From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Morning ...
Luke 23:31
If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
Among other interpretations of this suggestive question, the following is
full of teaching: "If the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus, what
will be done when the sinner himself-the dry tree-shall fall into the hands of
an angry God?" When God saw Jesus in the sinner's place, He did not spare Him;
and when He finds the unregenerate without Christ, He will not spare them. O
sinner, Jesus was led away by His enemies: so shall you be dragged away by
fiends to the place appointed for you. Jesus was deserted of God; and if He,
who was only imputedly a sinner, was deserted, how much more shall you be?
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" what an awful shriek! But what shall be your
cry when you shall say, "O God! O God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" and the
answer shall come back, "Because ye have set at nought all My counsel, and
would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when
your fear cometh." If God spared not His own Son, how much less will He spare
you! What whips of burning wire will be yours when conscience shall smite you
with all its terrors. Ye richest, ye merriest, ye most self-righteous
sinners-who would stand in your place when God shall say, "Awake, O sword,
against the man that rejected Me; smite him, and let him feel the smart for
ever"? Jesus was spit upon: sinner, what shame will be yours! We cannot sum up
in one word all the mass of sorrows which met upon the head of Jesus who died
for us, therefore it is impossible for us to tell you what streams, what oceans
of grief must roll over your spirit if you die as you now are. You may die so,
you may die now. By the agonies of Christ, by His wounds and by His blood, do
not bring upon yourselves the wrath to come! Trust in the Son of God, and you
shall never die.
Mark 1:15
(15) And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at
hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Luke 16:16-17
(16) The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the
kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. (17) And it is
easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Is there any doubt in our minds that we are within striking range of
the return of Jesus Christ? the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached for
almost two thousand years, and prophecies made by Him and others regarding His
return are being fulfilled. The crisis at the close is almost upon us.
Mankind's only hope is revealed in the gospel, yet we find great ignorance
regarding what His good news is.
The complete secularization of the Western, "Christian" world is almost
accomplished, and doctrinal confusion abounds. It seems as though the vast
number of professing Christians believe that all one must do is believe in the
name of Jesus Christ to be saved. This is most certainly required, but Jesus
Himself says in Mark 1:15 that one must believe in the gospel in order to be
saved.
That is quite a bit different than merely believing in Jesus. While it
is definitely true that Jesus died for our sins, the true gospel provides a
great deal more instruction regarding Christianity and its purpose than solely
Jesus' part in our salvation. It reveals that a Christian must play an active
part in the spiritual creation that God is working in and through men.
One of the more effective deceptions Satan has palmed off on mankind is
that all God is attempting to do is to "save" people. Most Christians somehow
fail to think of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, as actively involved in doing
something more with those who are converted.
Consider this process, which most people believe: At some time in his
life, the "saved" one had perceived the need to be forgiven of his sins. He
then asked God to forgive him, and from that point on, because of Christ's
blood, he was "saved." Is this true? Though this illustration has been
simplified a great deal, it is nevertheless close to the prevalent belief.
We will add a biblical fact to that scenario. Almost all Bible
commentators hold that the Israelite's experience of walking through the
wilderness following Israel's release from bondage to Egypt is a type of a
Christian's walk following his conversion. Walking is typical of laboring or
working to reach an objective.
Did the Israelites arrive in the Promised Land—a type of the Kingdom of
God—immediately upon release from their bondage? No! They had ahead of them a
forty-year journey filled with trials. As they journeyed, God worked with them
and supplied their needs, preparing them for their inheritance. Release from
Egypt only began another aspect of God's work with them. To reach their
objective, a great deal of labor lay ahead of them.
We all need to come to grips with the reality that our Creator is a God
who works. He is not merely observing mankind, or worse still, having gone way
off somewhere in the vastness of the universe, letting things run more or less
on their own. Jesus says in John 5:17, "My Father has been working until now,
and I have been working." More plainly, the Father began working in the
indefinite past and has continued working right up till now. God is not sitting
around passively saving people.
In Psalm 74:12, notice the psalmist Asaph's revelation of what God is
doing: "For God is my King from of old, working salvation in the midst of the
earth." The salvation of human beings requires God to work, yet some seem to
think that all He does is as simple as turning a "forgiveness switch," and the
person is saved. However, in various places both the Father and the Son are
called "Saviors." It ought to be apparent that saving a person from
circumstances he needs deliverance from requires a savior to work. If a
deliverer or savior does not make a strenuous effort, the one in need of rescue
will not be saved.
Jesus testified that the Father was working at that very moment. The
Bible provides abundant records of Jesus, our Savior, working on behalf of
mankind: teaching, counseling, praying, healing, setting the example for His
disciples, and obeying His Father flawlessly in order to be the sacrifice for
the forgiveness of our sins. Further, He says in John 14:10, "Do you not
believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak
to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does
the works." Jesus thus shows the Father to be His partner in His ministry.
In addition, when Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to heaven, He
was made Head of the Church, as well as its High Priest. As such, He is
responsible to the Father for working with the members of His Body, interceding
on our behalf. He thus bears great responsibility for the salvation of its
individual members and the success of the church as a whole. These vital tasks
require His careful attention, especially as events near the crisis at the
close of the age.
The conclusion is obvious: The work of God abounds with works for all
concerned in seeking the objective He has set before us in His purpose. That
objective is the Kingdom of God.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Is the Christian Required To Do Works? (Part Five)
.
===============================================
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Morning ...
Hebrews 5:8
Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.
We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through
suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who are far from being perfect,
must not wonder if we are called to pass through suffering too. Shall the head
be crowned with thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon
the dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through seas of His own blood to win
the crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in silver slippers? No, our
Master's experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born
child of God must not, would not, escape it if he might. But there is one very
comforting thought in the fact of Christ's "being made perfect through
suffering"-it is, that He can have complete sympathy with us. "He is not an
high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." In
this sympathy of Christ we find a sustaining power. One of the early martyrs
said, "I can bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and He suffers in me now; He
sympathizes with me, and this makes me strong." Believer, lay hold of this
thought in all times of agony. Let the thought of Jesus strengthen you as you
follow in His steps. Find a sweet support in His sympathy; and remember that,
to suffer is an honourable thing-to suffer for Christ is glory. The apostles
rejoiced that they were counted worthy to do this. Just so far as the Lord
shall give us grace to suffer for Christ, to suffer with Christ, just so far
does He honour us. The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia
of the kings whom God hath anointed are their troubles, their sorrows, and
their griefs. Let us not, therefore, shun being honoured. Let us not turn aside
from being exalted. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us up. "If we suffer, we
shall also reign with Him."
Matthew 5:3
(3) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The word "poor" has a wide variety of meanings and applications in both
testaments. The Old Testament uses five different words from the Hebrew
language, while the New Testament uses two from Greek. However, these seven are
translated into a large number of English words. Besides describing
destitution, they appear in contexts indicating oppression, humility, being
defenseless, afflicted, in want, needy, weak, thin, low, dependent, and
socially inferior.
Of the two Greek words translated "poor" in the New Testament, penes designates
the working poor who own little or no property. People in this state possess
little in the way of material goods, but they earn what they have through their
daily labor. A form of this word, penechros, describes a poor widow who may be
receiving a small subsistence from a relative or social agency. Penes is used
only once in the entire New Testament ( II Corinthians 9:9), and its cognate,
penechros, is used only to indicate the poor widow of Luke 21:2.
This, therefore, is not the word used in the beatitude in Matthew 5:3, "Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Here, "poor" is
translated from ptochos, which literally means "to crouch or cower as one
helpless." It signifies the beggar, the pauper, one in abject poverty, totally
dependent on others for help and destitute of even the necessities of life. In
Galatians 4:9, it is translated "beggarly."
At first "poor" simply indicated to be in material need, to be in poverty.
Gradually, its usage spread to other areas besides economics to indicate people
in weakness, frailty, feebleness, fragility, dependence, subservience,
defenselessness, affliction, and distress. The poor were people who recognized
their utter helplessness before what life had dealt them. They recognized that
nothing within their power solved their weak state, thus they would eagerly
reach out to others for assistance in rising out of their situation, as a
beggar would.
Eventually, the word took on spiritual overtones because some began to perceive
that these afflicted people often had no refuge but God. Thus David, a person
we would not consider as defenseless, nonetheless says of himself in a
situation where he felt only God could deliver him, "This poor man cried out,
and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles" ( Psalm 34:6).
To grasp how Jesus uses "poor" in this beatitude, we must contemplate the mind
of a person who finds himself in poverty. One who recognizes his poverty takes
the necessary steps to be poor no longer. He may seek advice on how to resolve
his dilemma, get or change jobs, curtail spending to only necessary items, pay
off his debts, and/or get rid of financially draining liabilities. In other
words, he tries to change his circumstances. God wants His children to have
this recognition of poverty regarding true spiritual things, and possess the
drive to seek their enrichment from Him.
John W. Ritenbaugh
>From The Beatitudes, Part Two: Poor in Spirit
