the Creator of the World. Hear the heart of Jesus’ plea for us to pray: “Will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily;” Luke 18:7-8. When He returns, will He find a people who believe Him and act accordingly?

He Came and Preached Peace

John 4:7-9

“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”

Jews have no dealings with Samaritans

In his commentary of the Bible, Adam Clarke said of the Jews’ disdain for the Samaritans that they “will not drink out of the same cup or well with them; will not sit down to meals with them, nor eat out of the same vessel; will have no religious connection, no commercial dealings with them.” Though the cultural norm in Jesus’ day was to look down upon women and distance one’s self from Samaritans, Jesus took it upon Himself to approach them and preach the gospel.

He came and preached peace

Every one of us can put ourselves in this woman’s shoes. All of us at one time (if not still today) were separate from Christ, alienated from Israel–without hope, without God in the world. But just as Jesus broke through cultural boundaries in His day to approach this one woman, so too He has come to preach peace to us who were far away from God. His message is simple: through faith in Him–Jesus Christ–we all may approach God being fully at peace with Him through forgiveness by His blood.

• Titus 3:3-7 “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
• Ephesians 2:11-18 “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands–remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

More emphatic than the enmity that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans is the enmity between us and God. We, the willfully disobedient creature, have put ourselves at opposition with the one perfect, holy God. He sought to bring peace between us. This He did by breaking down the dividing wall of hostility, abolishing the law of commandments that stood between us, and shedding His blood to provide forgiveness for all sin. He has come to preach peace both to us who are far off and to the Jew who is near showing us the singular way to access the Father: through faith in Jesus Christ.

What Satan Does Not Want You to Know

Romans 6:14

“Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

I’ve heard it said, “The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.” I’m half inclined to say that’s true. But amongst the church, I would say a far greater deceit would be the lie that we have no power, no strength, no ability to stand against the power of sin and the wiles of the devil.

Sin will have no dominion over you

The devil does not want you, Christian, to know the truth about sin. Sin has no dominion over you. You are not a slave to it. You are not obligated in any way to indulge in it. You are free from its reins.

• Romans 6:3-14 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
• John 8:34-36 “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’”

As long as we still consider ourselves weak and powerless against sin, we will remain enslaved and obedient to it. That’s why Satan does not want you to know about your freedom. He does not want you to believe that whom the Son sets free will be free indeed. He knows that if you realize this and walk in your freedom, exercising your right as a child of God to submit yourself to the Lord as an instrument of righteousness, he will have no stronghold over your life.

You are not under law but under grace

1 Corinthians 15:56 says, “The power of sin is the law.” Sin gets it’s strength in the unattainable requirements of the law. Paul says it this way: “If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me;” Romans 7:7-11.

Satan does not want you to know that you have been freed from the law through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He wants you to think you are still held hostage by its demands. For if you are still under the law sin is still strong and grace is ineffectual to you.

• Galatians 3:10-14 “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”
• Colossians 2:13-15 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Through faith in Jesus Christ we have been freed from the law. He bore our curse to redeem us. Having redeemed us, He gave us the Spirit. He forgave us all trespasses and disarmed all rulers and authorities. We are dead to sin and alive to God.

Satan does not want you to know this.

Satan wants you to think you’re weak. Satan wants you to think the legal demands of the law still stand against you. He knows that if you consider yourself a helpless victim, you will continue to be enslaved. Oppression by the hand of a weak bully is only as strong as the mind of the subjacent who has been deceived.

Here’s what God wants you to know: you have His Holy Spirit. Through Him, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” Everything we need for life is in Him. Everything we need for godliness is in Him. We have His fruit, we have His life, we have His strength. Now let us walk as those who have passed from death into life, no longer presenting ourselves as weak, helpless slaves to unrighteousness, but presenting ourselves as strong, emboldened, empowered servants of Christ.

Stand Fast, Be Strong, and Fight!

Joshua 16:10

“However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor.”

They did not drive out the Canaanites

The Lord had promised the children of Israel that He would drive out the inhabitants of the land. Even just 3 chapters earlier, the Lord told Joshua, “I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel.” Yet, for all that, the Canaanites remained in the land.

• Joshua 15:63 “But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.”
• Joshua 17:12-13 “Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.”

So the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day

Though the Lord promised to drive the Canaanites out from before Israel, they remained. Was it God who was unfaithful? Is it the Lord who is not strong? No, Israel was not willing to fight. God promised to give them victory, God promised to go before them in battle, but Israel folded his arms and refused to fight. So, the Canaanites remained in the land.

We also are in the midst of a battle. We war against the lusts of our flesh. Yet “though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds;” 2 Corinthians 10:3-4.

We wage a spiritual, internal war.

• 1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
• Romans 7:23 “I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
• Galatians 5:17 “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
• James 4:1 “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”

We’ve been born-again to living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because He lives, we live. Our old self was crucified with Christ. Unfortunately, it still rears itself up again and fights against us. The question is, how long will we put off claiming the victory that is ours in Christ? As Joshua said to Ephraim, “How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?” Joshua 18:3.

We are not told, “do away with most of your sin,” but to “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God;” 2 Corinthians 7:1. Do I mean to say we will obtain perfection on this earth? No; perfection will come when Christ brings us into His presence. But we ought not go on in our Christian walk ignoring the battle around us, pretending we don’t see it, and acting as if we have no strength to fight.

Stand up! Be strong! Act like men! Get up and fight. The Lord is with you. He has given you His Holy Spirit to produce His fruit within you and to give you the power to put to death the deeds of your flesh. He has promised to give you victory in this spiritual battle we wage. It is your decision whether or not you will claim it.

• 1 Corinthians 16:13 “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
• Ephesians 6:10-18 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints….”

The Lord’s Presence, the Lord’s Work, the Lord’s Light

Genesis 39:2-4

“The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had.”

The LORD was with Joseph

The Christian’s greatest joy is knowing that his God is with Him. What other god would humble himself to seek the companionship of his servant? What other god would co-labor with those whom he sent to do his work? The Lord alone is God, there is none besides Him, and He has given us overwhelming promises of His perpetual presence.

• Hebrews 13:5 “He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”
• Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
• Psalms 37:28 “The LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever.”
• Genesis 28:15 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go…. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

His master saw that the LORD was with Him

God’s presence among His saints is visible to those who are near to them. God is with us, we radiate Him, He is revealed through us as we co-labor with Him.

• Titus 2:9-10 “Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.”
• Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
• Philippians 2:13-15 “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

We, even more so than Joseph, can be confident of the Lord’s presence. We have His Word with us always, both Living and written. Let us then rejoice in our relationship with God through Christ–that we have been reconciled to God through Christ’s blood so as to never be separated from Him. Having His presence with us always, let us adorn His doctrine and shine His light so that He can be seen, recognized, and received by those who do not yet know Him.

He Will Bring Forth Our Righteousness

Psalm 37:5-6

“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”

Trust in Him

God promises He will take care of us. He tells us He is the Good Shepherd. He is faithful; we ought to trust Him

We are often prone to doubt Him because we don’t always understand what He wants to lead us in and how He wants to do it. Our thoughts are not His thoughts neither are our ways His ways.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light

“He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” The Lord is determined to lead us in the paths of righteousness. He promises He will never let us go. As the psalm before us says, “He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light.” It is simply our job to trust in Him; to commit our way to Him who is faithful and able to carryout what He has promised.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Philippians 1:6 “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
• 1 Corinthians 1:4, 8 “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus…who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He leads us in truth.

We are quick to think of God’s leading in terms of the course of our life. Where He leads we will follow. The Lord is absolutely able to lead us through life, and He does. But I believe God is much more concerned about the conduct of our life. He leads us in truth–His word is truth.

• Psalms 25:5 “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”
• John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
• Psalms 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Let us commit our ways to Him who is faithful to lead us and faithful to keep us. As Abraham, the father of faith, let us not weaken in faith or let any distrust make us waver concerning the promise of God, but grow strong in our faith giving glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he has promised (Romans 4:19-21).

Looking to Christ, We are Radiant

Psalms 34:5

“Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.”

Those who look to God are radiant

Jesus will be seen through those who follow Him. Those who keep their eyes on the Lord radiate Him. The Hebrew word translated here as radiant literally means to sparkle, shine, or be cheerful. Those who focus their attention on the Light of the World, will themselves be lights in this world.

• 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

It is Jesus’ prerogative to set His lights where they can be seen

We behold the glory of the Lord and are transformed into His image. This comes through His Spirit. It is not a work of our flesh, but He shines upon us and makes Himself seen to others.

• 2 Corinthians 4:6 “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
• Luke 11:33“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.”

Their faces shall never be ashamed

In approaching God through the New Covenant–eternal life through His death and resurrection–we have confidence. We will never be ashamed. We will never be disappointed. We will never be forsaken. Our hope in Him is sure, steadfast, and immovable. And we know that as we look to Him, we are being transformed into His image.

• 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Wherever Jesus’ places us in this world, let us pray for His light to be seen. If we make it a practice to look to Him, we know we will radiate Him. As we keep our eyes on Him, let us rejoice in His ability to transform us into His image.

Jesus Desires our Praise

Luke 17:11-19

“On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’”

As they went they were cleansed

Each of us, if we have believed in Jesus Christ, have been cleansed; we have been healed just like these lepers.

• Acts 15:9 “[God] made no distinction between [Jew and Gentile], having cleansed their hearts by faith.”
• 1 Peter 1:21-22 “Through [Christ you] are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love…
• Isaiah 53:4-6 “He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God

The desire of Christ’s heart is that we, like the one Samaritan leper, turn and worship Him for what He has done.

• 1 Peter 2:4-5 “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks

Among other things, one way we can offer spiritual sacrifices to Christ is through thanksgiving.

• Hebrews 13:15 “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”
• Psalms 50:23 “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.”
• Psalms 69:30-31 “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.”
• Psalms 116:16-17 “O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.”

Ten lepers were healed, only one returned to worship and offer to Christ the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Since we also have been cleansed and made into a royal priesthood, let us turn to the Lord and worship Him offering spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to Him.

Jesus Desires our Company

Luke 13:34

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”

How often would I have gathered your children together

Jesus fervently desires to be near to man. How vividly He discloses His desire to draw men near to Himself! It has been His desire from eternity. He said, “I have always wanted to gather you up under my wings! I want you to be near to Me! I want to take care of you.”

You would not

In the Psalms, David reciprocated the desire to be near to God. “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings;” Psalms 36:7. Though David wanted to be near to God, man as a whole rejects Jesus, not wanting to be near to Him.

Just as vividly as Jesus’ heart for man is illustrated in this verse, so too man’s heart for Him is revealed. “You would not.” That is, “I wanted you, but you did not want me.”

• Romans 10:21 “But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
• John 1:11-13 “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Jesus has sought ought and secured our reconciliation to Him.

God so loved the world–He so desired to gather us together under His wings–that He gave His only Son to make it possible. We spurned Him, we rejected Him, but He sought to make us accepted. If we repent from our rejection of Him and receive Him, we will become His children and be forever in fellowship with Him. Then, like David, we can say with confidence: “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

• 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”

Take refuge today in the shadow of Christ’s outstretched arms. He has invited you to commune with Him and paid the ultimate price to make it possible.