Friday, February 26, 2021

When God Becomes 100% for Us


. . . among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:3)


All of God’s wrath, all of the condemnation we deserve, was poured out on Jesus. All of God’s demands for perfect righteousness were fulfilled by Christ. The moment we see (by grace!) this Treasure, and receive him in this way, his death counts as our death and his condemnation as our condemnation and his righteousness as our righteousness, and God becomes 100% irrevocably for us forever in that instant.


The question this leaves unanswered is, “Doesn’t the Bible teach that in eternity God set his favor on us in election?”


In other words, thoughtful people ask, “Did God only become 100% for us in the moment of faith and union with Christ and justification? Did he not become 100% for us in the act of election before the foundation of the world?” Paul says in Ephesians 1:4–5, “[God] chose us in [Jesus] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ.”


Is God then not 100% for the elect from eternity? The answer hangs on the meaning of “100%.”


With the term “100%” I am trying to preserve a biblical truth found in several passages of Scripture. For example, in Ephesians 2:3, Paul says that Christians were “children of wrath” before they were made alive in Christ Jesus: “We all once lived [among the sons of disobedience] in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”


Paul is saying that, before our new birth — before we were made alive together with Christ — God’s wrath was on us. The elect were under wrath. This changed when God made us alive in Christ Jesus and awakened us to see the truth and beauty of Christ so that we received him as the one who died for us and as the one whose righteousness is counted as ours because of our union with Jesus. Before this happened to us, we were under God’s wrath. Then, because of faith in Christ and union with him, all God’s wrath was removed and he then became, in that sense, 100% for us.


Therefore, exult in the truth that God will keep you. He will get you to the end because in Christ he is 100% for you. And therefore, getting to the end does not make God to be 100% for you. It is the effect of the fact that he is already 100% for you.


John Piper 

Bible Study

8 "Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries,
9 then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations.
10 And they shall know that I am the LORD. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them." - Ezekiel 6:8-10

8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping. 
9 The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer. 
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.  - Psalm 6:8-10

20 "And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression," declares the LORD. 
21 "And as for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring," says the LORD, "from this time forth and forevermore." - Isaiah 59:20-21

40 And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'
44 Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?'
45 Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Matthew 25:40-46

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Living by God’s Promises


BIBLE MEDITATION


“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:8

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT


According to an article, Henry Ford asked some engineers to box the transmissions for his Model-T Fords in certain sized boxes. He gave meticulous dimensions and material instructions for these boxes. The builders were confused, but they did as they were told.


When the transmissions were delivered, the factory workers took apart the boxes and used them for the floorboards! Mr. Ford was thinking ahead!


That’s what God does. He knows what we need even before we ask Him. We may not understand all of His ways, just like those workers who were boxing up the transmissions did not understand.


We do not live by our understanding; we live by His promises.


ACTION POINT


Is there something happening in your life right now that you don’t understand? Read Proverbs 3:5-6 and trust in the promise that He will direct your path.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Are Greatly Loved


We all once lived among [the sons of disobedience] in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:3–5)


Would you not love to hear the angel Gabriel say to you, “You are greatly loved”?


Three times this happened to Daniel.


“At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.” (Daniel 9:23)


“O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” (Daniel 10:11)


And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” (Daniel 10:19)


I admit that each year when I read through the Bible and come to these verses, I want to take them and apply them to myself. I want to hear God saying to me, “You are greatly loved.”


In fact, I do hear this. And you can hear it too. If you have faith in Jesus, God himself says to you in his word — which is more sure than an angel of God speaking — “You are greatly loved.”


There it stands in Ephesians 2:3–5, 8: We “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. . . . For by grace you have been saved through faith.”


This is the only place where Paul uses this wonderful phrase “great love.” And it is better than an angel’s voice. If you have seen Jesus as true and received him as your supreme treasure, that is, if you are “alive,” you are greatly loved. Greatly loved by the Creator of the universe. Just think of it! Greatly loved!



John Piper 

February 25

1 "You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God.
2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
3 "If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,
4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.
6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.
7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.
10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.
11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
14 "But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments,
15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,
16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.
18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins,
19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
21 "Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins.
22 And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.
23 "And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me,
24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
27 "But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me,
28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.
29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
30 And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you.
31 And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas.
32 And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
34 "Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths.
35 As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.
36 And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues.
37 They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies' lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.
40 "But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,
41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies-if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,
42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes.
44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God.
45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD."
46 These are the statutes and rules and laws that the LORD made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.

1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the LORD involving the valuation of persons,
3 then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
4 If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels.
5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels.
6 If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver.
7 And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.
8 And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.
9 "If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the LORD, all of it that he gives to the LORD is holy.
10 He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy.
11 And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the LORD, then he shall stand the animal before the priest,
12 and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be.
13 But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to the valuation.
14 "When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the LORD, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand.
15 And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his.
16 "If a man dedicates to the LORD part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.
17 If he dedicates his field from the year of jubilee, the valuation shall stand,
18 but if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation.
19 And if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his.
20 But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore.
21 But the field, when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the LORD, like a field that has been devoted. The priest shall be in possession of it.
22 If he dedicates to the LORD a field that he has bought, which is not a part of his possession,
23 then the priest shall calculate the amount of the valuation for it up to the year of jubilee, and the man shall give the valuation on that day as a holy gift to the LORD.
24 In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession.
25 Every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.
26 "But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the LORD, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the LORD's.
27 And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation, and add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation.
28 "But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD.
29 No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
30 "Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD's; it is holy to the LORD.
31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.
32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the LORD.
33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed."
34 These are the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. - Leviticus 26-27

1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 
2 For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. 
3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. 
4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah 
5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. 
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! 
7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! 
8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 
9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!  - Psalms 47

17 After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, "Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
18 When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.
19 But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar-though I had no charge to bring against my nation.
20 For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain."
21 And they said to him, "We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you.
22 But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against."
23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.
24 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved.
25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: "The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:
26 "'Go to this people, and say, "You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive." 
27 For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.' 
28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen."
30 He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him,
31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. - Acts 28:17-31

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant,
16 and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?" 
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?"
21 And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen.
22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." - Matthew 21:12-22

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Believe in God’s Justification


BIBLE MEDITATION


“…and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Romans 8:30

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT


What does it mean to be justified? It means to be declared righteous.


Justification is not being good, though being good gives God glory. When you put your faith where God put your sins—on the Lord Jesus Christ—then God stamps “righteous” over your name in His “Book of Life.”


It’s not because of what you have done or ever can do, but because of His justification.


No court on earth can justify anybody. But what God does is take a guilty person and not only give that guilty person a pardon, but He makes that guilty person just as if he had never sinned. That’s justification.


ACTION POINT


If you lived every moment believing in the justification that God has given you, how would your faith be strengthened? Would you be more vocal about the gift of God’s love?


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Opens the Heart


One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. (Acts 16:14)


Everywhere Paul preached some believed and some did not. How are we to understand why some of those who are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5) believed and some did not?


The answer why some did not believe is that they “thrust it aside” (Acts 13:46) because the message of the gospel was “folly to [them], and [they were] not able to understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The mind of the flesh “is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7).


Everyone who hears and rejects the gospel “hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (John 3:20). They remain “darkened in their understanding . . . because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18). It is a guilty ignorance. The truth is available. But “by their unrighteousness [they] suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).


But why then do some believe, since all are in this condition of rebellious hardness of heart, dead in their trespasses? The book of Acts gives the answer in at least three different ways. One is that they are appointed to believe. When Paul preached in Antioch of Pisidia, the Gentiles rejoiced and “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).


Another way of answering why some believe is that God granted repentance. When the saints in Jerusalem heard that Gentiles, and not just Jews, were responding to the gospel, they said, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18).


But the clearest answer in Acts to the question why a person believes the gospel is that God opens the heart. Lydia is the best example. Why did she believe? Acts 16:14 says, “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”


If you are a believer in Jesus, all of these happened to you: You were appointed to believe; you were granted to repent; and the Lord opened your heart. The rest of your life you should be overflowing with amazed thankfulness at the miracle that you are a believer.


John Piper