September 3

1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box,

2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.

3 And he said, "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.

4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

5 And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said,

6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

7 And they asked him, "Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?"

8 And he said, "See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is at hand!' Do not go after them.

9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once."

10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness.

14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer,

15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.

17 You will be hated by all for my name's sake.

18 But not a hair of your head will perish.

19 By your endurance you will gain your lives. - Luke 21:1-19

1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,

3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,

4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.

6 It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 

7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 

8 putting everything in subjection under his feet." Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 

9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. - Hebrews 2:1-9

Proverbs 19:15–29 (ESV): 15  Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, 

and an idle person will suffer hunger. 

 16  Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life; 

he who despises his ways will die. 

 17  Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, 

and he will repay him for his deed. 

 18  Discipline your son, for there is hope; 

do not set your heart on putting him to death. 

 19  A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, 

for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again. 

 20  Listen to advice and accept instruction, 

that you may gain wisdom in the future. 

 21  Many are the plans in the mind of a man, 

but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. 

 22  What is desired in a man is steadfast love, 

and a poor man is better than a liar. 

 23  The fear of the Lord leads to life, 

and whoever has it rests satisfied; 

he will not be visited by harm. 

 24  The sluggard buries his hand in the dish 

and will not even bring it back to his mouth. 

 25  Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; 

reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge. 

 26  He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother 

is a son who brings shame and reproach. 

 27  Cease to hear instruction, my son, 

and you will stray from the words of knowledge. 

 28  A worthless witness mocks at justice, 

and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity. 

 29  Condemnation is ready for scoffers, 

and beating for the backs of fools. 

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" 

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

7 And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me."

9 And he said, "Go, and say to this people: "'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' 

10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." 

11 Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 

12 and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 

13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.  - Isaiah 6

1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.

2 When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with Ephraim," the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3 And the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field.

4 And say to him, 'Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.

5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying,

6 "Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,"

7 thus says the Lord GOD: "'It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 

8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. 

9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.'" 

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz:

11 "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven."

12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test."

13 And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

17 The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah-the king of Assyria!"

18 In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River-with the king of Assyria-the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,

22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.

23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns.

24 With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns.

25 And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread. - Isaiah 7

1 Then the LORD said to me, "Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, 'Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.'

2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me."

3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

4 for before the boy knows how to cry 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."

5 The LORD spoke to me again:

6 "Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks,

8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel."

9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered. 

10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. 

11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

12 "Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.

13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken."

16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.

17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

19 And when they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.

22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness. - Isaiah 8

Would You Want God to Engineer Your Problems?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Is a counselor someone you go to who solves your problems? No! What is the purpose of all true counseling? To bring people into the presence of God.

Israel knew the works of God, but they didn’t know the ways of God. God was bringing His people into problems—actually engineering their problems! God brought them to Mt. Moriah, a place where there was no water. And He did that, the Bible says, to prove them. All the difficulties of life are meant to bring us to God. He wanted them to find out that not only was He necessary; He was enough.

Do you know what a good counselor does? He just brings people to God. That doesn’t mean he won’t help them with their problems. But if helping with their problems is all he does and he doesn’t bring them to God, then the problem was wasted, because the purpose of all counseling and preaching is not to solve problems for people, but to bring them into God’s presence so they come to know God face to face. You allow them to have an intimate relationship with Almighty GOD where they begin to learn the ways of God and the nature of God.

A good counselor has the ways of God in his or her heart. And only those who know the ways of God make a good counselor.

ACTION POINT

When looking for a counselor, do some research. Ask questions. Look for one who is solidly grounded in Scripture as much as educated in how our minds and emotions work. Look for one who also knows the ways of God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Devastated and Delighted

“The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)

What would the doctrines of grace — the old Puritan term for the Calvinistic teaching of God’s sovereign grace in our salvation (TULIP) — what would those doctrines of grace sound like if every limb in that tree were coursing with the sap of Augustinian delight (that is, “Christian Hedonism”)?

Total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to God’s beauty, and deadness to the deepest joy.

Unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed, as the overflow of God’s joy in the fellowship of the Trinity.

Limited atonement is the assurance that indestructible joy in God is infallibly secured for God’s people by the blood of the new covenant.

Irresistible grace is the commitment and the power of God’s love to make sure we don’t hold on to suicidal pleasures, and to set us free by the sovereign power of superior delights.

Perseverance of the saints is the almighty work of God not to let us fall into the final bondage of inferior pleasures, but to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of fullness of joy in his presence, and pleasures at his right hand forevermore.

Of those five, unconditional election delivers the harshest and the sweetest judgments to my soul. That it is unconditional destroys all self-exaltation (that’s the harsh part); and that it is election makes me his treasured possession (that’s the sweet part).

This is one of the beauties of the biblical doctrines of grace: their worst devastations prepare us for their greatest delights.

What prigs we would become at the words, “The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6), if this election were in any way dependent on us. But to protect us from pride, the Lord teaches us that we are unconditionally chosen (Deuteronomy 7:7–9). “He made a wretch his treasure,” as we so gladly sing.

Only the devastating freeness and unconditionality of electing grace — followed by all the other works of saving grace — let us take and taste such gifts for our very own without the exaltation of self.

John Piper 

September 2

41 But he said to them, "How can they say that the Christ is David's son?

42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, "'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, 

43 until I make your enemies your footstool."' 

44 David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?"

45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples,

46 "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,

47 who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation." - Luke 20:41-47

10 And, "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 

11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, 

12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end." 

13 And to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? 

14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? - Hebrews 1:10-14

1 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. 

2 Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. 

3 When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD. 

4 Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend. 

5 A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape. 

6 Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. 

7 All a poor man's brothers hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues them with words, but does not have them. 

8 Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good. 

9 A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish. 

10 It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes. 

11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. 

12 A king's wrath is like the growling of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass. 

13 A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. 

14 House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.  - Proverbs 19:1-14

1 For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; 

2 the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, 

3 the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. 

4 And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. 

5 And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable. 

6 For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: "You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule"; 

7 in that day he will speak out, saying: "I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people." 

8 For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence. 

9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves. 

10 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. 

11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him. 

12 My people-infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. 

13 The LORD has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples. 

14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: "It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 

15 What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" declares the Lord GOD of hosts. 

16 The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet, 

17 therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts. 

18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents;

19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves;

20 the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets;

21 the signet rings and nose rings;

22 the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags;

23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

24 Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. 

25 Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle. 

26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.  - Isaiah 3

1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach."

2 In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.

3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,

4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.

5 Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy.

6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain. - Isaiah 4

1 Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 

2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 

4 What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? 

5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 

6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry! 

8 Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land. 

9 The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. 

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah." 

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! 

12 They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. 

13 Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst. 

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her. 

15 Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low. 

16 But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. 

17 Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich. 

18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, 

19 who say: "Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!" 

20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! 

22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, 

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right! 

24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 

25 Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. 

26 He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come! 

27 None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken; 

28 their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind. 

29 Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue. 

30 They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.  - Isaiah 5

The Hollywood Star Who Was a “Cardboard Christian”

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Matthew 23:27

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

I read an article one time about Art Linkletter. Everyone in America knew and would recognize Art Linkletter, a man who for 40 years on stage, screen and television had entertained millions. Art Linkletter said he was a professing Christian. But one day he had a great tragedy—his daughter took her life. He really needed help.

In a hotel lobby in San Francisco, he met with some young people who were on-fire Christians. There was no pretense with them, no holds barred. It came time to pray, and those young people got down on their knees in that hotel lobby. And Art Linkletter got down on his knees with them in this public place. He said,

I looked around and hoped no one would recognize me. But I was on my knees only a second when I no longer cared what anyone else thought. Until that time, I was self-sufficient. I thought I didn’t need anybody. I thought of myself as being a good person. But I was a cardboard Christian. I humbled myself before God, got on my knees, broke through to God, and met reality.

Our world is sick and tired of make-believe, cardboard Christians. It hungers for reality, not hypocrisy. The greatest argument for Christ—and the greatest argument against Christ—is the life of a Christian!

ACTION POINT

There have always been hypocrites. There always will be. But how wonderful to know Jesus Christ—to serve and love Him with reality in your heart. Jesus devoted the 6th chapter of Matthew to the problem of hypocrites. Examine your heart. Would you have knelt and prayed in that hotel lobby?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

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 

September 1

1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: "Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. 

3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." 

4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. 

5 Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 

6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. 

7 Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. 

8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. 

9 If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. 

10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 

11 "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 

12 "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 

13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 

15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 

16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 

17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. 

18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 

19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 

20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." 

21 How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. 

22 Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water. 

23 Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them. 

24 Therefore the Lord declares, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. 

25 I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. 

26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city." 

27 Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. 

28 But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 

29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen. 

30 For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water. 

31 And the strong shall become tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.  - Isaiah 1

1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 

3 and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 

4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 

5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD. 

6 For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. 

7 Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. 

8 Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. 

9 So man is humbled, and each one is brought low- do not forgive them! 

10 Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty. 

11 The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. 

12 For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up-and it shall be brought low; 

13 against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; 

14 against all the lofty mountains, and against all the uplifted hills; 

15 against every high tower, and against every fortified wall; 

16 against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft. 

17 And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. 

18 And the idols shall utterly pass away. 

19 And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. 

20 In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, 

21 to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. 

22 Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?  - Isaiah 2

Proverbs 18:1–24 (ESV): 18:1  Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; 

he breaks out against all sound judgment. 

 2  A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, 

but only in expressing his opinion. 

 3  When wickedness comes, contempt comes also, 

and with dishonor comes disgrace. 

 4  The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; 

the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. 

 5  It is not good to be partial to the wicked 

or to deprive the righteous of justice. 

 6  A fool’s lips walk into a fight, 

and his mouth invites a beating. 

 7  A fool’s mouth is his ruin, 

and his lips are a snare to his soul. 

 8  The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; 

they go down into the inner parts of the body. 

 9  Whoever is slack in his work 

is a brother to him who destroys. 

 10  The name of the Lord is a strong tower; 

the righteous man runs into it and is safe. 

 11  A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, 

and like a high wall in his imagination. 

 12  Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, 

but humility comes before honor. 

 13  If one gives an answer before he hears, 

it is his folly and shame. 

 14  A man’s spirit will endure sickness, 

but a crushed spirit who can bear? 

 15  An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, 

and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. 

 16  A man’s gift makes room for him 

and brings him before the great. 

 17  The one who states his case first seems right, 

until the other comes and examines him. 

 18  The lot puts an end to quarrels 

and decides between powerful contenders. 

 19  A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, 

and quarreling is like the bars of a castle. 

 20  From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; 

he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. 

 21  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, 

and those who love it will eat its fruits. 

 22  He who finds a wife finds a good thing 

and obtains favor from the Lord. 

 23  The poor use entreaties, 

but the rich answer roughly. 

 24  A man of many companions may come to ruin, 

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"? 

6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him." 

7 Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire." 

8 But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 

9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."  - Hebrews 1:1-9

27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,

28 and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children.

30 And the second

31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.

32 Afterward the woman also died.

33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife."

34 And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,

35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,

36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him."

39 Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well."

40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question. - Luke 20:27-40