Unable to Be Undone

PRAY OVER THIS

“Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Romans 8:30

 

PONDER THIS

There is an eternal, golden chain of redemption that cannot be broken. God predestined you, then God called you, then God justified you, and then God glorified you. You see, salvation is not your work, it is God’s work, and that’s the reason the Apostle Paul said he was “confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). This should cause us to say amen. What has been decreed by Heaven cannot be annulled by Hell. What has been settled in eternity cannot be undone in time. We were in the heart and mind of God before He spun this world into space. And we are the ones He has called.

How would you live differently today if you really believed you were this secure in God’s hand?

What usually keeps you from believing this?

PRACTICE THIS

Read Romans 8:31-38 for further reflection on God’s matchless love for His people.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Suffering That Crushes Faith

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

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

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

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

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

John Piper 

Bible Study

Galatians 1:6-8

No Other Gospel

[6] I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—[7] not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. [8] But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Galatians 5:7-8

[7] You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? [8] This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

Matthew 11:6

[6] And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Isaiah 8:14-15

[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.”

Do You Believe God Loves You?

PRAY OVER THIS

“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” John 17:23

 

PONDER THIS

How much does God love you? God loves you as much as He loves His Son, Jesus Christ. That’s hard for me to take in. When the Apostle John was speaking about this love he said, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1)! Do you know why John said, “What manner of love”? It seems like he was grasping for an adjective suitable to use. What colossal love, what stupendous love, what … I just can’t even think of a word. He just finally had to say, “what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.” God loves you dear friend, and you are secure in God’s sovereign love.

How hard is it for you to believe God loves you as a father loves a child?

What makes this difficult? What helps you believe this?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of various passages that describe the love of God for His people, starting with the two verses in today’s devotion. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Suffering That Strengthens Faith

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Piper 

Bible Study

Romans 5:3-5

[3] Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, [4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, [5] and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Hebrews 10:35-38

[35] Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. [36] For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. [37] For, 

    “Yet a little while,

        and the coming one will come and will not delay; 

    [38] but my righteous one shall live by faith,

        and if he shrinks back,

    my soul has no pleasure in him.”

2 Peter 1:5-8

[5] For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. [8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

James 5:11

[11] Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

Who’s Holding On to Who?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” Jude 1:24

 

PONDER THIS

Jude began and ended this book by talking about the eternal security of the believer. If he didn’t do this, when you read what’s in between, you may start thinking that Jude was talking about people who had lost their salvation. An apostate is not somebody who has lost his or her salvation. An apostate is someone who has received the truth, rejected the truth, ridicules the truth, and literally tries to replace the truth. But this person has never been saved. He or she is like Judas, who was never born again. But people who are truly born again, true children of God, can never again be lost souls—not because they hold onto God, but because God holds onto them.

How does it encourage you to remember that it is God who keeps you faithful and not your own effort?

How does this reality provide more motivation for faithfulness to God?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out a list of specific ways God has held onto you and refused to let you go throughout your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers