God, Touch Our Hearts

Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. (1 Samuel 10:26)

Just think of what is being said in this verse. God touched them. Not a wife. Not a child. Not a parent. Not a counselor. But God. God touched them.

The One with infinite power in the universe. The One with infinite authority and infinite wisdom and infinite love and infinite goodness and infinite purity and infinite justice. That One touched their heart.

How does the circumference of Jupiter touch the edge of a molecule? Let alone penetrate to its nucleus?

The touch of God is awesome not just because it is God who touches, but also because it is a touch. It is a real connection. That it involves the heart is awesome. That it involves God is awesome. And that it involves an actual touch is awesome.

The valiant men were not just spoken to. They were not just swayed by a divine influence. They were not just seen and known. God, with infinite condescension, touched their heart. God was that close. And they were not consumed.

I love that touch. I want it more and more. For myself and for all of you. I pray that God would touch me anew with his glory and for this glory. I pray that he would touch us all.

Oh, for the touch of God! If it comes with fire, so be it. If it comes with water, so be it. If it comes with wind, let it come, O God. If it comes with thunder and lightning, let us bow before it.

O Lord, come. Come that close. Burn and soak and blow and crash. Or still and small, come. Come all the way. Touch our hearts.

John Piper 

Do you fear death?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Corinthians 15:55

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A pastor who lost his wife in death was left to single-parent their little girl. She couldn’t fully understand all that had happened. But one day while she was in the car with her father, she saw the shadow of a truck passing by. The setting sun made the shadow huge, much bigger than the truck.

The little girl said, “Daddy, look at the big shadow.”

He said, “Sweetheart, would you rather be hit by the shadow of the truck or by the truck?”

“That's easy,” she said, “I'd much rather be hit by the shadow.”

He said, “That's right, darling. And it was only the shadow that hit Mama. The truck hit Jesus two thousand years ago at Calvary.”

That’s why in the Twenty-Third Psalm, David calls it “the valley of the shadow of death.” Jesus has taken the sting out of death and the dread out of the grave! He has become our victor!

Many people fear death—it’s a shadow looming over each of us, representing the unknown. Yet Jesus disarmed death and took away its power. The believer in Christ can have this assurance: beyond that shadow is the sunlight of the eternal morning.

ACTION POINT:

Talk with the Lord right now. Tell Him about something you fear. He already knows about it anyway. Picture yourself giving that fear over to Him. Place it in the nail-scarred Hand.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Embracing Jesus

This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. (1 John 5:3–4)

Notice: Loving God is not just keeping his commandments. It is having a kind of heart for God that means that commandment-keeping is not burdensome. That’s what John says. But then he puts that truth in terms of new birth and faith, rather than love. He says, without a break, “For” — that is, here’s why God’s commandments are not burdensome: “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. So, the new birth is what overcomes the worldly obstacles to keeping God’s commandments without burdensomeness.

And finally he adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” So, the new birth overcomes the worldly obstacles to burden-free commandment-keeping, because the new birth gives rise to faith. So, the miracle of new birth creates faith, which embraces all that God is for us in Christ as supremely satisfying, which makes obedience to God more desirable than the temptations of the world. And that is what it means to love God.

The eighteenth-century pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards wrestled with this text and concluded, “Saving faith implies . . . love. . . . Our love to God enables us to overcome the difficulties that attend keeping God’s commands — which shows that love is the main thing in saving faith, the life and power of it, by which it produces great effects.”

I think Edwards is right and that numerous texts in the Bible support what he says.

Another way to say it is that faith in Christ is not just assenting to what God is for us, but also embracing all that he is for us in Christ. “True faith embraces Christ in whatever ways the Scriptures hold him out to poor sinners” — that’s another quote from Edwards. This “embracing” is one kind of love to Christ — that kind that treasures him above all things.

Therefore, there is no contradiction between 1 John 5:3, on the one hand, which says that our love for God enables us to keep his commandments, and verse 4, on the other hand, which says that our faith overcomes the obstacles of the world that keep us from obeying God’s commandments. Love for God and Christ is implicit in faith.

John then defines the faith that obeys as “the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5). This faith is “embracing” the present Jesus as the glorious divine person that he is: the Son of God. It is not simply assenting to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, because the demons assent to that. “They cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’” (Matthew 8:29). Believing that Jesus is the Son of God means “embracing” the significance of that truth — the value of the reality. It means being satisfied with Christ as the Son of God and all God is for us in him.

“Son of God” means that Jesus is the greatest person in the universe alongside his Father. Therefore, all he taught is true, and all he promised will stand firm, and all his soul-satisfying greatness will never change.

Believing that he is the Son of God, therefore, includes banking on all this, and being satisfied with it.

John Piper 

What was Jesus really like?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

But unto the Son, He [God the Father] saith, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” Hebrews 1:8-9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What an amazing life the Lord Jesus lived. Do you realize He never had to correct, withdraw, or amend any statement He ever made? I wish I could say that! He never had to apologize for anything He said or did. He never sought advice from anyone or had to ask forgiveness.

Jesus Christ doesn’t have any strong points. For Him to have strong points, He would have to have weak points. Robert Clark has rightly described His character:

“There was meekness without weakness, tenderness without feebleness, firmness without coarseness, love without sentimentality, holiness without sanctimoniousness, lowliness without lowness, truth without error, enthusiasm without fanaticism, passion without prejudice, heavenly‑mindedness without forgetfulness, carefreeness without carelessness, service without servility, self‑exaltation without egotism, judgment without harshness, seriousness without somberness, mercy without softness.”

What a person was the Lord Jesus Christ!

ACTION POINT:

The greatest question ever asked was the question recorded in Matthew 27:22. When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, Pilate asked the crowd, “What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ?” Now I'm going to ask that question of you: What will you do with Jesus?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Only Perfect Substitute

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, - 1 Peter 3:18

Are you searching for forgiveness?

Are you filled with guilt? 

You are a sinner in need of forgiveness, justification, reconciliation and salvation.

Do you want to be reconciled to God because you know your sin separates you from a Holy God? 

Are you thinking about eternity?

Open your heart, listen to His words, they bring life through Christ, His death and resurrection.

Your eternal hope is in no other!

He is the only living King!

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. - 1 Peter 2:21

1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. - 1 Peter 4:1-2

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 4:23-25

25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,

26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, - Hebrews 9:25-27

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. - Romans 5:1-2

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. - Colossians 1:19-23

4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. - 2 Corinthians 13:4-6

6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. - 1 Peter 4:6-7

Mercy for Today

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22–23)

God’s mercies are new every morning because each day only has enough mercy in it for that day. God appoints every day’s troubles. And God appoints every day’s mercies. In the life of his children, they are perfectly appointed. Jesus said, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). Every day has its own trouble. Every day has its own mercies. Each is new every morning.

But we often tend to despair when we think that we may have to bear tomorrow’s load on today’s resources. God wants us to know: We won’t. Today’s mercies are for today’s troubles. Tomorrow’s mercies are for tomorrow’s troubles.

Sometimes we wonder if we will have the mercy to stand in terrible testing. Yes, we will. Peter says, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Peter 4:14). When the reviling comes, the Spirit of glory comes. It happened for Stephen as he was being stoned. It will happen for you. When the Spirit and the glory are needed, they will come.

The manna in the wilderness was given one day at a time. There was no storing up. That is the way we must depend on God’s mercy. You do not receive today the strength to bear tomorrow’s burdens. You are given mercies today for today’s troubles.

Tomorrow the mercies will be new. “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).

John Piper 

Will God accept me? Forgive me?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God … 1 Peter 3:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A soldier and a prison guard walk down a narrow corridor to a cell in a Roman dungeon. Imagine this scene: the soldier holds up a torch. Back in the shadows a man crouches in terror. The guard takes his key and opens the door. “Barabbas, get up and come with me.”

Barabbas begins to plead, “No, wait! Don’t take me! Have mercy!” The soldier interrupts. “You’re not going to die. Come here. Look over on that hill. See that cross we made for you? There’s somebody else on it. He’s taking your place.”

I don’t mean to imply that Barabbas was saved, but that God arranged a perfect picture of substitution.

When the Lord Jesus Christ died, He fulfilled yet another Old Testament symbolism. The high priest would take a goat called “the scapegoat,” lay his hand upon its head, and confess the sins of the people. Their sins were symbolically transferred to the goat, which would then be led outside the city walls. There, the goat would be killed and his blood shed. Jesus was led outside Jerusalem’s walls where His blood was shed and He died. Jesus was our scapegoat. Our sins were laid upon him. He carried them to the cross where in agony and blood He died.

ACTION POINT:

The sole purpose for Calvary’s cross was substitution. God forgave our sins through Jesus’ suffering in our place. Just and sinless, Jesus died for the unjust—for Barabbas, you, me, every human being—that He might bring us to Himself. Salvation, eternity in fellowship with God—it’s all there for the taking. Receive God’s offered gift today. All you must do is receive Him and make Him Lord.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers