He Does All That He Pleases

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)

This verse teaches that whenever God acts, he acts in a way that pleases him.

God is never constrained to do a thing that he despises. He is never backed into a corner where his only recourse is to do something he hates to do.

He does whatever he pleases. And therefore, in some sense, he has pleasure in all that he does.

This should lead us to bow before God and praise his sovereign freedom — that, in some sense, he always acts in freedom, according to his own “good pleasure,” following the dictates of his own delights.

God never becomes the victim of circumstance. He is never forced into a situation where he must do something in which he cannot rejoice. He is not mocked. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced.

Even at the one point in history where he did what in one sense was the hardest thing for God to do, “not spare his own Son” (Romans 8:32), God was free and doing what pleased him. Paul says that the self-sacrifice of Jesus in death was “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). The greatest sin, and the greatest death, and the hardest act of God was, in some profound way, pleasing to the Father.

And on his way to Calvary, Jesus himself had legions of angels at his disposal. “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18) — of his own good pleasure — “for the joy that is set before him,” as it says in Hebrews 12:2. At the one point in the history of the universe where Jesus looked trapped, he was totally in charge doing precisely what he pleased — dying to glorify his Father in justifying the ungodly, like you and me.

So, let us stand in awe and wonder. And let us tremble that not only our praises of God’s sovereignty, but also our salvation through the death of Christ for us, hang on this: “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases.”

John Piper 

Can We Completely Understand God?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and He weighs the waters by measure. Job 28:24-25

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

There are certain things God is not going to reveal. And that is good news. Who wants to believe in a God that they can put in a box and completely understand? Not me.

We can know God. Through Jesus Christ, His Son, we can know Him. And we can know Him through what He has revealed in His Word. You can take a bucket down to the ocean and dip out a bucket full of water. Everything in that bucket is ocean, but not all the ocean is in the bucket. And with our bucket-size minds, we are never going to know all there is about God. I’m not. You’re not. Nobody is.

ACTION POINT:

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

 LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Mended By Grace

Broken beyond repair, sin filled, heart wretched, and damaged.

Brokenness where God is with you through it, denounce sin, healed happy heart and a new life with new thoughts, new direction, brought to you by grace.

Open that bible!

Learn the good news!

Christ offers forgiveness!

Repent, that means turn from sin.

Let the goodness of Christ work in you.

Yes it is a miracle!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah 29:11

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." - John 16:33

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. - Titus 2:11-15

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. - John 1:16-17

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  - Isaiah 55:8-9

The Lion and the Lamb

“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” (Matthew 12:18–21, quoting Isaiah 42)

The Father’s very soul exults with joy over the servant-like meekness and compassion of his Son.

When a reed is bent and about to break, the Servant will tenderly hold it upright until it heals. When a wick is smoldering and has scarcely any heat left, the Servant will not pinch it off, but cup his hand and blow gently until it burns again.

Thus the Father cries, “Behold, my Servant in whom my soul delights!” The worth and beauty of the Son come not just from his majesty, nor just from his meekness, but from the way these mingle in perfect proportion.

When the angel cries out in Revelation 5:2, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” the answer comes back, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).

God loves the strength of the Lion of Judah. This is why he is worthy in God’s eyes to open the scrolls of history and unfold the last days.

But the picture is not complete. How did the Lion conquer? The next verse describes his appearance: “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Jesus is worthy of the Father’s delight not only as the Lion of Judah, but also as the slain Lamb.

This is the peculiar glory of Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son — the stunning mingling of majesty and meekness.

John Piper 

Do You Love Anything More Than Jesus?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The rich young man in Mark 10:17 asked Jesus, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Then Jesus asked him if he had kept the law. He said yes. With compassion for him, Jesus responded, “There’s one more thing you lack. Go and sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. And take up the cross and follow Me.” But the rich young man was “sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22).

NOTE: Jesus let him go. Jesus didn’t run after him. And there’s another thing I want you to notice: Jesus didn’t lower His standards.

ACTION POINT:

Is there anything you love more than Jesus? You must willingly lay it down to be saved.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Church Growth God’s Way

It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. (Romans 9:8)

Picture the Old Testament Abraham as a pastor. The Lord says, “I will bless you and prosper your ministry.” But the church is barren and bears no children.

What does Abraham do? He begins to despair of supernatural intervention. He is getting old. His wife remains barren. So he decides to bring about God’s promised son without supernatural intervention. He has sex with Hagar his wife’s handmaid (Genesis 16:4). However, the result is not a “child of the promise,” but a “child of the flesh,” Ishmael.

God stuns Abraham by saying, “I will give you a son by her [your wife Sarah]” (Genesis 17:16). So Abraham cries out to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” (Genesis 17:18). He wants the work of his own natural, human effort to be the fulfillment of God’s promise. But God says, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son” (Genesis 17:19).

But Sarah is 90 years old. She has been barren all her life, and she has already passed through menopause (Genesis 18:11). Abraham is 100. The only hope for a child of promise is stunning, supernatural intervention.

That is what it means to be a “child of the promise” — to be born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). The only children that count for children of God in this world are supernaturally begotten children of promise. In Galatians 4:28 Paul says, “You [Christians], like Isaac, are children of promise.” You are “born according to the Spirit,” not according to the flesh (Galatians 4:29).

Think of Abraham as a pastor again. His church is not growing the way he believes God promised. He is weary of waiting for supernatural intervention. He turns to the “Hagar” of mere human devices, and decides he can “attract people” without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

However, it will not be a church of Isaacs, but Ishmaelites — children of the flesh, not children of God. God save us from this kind of fatal success. By all means work. But always look to the Lord for the decisive, supernatural work. “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31).

John Piper 

Not to Decide Is to Decide

BIBLE MEDITATION:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. Deuteronomy 30:19

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Years ago, I was witnessing to a young lady in Florida. I asked her if she had received Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She became teary-eyed and said,

“I just don’t seem…no…I can’t do it today.”

I asked her, “Don’t you realize that if you don’t receive Him, you’re denying Him?”

“Oh,” she said, “I wouldn’t deny Him for anything!”

I said, “But there’s no middle ground.”

And yet she still refused.

“Before you go,” I said, “would you shake hands with me?”

“Well, certainly.”

And so I said, “If you’ll take Christ as your Savior, take my right hand. If you’ll take hell and refuse Christ, take my left hand.”

She refused to take either of my hands.

ACTION POINT:

Every person has a choice. If you say, “I think I won’t choose just now…” you’ve made a choice. There is no neutral ground. You are either crowning Jesus as Lord of your life or you are not. Which is it, my friend?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers