Daily Devotions

Friday, October 3

All of Grace

Grace—what a sweet fragrance. It is the greatest theme in the Bible.

Abounding grace, wondrous grace, boundless grace, fountain of grace, unfailing grace, unmeasurable grace, electing grace, matchless grace, overflowing grace, redeeming grace, pardoning grace, plenteous grace, unfailing grace, fullness of grace, efficacious grace, magnified grace, refreshing grace, sovereign grace, and salvation by grace, grace rich and free!

“Oh to grace, how great a debtor.”

God is exceedingly gracious to sinful man. Grace is the unmerited and undeserved favor of a holy God upon sinful depraved human beings. It is His kindness, love and nature to be gracious to humanity.

Grace is the very opposite of merit. It is totally undeserved favor of God toward the sinner. However, it is more than that, it is favor shown to the one who has deserved the very opposite.

What better definition of grace can you find than that expressed by the apostle Paul in Romans 5:8? “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

In contrast to contemporary man’s thinking, God does not owe sinful man anything. Every blessing humanity enjoys is the result of God’s “common grace.”

Every person is a recipient of God’s “common grace” whether he acknowledges it or not. However, “common grace” saves no one, and it never has. We need “special grace” to be saved.

“Saving grace,” on the other hand, redeems sinful man for time and eternity.

The apostle Paul tells us that no matter how great our sin, the grace of God is proven greater. “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20-21).

“Sin increased,” actual transgressions increased, but “grace abounded all the more.” More grace added to this super abundance of grace. Grace was added to more grace, over and above the grace that super abounded, with even more grace added to that!

“Oh, to grace how great a debtor”!

Do you need grace? Come to the fountain of super abounding, flooding grace!

All the Law can do is point its finger and say, “You are guilty!” It condemns sinful man. It shows sin for what it is in the eyes of God.

However, God has more than an abundant supply of grace. There was plenty of sin, but much, much more grace in superabundance. There is victory for the sinner in grace.

This superabundant grace replaces the reign of sin. We do not have the power to break free from sin, therefore it reigns and we cannot escape the penalty of death. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).

However, God’s grace reigns through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Yes, grace triumphs when God imputes His righteousness and gives eternal life to the sinner who believes on the saving death of Jesus Christ to save him (Jn. 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rom. 5:6, 8; 10:9-10, 13; 8:1; 5:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:21).

God is gracious.

What is your response to God’s saving grace? Your eternal destiny depends upon your response to His saving grace. Christ died for you so that “whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The great preacher of grace, John Newton, wrote:

"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,  

Was blind, but now I see."

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Saturday, October 4

Evidence that Demands Our Faith

How do I know that God has fully accepted the death of Jesus Christ as payment for my sins?

“When Jesus died, He died as my representative, and I died in Him; when He rose, He rose as my representative, and I rose in Him. . . . I look at the cross of Christ, and I know that atonement has been made for my sins; I look at the open sepulcher and the risen and ascended Lord, and I know that the atonement has been accepted. There no longer remains a single sin on me, no matter how many or how great my sins may have been. My sins may have been as high as the mountains, but in the light of the resurrection the atonement that covers them is as high as heaven. My sins may have been as deep as the ocean, but in the light of the resurrection the atonement that swallows them up is as deep as eternity” (R. A. Torrey, The Bible and Its Cross, pp. 107-08).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof that the LORD God has accepted the full payment for our sins in the death of His Son. God is fully and completely satisfied with the atoning work Jesus did on the cross for my sins because He raised Him from the dead.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that every believer in Christ is justified by faith, and cleansed by His blood of all their sins (Heb. 12:1-2; Phil. 2:8-11). It is the evidence from God Himself that the penalty for our sins has been paid in full by the death of Jesus Christ. By the resurrection of Jesus from the dead God declared that He has accepted the death of Jesus as an atonement for our sins.

Do you “believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead”? (Romans 4:24). Jesus “was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification” (v. 25). God the Father sent Jesus to the cross to die for our sins (Acts 2:23), and “God raised Him up again” (v. 24). “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses,” declared Peter (v. 32). The death of Jesus Christ was according to God’s determined plan to accomplish our redemption. Jesus Christ is “the Lamb of God slain from the creation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).

Moreover, Jesus deliberately chose to die as our substitute. He “died for our sins.” He died in our place on the cross as our sins-bearer.

The fact that we are sinners is proof that we deserve to die. “The wages of sin is death.” We deserve eternal damnation, but Jesus was delivered up by His Father for our transgressions. He was crucified for our sins. I deserve Hell, but Jesus took my Hell and served the sentence of death in my place (Rom. 5:6, 8). We have redemption through His death (1 Pet. 1:18-19).

How do we know this as a fact? Why should we put our trust in His death? How can we know for sure that the death of Jesus Christ is all-sufficient to cover all our sins? “He was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” That is all the proof I need. The resurrection is God’s proof that He accepted the death of Jesus in my place. Because Jesus is alive I know beyond a doubt that a full payment for my sins has been made.

Such evidence as this demands that we respond to God by faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:9-10, 13). It was by His substitutionary, vicarious death that Jesus turned the wrath of God aside and became the basis upon which God is able to justify the sinner who believes.

“Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).

Sunday, October 5

Evidence of Members of God’s Family

Our possession of the Holy Spirit is the very essence of what it means to be a Christian. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). Those who belong to Christ have the Holy Spirit living within them. Moreover, if you have Him indwelling you, you will live like Him (vv. 10-13).

We know that we are true Christians because of the Holy Spirit’s presence in us, and because our lives have been changed by His indwelling presence.

Moreover, we have a new status and relationship with God. “All those who being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (v. 14). We have a new relationship to God; we are members of His family. Paul speaks of our being “sons,” “sonship,” “children,” “heirs,” and “co-heirs with Christ” (vv. 15-23).

We are His children by the new birth, and the status of “adopted” children.

Let me be very clear, not everyone is a member of God’s family. We are all His creatures having been created by God, but only those who are “led by the Spirit of God” are the sons of God. Those who are not led by the Spirit are not Christians, and therefore not His spiritual children. 

Jesus made this fact clear in John 8:39-47. Specifically note what Jesus says, “If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God. . . He sent Me. . . You are from your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your Father. . . . He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God” (vv. 42, 44, 47).

Only those who possess the Holy Spirit and are led by Him are the children of God. Indeed, Paul is telling us that all believers in Jesus Christ are members of God’s family.

In the passage above Jesus says there has been a radical change in our status with God. We have been delivered from Satan’s realm to God’s family. We were children of the devil, but now we are children of God. We are “in Adam,” but now we are “in Christ.” We were “dead in trespasses and sin,” but now we are “alive in Christ Jesus.” We have received eternal life. We were unrighteous sinners, but now we have been clothed with the righteousness of God in Christ. We were slaves who have been emancipated by the redemption that is ours in Christ Jesus. We are children of God by a spiritual birth. He has placed us as full-grown children by adoption in His family.

This new relationship with God in His family is something He did for us in His grace. God imparted to us this new life and status when we repented and believed on Him as our Savior. The “new birth” gives us this new spiritual life. The Holy Spirit stirs and quickens our hearts to cause us to repent and to love God. It is such a radical change that we observe a renewing of our minds after God’s things, our emotional responses to God’s Spirit and our volitional choices are the outcome of this new mindset.

The Holy Spirit uses His Word, the Bible, to convict us of sin, God’s righteousness, and causes us to be born spiritually into God’s family. Then a Christians He uses His Word to guide us in the Christian life.

When the Holy Spirit renews your mind, you will demonstrate it by the way you live.

Have you experienced in your life this radical change that God brings about when He makes us His children? Where is the evidence that you are now a child of God? Do you love Him? Do you love the things of God? Do you love His Word? Are you trying to please Him? Is the Spirit leading you? Are you submissive to His will? Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” If you are a member of His family you will bear resemblance to Him in all you do.

Monday, October 6

Daily Truth Devotional

Matthew 17:20 - Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Stop hiding from success because you're afraid to fail.  Failure is necessary part of life that can motivate you to be a better person than you ever dreamed possible.  Stop fearing the risk.  Have faith in God. With Him all things are possible.

Yesterday's failure does not determine your future.  Stop taking ownership of one day that was less than stellar, and move on.  Let your scares be a reminder of things you have over, come not things that have conquered you.  The choice is yours.  Have faith that God wants something better for you than what your mistakes might dictate.

If you continue to dwell on your past failures, you will never achieve tomorrow's success.  It doesn't take much to believe that a great big God who has never failed you can actually take you to the place you need to be; can help you accomplish your ultimate goals, no matter how lofty.

Reach for the stars, and don't be surprised when you grab them on the way back down!  God has things destined for you that are far greater athan you have ever dreamed possible.  Believe in God and watch the mountain of impossibility that has held you hostage begin to melt in the presence of the Lord.

Tuesday, October 7

The Process Before the Promise

Psalm 40:1 - I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

Are there any disappointments in your life that seem to be lingering on and on?  Do you feel you've prayed the same prayers over and over, with little to no change?

I understand how hard that is.  Over the last few years, I've walked through some of the most heartbreaking seasons in my family, marriage, and health.  And although the circumstances of your life may be different, you probably have your own middle-of-the-night moments wrestling through tears too.

There are memories that still hurt.  Realities that make you wonder if you'll ever feel normal again.  Sufferings that seem forever long.  And you're disappointed that today you aren't living the promises of God you've begged to come to pass.

In your most private moments, you want to scream words you don't use around your Bible friends at the unfairness of it all. But then there are more hopeful moments . . . when you want to turn up the praise music, lift up honest prayers, and declare God is good even when the situation doesn't seem good.

Hurting but still hoping - that is the human journey.  And that is where we find David in Psalm 40.  In the first ten verses, David praised God for delivering him, but then in verses 11 through 17, he was crying out for God to deliver him again.  David was hurting but still hoping.

Hoping doesn't mean we ignore reality.  No, hoping means we acknowledge reality in the very same breath that we acknowledge God's sovereignty - His absolute ability and power to work as He sees best.  Our hope can't be tied to whether or not a circumstance or another person changes.  Our hope must be tied to the unchanging promises of God.  We hope for the good we know God will ultimately bring from our situation, whether the good turns out to match our desires or not.  And sometimes that takes a while.  The process often requires us to be persevering and patient.

Honestly, I know that can feel a little overwhelming.  I want the promised blessing of Psalm 40:4: "Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust," but I forget that this kind of trusting in God is often forged in the crucible of longsuffering.  God isn't picking on me.  God is picking me to personally live out one of His promises.

It's a high honor.  But it doesn't always feel that way.  I've got to walk through the low places of the process before I'm perfectly equipped to live the promise.  We read about some of the low places of the process in verses 1 through3 of Psalm 40:

I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
    out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
    and put their trust in the Lord.

The idea of waiting patiently in verse 1 is incredibly important in this psalm.  The Hebrew word for waiting indicates it is ongoing, and it holds a sense of eager expectancy and hope.  

So while I want the solid rock on which to stand, first I have to wait patiently for the Lord to lift me out of the slime and mud and set my feet.  That word set in the original Hebrew is qum, which means to "arise or take a stand." God has to take me through the process of getting unstuck from what's been holding me captive before I can take a stand.

I also want that new song promised in the psalm.  Did you notice, though, what comes before the promised of a new song?  It's the many cries to the Lord for help.  The most powerful praise songs are often guttural cries of pain that got turned into beautiful melodies.

I know this is hard.  So, let me be the one to lean in and whisper these words to you as we begin to wrestle through this journey together: "God is working things out.  He's not far away.  He is right here with us.  We need to cling to this hope.  Believe this hope. Live out this hope. Right here and right now.  Even if our prayers aren't answered in the way and the timing we want.  Even when this process feels messy.  We will trust that God is good."

Lord God, I know You often work in ways I don't understand.

There are parts of my story that feel incredibly hard to live

in, but I trust You are making something beautiful even

out of those parts of my life.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Wednesday, October 8

Trusting God's Wisdom

Isaiah 38:5 - Go and tell Hezekiah, "Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: 'I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.'"

The fundamental premise of Christianity is that God knows what is best better than we do.  When we are experiencing God's blessing, it it easy to believe that God knows what is best.  But when God allows sickness and sorrow in our lives, we may be tempted to question His wisdom.

The Lord told King Hezekiah that his life was coming to an end.  God advised him to prepare himself for death and to make arrangements to turn over the kingdom.  Instead, Hezekiah pled for his life, begging God to spare him form death (Isaiah 38:3).  God loved the righteous Hezekiah and, in His grace, granted him an additional fifteen years to live.  Those fifteen years would prove that God's wisdom far exceeds human wisdom.  During those added years, Manasseh was born, and he eventually succeeded Hezekiah as king of Judah.  Manasseh, who reigned for fifty-five years, was the most evil king ever to rule over Judah (2 Kings 21:1).  Manasseh encouraged the worship of idolatry throughout the nation.  He passed his own son through fire according to the abominable practices of idolatry.  He shed much innocent blood during his reign; every part of the nation suffered from his cruelty.  Manasseh's wickedness provoked God to anger, but Manasseh ignored God's warning (2 Kings 31:16; 2 Chron. 33:10).  All these hardships were caused by Manasseh, a king who would never have been born if Hezekiah's extended reign let to Judah's eventual defeat by Babylonians (2 Kings 20:12-20).

So much suffering resulted from Hezekiah's unwillingness to accept God's will for him.  God knows what is best. Whether your circumstances are easy or difficult, you can completely trust His guidance.

Thursday, October 9

Your First and Highest Calling

1 Corinthians 1:9 - God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Do you know what God wants you to do more than anything else today?  He wants you to fellowship with Him.  He wants you to walk with Him and talk with Him.  To discuss the things of life with Him.  He wants you to draw near to Him and partake of His very nature.

So many of us get so caught up in striving to please God in the things we do that we forget our first and highest calling is just be in fellowship with Him. That's right. God longs for us just to want to be with Him. 

Have you ever considered how much it would mean for you to just come to God and say, "Father, I didn't really come today to get anything.  I've prayed about my needs already and Your Word says they're met according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  So I just cam to be with You.  If You have anything You'd like to tell me, I'm ready to listen . . . and I want you to know that whatever I see in Your Word, I'll do it.  I'll put it into effect in my life."

Why don't you tell that to God today?  He's waiting to have fellowship with you.

1 John 1:1-7

The Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Walking in the Light

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Tuesday, September 30

Done By Me Or For Me?

Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. - Matthew 25:34

Faith is invisible.  No one can look into another's heart to see whether faith is there.  And yet faith is very visible.  On the Last Day, Jesus will point to faith visible in the lives of believers.  He will reference the works they did as outward indication of the invisible faith in their hearts.  Unfortunately, some still misunderstand that salvation is something done for us, not by us.

In his preview of the Last Day, not what Jesus calls believers.  They are "blessed by my Father."  They stand in heaven, not because of what they have earned but for what the Father has given them.  In their hands is the salvation prepared by Jesus. Even the faith that holds this salvation is not their own working but a gift from God's Holy Spirit.

Note that Jesus also uses the word inheritance.  An inheritance is a gift from the donor not some wage earned by me efforts.  So the kingdom of heaven is God's free gift, graciously willed to me because of what his Son has done.  To make it even clearer, Jesus calls it the kingdom prepared for you, not by you.  God has done all the work - planning my salvation in eternity, preparing in on Calvary, and planting faith in me to receive salvation through the power of the gospel.  Would I want it any other way?  What can be mre secure than a heaven guaranteed by the efforts of my gracious God?

Lord, when I stand in glory at your side, all my

praise shall be that you did it all for me.  Amen. 

Saturday, November 30

The Unchanging Christ: The Same Yesterday

The Unchanging Christ: The Same Yesterday

All of my life I have heard the plea for a relevant “new Christ for a new age.”

The truth is Jesus Christ is God’s final word to men in all ages. He is relevant for every age. He is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

The same Jesus sits today “on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3). He is the same person as He was when here on the earth.

When we read the words, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday” we are carried back to the long ages before He became flesh. I can point to a date, time, and place when I was born. However, Jesus did not begin to live when He was born in the flesh of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem. He simply changed His robes.

The apostle Paul tells us Jesus was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, divested Himself of His garments of glory that had been His from all eternity and clothed Himself in the garments of a common household slave in the flesh and was obedient unto death. He was God-man. He was fully God and fully human (Phil. 2:5-8).

The absolutely essential fact is He was the same in past eternity; He changes not.

I search for an absolute in an age of change; He changes not, and I therefore have security.

He came from the Father and He returned to the Father. He dwelt in the ageless past in the bosom of His eternal Father. The apostle John tells us, “in the beginning was the Word.” When everything else had a beginning He already existed and He had no beginning. His beginning had no beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men” (John 1:1-4).

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday . . .” His eternal existence is declared in these words, “in the beginning was the Word.” He is no vacillating whim of the age. “The Word was with God,” a distinct personality of the true and perfect deity because “the Word was God.” His personal relationship with the Father is unchangeable. He “was in the beginning with God,” and because of His resurrection and ascension, He still is in the presence of the Father in a perfect relationship.

Moreover, His understanding of man never needs to change. No one knows me like the one who made me. “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” “In Him is life.”

Where would you turn for a relevant Christ that is not found in the historic Christ? Would you, like the modern self-made cults, turn to your own making, or to some new age “enlightenment”?

God in Christ has already become one of us in order to demonstrate His love for us, and to show us what God is really like. God came and revealed Himself to sinful and disobedient rebellious men.

I don’t need a greater “light.” I only need to respond to the One true and all supreme Lord of all creation. Why should I turn to some lesser “light”? All other spiritual lights are only creepy shadows of the one who masquerades as “the angel of light,” Satan himself.

We don’t have to look afar to discover what evil lurks within the heart of man. God has fully revealed Himself (Heb. 1:1-3), and man in his stubborn rebellion cries for something greater and better like selfish, pampered, narcissistic children whining for something new.

God has spoken. He has not changed and He will not. He is the same as He was yesterday, and I find stability for my soul and eternal peace with God. Because He is the same I have eternal security of a right relationship with Him, not of my self-making, or choosing, but in His all-sufficient wisdom and grace.

Because He is the same yesterday, I know that what He has said will still remain true for you and me today. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

That great truth will not change, because our Savior changes not. His word and eternal promises remain the same throughout all eternity. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Thank God.