What You Can’t Start the New Year Without

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If you’re not saved, your first step in this new year must be giving your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I had a thousand lives to live, I’d give Him every one of them. I really would.

I came to Jesus Christ as a teen. If I had understood it sooner, I would have come sooner. I don’t care how young you are or how old you are, if you are reading this, you can be saved. I don’t care how good you are or how bad you are, there’s no one so good they don’t need to be saved and no one so bad they can’t be saved.

The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” That doesn’t mean mere intellectual belief or just accepting some facts about Him. It means trust. You can believe an airplane can fly; you don’t trust it until you get on it. Come to Jesus and I promise you, on the authority of the Word of God, He will save you instantly. He will be with you continually. He will keep your eternally.

ACTION POINT:

Commit your life to Jesus. Believe on Him. Trust Him and a transformation will take place. He will save you. He will satisfy you. He will secure you if you trust Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Grace for the New Year

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Grace is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it. It is an actual power from God that acts and makes good things happen in us and for us.

God’s grace was God’s acting in Paul to make Paul work hard: “By the grace of God . . . I worked harder than any of them.” So when Paul says, “Work out your own salvation,” he adds, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13). Grace is power from God to do good things in us and for us.

This grace is past and it is future. It is ever-cascading over the infinitesimal waterfall of the present, from the inexhaustible river of grace coming to us from the future, into the ever-increasing reservoir of grace in the past.

In the next five minutes, you will receive sustaining grace flowing to you from the future, and you will accumulate another five minutes’ worth of grace in the reservoir of the past. The proper response to the grace you experienced in the past is thankfulness, and the proper response to grace promised to you in the future is faith. We are thankful for the past grace of the last year, and we are confident in the future grace for the new year.

John Piper 

Does a New Year Cause You Fear?

“I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I heard of some men years ago who were on a leaky old ship in the middle of a rough and stormy sea, fearful for their lives. They didn't know if they were going to sink or not. So one of them went to see the captain and said, "Captain, are we safe?" He said, "Well, I'll put it to you this way. The boilers on this ship are very weak and may explode at any moment. Also, the ship is very old and she's taking on water. To be honest with you, we may have an explosion or we may sink. “We may go up or we may go down. But,” he continued, “at any rate, we’re going on.”

And that's the way we are, as we face this new year. Jesus may come—we may go up. We may die—we’ll go down and then go up. But at any rate, we’re going on...even though we don't know what it's going to bring.

ACTION POINT:

Face this new year by squaring your shoulders, lifting your head, and saying “I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” The greatest thing you could do to begin if you have not done it yet, would be to give your heart to Jesus Christ. This would be the beginning of a brand new life. This can be the first day of an eternal life. Are you willing to openly and publicly acknowledge Christ as your personal Savior? 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Death Rehearsal

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. . . . So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5–6, 12)

For me, the end of a year is like the end of my life. And 11:59 pm on December 31 is like the moment of my death.

The 365 days of the year are like a miniature lifetime. And these final hours are like the last days in the hospital after the doctor has told me that the end is very near. And in these last hours, the lifetime of this year passes before my eyes, and I face the inevitable question: Did I live it well? Will Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge, say “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21)?

I feel very fortunate that this is the way my year ends. And I pray that the year’s end might have the same significance for you.

The reason I feel fortunate is that it is a great advantage to have a trial run at my own dying. It is a great benefit to rehearse once a year in preparation for the last scene of your life. It is a great benefit because the morning of January 1 will find most of us still alive, at the brink of a whole new lifetime, able to start fresh all over again.

The great thing about rehearsals is that they show you where your weaknesses are, where your preparation was faulty; and they leave you time to change before the real play in front of a real audience.

I suppose for some of you the thought of dying is so morbid, so gloomy, so fraught with grief and pain that you do your best to keep it out of your minds, especially during holidays. I think that is unwise and that you do yourself a great disservice. I have found that there are few things more revolutionizing for my life than a periodic pondering of my own death.

How do you get a heart of wisdom so as to know how best to live? The psalmist answers:

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. . . . So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5–6, 12)

Numbering your days simply means remembering that your life is short and your dying will be soon. Great wisdom — great, life-revolutionizing wisdom — comes from periodically pondering these things.

The criterion of success, that Paul used to measure his life, was whether he had kept the faith. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7–8). Let this be our test at year’s end.

And if we discover that we did not keep the faith this past year, then we can be glad, as I am, that this year-end death is (probably) only a rehearsal, and a whole life of potential faith-keeping lies before us in the next year.

John Piper 

Impassioned Life

God . . . has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, . . . through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

HEBREWS 1:1–4

The life that Jesus gives is not dull or common. It is vibrant and impassioned. That life should be lived with a passionate, emotional, blazing love for the Lord Jesus Christ. His name towers above all others. H. G. Wells once listed the ten greatest men of history; Jesus Christ was number one on the list. Yet He has no business in a list like that. He is more than a man. We may speak of Charlemagne the Great, Peter the Great, or Alexander the Great. But Jesus is the One and Only. There is no one like Jesus Christ. 

It is the uniqueness of Jesus that sets the Christ of Christmas apart from all others. Buddha, Confucius, and Mohammed were all leaders, but one can follow their religion without knowing them personally. This is not so with Christ. To take Christ from Christianity would be like taking water from a well, notes from music, and numbers from mathematics. 

The key phrase in the book of Hebrews uses the word better. It is used thirteen times. God is saying that we can come to know Jesus better, but we can never find anything better than knowing Jesus. He is indeed the superlative Savior. Let’s think about His name. 

There is wisdom in that name. This is the earthshaking declaration: that God Who has spoken through nature, conscience, history, law, and the prophets said His last word to humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ. God is love, and love cannot be silent. Jesus stood in the wings of history waiting for His time. He cast a long shadow throughout the Old Testament. All of the books of the Old Testament, like tributaries in a mighty river, merge into the last word of God to man—Jesus. 

There is wonder in that name. Jesus is the wonderful reason of creation. “He made the worlds.” The Baby in Matthew 1 was the Creator of Genesis 1. It is all by Him, for Him, and it is coming to Him. Jesus is the wonderful regent of creation, “upholding all things by the word of His power.” To uphold means to bear a load. Jesus is the glue of the galaxies. Without Him, the cosmos would become a chaos. Jesus is the wonderful redeemer of creation. “He had by Himself purged our sins.” We will be saved by Him alone, or we will not be saved at all. There is no other Savior. 

There is worship in that name. Jesus deserves our impassioned worship because of His superior name. “He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name” than even the angels. We know the names of some of the angels. Michael means “who is like God.” Gabriel means “man of God.” These angels were, and are, mighty and glorious, but Jesus has a more excellent name than they. He is not a messenger of God like Gabriel, but the Word of God Himself. 

We worship Him because He is God. He is God upon the throne. Some tell us that we need to “make Him Lord.” We are too late for that. He already is Lord. A billion years from now He will still be God upon the throne. All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ name!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Outfitted and Empowered

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21)

Christ shed the blood of the eternal covenant. By this successful redemption, he obtained the blessing of his own resurrection from the dead. That is even clearer in Greek than it is in English, and here it’s clear enough: “God . . . brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus . . . by the blood of the eternal covenant.” This Jesus — raised by the blood of the covenant — is now our living Lord and Shepherd.

And because of all that, God does two things:

he equips us with everything good that we may do his will, and

he works in us that which is pleasing in his sight.

The “eternal covenant,” secured by the blood of Christ, is the new covenant. And the new covenant promise is this: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). Therefore, the blood of this covenant not only secures God’s equipping us to do his will, but also secures God working in us to make that equipping successful.

The will of God is not just written on stone or paper as a means of grace. It is worked in us. And the effect is: We feel and think and act in ways more pleasing to God.

We are still commanded to use the equipment he gives: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” But more importantly we are told why: “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).

If we are able to please God — if we do his good pleasure — it is because the blood-bought grace of God has moved from mere equipping to omnipotent transforming.

John Piper 

Expectant Life

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus . . . he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation.”

LUKE 2:25–30

Birthdays are a time of celebration. Yet if it were not for the birthday of our King, what would every other birthday mean? It could only mean that we are one year nearer death and judgment. Because of Christmas, we can live the abundant life of anticipation and expectation. 

Today’s Scripture tells of Simeon, a name that means “listening one.” Simeon was anticipating the first coming of Jesus. The Christ of Christmas is coming again. As Simeon prepared for His first coming, we should prepare for His glorious Second Coming. Many devout men of God believe that Christ again is at the door. Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus to the temple. Simeon took that little baby in his arms, held Him close to his heart, and I imagine him declaring, “Now I am ready to die. I am completely satisfied. My heart is at rest.” Simeon proclaimed some things about Jesus that need to be proclaimed clearly today. 

He is the Christ of deliverance. “My eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:30). No one really is ready for Christmas, much less His Second Coming, unless they have received this glorious salvation. 

He is the Christ of delight. He is “a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). There is now no need to stumble in darkness when we can walk in the glorious light of Christmas. 

He is the Christ of derision. Christ is “a sign which will be spoken against” (Luke 2:34). Not all will love Jesus. He is called mad, devil possessed, a winebibber and glutton, a blasphemer. If the gospel is not spoken against, it is not the Bible gospel that is being presented. 

He is the Christ of division. “A sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:35). Jesus sends a sword that divides. “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). He brings a new nature that conflicts with our old nature. 

He is the Christ of destiny. “This child is destined for the fall and rising of many” (Luke 2:34). Jesus is a stone of stumbling or a sure foundation upon which we build. In the Christ Who came, we are ready for the Christ Who is coming again. We have expectant life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers