From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Psalm 24:8
The Lord mighty in battle.
Well may our God be glorious in the eyes of His people, seeing that He has
wrought such wonders for them, in them, and by them. For them, the Lord Jesus
upon Calvary routed every foe, breaking all the weapons of the enemy in pieces
by His finished work of satisfactory obedience; by His triumphant resurrection
and ascension He completely overturned the hopes of hell, leading captivity
captive, making a show of our enemies openly, triumphing over them by His
cross. Every arrow of guilt which Satan might have shot at us is broken, for
who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Vain are the sharp swords of
infernal malice, and the perpetual battles of the serpent's seed, for in the
midst of the church the lame take the prey, and the feeblest warriors are
crowned. The saved may well adore their Lord for His conquests in them, since
the arrows of their natural hatred are snapped, and the weapons of their
rebellion broken. What victories has grace won in our evil hearts! How glorious
is Jesus when the will is subdued, and sin dethroned! As for our remaining
corruptions, they shall sustain an equally sure defeat, and every temptation,
and doubt, and fear, shall be utterly destroyed. In the Salem of our peaceful
hearts, the name of Jesus is great beyond compare: He has won our love, and He
shall wear it. Even thus securely may we look for victories by us. We are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. We shall cast down the powers of
darkness which are in the world, by our faith, and zeal, and holiness; we shall
win sinners to Jesus, we shall overturn false systems, we shall convert
nations, for God is with us, and none shall stand before us. This evening let
the Christian warrior chant the war song, and prepare for to-morrow's fight.
Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
2 Timothy 2:15-18
(15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
(16) But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more
ungodliness. (17) And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is
Hymenaeus and Philetus; (18) Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that
the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
In this era of the church, the one that we are living
in, we have our own problems with certain doctrinal matters. The first century
also had problems with certain doctrines that they had to deal with. The very
first bridge that they had to cross had to do with
justification—justification by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
This was a new concept, which is why God commissioned
the apostle Paul to write so much about justification by faith—not by works,
not by earning justification, but by faith in what God said and what Jesus
Christ did. This doctrinal instruction takes up much of the books of Romans and
Galatians.
The second bridge they had to cross was law and
grace. Even today, people like to separate the two, as if a Christian cannot
believe in law and grace at the same time. The apostles had to convince the
people that law and grace are not opposed to one another, but work in harmony
to complete the process of justification and then sanctification. God not only
forgives us, but He also gives us gifts by His Spirit by which we can be
sanctified unto holiness, the middle part of the process of salvation, which
absolutely cannot be left out.
The third thing is the second coming of Christ. As
time passed, the pressure mounted and the return of Jesus Christ became
increasingly important in the minds of people. It naturally led people to
believe that they had plenty of time to overcome, and it seemed to work to cast
them adrift. This is why Paul says that the Hebrews were neglecting their
salvation.
In Matthew 24:42, we find that Jesus anticipated
this. He really understood human nature. Incidentally, do you want to know what
it is that causes people to go to sleep spiritually, so that you can be aware?
It is not a hard principle at all to understand. It is having to face so many
difficulties, so many pressures, that one becomes weary with facing them. This
is a simplification, but it is true. When people have to face so many stresses,
they become apathetic and say, "What's the use?" We need to stir ourselves up
and recognize that this can happen to us.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Don't Be a Prudent Agnostic
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daily devotional
Evening...
Romans 8:23
Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body.
This groaning is universal among the saints: to a greater or less extent we
all feel it. It is not the groan of murmuring or complaint: it is rather the
note of desire than of distress. Having received an earnest, we desire the
whole of our portion; we are sighing that our entire manhood, in its trinity of
spirit, soul, and body, may be set free from the last vestige of the fall; we
long to put off corruption, weakness, and dishonour, and to wrap ourselves in
incorruption, in immortality, in glory, in the spiritual body which the Lord
Jesus will bestow upon His people. We long for the manifestation of our
adoption as the children of God. "We groan," but it is "within ourselves." It
is not the hypocrite's groan, by which he would make men believe that he is a
saint because he is wretched. Our sighs are sacred things, too hallowed for us
to tell abroad. We keep our longings to our Lord alone. Then the apostle says
we are "waiting," by which we learn that we are not to be petulant, like Jonah
or Elijah, when they said, "Let me die"; nor are we to whimper and sigh for the
end of life because we are tired of work, nor wish to escape from our present
sufferings till the will of the Lord is done. We are to groan for
glorification, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord
appoints is best. Waiting implies being ready. We are to stand at the door
expecting the Beloved to open it and take us away to Himself. This "groaning"
is a test. You may judge of a man by what he groans after. Some men groan after
wealth-they worship Mammon; some groan continually under the troubles of
life-they are merely impatient; but the man who sighs after God, who is uneasy
till he is made like Christ, that is the blessed man. May God help us to groan
for the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection which He will bring to us.
Genesis 1:26-27
(26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The Hebrew words of Genesis 1:26-27 reveal God's great plan
and ultimate purpose for mankind! When God molded Adam of the dust, he was
shaped in the "likeness"—the outward form and shape—of God Himself. God did not
form any of the other creatures to be an exact clay replica of Himself. This
unique form and shape was given to man alone!
Notice again that God says, "Let Us make man in our image.
. . ." The Hebrew here indicates far more than merely the outward form and
shape of God—His likeness. "Image" refers to mind and character! God intended
for man—to whom He gave the gift of a thinking, reasoning mind—to develop the
very mind and character of God!
Each animal was created with a brain suited for each animal
kind. But animals do not have the potential of mind and character, which God
gave only to man. No animal was ever given the gift of mind power!
It is this very special attribute of mind and character
that separates men from animals. Animals do not have reasoning, self-conscious
minds. Animals follow instinctive habit patterns in their feeding, nesting,
migration, and reproduction. God has "programmed" their brains, so to speak,
with particular instinctive aptitudes. Thus beavers build dams, birds build
nests, etc. These aptitudes are inherited—they are not the result of logical
cognitive processes.
For example, thousands of birds flock south each year as
winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere. They do not stop to "reason" why,
they do not ask themselves whether they should, they do not "plan ahead" an
itinerary for the trip. At a given signal—like the pre-set alarm of a
clock—they leave their summer feeding grounds in the north and travel thousands
of miles south. Scientists do not even now fully understand why—they merely
observe the operation of this animal instinct.
Each species or kind of bird builds different nests, feeds
on different foods, and migrates in different ways at different times to
different places. But none of these actions is planned by the birds. They are
merely the capability and proclivity which Almighty God built into the instinct
of each kind at creation.
But man is vastly different. Man is able to perceive and
understand various ways to do any one thing. Man can reason from memorized
facts and knowledge, draw conclusions, make decisions, will to act according to
a thought-out plan. Each man may build a different house, eat different
foods—live an entirely different way of life—from every other man. If a man
wants to change his way of life, he can! Man is not subject to instinct. He is
not governed by a set of pre-determined habit patterns as animals are.
Man can choose—he has free moral agency. He can devise
codes of conduct and exercise self-discipline. Man can originate ideas and
evaluate scientific knowledge because he has a mind which is patterned after
God's own mind! Man can devise, plan, and bring his plans to fruition because
he has been given some of the very creative powers of God!
Man alone can wonder, "Why was I born? What is life? What
is death? Is there a purpose in human existence?" Man, unlike the animals, not
only "knows" how to do certain things, but he also knows he knows—that is, he
is aware that he has "knowledge." He is conscious of the fact. He is
self-conscious, aware of his own existence as a unique being.
The attributes of mind and character make man God's unique
physical creation. God has shared some of His own qualities with man and
expects him to develop the "image" of God's perfect mind and holy character!
From Just What Is Man?
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