Your Accuser Won't Stop

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.” Zechariah 3:1

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Do you like people talking behind your back? You have someone who not only talks behind your back, he'll also accuse you to your face. He’s constantly accusing you before God, pointing the finger of accusation. His name is Satan. He’s your adversary.

The very word Satan means “adversary.” Here he stands before the Lord like a prosecuting attorney. Revelation 12:10 makes it clear: Satan is our accuser.

Listen to me. Satan is constantly accusing you. He wants you to sin, encourages you to sin, then he wants you to suffer the consequences. He points out your sin so you’ll get into the guilt trap. He rejoices in your suffering. Satan wants to cripple you, and then blame you for limping! That's what he does!

Warren Wiersbe said, “Before you sin, Satan whispers, ‘You can get away with it.’ And after you sin, he shouts, 'You'll never get away with it.’” That's just the way he does.

ACTION POINT

Every soldier will tell you: you have to know your enemy. Satan, your adversary, accuses you to drive you to despair. Know your adversary. But the Holy Spirit, your Comforter, convicts you in order to draw you to Jesus Christ, to forgiveness, freedom, and liberty. Recognize the difference.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Present and Powerful Love

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (Romans 8:35)

Notice three things in Romans 8:35.

1. Christ is loving us now.

A wife might say of her deceased husband: Nothing will separate me from his love. She might mean that the memory of his love will be sweet and powerful all her life. But that is not what Paul means here.

In Romans 8:34 it says plainly, “Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” The reason Paul can say that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ is because Christ is alive and is still loving us right now.

He is at the right hand of God and is therefore ruling for us. And he is interceding for us, which means he is seeing to it that his finished work of redemption does in fact save us hour by hour, and bring us safely to eternal joy. His love is not just a memory. It is a moment-by-moment action by the omnipotent, living Son of God, to bring us to everlasting joy.

2. This love of Christ is effective in protecting us from separation, and therefore is not a universal love for all, but a particular love for his people — that is, those who, according to Romans 8:28, love God and are called according to his purpose.

This is the love of Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” It is Christ’s love for the church, his bride. Christ has a love for all, and he has a special, saving, preserving love for his bride. You know you are part of that bride if you trust Christ. Anyone — no exceptions — anyone who trusts Christ can say, I am part of his bride, his church, his called and chosen ones, the ones who, according to Romans 8:35, are kept and protected forever no matter what.

3. This omnipotent, effective, protecting love does not spare us from calamities in this life, but brings us safely through them to everlasting joy with God.

Death will happen to us, but it will not separate us. So when Paul says in verse 35 that the “sword” will not separate us from the love of Christ, he means: even if we are killed, we are not separated from the love of Christ.

So the sum of the matter in verse 35 is this: Jesus Christ is right now mightily loving his people with omnipotent, moment-by-moment love that does not always rescue us from calamity but preserves us for everlasting joy in his presence even through suffering and death.

John Piper 

September 6

1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.

2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.

5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it."

9 They said to him, "Where will you have us prepare it?"

10 He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters

11 and tell the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'

12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there."

13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. - Luke 22:1-13

1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 

4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."

5 And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest." 

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,

7 again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,

10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. - Hebrews 4:1-11

1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. 

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. 

3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. 

4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. 

5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. 

6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death. 

7 The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just. 

8 The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright. 

9 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. 

10 The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes. 

11 When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise; when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge. 

12 The Righteous One observes the house of the wicked; he throws the wicked down to ruin. 

13 Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered. 

14 A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath. 

15 When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. 

16 One who wanders from the way of good sense will rest in the assembly of the dead.  - Proverbs 21:1-16

1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

2 And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD's land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

3 When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,

4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! 

5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, 

6 that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution. 

7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. 

8 The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.' 

9 Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. 

10 All of them will answer and say to you: 'You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!' 

11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. 

12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 

13 You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' 

15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. 

16 Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, 

17 who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?' 

18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; 

19 but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot. 

20 You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. "May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named! 

21 Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities." 

22 "I will rise up against them," declares the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity," declares the LORD.

23 "And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.

24 The LORD of hosts has sworn: "As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, 

25 that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder." 

26 This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. 

27 For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? 

28 In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:

29 Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod that struck you is broken, for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent. 

30 And the firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant it will slay. 

31 Wail, O gate; cry out, O city; melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks. 

32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation? "The LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge."  - Isaiah 14

1 An oracle concerning Moab. Because Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone; because Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone. 

2 He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. On every head is baldness; every beard is shorn; 

3 in the streets they wear sackcloth; on the housetops and in the squares everyone wails and melts in tears. 

4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembles. 

5 My heart cries out for Moab; her fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction; 

6 the waters of Nimrim are a desolation; the grass is withered, the vegetation fails, the greenery is no more. 

7 Therefore the abundance they have gained and what they have laid up they carry away over the Brook of the Willows. 

8 For a cry has gone around the land of Moab; her wailing reaches to Eglaim; her wailing reaches to Beer-elim. 

9 For the waters of Dibon are full of blood; for I will bring upon Dibon even more, a lion for those of Moab who escape, for the remnant of the land.  - Isaiah 15

1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. 

2 Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. 

3 "Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive; 

4 let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, 

5 then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness." 

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab- how proud he is!- of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right. 

7 Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth. 

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches, which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert; its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea. 

9 Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for over your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased. 

10 And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting. 

11 Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth. 

12 And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.

13 This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in the past.

14 But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and feeble." - Isaiah 16

Do Not Hold Onto Anger

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Ephesians 4:26

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Not all anger is bad or sinful. Many things in our world should move you to anger. The Lord Jesus Himself was moved with righteous anger when it was called for. But only when He saw others being misused and abused, never when someone harmed Him. Jesus never retaliated. Righteous anger is aimed not at the person, but at the injustice, not at the sinner but at the sin.

If you’re angry, God warns people to stay away from you! “Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul” (Proverbs 22:24-25).

You may think you can't be angry at the sin without being angry at the sinner. Sure you can. We get angry with ourselves over something we’ve done, yet we still love ourselves.

God has much to say about anger and how we must govern it. Ephesians 4:30 continues, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The Holy Spirit is present in your situation, and He will give you the power you need.

Some of you have been angry for a long time. Your spouse hurt you and you've been nursing a grudge. Quit it. It's not worth it. Ungodly anger is an acid that destroys its own container. It harms anything it’s poured on.

ACTION POINT

What can we do? Verse 32 says, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Dear friend, you must get into Ephesians chapter four and the book of Proverbs and learn how to deal with this thing of stubborn anger.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Goal of Christ’s Love

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” (John 17:24)

Believers in Jesus are precious to God (we’re his bride!). And he loves us so much that he will not allow our preciousness to become our god.

God does indeed make much of us (he adopts us into his family!), but he does so in a way that draws us out of ourselves to enjoy his greatness.

Test yourself. If Jesus came to spend the day with you, sat down beside you on the couch, and said, “I really love you,” what would you focus on the rest of the day that you spend together with him?

It seems to me that too many songs and sermons leave us with the wrong answer. They leave the impression that the heights of our joy would be in the recurrent feeling of being loved. “He loves me!” “He loves me!” To be sure, this is joy indeed. But not the heights, and not the focus.

What are we saying with the words “I am loved”? What do we mean? What is this “being loved”?

Would not the greatest, most Christ-exalting joy be found in watching Jesus all day and bursting with, “You’re amazing!” “You are amazing!”

He answers the hardest question, and his wisdom is amazing.

He touches a filthy, oozing sore, and his compassion is amazing.

He raises a dead lady at the medical examiner’s office, and his power is amazing.

He predicts the afternoon’s events, and his foreknowledge is amazing.

He sleeps during an earthquake, and his fearlessness is amazing.

He says, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), and his words are amazing.

We walk around with him all afternoon, utterly amazed at what we are seeing.

Is not his love for us his eagerness to do for us all he must do (including die for us) so that we can marvel at him and not be incinerated by him? Redemption, propitiation, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation — all these have to happen. They are the act of love.

But the goal of love that makes those acts loving is that we be with him, and see his jaw-dropping glory, and be astounded. In those moments we forget ourselves as we see and savor all that God is for us in him.

So I am urging pastors and teachers: Push people through the acts of Christ’s love to the goal of his love. If redemption and propitiation and forgiveness and justification and reconciliation are not taking us to the enjoyment of Jesus himself, they are not love.

Press on this. It’s what Jesus prayed for in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.”

John Piper 

September 5

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 

2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 

3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 

5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 

7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 

8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 

9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples-of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

12 He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 

13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 

14 But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them. 

15 And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals. 

16 And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.  - Isaiah 11

1 You will say in that day: "I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. 

2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." 

3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

4 And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. 

5 "Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. 

6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."  - Isaiah 12

1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2 On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. 

3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones. 

4 The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle. 

5 They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 

6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! 

7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. 

8 They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. 

9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. 

10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. 

11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. 

12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. 

13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. 

14 And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land. 

15 Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. 

16 Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. 

17 Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. 

18 Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. 

19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. 

20 It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. 

21 But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. 

22 Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.  - Isaiah 13

Proverbs 20:15–30 (ESV): 16  Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger, 

and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners. 

 17  Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, 

but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. 

 18  Plans are established by counsel; 

by wise guidance wage war. 

 19  Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; 

therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. 

 20  If one curses his father or his mother, 

his lamp will be put out in utter darkness. 

 21  An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning 

will not be blessed in the end. 

 22  Do not say, “I will repay evil”; 

wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. 

 23  Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, 

and false scales are not good. 

 24  A man’s steps are from the Lord; 

how then can man understand his way? 

 25  It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,” 

and to reflect only after making vows. 

 26  A wise king winnows the wicked 

and drives the wheel over them. 

 27  The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, 

searching all his innermost parts. 

 28  Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king, 

and by steadfast love his throne is upheld. 

 29  The glory of young men is their strength, 

but the splendor of old men is their gray hair. 

 30  Blows that wound cleanse away evil; 

strokes make clean the innermost parts.

1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,

2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.

3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses-as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.

4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)

5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,

6 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.

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, 

8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 

9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 

10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.' 

11 As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" 

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

15 As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." 

16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?

17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. - Hebrews 3

29 And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.

30 As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near.

31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.

33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

34 "But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.

35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

37 And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet.

38 And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. - Luke 21:29-38

Are You a Closet Cynic?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Come now, and 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 be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Do you know what a cynic is? A cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Many people today scorn the Gospel and haven’t discerned the inherent goodness in Jesus Christ because they’re cynics. The Pharisees and Sadducees—quick to dispute everything the Lord Jesus said—were poster-children cynics. Many today are their spiritual descendants.

Cynicism is a terrible thing. Mr. Cynic, let me tell you something. God loves you and Jesus loves you, but if you are a cynic, you will probably never know the love of Jesus because of your cynicism.

ACTION POINT

Read again Isaiah 1:18, today's passage. You can hear the appeal of God, who with the heart of a loving father wants to forgive your sins—no matter how crimson they may be—and make you whole once more. This is the desire of God for you. What will you do with His offer?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers