Whosoever…That includes you!

BIBLE MEDITATION

“And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” Revelation 22:17

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

You don’t have to pay one blessed cent for the water of life. Take it and drink freely. You’ll never have your heart’s deepest thirst satisfied until you’re satisfied with Jesus. I promise on the authority of the Word of God, He will save you,

Let’s say Samuel D. Smith, born July 4, 1990, asks, “But Pastor Rogers, what if I’m not one of the ‘elect’? How can I know for sure I’m one of the ‘elect’”?

Would it help Sam to believe he’s one of the elect if Jesus had said here, “Let Sam Smith come and take of the water of life freely”? No, there’s more than one Sam Smith.

What if it said, “Samuel D. Smith”? There might be another Samuel D Smith. It might not refer to our Sam.

What if it said, “Samuel D. Smith, born in Sam’s hometown on July 4, 1990”? There could be another Samuel D. Smith born in his town on July 4, 1990. By now you’re saying, “Adrian, you’re getting ridiculous.”

Let me solve this. Let’s forget all that and just put one word in there: “whosoever.” That’s exactly what it says: “Whosoever will, let him come…” That’s better than anybody’s name spelled out in detail.

Who are the elect? I can settle that in 30 seconds. The elect are the “whosoever wills.”

ACTION POINT

If you want to be saved, come to Jesus. He’s reaching His nail-pierced hands to you, saying, “Come.” Jesus says come. The Spirit says come. The bride says come. The individual says come. You can come and drink.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Suffering That Crushes Faith

“They have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” (Mark 4:17)

The faith of some is broken instead of built by suffering. Jesus knew this and described it here in the parable of the four soils. Some people who hear the word receive it at first with gladness, but then suffering makes them fall away.

So, affliction does not always make faith stronger. Sometimes it crushes faith. And then come true the paradoxical words of Jesus, “The one who has not, even what he has will be taken” (Mark 4:25).

This is a call for us to endure suffering with firm faith in future grace, so that our faith might grow stronger and not be proved vain (1 Corinthians 15:2). “To the one who has, more will be given” (Mark 4:25). Knowing God’s design in suffering is one of the main means of growing through suffering.

If you think your suffering is pointless, or that God is not in control, or that he is whimsical or cruel, then your suffering will drive you from God, instead of driving you from everything but God — as it should. So, it is crucial that faith in God’s grace includes the faith that he gives grace through suffering.

John Piper 

Bible Study

but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. - Hebrews 3:6

3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? - Galatians 3:3-4

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. - Philippians 1:6

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! - Galatians 4:8-10

You will be known by who you follow

BIBLE MEDITATION

“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor” John 12:25-26

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

You know, sometimes it’s hard to look at a person and know whether they’re saved or not saved. One way to illustrate it is, if a group of people is standing around and there’s a dog in the midst, it’s hard to tell which man that dog belongs to. Let’s say two men are having a conversation, and the dog is sitting on the floor. When the two men part, you’re going to find out who the dog belongs to, because the dog will follow his master, right?

I made up my mind long ago that if a dog can follow his master, I’m going to follow mine. You’ll be known by which master you follow.

In high school, some kids will go this way and Jesus will go a different way, and you’ll go His way because Jesus is your Master.

In business, some men are going to go this way and Jesus is going to go that way. Mr. Christian Businessman, you’ll go that way because Jesus is your Master. You will be known by the Master you follow.

ACTION POINT

Make it your purpose to do what Jesus said so long ago: “Follow me.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Suffering That Strengthens Faith

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. (James 1:2–3)

Strange as it may seem, one of the primary purposes of being shaken by suffering is to make our faith more unshakable.

Faith is like muscle tissue: if you stress it to the limit, it gets stronger, not weaker. That’s what James means here. When your faith is threatened and tested and stretched to the breaking point, the result is greater capacity to endure. He calls it steadfastness.

God loves faith so much that he will test it to the breaking point so as to keep it pure and strong. For example, he did this to Paul according to 2 Corinthians 1:8–9,

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

The words “but that was to” show that there was a purpose in this extreme suffering: it was in order that — for the purpose that — Paul would not rely on himself and his resources, but on God — specifically the promised grace of God in raising the dead.

God so values our wholehearted faith that he will, graciously, if necessary, take away everything else in the world that we might be tempted to rely on — even life itself. His aim is that we grow deeper and stronger in our confidence that he himself will be all we need.

He wants us to be able to say with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25–26).

John Piper 

Bible Study

1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 

9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 

10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  - Isaiah 53:1-10

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.  - Isaiah 53:11-12

I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."  - Psalm 16:2

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-

10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. - Philippians 3:8-11

You Are Highly Exalted

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches—feed me with the food allotted to me, lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God”

Proverbs 30:7-9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

You may encounter in this life both the tests of poverty and of riches. If so, the Lord has some advice for you.

See poverty in the proper perspective. In the Lord Jesus Christ, you are highly exalted, no matter how poor you are. Having Christ, you are richer than the richest man on earth without the Lord Jesus. As a Christian, you have gone from rags to riches in Him.

It's hard to be poor and even harder to be rich. The rich man may have an easier time in life, but he has a harder time passing the test.

The Lord doesn’t tell the rich to renounce their riches but to properly assess them. It’s not wrong to have money. Some of God’s choicest saints—Abraham for example—were wealthy. But the rich are to see their wealth from a proper perspective.

Many people would do better being poor than rich. Some people can stand almost anything but prosperity.

ACTION POINT

It’s better to have balance, neither wealth nor poverty, but enough food for our daily bread. If we have too much, we may think we don’t need God. If too little, we might be tempted to steal and dishonor the Lord. Remember to thank the Lord today for His daily provision.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers