Is God’s Love Conditional?

[God] gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:6–8)

James teaches us that there is a precious experience of “more grace” and God “drawing near” to us. Surely this is a wonderful experience — more grace and a special nearness of God. But I ask: is this experience of the love of God unconditional? No. It is not. It is conditional on our humbling ourselves and our drawing near to God. God “gives [more] grace to the humble. . . . Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

There are precious experiences of the love of God that require that we fight pride, seek humility, and cherish the nearness of God. Those are the conditions. Of course, the conditions themselves are the work of God in us. But they are no less conditions we fulfill.

If this is true, I fear that the unqualified, biblically careless reassurances today that God’s love is all unconditional may stop people from doing the very things the Bible says they need to do in order to enjoy all the peace that they so desperately crave. In trying to give peace through “unconditionality” we may be cutting people off from the very remedy the Bible prescribes.

To be sure, let us proclaim, loud and clear, that the divine love of election, and the divine love of Christ’s death, and the divine love of our regeneration — our new birth — are all absolutely unconditional.

And let us declare untiringly the good news that our justification is based on the worth of Christ’s obedience and sacrifice, not ours (Romans 5:19, “as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous”).

But let us also declare the biblical truth that the fullest and sweetest experiences of the grace of God and the nearness of God will be enjoyed by those who daily humble themselves and draw near to God.

John Piper 

The Seminary of Suffering

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

This is God’s universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less reliance on self and the world. I have never heard anyone say, “The really deep lessons of life have come through times of ease and comfort.”

But I have heard strong saints say, “Every significant advance I have ever made in grasping the depths of God’s love and growing deep with him has come through suffering.”

The pearl of greatest price is the glory of Christ.

Thus, Paul stresses that in our sufferings the glory of Christ’s all-sufficient grace is magnified. If we rely on him in our calamity, and he sustains our “rejoicing in hope,” then he is shown to be the all-satisfying God of grace and strength that he is.

If we hold fast to him, “when all around our soul gives way,” then we show that he is more to be desired than all we have lost.

Christ said to the suffering apostle, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul responded to this: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).

So suffering clearly is designed by God not only as a way to wean Christians off of self and onto grace, but also as a way to spotlight that grace and make it shine. That is precisely what faith does: it magnifies Christ’s future grace.

The deep things of life in God are discovered and magnified in suffering.

John Piper 

 

Sin, Satan, Sickness, or Sabotage

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:8–9)

Is the suffering that comes to the Christian because of persecution the same as the suffering that comes from cancer? Do the promises given to one apply to the other? My answer is yes. All of life, if it is lived earnestly by faith in the pursuit of God’s glory and the salvation of others, will meet with some kind of obstacle and suffering. The suffering that comes to the obedient Christian is part of the price of living where you are in obedience to the call of God.

In choosing to follow Christ in the way he directs, we choose all that this path includes under his sovereign providence. Thus, all suffering that comes in the path of obedience is suffering with Christ and for Christ — whether it is cancer at home or persecution far away.

And it is “chosen” — that is, we willingly take the path of obedience where the suffering befalls us, and we do not murmur against God. We may pray — as Paul did — that the suffering be removed (2 Corinthians 12:8); but if God wills, we embrace it as part of the cost of discipleship in the path of obedience on the way to heaven.

All experiences of suffering in the path of Christian obedience, whether from persecution or sickness or accident, have this in common: They all threaten our faith in the goodness of God, and tempt us to leave the path of obedience.

Therefore, every triumph of faith, and all perseverance in obedience, are testimonies to the goodness of God and the preciousness of Christ — whether the enemy is sickness, Satan, sin, or sabotage. Therefore, all suffering, of every kind, that we endure in the path of our Christian calling is a suffering “with Christ” and “for Christ.”

With him in the sense that the suffering comes to us as we are walking with him by faith, and in the sense that it is endured in the strength he supplies through his sympathizing high-priestly ministry to us (Hebrews 4:15).

And for him in the sense that the suffering tests and proves our allegiance to his goodness and power, and in the sense that it reveals his worth as an all-sufficient compensation and prize.

John Piper 

The Master Servant

. . . so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7)

To me, the Bible’s most astonishing image of Christ’s second coming is in Luke 12:35–37, which pictures the return of a master from a marriage feast like this:

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.”

To be sure, we are called servants — and that no doubt means we are to do exactly as we are told. But the wonder of this picture is that the “master” insists on serving. We may have expected this during Jesus’s ministry on earth, since he said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). But Luke 12:35–37 is a picture of the second coming, when the Son of Man comes in the blinding glory of his Father “with his mighty angels in flaming fire” as 2 Thessalonians 1:7–8 says. Why would Jesus be portrayed as a table waiter at the second coming?

Because the very heart of his glory is the fullness of grace that overflows in kindness to needy people. This is why Ephesians 2:7 says he aims “in the coming ages [to] show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

What is the greatness of our God? What is his uniqueness in the world? Isaiah answers: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4 RSV). There is no other god like this. He never relinquishes the role of inexhaustible benefactor of his ever-dependent, happy people.

John Piper 

You Don't Have to Live the Old Way Anymore

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ROMANS 6:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

Baptism speaks about what God did for you when He saved you. When we get saved, we die to sin. That’s the old way; being saved means dying to the old way. There was a teenage boy who lived in West Palm Beach. He gave his heart to Jesus Christ, and when he did, that teenage boy died. His name was Adrian Rogers. The old Adrian died. When did he die? He died not as a teenage boy, but he died 2000 years ago when Jesus died on that cross, because His death had my name on it. He took my sins, carried them to the cross, and was hung up there for me. He suffered, bled, and died in agony for me. He bore my sins in His body on the cross. He paid my sin debt in full. When He died, through faith, I died with Him.

How have you experienced a death to your old way of living through Jesus?

Why is this a requirement for every follower of Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of things that you have died to or need to die to now from your old way of living. Ask God for the power through His Spirit to die to those old-way things that remain.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

7 Reasons Not to Worry, Part 1

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25–26)

We are going to spend three days on this part of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:25–34, Jesus is dealing specifically with anxiety about food and clothing. But, in fact, it relates to all anxiety.

Even in America, with its extensive welfare system, anxiety over finances and housing and food and clothing can be intense. Not to mention Christians who live in situations where much greater poverty threatens life. But Jesus says in verse 30 that our anxiety comes from little faith in our Father’s promise of future grace: “O you of little faith.”

These verses (25–34) contain at least seven promises designed by Jesus to help us fight the good fight against unbelief and be free from anxiety. (Today we look at Promises 1 and 2 — then over the next two days at the rest.)

Promise #1: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

Since your body and your life are vastly more complex and difficult to provide than food and clothing are, and yet God has, in fact, created and provided you with both, then surely he will be able and willing to provide you with food and clothing.

Moreover, no matter what happens, God will raise your body someday and preserve your life and body for his eternal fellowship.

Promise #2: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26)

If God is willing and able to feed such insignificant creatures as birds who cannot do anything to bring their food into being — as you can by farming — then he will certainly provide what you need, because you are worth a lot more than birds. You, unlike the birds, have the amazing capacity to glorify God by trusting, obeying, and thanking God.

John Piper 

 

You’re Never Too Far for Grace

“Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.” RUTH 1:14

 

PONDER THIS

When Ruth made the decision to stay with Naomi, not only was her life changed, but my life was changed. Did you know that Ruth, this pagan girl, became an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ? She married into the royal line and, according to the flesh, she became a part of the house of David. Before this decision, she had so much against her. She had a cursed life. The Bible teaches that there was a curse upon her. Deuteronomy 23:3 says, “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever.” The Law said, “Keep her out! She’s not worthy.” She had a cursed life. But what the law could not do, grace did for this woman. And what the law could not do for me, grace has done. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:12, “you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” But thank God, the grace of God has brought us in.

How does it encourage you to remember that you were previously without hope before God, but the work of Christ has changed everything for you?

How does this encourage you about others who also need to know Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Tell someone today about the hope you have because of Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Different Tenses of Grace

We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12)

Grace is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it — we call this “undeserved favor”; God’s grace is also a power from God that acts in our lives and makes good things happen in us and for us — which we also don’t deserve.

Paul said that we fulfill our resolves for good “by his power” (verse 11). And then he adds at the end of verse 12, “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The power that actually works in our lives to make Christ-exalting obedience possible is an exertion of the grace of God.

You can see this also in 1 Corinthians 15:10:

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

So, grace is an active, present, transformative, obedience-enabling power.

Therefore, this grace, which moves in power from God to you at a point in time, is both past and future. It has already done something for you or in you and therefore it is past. And it is about to do something in you and for you, and so it is future — both five seconds from now and five million years from now.

God’s grace is ever cascading over the waterfall of the present from the inexhaustible river of grace coming to us from the future into the ever-increasing reservoir of grace in the past. In the next five minutes, you will receive sustaining grace flowing to you from the future — in this you trust; and you will accumulate another five minutes’ worth of grace in the reservoir of the past — for this you give thanks.

John Piper 

Grace for Every Need

Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant. (Psalm 86:16)

Future grace is the constant plea of the praying psalmists. They pray for it again and again to meet every need. They give us a beautiful model of daily dependence on future grace for every exigency.

They cry out for grace when they need help: “Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!” (Psalm 30:10).

When they are weak: “Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant” (Psalm 86:16).

When they need healing: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord” (Psalm 6:2).

When they are afflicted by enemies: “Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me” (Psalm 9:13).

When they are lonely: “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted” (Psalm 25:16).

When they are grieving: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief” (Psalm 31:9).

When they have sinned: “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” (Psalm 41:4).

When they long for God’s name to be exalted among the nations: “God be gracious to us and bless us . . . that your way may be known on earth” (Psalm 67:1–2).

Unmistakably, prayer is the great link of faith between the soul of the saint and the promise of future grace. If ministry was meant by God to be sustained by prayer, then ministry was meant to be sustained by faith in future grace.

John Piper 

The Power to Profess Christ

With great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. (Acts 4:33)

If our ministry is to witness to Christ tomorrow in some unsympathetic situation, the key will not be our brilliance; the key will be abundant future grace.

Of all people, the apostles seemed to need least help to give a compelling witness to the risen Christ. They had been with him for three years. They had seen him die. They had seen him alive after the crucifixion. In their witnessing arsenal they had “many proofs” (Acts 1:3). You would think that, of all people, their ministry of witnessing, in those early days, would sustain itself on the strength of the past glories that were still so fresh.

But that is not what the book of Acts tells us. The power to witness with faithfulness and effectiveness did not come mainly from memories of grace; it came from new arrivals of “great grace.” “Great grace was upon them all.” That’s the way it was for the apostles, and that’s the way it will be for us in our ministry of witnessing.

Whatever added signs and wonders God may show to amplify our witness to Christ, they will come the same way they came for Stephen. “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). Grace was arriving from God for all that Stephen needed — eventually all that he would need to die.

There is an extraordinary future grace and power that we may bank on in the crisis of special ministry need. It is a fresh act of power by which God “bore witness to the word of his grace” (Acts 14:3; see also Hebrews 2:4). The ever-arriving grace of power bears witness to the ever-given grace of truth.

John Piper 

Step into the Ark of Grace

“Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.’”

GENESIS 7:1

 

PONDER THIS

In order to be saved from the wrath of God, you have to get on board the good ship of grace. If you don’t get on board, you’re going down. You will not be an unsinkable saint. Genesis 7:1 says, “The Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household.’” But Noah had to take that step of faith. Noah had to come into the ark, and that one step of faith is all it took to put Noah in the ark. God said to Noah and to Noah’s family, to his sons and his daughters-in-law, and to his wife, “Come into the ark!” And Noah responded in effect, “Just as I am, I come, I come.” Likewise, we must respond to God, “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me. Oh, Lamb of God, I come to Thee! I come.”

How was the ark a picture of God’s grace that would be revealed in Jesus?

How do we “enter” into Christ as the ark that saves us from God’s wrath?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk with someone today about the similarities between the ark and Christ as our savior.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Finding Grace in a Broken World

“So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” 

GENESIS 6:7-8

 

PONDER THIS

We’ve come to a day in which a man’s word means absolutely nothing, whether it’s a treaty between nations, a marriage contract, a business agreement, or a political speech. In Genesis 6, we read that people’s hearts were wicked continually before the Lord. And it had reached such a level that God said, “I’m sorry that I made them! I’m going to have to judge the Earth.” (See Genesis 6:6-7.) The same sins that produced the flood in Noah’s day have reached up to Heaven today.

But what did Jesus say the days of Noah were like? He said they were, “Eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (Matthew 24:38). They were going on with the same old routine of life. The problem in our society is that we’re standing right on the threshold of imminent judgment, but nobody seems to care. We just yawn in the face of God. In these dangerous days, we need to thank God we have His amazing grace. Genesis 6:8 says, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

What are the signs that the world gives no thought to the things of God?

How have you received grace like Noah?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to journal about the process of your “finding grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Live by Faith

The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Faith is a perfect fit with God’s future grace. It corresponds to the freedom and all-sufficiency of grace. And it calls attention to the glorious trustworthiness of God.

One of the important implications of this conclusion is that the faith that justifies and the faith that sanctifies are not two different kinds of faith. “Sanctify” simply means to make holy or to transform into Christlikeness. It is all by grace.

Therefore, it must also be through faith. For faith is the act of the soul that connects with grace, and receives it, and channels it as the power of obedience, and guards grace from being nullified through human boasting.

Paul makes this connection between faith and sanctification explicit in Galatians 2:20 (“I live by faith”). Sanctification is by the Spirit and by faith. Which is another way of saying that it is by grace and by faith. The Spirit is “the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29). God’s way of making us holy is by the Spirit; but the Spirit works through faith in the gospel.

The simple reason why the faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies is that both justification and sanctification are the work of sovereign grace. And it’s faith that corresponds to grace. Justification and sanctification are not the same kind of work (justification is the imputation of righteousness; sanctification is the impartation of righteousness), but they are both works of grace. Sanctification and justification are “grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

The human corollary of God’s free grace is faith. If both justification and sanctification are works of grace, it is natural that they would both be by faith.

John Piper 

The Faith That Magnifies Grace

I do not nullify the grace of God. (Galatians 2:21)

When I lost my footing as a little boy in the undertow at the beach, I felt as if I were going to be dragged to the middle of the ocean in an instant.

It was a terrifying thing. I tried to get my bearings and figure out which way was up. But I couldn’t get my feet on the ground, and the current was too strong to swim. I wasn’t a good swimmer anyway.

In my panic I thought of only one thing: Could someone help me? But I couldn’t even call out from under the water.

When I felt my father’s hand take hold of my upper arm like a mighty vice grip, it was the sweetest feeling in the world. I yielded entirely to being overpowered by his strength. I reveled in being picked up at his will. I did not resist.

The thought did not enter my mind that I should try to show that things aren’t so bad; or that I should add my strength to my dad’s arm. All I thought was, Yes! I need you! I thank you! I love your strength! I love your initiative! I love your grip! You are great!

In that spirit of yielded affection, one cannot boast. I call that yielded affection “faith.” And my father was the embodiment of the future grace of God that I desperately needed and craved under the water. This is the faith that magnifies grace.

As we ponder how to live the Christian life, the uppermost thought should be: How can I magnify rather than nullify the grace of God? Paul answers this question in Galatians 2:20–21, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God.”

Why does his life not nullify the grace of God? Because he lives by faith in the Son of God. Faith calls all attention to grace and magnifies it, rather than nullifying it.

John Piper 

The Payout for Patience

 

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” (Genesis 50:20)

The story of Joseph in Genesis 37–50 is a great lesson in why we should have faith in the sovereign, future grace of God.

Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, which must have tested his patience tremendously. But he is given a good job in Potiphar’s house in Egypt. Then, when he is acting uprightly in the unplanned place of obedience, Potiphar’s wife lies about his integrity and has him thrown into prison — another great trial to his patience.

But again things turn for the better, and the prison keeper gives him responsibility and respect. But just when he thinks he is about to get a reprieve from Pharaoh’s cupbearer, whose dream he interpreted, the cupbearer forgets him for two more years. Another painful trial to his patience.

Finally, the meaning of all these detours and delays becomes clear. Joseph is raised up to be the leader of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. He ends up saving from starvation the very brothers who sold him into slavery. Joseph says to his long-estranged brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. . . . As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive” (Genesis 45:7; 50:20).

What would have been the key to patience for Joseph during all those long years of exile and abuse? The answer is: faith in God’s sovereign, future grace — the sovereign grace of God to turn the unplanned place and the unplanned pace into the happiest ending imaginable.

That’s the key to our patience as well. Do we believe that God is working for us in the strangest and most painful turns of our lives?

John Piper 

A Dangerous Motive

“Who has given a gift to [God] that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. (Romans 11:35–36)

When it comes to obedience, gratitude is a dangerous motive. It tends to get expressed in debtor’s terms. For example, “Look how much God has done for you. Shouldn’t you, out of gratitude, do much for him?” Or, “You owe God everything that you are and have. What have you done for him in return?”

I have at least three problems with this kind of motivation.

First, it is impossible to pay God back for all the grace he has given us. We can’t even begin to pay him back, because Romans 11:35–36 says, “‘Who has given a gift to [God] that he might be repaid?’ [Answer: Nobody!] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.” We can’t pay him back because he already owns all we have to give him — including all our efforts.

Secondly, even if we succeeded in paying him back for all his grace to us, we would only succeed in turning grace into a business transaction. If we can pay him back, it was not grace. If someone tries to show you a special favor of love by having you over for dinner, and you end the evening by saying that you will pay them back by having them over next week, you nullify their grace and turn it into a trade. God does not like to have his grace nullified. He likes to have it glorified (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

Thirdly, focusing on gratitude as a motive for obedience tends to overlook the crucial importance of having faith in God’s future grace. Gratitude looks back to grace received in the past and feels thankful. Faith looks forward to grace promised in the future — whether five minutes from now or five centuries from now — and feels hopeful. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1).

This faith in future grace is the motive for obedience that preserves the gracious quality of human obedience. Obedience does not consist in paying God back and thus turning grace into a trade. Obedience comes from trusting in God for more grace — future grace — and thus magnifying the infinite resources of God’s love and power. Faith looks to the promise, I will be “with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9), and ventures, in obedience, to take the land.

John Piper 

 

The Great Exchange

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. (Romans 1:16–17)

We need righteousness to be acceptable to God. But we don’t have it. What we have is sin.

So, God has what we need and don’t deserve — righteousness; and we have what God hates and rejects — sin. What is God’s answer to this situation?

His answer is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died in our place and bore our condemnation. “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he [God] condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Whose flesh bore the condemnation? His. Whose sins were being condemned? Ours. This is the great exchange. Here it is again in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God lays our sins on Christ and punishes them in him. And in Christ’s obedient death, God fulfills and vindicates his righteousness and imputes (credits) it to us. Our sin on Christ; his righteousness on us.

We can hardly stress too much that Christ is God’s answer to our greatest problem. It is all owing to Christ.

You can’t love Christ too much. You can’t think about him too much, or thank him too much, or depend upon him too much. All our forgiveness, all our justification, all our righteousness is in Christ.

This is the gospel — the good news that our sins are laid on Christ and his righteousness is laid on us, and that this great exchange becomes ours not by works but by faith alone. “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Here is the good news that lifts burdens and gives joy and makes strong.

John Piper 

Handling Disagreements with Grace

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” JAMES 1:19

 

PONDER THIS

Sometimes Joyce and I will be in a disagreement. We’ll be sitting at the kitchen table, and it will get tense. She’ll say to me, “Adrian, you’re wrong.”

“Not me.”

“Yes, you’re wrong.”

“No, I’m not wrong.”

One, two, three, four, and on and on the conversation goes. Often, one of us will say, “Well, let’s just stop for a while.” I go in my study and try and prepare a sermon. Ha! Try to read. Try to do something else. But I can’t do it. So I say, “Lord, did You see what went on in there?” He says, “Yeah, you were wrong.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you! You were wrong!”

“Okay, Lord.”

And I have to go back: “Honey, I was wrong. Forgive me.” She says, “I forgive you.” And we hug and kiss and make up. Prayer will do that. Be honest with God and let Him speak to you. He will show you what is true.

How have you seen the value of prayer in tense moments?

How have you seen God restore your relationships when you have come to Him in prayerful humility?

PRACTICE THIS

Set aside time today to pray and ask God to reveal any wrongs for which you need to apologize.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Died with Christ

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” ROMANS 6:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

What is the doctrine of identification? It is to be identified with Jesus who gave Himself for you. When Jesus was crucified, when Jesus faced that agony, that passion upon the cross, not only was Christ on that cross, but since He was your substitute, you were on that cross. Since He died for you, the old person you used to be died with Him, and now you have become one with Him in His death. You are no longer in Adam. Now you are in Christ. You are now identified with Christ. Everybody in the world is either in Adam or in Christ. Because of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, when Jesus died, the old man or woman that you used to be died with Him.

What does it mean that every person is either in Adam or in Christ?

How does your life look different because you are in Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

What gives you confidence that you are “in Christ”? If you are not confident, how is God calling you to respond to Him today?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Better Than Everest

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

If you live inside this massive promise, your life is more solid and stable than Mount Everest.

Nothing can blow you over when you are inside the walls of Romans 8:28. Outside Romans 8:28, all is confusion and anxiety and fear and uncertainty. Outside this promise of God’s all-encompassing future grace, there are straw houses of drugs and pornography and dozens of futile diversions. There are slat walls and tin roofs of fragile investment strategies and fleeting insurance coverage and trivial retirement plans. There are cardboard fortifications of deadbolt locks and alarm systems and antiballistic missiles. Outside are a thousand substitutes for Romans 8:28.

Once you walk through the door of love into the massive, unshakable structure of Romans 8:28, everything changes. There come into your life stability and depth and freedom. You simply can’t be blown over anymore. The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life.

When God’s people really live by the future grace of Romans 8:28 — from measles to the mortuary — they are the freest and strongest and most generous people in the world.

Their light shines and people give glory to their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

John Piper