Who Was This Child?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Who was this Child born that day? Who is this One we call Jesus? There’s one right answer; there are many wrong answers. Some say He was a great man. Beyond any doubt, He was a great man, but if you just tip the hat to Jesus Christ, you’ve missed it all. There was Peter the Great. There was Alexander the Great. But Jesus is more than Jesus the Great. He’s Jesus the One and Only. 

The late Dr. W. A. Criswell said: “To compare the greatest men on earth like Alexander, Caesar or Shakespeare with Jesus is like comparing a grain of dust to the whole universe, a mole hill to Mount Everest.” 

Others speak of Him as a moral teacher, but as C.S. Lewis said, “We don’t have the option of just simply calling Him a moral teacher and moving on. I’m trying to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus Christ as a great teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher; he would be either a lunatic, on the level of a man who says he’s a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God or else a mad man or something worse.” 

ACTION POINT:

Be prepared to share that concept with someone today. C. S. Lewis went on to say, “You can show Him up for a fool. You can spit at Him. You can kill Him as a demon. Or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let none of us come away with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He’s not left that open to us.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Who Is Jesus, the God-Man?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and, being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

John Blanchard estimated that of all the people who’ve ever lived, from the beginning of creation to now, there have been about 30 billion here on earth. Of those, few have had any major effect on human history. One person stands out unique above all the rest. That one person, Jesus Christ, has attracted a greater combination of attention, devotion, criticism, adoration, and opposition than any other of those 30 billion. 

Every recorded word He spoke has been studied, sifted and analyzed from generation to generation by theologians, philosophers, and historians. At this moment multiplied millions around the globe in every time zone are studying what this one individual had to say. 

He is Jesus of Nazareth. He preached and taught in a tiny little land called Israel some 2,000 years ago. Yet the birth of this baby has divided the centuries into “B.C.” (before Christ) and “A.D.” (Anno Domini, or “the Year of our Lord.”) He divides world history. 

ACTION POINT:

Whether you are on death row or Wall Street, you need Jesus. He’s the saving Son of God. There’s no one that He cannot save. There’s no one that He will not save. Jesus is what the world needs today. Thank God for Christmas. If there had been no Christmas, think what that would mean.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Christ of Christmas Is Coming Again

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto He called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

You need not be disturbed and you will not be disappointed. Paul tells us in Second Thessalonians that when He comes, our Lord shall reign. 

The first Christmas, there was no room for Him in the inn. When He comes for the final time, He’s coming as King of kings and Lord and lords. Jesus came the first Christmas to die in the sinner’s place. When He comes again, Jesus is coming to receive the sinner to Himself. 

There are two aspects of His Second Coming. First, He’s coming secretly for His bride. Then He’s coming with His bride. First, He’s coming sweetly like a bridegroom; then He’s coming sovereignly like a King. The unfinished story of Christmas is this: Jesus is coming again. 

ACTION POINT:

In faith, look backward to a crucified Savior. In love, look upward to a crowned Savior. And in hope, look forward to a coming Savior.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

You Who Are Troubled—Rest!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels…” 2 Thessalonians 1:7.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Are you troubled today? Listen: “And you who are troubled rest with us.” That is, be at ease. Quit your worry. It is not over yet. There is an unfinished story. If you are troubled, rest with us. 

You say, “Pastor, it’s so dark.” Yes, it’s gloriously dark, because the darkest hour of the night is just before the sunrise. Our hope is not in politics, our hope is not in sociology, our hope is not in science. The only sure hope for our world is the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Think about who is coming again. Underscore this: “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed.” The Lord Jesus is who is coming again. We’re not looking for some event in history. We’re looking for Jesus Christ to be revealed. And when He’s revealed, He’s going to be revealed as the Lord Jesus. Today He is despised. He is rejected. He is mocked. But He is coming as the Lord Jesus to be glorified and admired. 

ACTION POINT:

If you are unsaved, if you’re not one of His saints, His coming will strike stark terror in your heart. But if you’re saved, you’re going to say, “Oh glory to the Lamb. Isn’t He beautiful?” Say this aloud if you can say it and mean it: “Lord Jesus.” The Lord Jesus is coming.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Unfinished Story of Christmas

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“…when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels… When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe…” 2 Thessalonians 1:7,10.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The Jesus who came the first time is coming again, and Christmas is not complete without the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The incarnation without the coronation would be like east without west. It would be like an engagement without a marriage. The story is not complete until Jesus comes again. 

You may have thought that this was a good Christmas for you—but, friend, I want to tell you…the best is yet to come! The Heavenly Father has so much more in store for us when Jesus comes again. 

You see, we get all wrapped up in the little baby, the baby that was born, and we then go beyond the birth of the baby, saying, “Yes, He came to die for our sins” (thank God He did that), but I want to remind you that the First Coming of Jesus and the Second Coming are linked together. 

The Christmas Story in Luke 1 and 2 speaks not only of the Jesus who redeemed, but the Jesus who reigned. Not only Jesus who came the first time, but Jesus who is coming the second time to sit upon the throne of His father David, to rule over the house of Jacob forever and ever. 

ACTION POINT:

Imagine for a moment what your life would be like without the Resurrection, the Rapture, and the Second Coming of Jesus. The most glorious fact of the past is that Jesus came the first time. The most glorious fact of the future is that this Jesus is coming again. The one sure hope of this jittery old world is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Prince of Peace

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” Luke 2:14 .

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

One of the many wonderful names of our wonderful Lord is “The Prince of Peace.” Jesus holds the key to peace, whether it’s personal peace in your heart, domestic peace in your home, or eternal peace in heaven.

Isaiah prophesied that He would be called The Prince of Peace. The angels told the shepherds that His coming was “good tidings of great joy,” for His incarnation meant “peace, goodwill toward men.”

Certainly there is a need for peace. But look around. What has happened to the promised peace? It was purposefully postponed when God sent the Prince of Peace, but the world rejected and then crucified the Prince of Peace. There will be no peace on earth until the world that rejected our Savior receives Him again in power and glory. The only true hope for peace for the church, the nation and the individual is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

This Christmas, do you have peace with God or is the war still going on? The only way you can have the peace that Jesus made is to surrender to Jesus in absolute, total, unconditional surrender. He has fought the battle and the battle is won. But it will do you no good until you bow to Him. Have you laid down your sword of rebellion at His feet? He has made peace with the blood of His cross, but that peace does you no good until you bow to Him in total surrender. There is peace with God. Once you have that peace with God, then you can have the peace of God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

We - The Condemned

Sin no more:

10 Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."]] - John 8:10-11

All sin:

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." - John 8:7

Those who deny God because He brought death, think again, we, through our rebellion(sin) brought death!

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned- - Romans 5:12

God's mercy to sinful man:

4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. - Titus 3:4-7

Forgiveness and repentance:

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. - Romans 8:1-4

Intercessor:

34 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.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:34-39