Have Mercy on Me, O God

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. (Psalm 51:1)

Three times: “Have mercy,” “according to your steadfast love,” and “according to your abundant mercy.”

This is what God had promised in Exodus 34:6–7:

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.”

David knew that there were guilty who would not be forgiven. And there were guilty who by some mysterious work of redemption would not be counted as guilty, but would be forgiven. Psalm 51 is his way of laying hold on that mystery of mercy.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” We know more of the mystery of this redemption than David did. We know Christ. But we lay hold of the mercy in the same way he did.

The decisive thing he does is turn, helpless, to the mercy and love of God. Today that means turning, helpless, to Christ, whose blood secures all the mercy we need.

John Piper 

Do you want to know how rich you are?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. 1 John 2:17

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you want to know how rich you are? Add up everything you own that money cannot buy, that neither death nor disaster can take away, and then you’ll know just how rich you are. What did you discover? Hopefully, you discovered that it’s time you started laying up true riches. Because all the rest will burn away. If you are putting all of your labor into this world, it’s like rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.

ACTION POINT:

Read Matthew 6:19-21. Where is your heart? Where is your treasure?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Price For Sin

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:6-8

Sin cost! 

Sin cost a life!

Sin cost Christ His life!

He was innocent, committed no sin, but out of obedience to His Father, He willingly took your sin and nailed it to the cross!

In this world, where we are so self absorbed, can we even grasp this?

What drove this precious God-Man to accept 

this predestined sorrow that brought the joy of salvation to many?

It was mercy!

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

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

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2:4-9

Faith to believe

20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

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. - Romans 4:20-25

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, - Galatians 1:3-4

1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 

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. 

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 

9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 

10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.  - Isaiah 53

See the debt you owe?

Jesus is worthy of your devotion!

Bow, ask for forgiveness, repent and be humbly thankful!!

The End of the Gospel

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:9–11)

What do we need to be saved from? Verse 9 states it clearly: the wrath of God. “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” But is that the highest, best, fullest, most satisfying prize of the gospel?

No. Verse 10 says “much more . . . shall we be saved by his life.” Then verse 11 takes it all the way up to the ultimate end and goal of the gospel: “more than that, we also rejoice in God.”

That is the final and highest good of the good news. There is not another “more than that” after that. There is only Paul’s saying how we got there, “through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

The end of the gospel is “we rejoice in God.” The highest, fullest, deepest, sweetest good of the gospel is God himself, enjoyed by his redeemed people.

God in Christ became the price (Romans 5:6–8), and God in Christ became the prize (Romans 5:11).

The gospel is the good news that God bought for us the everlasting enjoyment of God.

John Piper 

When God is keeping score...

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I read something that deeply touched my heart about a PGA golfer named Roberto De Vicenzo. As he was leaving a tournament with his winnings, a woman, sad and forlorn, approached him. “It's a big day for you, but it's a sad day for me. My baby has been diagnosed with an incurable disease in the blood, and my little baby is dying.” De Vicenzo’s heart was touched. “Madam,” he said in broken English, “May I do something for you and your child?” He took his check, endorsed it on the back and gave it to her right there. “Take this and try to buy some happiness for yourself and your child.

A week later he was in the clubhouse having lunch, and one of the PGA officials came up to him and said, “You know that woman to whom you gave your check? She doesn't have a sick baby. As a matter of fact, she doesn't have a child at all. She’s a phony, a con artist.” De Vicenzo said, “Do you mean to tell me there’s no baby dying?” That’s the best news I’ve heard all week!”

When I read that I thought, “What an attitude!”

ACTION POINT:

Many of us are so cynical, we're afraid we're going to do something and someone will take advantage of us. Aren’t you glad that God knows? Be thankful today that God is keeping the score.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Ruler of All Nature

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:33)

In modern language we would say, “The dice are rolled on the table and every play is decided by God.”

In other words, there are no events so small that he does not rule them for his purposes. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?” Jesus said. “And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:29–30).

Every role of the dice in Las Vegas, every tiny bird that falls dead in a thousand forests — all of this is God’s command.

In the book of Jonah, God commands a fish to swallow a man (1:17), he commands a plant to grow for shade (4:6), and he commands a worm to kill it (4:7).

And far above the life of fish and worms, the stars take their place and hold their place at God’s command.

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)

How much more, then, the natural events of this world — from weather to disasters to disease to disability to death.

His law he enforces;

the stars in their courses

and sun in its orbit obediently shine;

the hills and the mountains,

the rivers and fountains,

the deeps of the ocean

proclaim him divine.

(“Let All Things Now Living,” Katherine Davis)

Let us therefore stand in awe and be at peace, knowing that no natural event is outside of God’s wise and good purposes, and perfect control.

John Piper 

Why aren't there fruit factories?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. John 15:4-5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I’ll tell you one thing about fruit. You will never see a fruit factory. Now, you’ll see factories for making clothing, cars, and computers, but not a fruit factory. Instead, fruit is grown in an orchard. You see, there is no fruit without life. “The fruit of the Spirit is patience,” Galatians 5:22 says. You cannot manufacture patience. A few verses later it adds, “If we live in the Spirit, let’s walk in the Spirit.” The only way fruit is going to ripen and grow is in the right climate and with the right nutrients.

Just like we can’t grow bananas in Alaska, we can’t grow and produce the fruit of the Spirit unless we’re in the place where the Spirit can produce His fruit in us. And that place is walking and abiding in the Spirit.

ACTION POINT:

Read Galatians 5:22-25 today. You’ll never have patience until you abide in the Spirit. Even then, you don’t produce that fruit; you bear it. Jesus said, “You abide in Me, that My Word abide in you.” Then you’ll be fruitful.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers