From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Zechariah 4:10 They shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel.
Small things marked the beginning of the work in the hand of Zerubbabel, but
none might despise it, for the Lord had raised up one who would persevere until
the headstone should be brought forth with shoutings. The plummet was in good
hands. Here is the comfort of every believer in the Lord Jesus; let the work of
grace be ever so small in its beginnings, the plummet is in good hands, a
master builder greater than Solomon has undertaken the raising of the heavenly
temple, and He will not fail nor be discouraged till the topmost pinnacle shall
be raised. If the plummet were in the hand of any merely human being, we might
fear for the building, but the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in Jesus'
hand. The works did not proceed irregularly, and without care, for the master's
hand carried a good instrument. Had the walls been hurriedly run up without due
superintendence, they might have been out of the perpendicular; but the plummet
was used by the chosen overseer. Jesus is evermore watching the erection of His
spiritual temple, that it may be built securely and well. We are for haste, but
Jesus is for judgment. He will use the plummet, and that which is out of line
must come down, every stone of it. Hence the failure of many a flattering work,
the overthrow of many a glittering profession. It is not for us to judge the
Lord's church, since Jesus has a steady hand, and a true eye, and can use the
plummet well. Do we not rejoice to see judgment left to Him? The plummet was in
active use-it was in the builder's hand; a sure indication that he meant to
push on the work to completion. O Lord Jesus, how would we indeed be glad if we
could see Thee at Thy great work. O Zion, the beautiful, thy walls are still in
ruins! Rise, Thou glorious Builder, and make her desolations to rejoice at Thy
coming.
Matthew 5:8
(8) Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
This beatitude, like all the others, has both a present and future
fulfillment. Paul says in I Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see in a mirror,
dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as
I also am known." To "see" God is to be brought close to Him. In this instance
the sense is that what we are far from cannot be clearly distinguished. That,
as sinners, we are far from God is proclaimed in Isaiah 59:2: "But your
iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face
from you so that He will not hear." Thus James 4:8 admonishes us, "Draw near to
God and He will draw near to you."
The pure in heart are those who with all their being seek to remain
free of every form of the defilement of sin. The fruit of this is the blessing
of spiritual discernment. With spiritual understanding, they have clear views
of God's character, will, and attributes. A pure heart is synonymous with what
Jesus calls a "single" (KJV) or "clear" (NKJV margin) eye in Matthew 6:22. When
a person has this mind, the whole body is full of light. Where there is light,
one can see clearly.
The sense of this beatitude's promise to see God carries over into
the Kingdom of God. In one sense, all will see God, as Revelation 1:7
prophesies: "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even
they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of earth will mourn because of
Him." They will see Him as Judge.
Jesus' promise, though, is stated as a blessing, a favor.
Revelation 22:4 says of those who will be born into God's Kingdom, "They shall
see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads." I John 3:2 reads, "We
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." To see someone's face is to
be so near as to be in his presence. In this case, the term indicated the
highest of honors: to stand in the presence of the King of kings. Certainly
David understood the greatness of this: "As for me, I will see Your face in
righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness" (Psalm
17:15).
God places great value on being clean, especially in terms of
purity of heart. Also, we can easily become defiled, whereas remaining clean
requires constant vigilance, a determined discipline, and a clear vision of
what lies before us to serve as a prod to keep us on track. Since it is sin
that defiles, this beatitude demands from us the most exacting
self-examination. Are our work and service done from selfless motives or from a
desire for self-display? Is our church-going a sincere attempt to meet God or
merely fulfilling a respectable habit? Are our prayers and Bible study a
heartfelt desire to commune with God, or do we pursue them because they make us
feel pleasantly superior? Is our life lived with a conscious need of God, or
are we merely seeking comfort in our piety?
To examine our motives honestly can be a daunting and shaming but
very necessary discipline, but considering Christ's promise in this beatitude,
it is well worth whatever effort and humbling of self it takes. It is good for
us to keep Paul's admonishment found in II Corinthians 7:1 fresh in mind:
"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Beatitudes, Part 6: The Pure in Heart
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daily devotional
Evening...
Romans 9:15 For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
In these words the Lord in the plainest manner claims the right to give or to
withhold His mercy according to His own sovereign will. As the prerogative of
life and death is vested in the monarch, so the Judge of all the earth has a
right to spare or condemn the guilty, as may seem best in His sight. Men by
their sins have forfeited all claim upon God; they deserve to perish for their
sins-and if they all do so, they have no ground for complaint. If the Lord
steps in to save any, He may do so if the ends of justice are not thwarted; but
if He judges it best to leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence,
none may arraign Him at their bar. Foolish and impudent are all those
discourses about the rights of men to be all placed on the same footing;
ignorant, if not worse, are those contentions against discriminating grace,
which are but the rebellions of proud human nature against the crown and
sceptre of Jehovah. When we are brought to see our own utter ruin and ill
desert, and the justice of the divine verdict against sin, we no longer cavil
at the truth that the Lord is not bound to save us; we do not murmur if He
chooses to save others, as though He were doing us an injury, but feel that if
He deigns to look upon us, it will be His own free act of undeserved goodness,
for which we shall for ever bless His name. How shall those who are the
subjects of divine election sufficiently adore the grace of God? They have no
room for boasting, for sovereignty most effectually excludes it. The Lord's
will alone is glorified, and the very notion of human merit is cast out to
everlasting contempt. There is no more humbling doctrine in Scripture than that
of election, none more promotive of gratitude, and, consequently, none more
sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it, but adoringly rejoice in it.
Morning...
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," refers to works that are possible. There
are many things which our heart findeth to do which we never shall do. It is
well it is in our heart; but if we would be eminently useful, we must not be
content with forming schemes in our heart, and talking of them; we must
practically carry out "whatsoever our hand findeth to do." One good deed is
more worth than a thousand brilliant theories. Let us not wait for large
opportunities, or for a different kind of work, but do just the things we "find
to do" day by day. We have no other time in which to live. The past is gone;
the future has not arrived; we never shall have any time but time present. Then
do not wait until your experience has ripened into maturity before you attempt
to serve God. Endeavour now to bring forth fruit. Serve God now, but be careful
as to the way in which you perform what you find to do-"do it with thy might."
Do it promptly; do not fritter away your life in thinking of what you intend to
do to-morrow as if that could recompense for the idleness of to-day. No man
ever served God by doing things to-morrow. If we honour Christ and are blessed,
it is by the things which we do to-day. Whatever you do for Christ throw your
whole soul into it. Do not give Christ a little slurred labour, done as a
matter of course now and then; but when you do serve Him, do it with heart, and
soul, and strength. But where is the might of a Christian? It is not in
himself, for he is perfect weakness. His might lieth in the Lord of Hosts. Then
let us seek His help; let us proceed with prayer and faith, and when we have
done what our "hand findeth to do," let us wait upon the Lord for His blessing.
What we do thus will be well done, and will not fail in its effect.
2 Peter 1:10-11
(10) Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call
and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; (11) for
so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
For those who believe in the doctrine of eternal security, II Peter
1:10-11 is a particularly difficult passage to dispute because it exposes the
lie in this infernal teaching. It does this by stating a simple command that
God asks us to carry out.
The inverse is also true; if we fail to do what Peter advises, then
our calling and election are not sure. Beyond that, if we stumble, an entrance
will not be supplied to us into the Kingdom of God.
God has done His part. He called or elected us out of all the
billions on this planet. He forgave us, granted us repentance, and gave us His
Holy Spirit. He opened up the truth to us and revealed Himself and His way of
life to us. He made the New Covenant with us, supplying us with spiritual
gifts, love, and faith. There is no end to what He has done for us.
Nevertheless, if we do not reciprocate, the relationship He has
begun will fall apart. Our calling and election are not certain without us
doing our part. We can fall away and not make it into the Kingdom of God.
Why did Peter write this to the whole church (verse 1)? He wrote it
because the church at the time was experiencing various apostasies (II Peter
2:3). False teachers were bringing into the church destructive doctrines to
turn the people away.
Why would Satan put false teachers in the church if there was no
chance for the people to fall away? If church members have eternal security,
why waste his time on them? However, Satan himself knows that Christians do not
have eternal security, and he tries his best to turn us into apostates. We can
fall away!
Peter was writing in this atmosphere. The people in the
first-century church were living in a time of false teachings, false teachers,
and apostasy, and he needed to warn them. "For this reason I will not be
negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are
established in the present truth" (II Peter 1:12).
This, too, begs the question: Why did Peter command them to make
their calling and election sure? If they had the truth, and he admitted that
they were established in it, why did they have to make it "sure"? In making
their calling and election sure, they would be doing the one thing that would
keep them on the right path to the Kingdom. Christians keep themselves from
falling into deception, error, and sin—keep themselves from apostatizing and
losing their salvation—by validating their conversion.
When a thing is validated, it is objectively determined to be
genuine, true, real, authentic, or legitimate. How do Christians validate their
calling and election? The answer is simple. Jesus describes it in Matthew
7:16-20: We validate our calling and election by producing fruit. Jesus
expounds on this in His Passover message in John 15:
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every
branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away. And every branch that
bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. . . . As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in
him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not
abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them
and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. . . . By this My Father is
glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (verses 1-2,
4-6, 8)
This blows the eternal security doctrine to smithereens. Our
Savior, Jesus Christ—our Judge—says that if we do not bear fruit, God will take
us away and throw us into the fire! If we bear fruit, however, we will glorify
the Father and truly be disciples of Christ, that is, true Christians!
We validate our calling by growing in grace and knowledge (II Peter
3:18). If we are showing love to the brethren, if we are serving as opportunity
permits, if we are deepening our relationship with God, we can be certain that
our calling and election are still firmly in force.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
From Do We Have 'Eternal Security'?
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