Do You Know the Good News?

PRAY OVER THIS

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

 

PONDER THIS

The word gospel comes from a combination of the words—telling good things. The Greek word itself literally means, “good news.” The Gospel is the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The best news the world ever heard came from a graveyard outside Jerusalem and it is this: “He is not here; for He is risen” (Matthew 28:6).

But good news is not good news unless there’s the possibility of bad news. Suppose I said to you tonight, “I’ve got good news for you. Your house is not on fire.” Well, that kind of falls flat unless you felt that your house may have been on fire. But imagine you’re in the hospital, perhaps a person you love is in the operating room, and you’re waiting in the waiting room. Then the doors swing open, and the surgeon comes out, takes that mask from his face, and says, “I’ve got good news.” That’s good news because you were unsure of what you might hear. The good news is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The bad news that makes the good news good is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3: “Christ died for our sins.” This is the major thing. No matter what else you do, if you don’t get this, you have missed it. As somebody said a long time ago, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is the Gospel.”

What is the danger of emphasizing one part of the Gospel over another?

How do you seek to keep the Gospel as the main thing in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and ask God to give you the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone else this week.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Prepare the Way

“He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16–17)

What John the Baptist did for Israel, Advent can do for us. Don’t let Christmas find you unprepared. I mean spiritually unprepared. Its joy and impact will be so much greater if you are ready!

So, that you might be prepared . . .

First, meditate on the fact that we need a Savior. Christmas is an indictment before it becomes a delight. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). If you don’t need a Savior, you don’t need Christmas. Christmas will not have its intended effect until we feel desperately the need for a Savior. Let these short Advent meditations help awaken in you a bittersweet sense of need for the Savior.

Second, engage in sober self-examination. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24). Let every heart prepare him room . . . by cleaning house.

Third, build God-centered anticipation and expectancy and excitement into your home — especially for the children. If you are excited about Christ, they will be too. If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God? Bend the efforts of your imagination to make the wonder of the King’s arrival visible for the children.

Fourth, be much in the Scriptures, and memorize the great passages! “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:29)! Gather ’round that fire this Advent season. It is warm. It is sparkling with colors of grace. It is healing for a thousand hurts. It is light for dark nights.

John Piper 

December 1

John 14:1-14

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

[1] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4] And you know the way to where I am going.” [5] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

[8] Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” [9] Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? [10] Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. [11] Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

[12] “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. [13] Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [14] If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Revelation 1:1-8

Prologue

[1] The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, [2] who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. [3] Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Greeting to the Seven Churches

[4] John to the seven churches that are in Asia: 

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,  [5] and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. 

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood  [6] and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. [7] Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

[8] “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Job 23

Job Replies: Where Is God?

[1] Then Job answered and said:

    [2] “Today also my complaint is bitter;

        my hand is heavy on account of my groaning. 

    [3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him,

        that I might come even to his seat! 

    [4] I would lay my case before him

        and fill my mouth with arguments. 

    [5] I would know what he would answer me

        and understand what he would say to me. 

    [6] Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?

        No; he would pay attention to me. 

    [7] There an upright man could argue with him,

        and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

    [8] “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,

        and backward, but I do not perceive him; 

    [9] on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;

        he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. 

    [10] But he knows the way that I take;

        when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. 

    [11] My foot has held fast to his steps;

        I have kept his way and have not turned aside. 

    [12] I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;

        I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. 

    [13] But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?

        What he desires, that he does. 

    [14] For he will complete what he appoints for me,

        and many such things are in his mind. 

    [15] Therefore I am terrified at his presence;

        when I consider, I am in dread of him. 

    [16] God has made my heart faint;

        the Almighty has terrified me; 

    [17] yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,

        nor because thick darkness covers my face.

Hosea 1

[1] The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

[2] When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” [3] So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

[4] And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. [5] And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

[6] She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. [7] But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

[8] When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. [9] And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

[10]  Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” [11] And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Hosea 2

Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished

[1]  Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”

    [2] “Plead with your mother, plead—

        for she is not my wife,

        and I am not her husband—

    that she put away her whoring from her face,

        and her adultery from between her breasts; 

    [3] lest I strip her naked

        and make her as in the day she was born,

    and make her like a wilderness,

        and make her like a parched land,

        and kill her with thirst. 

    [4] Upon her children also I will have no mercy,

        because they are children of whoredom. 

    [5] For their mother has played the whore;

        she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

    For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

        who give me my bread and my water,

        my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ 

    [6] Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,

        and I will build a wall against her,

        so that she cannot find her paths. 

    [7] She shall pursue her lovers

        but not overtake them,

    and she shall seek them

        but shall not find them.

    Then she shall say,

        ‘I will go and return to my first husband,

        for it was better for me then than now.’ 

    [8] And she did not know

        that it was I who gave her

        the grain, the wine, and the oil,

    and who lavished on her silver and gold,

        which they used for Baal. 

    [9] Therefore I will take back

        my grain in its time,

        and my wine in its season,

    and I will take away my wool and my flax,

        which were to cover her nakedness. 

    [10] Now I will uncover her lewdness

        in the sight of her lovers,

        and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. 

    [11] And I will put an end to all her mirth,

        her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,

        and all her appointed feasts. 

    [12] And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,

        of which she said,

    ‘These are my wages,

        which my lovers have given me.’

    I will make them a forest,

        and the beasts of the field shall devour them. 

    [13] And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals

        when she burned offerings to them

    and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,

        and went after her lovers

        and forgot me, declares the LORD.

    The LORD’s Mercy on Israel

    [14] “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

        and bring her into the wilderness,

        and speak tenderly to her. 

    [15] And there I will give her her vineyards

        and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

    And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,

        as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

    [16] “And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ [17] For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. [18] And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. [19] And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. [20] I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

    [21] “And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,

        I will answer the heavens,

        and they shall answer the earth, 

    [22] and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,

        and they shall answer Jezreel, 

    [23]     and I will sow her for myself in the land.

    And I will have mercy on No Mercy,

        and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;

        and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

Hosea 3

Hosea Redeems His Wife

[1] And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” [2] So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. [3] And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” [4] For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. [5] Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.

How Do You Pray?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”

Matthew 9:36-38

 

PONDER THIS

We don’t fight alone. I need you to pray for me. People tell me from time to time, “Pastor, I’m praying for you.” Many times, tears will come to my eyes when someone says that. There are six billion people on Earth. Some people have never been prayed for one time. If you have anybody praying for you, you’re blessed. We need to pray for one another. Husbands need to pray for their wives. Wives need to pray for their husbands. Parents need to pray for their children. The pastor needs to pray for his congregation. The congregation needs to pray for the people. We’re in the battle together and it’s a real battle, isn’t it? Let’s hold one another up in prayer. Let’s encourage one another. I don’t want us to lose this war.

We may be on the verge of one of the greatest spiritual revivals the world has ever seen. Things are happening—there’s a quickening. I speak to pastor friends, and I ask how it’s going. They say, “I don’t understand it, but God’s just moving in our church. Things are happening. Souls are getting saved.” How encouraging! The power of prayer is incredible.

What are the things you pray for most often?

How active is your prayer life? What are some things that cause you to pray more? What are things that prevent you from praying?

PRACTICE THIS

Reach out and let someone know you are praying for him or her today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Triumphant Shame of the Cross

[Christ did not] offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:25–26)

It is not to be taken for granted that there should be a welcome for sinners in heaven.

God is holy and pure and perfectly just and righteous. Yet the whole story of the Bible is how such a great and holy God can and does welcome dirty, unholy people like you and me into his favor. How can this be?

Hebrews 9:25 says that Christ’s sacrifice for sin was not like the sacrifices of the Jewish high priests. They came into the holy place yearly with animal sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. But these verses say Christ did not enter heaven to “offer himself repeatedly . . . for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 9:26).

If Christ followed the pattern of the priests, then he would have to die yearly. And since the sins to be covered include the sins of Adam and Eve, he would have had to begin his yearly dying at the foundation of the world. But the writer treats this as unthinkable.

Why is this unthinkable? Because it would make the death of the Son of God look weak and ineffective. If it has to be repeated year after year for centuries, where would be the triumph? Where would we see the infinite value of the sacrifice of the Son of God? It would vanish in the shamefulness of a yearly suffering and death.

There was shame in the cross, but it was triumphant shame. “[Jesus despised] the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

This is the gospel of the glory of Christ, the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). I pray that no matter how dirty or unholy with sin you are, you will see the light of this glory and believe.

John Piper 

Bible Study

1 John 3:5

[5] You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

1 Peter 3:18

[18] For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

1 Corinthians 10:11-12

[11] Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. [12] Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Hebrews 1:1-3

The Supremacy of God’s Son

[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,

You Can Be Cleansed from Sin

PRAY OVER THIS

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.” Ephesians 5:1

 

PONDER THIS

Do you have any unconfessed, unrepented sin? I want to give you a testimony. You may think I’m bragging but I am not. I don’t have any unconfessed sin in my life—none. You say, “Oh, you think you’re a super Christian?” No, I’m a normal Christian. That is the normal Christian life. I would be a fool to stand up here and try and preach without the breastplate of righteousness.

Now, you’re not going to win the war with pornography if all you fight is pornography. What about honesty? What about pride? What about selfishness? You say, “Pastor Rogers, you mean to tell me you don’t have any problem fighting the devil?” I fight him all the time. “You mean to tell me you don’t fail?” I fail. I’m not saying I’m perfect. God knows I’m not. But I’m telling you there’s no reason that any man, woman, boy, or girl cannot be as pure and clean as the driven snow. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Why would I want to drag sin around? Why would I want to start the day with the baggage of sin when I can be clean? It’s so simple. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Not some, all. Thank God for that.

When was the last time you confessed sin to God?

Why is it important to deal with our sin as it comes up instead of keeping it around?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and talk to God about your sin. Consider all your sins, not only the ones that are most public or obvious.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers