Are you faithful in the secret things?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Luke 8:17

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I read an account of Michelangelo’s painting the Sistine Chapel. He was in a spot out of everyone’s view. Someone said to him, “Forget that area; nobody can see it anyway.” But Michelangelo replied, “I know it’s there.”

King David prayed, “Who can understand his errors [omissions, mistakes]? Cleanse Thou me from secret [unconscious, unintended] faults” (Psalm 19:12)

People make false assumptions when they think they’ve gotten away with something. Through the years I’ve spoken with men and women who travel a lot, and in almost every hotel, R-rated and X-rated films are available. “Nobody’s in here but me,” they say. Are you sure? Jesus is in that room. “Then said He unto me, ‘Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, “The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.”’” (Ezekiel 9:12).

Be faithful in the secret things. Who you are in dark when nobody else knows, that's who you really are. Let me give you a test of your character. What would you do, either good or bad, if you knew nobody else would ever know? That reveals your true character.

Isaiah 29:15 says, “Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, ‘Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?’”

ACTION POINT:

Do you struggle with the secret sins of the flesh? Make this verse your prayer: “Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Marveling at the End of History

[God will] grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:7–10)

When Jesus returns to this earth, which he has promised to do, those who have not believed the gospel, Paul says, “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” This is a terrible prospect that should terrify all unbelievers who hear this truth.

And oh, how it should sober us who do believe and fill us with seriousness about what is at stake in this world. Oh, how it should cause compassion to rise in our hearts for those who do not believe, or do not even know, the gospel.

But to sustain us in all our afflictions here Paul gives us two amazing words of encouragement and hope. “[God will] grant relief to you who are afflicted.” If we experience a terrible intensification of affliction near the end of history, God’s word is: Hold fast: relief is on the way. Your afflictions will not have the last word. And your seemingly powerful adversaries will regret the day they touched the Lord’s people.

But then comes the best word of encouragement and hope. Not only will we get relief when the Lord comes, but we will get the greatest experience that we were created for in the first place: We will see his glory, and marvel at it in such a way that he will be glorified in us for all the world to see.

Verse 10: “He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed.” We were made to marvel. Nothing and no one is more marvelous than the crucified, risen, returning King of glory, Jesus Christ. He will attain the destiny of his glory, and we will attain the destiny of our joy as we begin the perfect, sinless, never-ending marveling at the greatest marvel.

John Piper 

Held by His Omnipotent Hand

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I think a lot of folks believe they're going to be kept saved by somehow just “holding on.” You hear them say something like this: “Pray for me that I’ll hold out faithful to the end."

Suppose God had said to Noah, "Now, Noah, if you want to be saved, put some pegs on the outside of that ark. When it starts to rain, you get on a step ladder, go up, and hold onto those pegs. Your feet will be dangling; the water will be rising; it's gonna be rough. But Noah, if you can hold onto that slimy peg until the water goes down, you'll be saved.”

I don't think Noah would have made it, do you? I can see Noah saying to Mrs. Noah, “Honey, pray for me that I’ll hold out faithful the end." But God said to Noah, “Come into the ark,” and the same God that shut the water out, shut Noah in. Now Noah may have fallen down inside that ark, but he never fell out of it.

Oh, friend, people think they're saved by holding onto Him! No, my dear friend! We're saved because He holds onto us! Security is in a person, and His name is Jesus. It’s not that we hold on to Him, but that He holds on to us.

ACTION POINT:

Spend some time today simply praising God for His faithfulness, His steadfastness, and His unconditional love for you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Have you ever had a home appraised?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” Colossians 3:17

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The sign over the church door where I attended as a boy read, “The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent.” I mistakenly took that to mean that I had just entered the holy temple and had better start acting religious. We are the temple of God, not a building made of brick and mortar. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we are to be doing all in the name of Jesus. The secular is to be sanctified so that Jesus will be glorified in everything. Because He lives in you, every day is a holy day, not just Sundays. The spiritual life is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all eternity.

ACTION POINT:

Have you ever had a home appraised? Get a trusted friend or loved one to give you an appraisal of the home where the Holy Spirit dwells—you! Are there areas that need repair, restoration, or removal?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Honor What We Enjoy

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.” (Isaiah 58:13–14)

It is possible to pursue God without glorifying God. If we want our quest to honor God, we must pursue him for the joy of fellowship with him.

Consider the Sabbath as an illustration of this. The Lord rebukes his people for seeking their own pleasure on his holy day. “Turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day.” But what does he mean? Does he mean that we should not seek our joy on the Lord’s Day? No, because the next thing he says is, “Call the Sabbath a delight.” And in verse 14, “You shall take delight in the Lord.” So what he is criticizing is that they are delighting in their own business on the Sabbath rather than delighting in the beauty of their God and the rest and holiness that this day stands for.

He’s not rebuking their hedonism. He’s rebuking the weakness of it. As C. S. Lewis said, “We are far too easily pleased.” They have settled for secular interests and thus honor them above the Lord.

Notice that calling the Sabbath “a delight” is parallel to calling the holy day of the Lord “honorable.” “If you . . . call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable . . .” This simply means you honor what you delight in. Or you glorify what you enjoy.

The enjoyment of God and the glorification of God are one. His eternal purpose and our eternal pleasure unite in one experience of worship. This is what the Lord’s Day is for. Indeed, this is what all of life is for.

John Piper

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 

Don’t Let An Election Steal Your Song

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:3-4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Habakkuk cried out in verse 1, “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear! Even cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save?’” He says, “God, I have been praying and praying. Why is Heaven silent? Why don’t You hear my prayer?”

Then he realized, in such a day, the just are going to live by faith.

Put your faith in God—that He is King evermore. That’s how you’ll live in this day and age. Faith is what keeps us going in dark days.

Faith sees beyond the physical to the spiritual, beyond the present to the future, beyond the temporary to the eternal. Faith does not judge by the appearances of the hour.

Don’t lose your faith. Faith cannot fail. Sin cannot win. Faith is the only message that will see us through, the only force that can change anything.

If we want a better land and life, we have to live by faith. Government cannot make us better; only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can do that.

ACTION POINT:

When Habakkuk wrote his book, he said, “It’s for an appointed time” (Habakkuk 2:3). I believe it was for today. He said, “Tell the minister of music not to stop singing.” Don’t let anything steal your song. Keep on singing. Keep on praising. Keep on believing. Keep on loving. Our God reigns! “And the just will live by his faith.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers