The Cross Reconciled Us to God

PRAY OVER THIS

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Romans 5:10

 

PONDER THIS

Christ has suffered for sin, the just for the unjust. Why? That He might bring us to God! What does sin do? Sin separates us from a holy God. What does the cross do? On that cross, Jesus reconciled God and Man. He’s made peace by the blood of His cross that He might bring us to God. The word reconciled in Greek is prosago. It means to take an individual and present him to a king or a dignitary.

That’s what Jesus has done. He has taken us by the hand and has presented us to God the Father. He’s saying, “Father, these are mine. I purchased them with my blood on that cross.” Does that excite you? That is a life-changing message! You and I were separated and far from God but now we get to be in His presence and live for and with Him forevermore!

How does it affect you to remember you have been reconciled to God? How has your life changed as a result?

How easy or difficult is it for you to remember the weight of your separation from God?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise and thank God for reconciliation with Him. Pray for someone you know who still needs that hope.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Binds the Hands of Love?

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. (Colossians 1:3–5)

The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world. That’s not happening! The people of God are not so full of love to God that they spend half their days in his word.

The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half loving and repairing what they spend it on.

It’s not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love for the lost and hurting of this world. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend.

Where is the person whose heart is so passionately in love with the promised glory of heaven that he feels like an exile and a sojourner on the earth? Where is the person who has so tasted the beauty of the age to come that the diamonds of the world look like marbles from the dollar store, and the entertainment of the world feels empty, and the moral causes of the world are too small because they have no view to eternity? Where is this person?

To be sure, he is not in bondage to the Internet or eating or sleeping or drinking or partying or fishing or sailing or putzing around. He is a free man in a foreign land. And his one question is this: How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And his answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love. By expanding my joy in God, no matter the cost, if by any means possible I might include others in it.

Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love!

It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love and make them ineffective. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise — these are the cords of selfishness that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope. “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” (Colossians 1:4–5).

I say it again with all the conviction that lies within me: it is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love on this earth. It is worldly-mindedness. And therefore the great fountain of love is the powerful, freeing confidence of Christian hope.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Luke 24:34

[34] saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

Mark 16:5-6

[5] And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. [6] And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.

2 Timothy 2:8

[8] Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

2 Timothy 2:10-13

[10] Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. [11] The saying is trustworthy, for: 

    If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 

    [12] if we endure, we will also reign with him;

    if we deny him, he also will deny us; 

    [13] if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

    for he cannot deny himself.

Tetelestai

Greek word

Tetelestai

It is finished!

It is completed!

Paid in full!

John 19:30

[30] When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

This shout of victory from Christ on the cross as He was dying and returning to the Father.

He had accomplished His Father's work.

God raised Him from the dead.

He is risen indeed.

Our Redeemer lives!

He will return!

If you are a Christ follower, this word, Tetelestai, has a great hope attached to it.

Our hope is in Christ Alone and His ability to pay our debt.

Someday Christ will return, He will repay all evil. 

Only His blood will cover your sin.

That blood is a free gift you receive by faith. 

You must know that there is not one thing you can do to be justified before Holy God.

It is mercy!

Acts 13:29-30

[29] And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. [30] But God raised him from the dead,

John 17:4-5

[4] I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. [5] And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Matthew 27:50-54

[50] And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

[51] And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. [52] The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, [53] and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. [54] When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Romans 9:16

[16] So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Do You Try to Earn God’s Forgiveness?

PRAY OVER THIS

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”

(1 Peter 3:18 

 

PONDER THIS

There’s a word I don’t want you to miss in this passage: once. That does not mean once upon a time: it means once for all. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” (see John 19:30), He meant the debt had been paid for sin—absolutely and completely. In Rome, when a man would be put in prison, they would write out a certificate of debt. This was his debt to society for his crime, and the document would be placed on his prison door. After he had done his time and paid the penalty, they would write across that certificate of debt.

Do you know the word they would write? Tetalesti. Do you know what that means? It is finished; it is paid in full. That man won’t have to go back to prison again. If they arrest him for that crime again, he can say, “Yes, but I have paid. It is done. You can’t bring me in twice for the same crime.” Jesus has once suffer

ed for sin. That means you cannot pay for it yourself through your good works or by beating yourself up with shame. It has already been done. Your debt is paid, and you are free to go and live for God.

   

How have you tried to earn God’s favor through good works? Why won’t this ever work?

How does the fact that your sin has been paid in full change your daily life?

PRACTICE THIS

Be an encourager. Remind a fellow Christian today that his or her sin has been paid in full.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

If He Calls, He Keeps

[The Lord] 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. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9)

What are you depending on to ensure that your faith will last until Jesus comes?

The question is not, Do you believe in eternal security? The question is, How are we kept secure?

Does the perseverance of our faith rest decisively on the reliability of our own resolve? Or does it rest decisively on the work of God to “keep us trusting”?

It is a great and wonderful truth of Scripture that God is faithful and will keep forever those whom he has called. Our confidence that we are eternally secure is a confidence that God will do whatever is necessary to “keep us trusting!”

The certainty of eternity is no greater than the certainty God will keep us trusting now. But that certainty is very great for all whom God has called.

At least three passages put the call of God and the keeping of God together in this way.

“[The Lord] will sustain you (keep 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” (1 Corinthians 1:8–9).

“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 Thessalonians 5:23–24).

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1–2). (See the same reality in Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, and Jude 24.)

The “faithfulness” of God guarantees that he will keep safe forever all whom he has called.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Hebrews 9:27-28

[27] And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Colossians 1:19-23

[19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

[21] And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [22] 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, [23] if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

1 Peter 4:5-8

[5] but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. [6] For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

[7] The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. [8] Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Romans 5:2

[2] Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

What You Need the Most Today

PRAY OVER THIS

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

 

PONDER THIS

How did these fishermen stand up and preach and see five thousand come to Christ? It was because He lives, and they were not dependent on their power of speech, their logic, or their winsomeness to bring these people to Christ. There was the living Christ inside of them. Anything I can talk you into, somebody else can talk you out of. We are not preaching facts about a dead Christ of history. We present the living Christ to you. Do you know what convinced Thomas? He had an encounter with the living Lord (John 20:24-29). When he had an encounter with the living Christ, he was convinced. Do you know what you need today? An encounter with Jesus Christ. In Acts 4, these people were brought in contact, by the Holy Spirit, with the living Christ, and they were convinced.

You see, other leaders come and go. But Christ is risen. It is an encounter with the living Christ that convinces people. I don’t have to depend on my ability to cause anyone to believe when I preach. My ability, my job, my joy, my responsibility is to bring you to an encounter with Jesus Christ. When you meet Christ, you will never be the same.

Who in your life needs the hope of the living Christ?

How is Christ different from every other leader people admire?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise and thank God for the living hope you have in Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

As Sure as God’s Love for His Son

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? (Romans 8:32)

God strips every pain of its destructive power. You must believe this or you will not thrive, or perhaps even survive, as a Christian, in the pressures and temptations of modern life.

There is so much pain, so many setbacks and discouragements, so many controversies and pressures. I do not know where I would turn, if I did not believe that almighty God is taking every setback and every discouragement and every controversy and every pressure and every pain, and stripping it of its destructive power, and making it work for the enlargement of my joy in God.

Listen to Paul’s astonishing words in 1 Corinthians 3:21–23, “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” The world is ours. Life is ours. Death is ours. Which I take to mean: God reigns so supremely on behalf of his elect that everything which faces us in a lifetime of obedience and ministry will be subdued by the mighty hand of God and made the servant of our holiness and our everlasting joy in God.

If God is for us, and if God is God, then it is true that nothing can succeed against us. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all will infallibly and freely with him give us all things — all things — the world, life, death, and God himself.

Romans 8:32 is a precious friend. The promise of God’s future grace is simply overwhelming. But all-important is the foundation: I have called it the logic of heaven. Here is a place to stand against all obstacles. God did not spare his own Son! Therefore! Therefore! The logic of heaven! Therefore, how much more will he not spare any effort to give us all that Christ died to purchase — all things, all good, and all bad working for our good!

It is as sure as the certainty that he loved his Son!

John Piper 

Bible Study

John 3:16

For God So Loved the World

[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.

Romans 4:23-25

[23] But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, [24] but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, [25] who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

1 Corinthians 15:17

[17] And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Isaiah 53:5

    [5] 

    But he was pierced for our transgressions;

        he was crushed for our iniquities;

    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

        and with his wounds we are healed.

Called to be Unashamed of God

PRAY OVER THIS

“And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:17-19

 

PONDER THIS

In Exodus 12, God instituted the ritual of the Passover lamb. There was judgment on the land because of sin, but God told His people to take a spotless lamb, without blemish, and kill it. The blood was to be shed at each household, and they were to put the blood on the doorpost of each house—not on the inside, but on the outside. They were to be openly, publicly unashamed of the blood of the lamb. What had they done? They had made the sign of the cross.

Even there, so long ago, God pictured the sacrifice of His Son. And God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). And that is where we get the name, Passover. God will pass over you when the blood is applied. If you put the blood beneath your feet and pass over the blood, God will not pass over you. But when you put yourself under the blood, the judgment of Almighty God will pass over you. And this Passover lamb was a picture of the ultimate Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

How does it encourage you to know Jesus fulfills the prophecy of the Old Testament?

How often do you reflect on the reality that God has passed over your sin because of Jesus, our Passover Lamb?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down some of the things you have been carrying guilt or shame about and submit those things to God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When Everyone Deserts You

At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:16–18)

This morning I was lingering over these magnificent and heartbreaking words. Paul is in custody in Rome. So far as we know, he was never released. His last letter comes to an end like this.

Consider and be astounded!

He is deserted: “no one came to stand by me.” He is an old man. A loyal servant. In a foreign city, far from home. Surrounded by enemies. In danger of death. Why? Answer: So he could write this precious sentence for our discouraged, or fearful, or lonely souls: “But the Lord stood by me!”

Oh, how I love those words! When you are deserted by close friends, do you cry out against God? Are the people in your life, then, really your god? Or do you take courage in this magnificent truth: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) — no matter who deserts you? Do you strengthen your heart with this inexorable oath: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5)?

Then let us say, “The Lord stood by me!”

Question: What was threatened in 2 Timothy 4:18? Answer: that Paul might not attain the Lord’s heavenly kingdom! But over against the threat Paul cries, “The Lord will . . . bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”

Question: How was Paul’s attaining the heavenly kingdom threatened? Answer: “evil deeds.” “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”

Question: How could an evil deed threaten Paul’s attaining the heavenly kingdom? Answer: by tempting him to forsake his allegiance to Christ through disobedience.

Question: Was this temptation the “lion’s mouth” from which he was rescued? Answer: Yes. “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:8–9).

Question: So who gets the glory that Paul did not yield to this satanic temptation, but endured to the end in faith and obedience? Answer: “To him [the Lord] belong glory and dominion forever and ever” (1 Peter 5:10). “To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18).

Question: Why? Wasn’t it Paul who stood firm? Answer: “The Lord stood by me and strengthened me!”

John Piper 

Bible Study

Acts 7:60

[60] And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

2 Corinthians 9:8

[8] 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.

Ephesians 3:14-21

Prayer for Spiritual Strength

[14] For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, [15] from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, [16] that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, [19] and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

[20] 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, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 4:19

[19] And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Are You Ashamed of Jesus?

PRAY OVER THIS

“When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.” Matthew 27:29-31

 

PONDER THIS

Some years ago in New York City, there was a mother who was hanging clothes to dry outside when a fire broke out in her home with her baby inside. That mother’s face took the heat of those flames and was horribly scarred. Her hands were burned, but the baby was not touched at all by that fire. Not a hair was singed. One day that girl grew up and spoke to a friend who said, “Who is that hideous woman?” This girl said, “I don’t know,” and the mother heard.

Later, when they got home, the mother said “Darling, come here. I want to tell you something. When you were a baby, I went into a burning house and rescued you, not a hair on your head was touched, but these scars on my face and these scars on my hand are there because I rescued you from the flames.” When that daughter learned the truth, she was filled with shame and remorse. She said “Oh, my mother, can you ever forgive me?” Let us never be ashamed of Jesus and the scars He bore for our sake. How could we ever blush to speak His name or own His cause? Jesus wore my crown. The sacred mystery is that He bore the curse; the solemn misery is that He suffered our hell.

What does it look like to live ashamed of Jesus? To live unashamed?

Where is it difficult for you to live unashamed for Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Discuss with a close Christian friend what it means to live unashamed of Jesus.

 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

10 Results of the Resurrection

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Here are ten amazing things we owe to the resurrection of Jesus:

1) A Savior who can never die again. “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again” (Romans 6:9).

2) Repentance. “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel” (Acts 5:30–31).

3) New birth. “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” (1 Peter 1:3).

4) Forgiveness of sin. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

5) The Holy Spirit. “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:32–33).

6) No condemnation for the elect. “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” (Romans 8:34).

7) Jesus’s personal fellowship and protection. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

8) Proof of coming judgment. “[God] has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

9) Salvation from the future wrath of God. “[We] wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 5:9).

10) Our own resurrection from the dead. “[We know] that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence” (2 Corinthians 4:14; Romans 6:4; 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:20).

John Piper 

Bible Study

Romans 4:21-25

[21] fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. [22] That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” [23] But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, [24] but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, [25] who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Galatians 1:4

[4] who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Isaiah 53:5-7

    [5] 

    But he was pierced for our transgressions;

        he was crushed for our iniquities;

    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

        and with his wounds we are healed. 

    [6] 

    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.

    [7] 

    He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

        yet he opened not his mouth;

    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

        and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

        so he opened not his mouth.

1 Peter 2:24-25

[24] He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. [25] For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Jesus Chose to Save Us

PRAY OVER THIS

“And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’ Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.” Luke 22:41-43

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus paid a price. You will never know the agony the Son of God endured on the cross. He didn’t have to die; He had a choice. And Jesus said, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Adam, following Satan in the garden of Eden, said, “Not thy will, but mine” and ruined the race. Jesus, in another garden, as the last Adam said, “not My will, but Yours,” and redeemed the race. That’s the consumption of the cup. The Lord Jesus willingly, voluntarily, vicariously, and victoriously said not my will but Yours. Had He said no, every one of us would have separated from God forever. But because Jesus suffered, bled, and died on that cross, you and I can be redeemed. Jesus took my sin and your sin, and He carried it to the cross.

In today’s passage, Jesus was wrestling. Was He wrestling with God the Father? No, never. The great desire of his heart was to please the Father. Was He wrestling with Satan? He never needed to. He had absolute authority over Satan. He was wrestling with Himself. He was wrestling between His humanity and His love, but where did He land? “Not My will, but Yours, be done.”

When was a time you fought to get your way with God? How did that turn out?

How would your life look different if you chose to say, “not my will, but Yours, be done”?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider one area of your life where you are holding onto your own will and way over God’s. Ask Him for direction and help.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Delight in God’s Word

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)

Never reduce Christianity to a matter of demands and resolutions and willpower. It is a matter of what we love, what we delight in, what tastes good to us.

When Jesus came into the world, humanity was split according to what they loved. “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light” (John 3:19). The righteous and the wicked are separated by what they delight in — the revelation of God in Jesus, or the way of the world.

So someone may ask: How can I come to delight in the word of God? My answer is twofold:

1) pray for new taste buds on the tongue of your heart;

2) meditate on the staggering promises of God to his people.

The same psalmist who said, “How sweet are your words to my taste” (Psalm 119:103), said earlier, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). He prayed this, because to have spiritual eyes to see glory, or to have holy taste buds on the tongue of the heart, is a gift of God. No one naturally hungers for, and delights in, God and his wisdom.

But when you have prayed, indeed while you pray, meditate on the benefits God promises to his people and on the joy of having Almighty God as your helper now and forever. Psalm 1:3–4 says that the person who meditates on God’s word “is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

Who would not delight to read a book, the reading of which would change one from useless chaff to a mighty cedar of Lebanon, from a Texas dust bowl to a Hawaiian orchard? Nobody deep down wants to be chaff — rootless, weightless, useless. All of us want to draw strength from some deep river of reality and become fruitful, useful people.

That river of reality is the word of God, and all the great saints have been made great by it.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Hebrews 5:7-10

[7] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. [8] Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. [9] And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, [10] being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Matthew 20:22-23

[22] Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” [23] He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 6:9-15

[9] Pray then like this: 

    “Our Father in heaven,

    hallowed be your name. 

    [10] Your kingdom come,

    your will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven. 

    [11] Give us this day our daily bread, 

    [12] and forgive us our debts,

        as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

    [13] And lead us not into temptation,

        but deliver us from evil.

    [14] For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Philippians 3:8-11

[8] 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 [9] 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—[10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Is Jesus Really God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Pilate said to them, ‘What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said to him, ‘Let Him be crucified!’”

Matthew 27:22

 

PONDER THIS

In Matthew 27, Jesus stood on trial before Pilate. In this account, we come face-to-face with the most present, pressing, and pertinent question ever asked: Is Jesus God as He claimed to be? If He is not, then He is a fraud, an imposter, and a deceiver. What we decide about Jesus will dictate eternity for each of us. Scripture gives us so much evidence that Jesus is God.

First, the attributes of God the Father are found in Jesus.

Throughout the Gospels, we find that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. He is described as God is described in Psalms and Isaiah: the King of Glory, the first and the last, the Lord of Hosts.

He is also shown to be God by the adoration He received.

Jesus also said He is God. In John 8:58, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” By quoting Exodus 3:14, Jesus claimed to be God.

Each of us has the opportunity, like Pilate, to decide what we do with Jesus. We can either accept Him or reject Him, love or despise Him, but we cannot be neutral. What do you believe about Jesus Christ: Will you crown Him or crucify Him? I love Him with all my heart. To explain Him is impossible; to ignore Him is disastrous; and to reject Him is fatal.

What have you decided to do with the claims of Jesus?

What difference does this decision make to your daily life?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the areas of your life you have not given to God. Pray and surrender those things to Him today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Forever Satisfied

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)

This text points to the fact that believing in Jesus is a feeding and drinking from all that Jesus is. It goes so far as to say that our soul-thirst is satisfied with Jesus, so that we don’t thirst anymore.

He is the end of our quest for satisfaction. There is nothing beyond, and nothing better.

When we trust Jesus the way John intends for us to, the presence and promise of Jesus is so satisfying that we are not dominated by the alluring pleasures of sin (see Romans 6:14). This accounts for why such faith in Jesus nullifies the power of sin and enables obedience.

John 4:14 points in the same direction: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” In accord with John 6:35, saving faith is spoken of here as a drinking of water that satisfies the deepest longings of the soul. And the satisfaction becomes productive, like a well overflowing.

It’s the same in John 7:37–38: “Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’”

Through faith, Christ becomes in us an inexhaustible fountain of satisfying life that lasts forever and leads us to heaven, and on the way sets us free from the sinful illusions of other satisfactions. This he does by sending us his Spirit (John 7:38–39).

John Piper