The Triumph Is Sure

Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. (Isaiah 25:3)

Isaiah sees the day coming when all the nations — representatives from all the people groups — will no longer be at odds with Yahweh, the God of Israel and his Messiah, whom we know to be Jesus.

They will no longer worship Bel or Nebo or Molech or Allah or Buddha or utopian social programs or capitalistic growth possibilities or ancestors or animistic spirits. Instead they will come in faith to the banquet on God’s mountain.

And they will have the veil of sorrow removed and death shall be swallowed up and the reproach of God’s people will be removed and tears shall be gone forever.

That’s the setting for understanding the vision of Isaiah 25:3: “Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.” In other words, God is stronger than the “strong peoples” and he is so powerful and so gracious that in the end he will turn ruthless nations to revere him.

So the picture Isaiah gives us is one of all nations turned to God in worship, a great banquet for all the peoples, the removal of all suffering and grief and reproach from the nations, who have become his people, and the final putting away of death forever.

This triumph is sure because God is doing it. Therefore we can be certain of it.

Not one life spent in the cause of world evangelization is spent in vain. Not one prayer or one dollar or one sermon or one letter of encouragement or one little light shining in some dark place — nothing in the cause of this advancing kingdom is in vain.

The triumph is sure.

John Piper 

Tempted? There’s a way out

BIBLE MEDITATION:

We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 1 John 5:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you know why the devil couldn’t get to Jesus in the midst of a 40-day fast when He was starving? He was already satisfied. You see, Jesus didn’t have an itch that the devil could scratch.

Temptation really comes down to this: Satan lures you to take a legitimate, God-given desire and satisfy it in an illegitimate, God-forbidden way. Satan says, “Hey, you’ve got a need, and I can satisfy it.”

Desires like food, security, love—they’re legitimate. The sex drive is a God-given desire. Satan wants to take that and twist it. You’re not sinful because you feel sexual urges. How do you handle it? Satisfy it the right way; then you won't need the wrong way.

Have you ever tried to take a bone from a dog? Here’s how: throw a steak on the ground. He'll drop that bone. Isn't that right? You see, when you satisfy a desire the right way, when you choose what God has for you, then the ol' dog doesn't need that bone. A preacher friend of mine says, "If you're eating steak at home, you won't need bologna at the office."

When tempted, you have a choice: get that need satisfied by the devil or by the Lord. The devil is a pervert. He has no original materials. All he can do is take what God created first, then pervert it.

ACTION POINT:

A husband and wife should live together as sexual partners, happy in the Lord Jesus. Do you want to overcome temptation? Satisfy your desires the legitimate way, and you won’t need the illegitimate.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus Is God’s Amen

All the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Prayer is the place where the past and future are linked repeatedly in our lives. I mention this here because Paul links prayer with God’s Yes in this verse in a striking way.

In 2 Corinthians 1:20, he says (with choppy Greek that comes through in choppy English), “That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” Let’s try to smooth that out.

Here’s what he is saying: “Therefore, because of Christ, we say Amen to God in our prayers to show that God gets the glory for the future grace we are asking for and counting on when we pray.”

If you’ve ever wondered why Christians say Amen at the end of our prayers, and where that custom comes from, here’s the answer. Amen is a word taken straight over into Greek from Hebrew without any translation, just like it has come into English and most other languages without any translation.

In Hebrew, it was a very strong affirmation (see Numbers 5:22; Nehemiah 5:13; 8:6) — a formal, solemn, earnest “I agree,” or “I affirm what was just said,” or “This is true.” Most simply, “Amen” means a very earnest Yes in the context of addressing God.

Now notice the connection between the two halves of 2 Corinthians 1:20. The first half says, “All the promises of God find their Yes in him.” The second half says, “That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

When we realize that “Amen” and “Yes” mean the same thing, here’s what the verse says: In Jesus Christ, God says his Yes to us through his promises; and in Christ we say our Yes to God through prayer.

John Piper 

How can you escape temptation?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. Psalm 63:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The devil tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread. I have been to Palestine and seen stones that looked amazingly like little loaves of bread. I can just see the devil looking on the ground, knowing that Jesus had been fasting for 40 days, and saying, “Well, look here. Just turn this into bread!”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with eating bread. In fact, Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread. Yet Jesus had been led into the wilderness to fast and pray and seek the face of God. The devil was trying to get Jesus to put the bread above the will of God, saying “Pamper your flesh.” But what he was really saying was, “Commit spiritual suicide.” Jesus refused.

Jesus overcame the flesh, and you can, too. He overcame by the Word of God.

ACTION POINT:

Take 1 Corinthians 10:13 and make every effort to commit it to your memory this week:

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Then when Satan throws temptation at you, do what Jesus did: quote Scripture to him. Tell him “It is written,” and repeat this verse.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When the Potter Is for Us

“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?” (Isaiah 45:9)

The majesty of God is magnified when we see him through the lens of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing). He commands nothingness, and it obeys and becomes something.

Out of nothing he makes the clay, and out of the clay he makes us — the pottery of the Lord (Isaiah 45:9) — his possession, destined for his glory, in total dependence on him.

“Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3). It is a humbling thing to be a sheep and a pot that belong to somebody else.

This morning I was reading in Isaiah and found another statement about God’s majesty. When I put it together with God’s absolute power and rights as Creator, there was a combustion that went off in my heart. Boom!

Isaiah 33:21 says, “The Lord in majesty will be for us!”

For us! For us! The Creator is for us and not against us. With all the power in the universe and with absolute right to do as he pleases with what he made — he is for us!

“No eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4). “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

Can you think of anything (I mean anything) that is more comforting and assuring and delighting than that the Lord in his majesty is for you?

John Piper 

Tempted? So Was Jesus

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When some people read that Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin,” some eyebrows raise. You may not say anything out loud, but you think, “Was He really tempted in every way? Has He ever been tempted to run a red light? Or smoke pot? Or watch pornography? Yet the Bible is clear that He was tempted in all points.

When you boil it down, all temptations fall into 3 types, and Jesus was tempted in all three. 1 John 2:16 lists them:

1. The lust of the flesh (temptation for us to do something—our passions)

2. The lust of the eyes (temptation for us to have something—our possessions)

3. The pride of life (temptation for us to be something—our pride)

If you doubt it, then read about the temptation He faced in Luke 4:1-13.

Can you identify which of these 3 types of temptations are bothering you the most today? It could be all three.

ACTION POINT:

If you are a child of God, submit yourself to your heavenly Father, who wants to have all your needs met in a legitimate way. Then say, "Lord, show me the fulfillment of this desire. Father, satisfy this desire legitimately." A wonderful thing will happen: you'll begin to have your needs met. “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Wisdom Perspective

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. - Ephesians 5:15-16

Pay attention to how you are living.

Hug family and friends a little tighter.

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

34 And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."

35 Jesus wept.

36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?" - John 11:32-37

Jesus was deeply moved.

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. - John 11:38

Faith, Family, Friends, these are the things that matter.

You can be saved today.

Your friends, your family, your coworkers can be saved today.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

6 But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down)

7 "or 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?"

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." 

19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry." 

20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." 

21 But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." - Romans 10:5-21

Laugh at myself and with others a little louder.

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. - John 2:1-2

These men knew how to enjoy life.

Mentor others a little better.

1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 

2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. - Acts 8:1-2

What will people say about you when you die? 

Share your faith, encourage one another.

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. - Judges 2:10

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. - Judges 2:11

12 And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger.

13 They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. - Judges 2:12-13

Love people a little deeper.

28 And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."

30 The man answered, "Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.

33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

34 They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

36 He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"

37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you."

38 He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?"

41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains. - John 9:28-41

Worship God a little greater.

1. With your finances

You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. - Deuteronomy 8:18

8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions.

9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. - Malachi 3:8-9

11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts.

12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts. - Malachi 3:11-12

2. With your faith

1 Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 

2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!  - Psalms 117

Thanks Pastor Kevin!