Bible Study

Isaiah 53:11-12

    [11] 

    Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

    by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

        make many to be accounted righteous,

        and he shall bear their iniquities. 

    [12] 

    Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

        and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

    because he poured out his soul to death

        and was numbered with the transgressors;

    yet he bore the sin of many,

        and makes intercession for the transgressors.

John 17:3

[3] And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Luke 9:25

[25] For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

2 Peter 1:3-4

Confirm Your Calling and Election

[3] His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

We Are Made to Know God

PRAY OVER THIS

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.”

Psalm 42:1

 

PONDER THIS

There are many differences between man and animals. One main difference is man has a concern for destiny. No animal knows he’s going to die. He doesn’t think about dying. God gave animals instincts that He didn’t give to human beings, but He gave human beings spiritual insight and revelation that He didn’t give to animals.

A bee can build a six-sided cell in the honeycomb. Beavers can build dams. Spiders can build webs. But the spider cannot build a six-sided cell, and the bee cannot build a beaver’s dam. They have instinct; they don’t have knowledge. They don’t have logic. A man may not have instincts like this, but he knows that he is here for more. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God has set eternity in the hearts of humans. We are not mere animals. We don’t believe in immortality because we prove it; we prove it because we believe in it. Immortality is instinctive in us.

Augustine, a church father, said our hearts are restless until they rest in God. You’re made in the image of God. You are made to know Him and to rest in Him.

How would your life change if you lived like you were made for God?

What are some areas in life where you need to rest in God?

PRACTICE THIS

Take some time to rest in God today by reading Scripture and meeting with Him in prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When God Goes Against His Will

But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death. (1 Samuel 2:25)

The sons of Eli the priest would not obey their father when he rebuked them for their sin. There are three implications of this text for our lives.

1) It is possible to sin so long and so grievously that the Lord will not grant repentance.

That is why Paul said that after all our pleading and teaching, “God may perhaps grant them repentance” — not, “will grant them repentance” (2 Timothy 2:25). There is a “too late” in the life of sin. As it says of Esau in Hebrews 12:17, “He found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” He was forsaken; he could not repent.

This does not mean that those who truly repent even after a whole lifetime of sinning cannot be saved. They certainly can be, and will be! God is staggeringly merciful. Remember the thief on the cross. Jesus said to him, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

2) Sometimes God does not permit a sinning person to do what is right.

“But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.” Listening to the voice of their father was the right thing to do. But they would not. Why? “For it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.”

The reason given for why they did not obey their father was that God had other purposes for them, and had given them up to sinning and death. This shows that there are times when the will of God’s decree is different from the revealed will of God’s command.

3) Sometimes our prayers for God’s revealed will to be done will not be done because God has decreed something different for holy and wise purposes.

I suppose that Eli prayed for his sons to be changed. That is how he should have prayed. But God had decreed that Hophni and Phinehas not obey, but rather be slain.

When something like this happens (which we do not ordinarily know ahead of time) while we are crying out to God for change, the answer of God is not: “I don’t love you.” Rather the answer is: “I have wise and holy purposes in not overcoming this sin and not granting repentance. You do not see these purposes now. Trust me. I know what I am doing. I love you.”

John Piper 

Bible Study

Psalm 42:2

    [2] My soul thirsts for God,

        for the living God.

    When shall I come and appear before God?

John 7:37-39

Rivers of Living Water

[37] On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. [38] Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” [39] Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Isaiah 55:1

The Compassion of the LORD

    [1] “Come, everyone who thirsts,

        come to the waters;

    and he who has no money,

        come, buy and eat!

    Come, buy wine and milk

        without money and without price.

Psalm 63:1

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

    [1] O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

        my soul thirsts for you;

    my flesh faints for you,

        as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

God’s Love Reaches Hurting People

PRAY OVER THIS

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

 

PONDER THIS

We need to be people of love. If we’re against abortion, and we are, we must ask ourselves, “What are we doing to help? How are we helping young, pregnant women?” Sometimes our attitudes just simply push them away. If we believe in the permanency of marriage, and we do, how are we responding to those who have experienced the trauma of divorce and broken homes, some by their own choosing and others not by their choosing? These people are hurting! They don’t need to be pushed further down. They need to be loved. Do we have open hearts and open arms to those different from us—to those who don’t know Jesus? Only then can we tell them about Jesus and His power to radically, dramatically, eternally transform people. But we must be very careful that we do not show such hostility and negativity that others would never come to us to learn about Jesus. We live in a society that is hurting, and we’ve got to bind the wounds up with salve, not with salt. They need the love of Jesus Christ, and people need to understand not only what we’re against but also what we’re for. The world is looking for answers. We need a Christian worldview that’s backed up by a Christian lifestyle. If we have all the values but none of the lifestyle, we are in trouble.

Why is it important to have a worldview backed up by a Christ-like life of love and service?

Who is easy for you to love? Who is difficult to love?

PRACTICE THIS

Love and serve someone you find difficult to love.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Payout for Patience

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” (Genesis 50:20)

The story of Joseph in Genesis 37–50 is a great lesson in why we should have faith in the sovereign, future grace of God.

Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, which must have tested his patience tremendously. But he is given a good job in Potiphar’s house in Egypt. Then, when he is acting uprightly in the unplanned place of obedience, Potiphar’s wife lies about his integrity and has him thrown into prison — another great trial to his patience.

But again things turn for the better, and the prison keeper gives him responsibility and respect. But just when he thinks he is about to get a reprieve from Pharaoh’s cupbearer, whose dream he interpreted, the cupbearer forgets him for two more years. Another painful trial to his patience.

Finally, the meaning of all these detours and delays becomes clear. Joseph is raised up to be the leader of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. He ends up saving from starvation the very brothers who sold him into slavery. Joseph says to his long-estranged brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. . . . As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive” (Genesis 45:7; 50:20).

What would have been the key to patience for Joseph during all those long years of exile and abuse? The answer is: faith in God’s sovereign, future grace — the sovereign grace of God to turn the unplanned place and the unplanned pace into the happiest ending imaginable.

That’s the key to our patience as well. Do we believe that God is working for us in the strangest and most painful turns of our lives?

John Piper 

Bible Study

1 John 3:14-15

[14] We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. [15] Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 4:20

[20] If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

1 Peter 1:8-9

[8] Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, [9] obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

John 20:29

[29] Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”