September 16

Luke 23:26-31

The Crucifixion

[26] And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. [27] And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. [28] But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. [29] For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ [30] Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ [31] For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Hebrews 9:11-28

Redemption Through the Blood of Christ

[11] But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) [12] he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. [13] For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, [14] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

[15] Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. [16] For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. [17] For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. [18] Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. [19] For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, [20] saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” [21] And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. [22] Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

[23] Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. [24] For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. [25] Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, [26] 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. [27] And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Proverbs 26:1-16

    [1] Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,

        so honor is not fitting for a fool. 

    [2] 

    Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,

        a curse that is causeless does not alight. 

    [3] 

    A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,

        and a rod for the back of fools. 

    [4] 

    Answer not a fool according to his folly,

        lest you be like him yourself. 

    [5] 

    Answer a fool according to his folly,

        lest he be wise in his own eyes. 

    [6] 

    Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool

        cuts off his own feet and drinks violence. 

    [7] 

    Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless,

        is a proverb in the mouth of fools. 

    [8] 

    Like one who binds the stone in the sling

        is one who gives honor to a fool. 

    [9] 

    Like a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard

        is a proverb in the mouth of fools. 

    [10] 

    Like an archer who wounds everyone

        is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard. 

    [11] 

    Like a dog that returns to his vomit

        is a fool who repeats his folly. 

    [12] 

    Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?

        There is more hope for a fool than for him. 

    [13] 

    The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!

        There is a lion in the streets!” 

    [14] 

    As a door turns on its hinges,

        so does a sluggard on his bed. 

    [15] 

    The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;

        it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. 

    [16] 

    The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes

        than seven men who can answer sensibly.

Isaiah 42

The LORD’s Chosen Servant

    [1] Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

        my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

    I have put my Spirit upon him;

        he will bring forth justice to the nations. 

    [2] He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

        or make it heard in the street; 

    [3] a bruised reed he will not break,

        and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

        he will faithfully bring forth justice. 

    [4] He will not grow faint or be discouraged

        till he has established justice in the earth;

        and the coastlands wait for his law.

    [5] Thus says God, the LORD,

        who created the heavens and stretched them out,

        who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

    who gives breath to the people on it

        and spirit to those who walk in it: 

    [6] “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;

        I will take you by the hand and keep you;

    I will give you as a covenant for the people,

        a light for the nations, 

    [7]     to open the eyes that are blind,

    to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

        from the prison those who sit in darkness. 

    [8] I am the LORD; that is my name;

        my glory I give to no other,

        nor my praise to carved idols. 

    [9] Behold, the former things have come to pass,

        and new things I now declare;

    before they spring forth

        I tell you of them.”

    Sing to the LORD a New Song

    [10] Sing to the LORD a new song,

        his praise from the end of the earth,

    you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,

        the coastlands and their inhabitants. 

    [11] Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

        the villages that Kedar inhabits;

    let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,

        let them shout from the top of the mountains. 

    [12] Let them give glory to the LORD,

        and declare his praise in the coastlands. 

    [13] The LORD goes out like a mighty man,

        like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;

    he cries out, he shouts aloud,

        he shows himself mighty against his foes.

    [14] For a long time I have held my peace;

        I have kept still and restrained myself;

    now I will cry out like a woman in labor;

        I will gasp and pant. 

    [15] I will lay waste mountains and hills,

        and dry up all their vegetation;

    I will turn the rivers into islands,

        and dry up the pools. 

    [16] And I will lead the blind

        in a way that they do not know,

    in paths that they have not known

        I will guide them.

    I will turn the darkness before them into light,

        the rough places into level ground.

    These are the things I do,

        and I do not forsake them. 

    [17] They are turned back and utterly put to shame,

        who trust in carved idols,

    who say to metal images,

        “You are our gods.”

    Israel’s Failure to Hear and See

    [18] Hear, you deaf,

        and look, you blind, that you may see! 

    [19] Who is blind but my servant,

        or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

    Who is blind as my dedicated one,

        or blind as the servant of the LORD? 

    [20] He sees many things, but does not observe them;

        his ears are open, but he does not hear. 

    [21] The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,

        to magnify his law and make it glorious. 

    [22] But this is a people plundered and looted;

        they are all of them trapped in holes

        and hidden in prisons;

    they have become plunder with none to rescue,

        spoil with none to say, “Restore!” 

    [23] Who among you will give ear to this,

        will attend and listen for the time to come? 

    [24] Who gave up Jacob to the looter,

        and Israel to the plunderers?

    Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,

        in whose ways they would not walk,

        and whose law they would not obey? 

    [25] So he poured on him the heat of his anger

        and the might of battle;

    it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;

        it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.

Isaiah 43

Israel’s Only Savior

    [1] But now thus says the LORD,

    he who created you, O Jacob,

        he who formed you, O Israel:

    “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

        I have called you by name, you are mine. 

    [2] When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

        and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

    when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

        and the flame shall not consume you. 

    [3] For I am the LORD your God,

        the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

    I give Egypt as your ransom,

        Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 

    [4] Because you are precious in my eyes,

        and honored, and I love you,

    I give men in return for you,

        peoples in exchange for your life. 

    [5] Fear not, for I am with you;

        I will bring your offspring from the east,

        and from the west I will gather you. 

    [6] I will say to the north, Give up,

        and to the south, Do not withhold;

    bring my sons from afar

        and my daughters from the end of the earth, 

    [7] everyone who is called by my name,

        whom I created for my glory,

        whom I formed and made.”

    [8] Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes,

        who are deaf, yet have ears! 

    [9] All the nations gather together,

        and the peoples assemble.

    Who among them can declare this,

        and show us the former things?

    Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,

        and let them hear and say, It is true. 

    [10] “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,

        “and my servant whom I have chosen,

    that you may know and believe me

        and understand that I am he.

    Before me no god was formed,

        nor shall there be any after me. 

    [11] I, I am the LORD,

        and besides me there is no savior. 

    [12] I declared and saved and proclaimed,

        when there was no strange god among you;

        and you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God. 

    [13] Also henceforth I am he;

        there is none who can deliver from my hand;

        I work, and who can turn it back?”

    [14] Thus says the LORD,

        your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

    “For your sake I send to Babylon

        and bring them all down as fugitives,

        even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. 

    [15] I am the LORD, your Holy One,

        the Creator of Israel, your King.”

    [16] Thus says the LORD,

        who makes a way in the sea,

        a path in the mighty waters, 

    [17] who brings forth chariot and horse,

        army and warrior;

    they lie down, they cannot rise,

        they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 

    [18] “Remember not the former things,

        nor consider the things of old. 

    [19] Behold, I am doing a new thing;

        now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

    I will make a way in the wilderness

        and rivers in the desert. 

    [20] The wild beasts will honor me,

        the jackals and the ostriches,

    for I give water in the wilderness,

        rivers in the desert,

    to give drink to my chosen people, 

    [21]     the people whom I formed for myself

    that they might declare my praise.

    [22] “Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

        but you have been weary of me, O Israel! 

    [23] You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

        or honored me with your sacrifices.

    I have not burdened you with offerings,

        or wearied you with frankincense. 

    [24] You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

        or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

    But you have burdened me with your sins;

        you have wearied me with your iniquities.

    [25] “I, I am he

        who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

        and I will not remember your sins. 

    [26] Put me in remembrance; let us argue together;

        set forth your case, that you may be proved right. 

    [27] Your first father sinned,

        and your mediators transgressed against me. 

    [28] Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary,

        and deliver Jacob to utter destruction

        and Israel to reviling.

God Leads Us Home

“But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, ‘Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.’”

ACTS 23:11

 

PONDER THIS

I had a pastor search committee come to me once and ask for help. I said, “I know just the guy you need. He is a fantastic preacher.” Immediately, I had their attention. I told them he is the world’s greatest theologian. “He has a great missionary zeal, and an evangelistic spirit.” They were getting out their pens to write his name and address down, but I said, “He’s got health problems, he’s often sick, and he’s kind of old.” Well, eyebrows went up a little bit. I said, “Another problem with him is he’s been in jail several times.” They began to shake their heads. “He’s been in some street demonstrations and some riots.” They said, “Well, we don’t know whether that’s the man we want or not.” I said, “Don’t worry, you couldn’t get him. He’s already in Heaven. His name is the Apostle Paul.”

Did you know the average pulpit committee would not want Paul the apostle as their pastor? God saw the potential in Paul when no one else did. He gave him a word of courage, “Be of good cheer.” He gave him a word of commendation and a word of confidence: “you must bear witness also at Rome.” If Paul had known the song, “Amazing Grace,” he’d have been able to sing, “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come: ‘tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

What about Paul’s life stands out to you?

What are some ways Paul might not fit in your church? What might that indicate about things that need to change with us?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time to skim through the life of Paul from Acts 9–28. Note the ways Paul lived in honoring God that seem foreign to us today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Only Enduring Happiness

“You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22)

“No one will take your joy from you” because your joy comes from being with Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus means that you will never die; you will never be cut off from him.

So two things have to be true if your joy is never to be taken from you. One is that the source of your joy lasts forever and the other is that you last forever. If either you or the source of your joy is mortal, your joy will be taken from you.

And oh, how many people have settled for just that! Eat, drink, and be merry they say, for tomorrow we die, and that’s that (Luke 12:19). Food doesn’t last forever, and I don’t last forever. So let’s make the most of it while we can. What a tragedy!

If you are tempted to think that way, please consider as seriously as you possibly can that if your joy comes from being with Jesus, “No one will take your joy from you” — not in this life, nor in the life to come.

Not life or death, or angels or principalities, or things present or things to come, or powers or height or depth, or anything else in all creation will be able to take our joy from us in Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 8:38–39).

Joy in being with Jesus is an unbroken line from now to eternity. It will not be cut off — not by his death or ours.

John Piper 

September 15

Luke 23:13-25

[13] Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, [14] and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. [15] Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. [16] I will therefore punish and release him.”

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

[18] But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”—[19] a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. [20] Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, [21] but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” [22] A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” [23] But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. [24] So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. [25] He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

Hebrews 9:1-10

The Earthly Holy Place

[1] Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. [2] For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. [3] Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, [4] having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. [5] Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

[6] These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, [7] but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. [8] By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing [9] (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, [10] but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Proverbs 25:15-28

    [15] With patience a ruler may be persuaded,

        and a soft tongue will break a bone. 

    [16] If you have found honey, eat only enough for you,

        lest you have your fill of it and vomit it. 

    [17] Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,

        lest he have his fill of you and hate you. 

    [18] A man who bears false witness against his neighbor

        is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow. 

    [19] Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble

        is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips. 

    [20] Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart

        is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,

        and like vinegar on soda. 

    [21] If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,

        and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, 

    [22] for you will heap burning coals on his head,

        and the LORD will reward you. 

    [23] The north wind brings forth rain,

        and a backbiting tongue, angry looks. 

    [24] It is better to live in a corner of the housetop

        than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. 

    [25] Like cold water to a thirsty soul,

        so is good news from a far country. 

    [26] Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain

        is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked. 

    [27] It is not good to eat much honey,

        nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory. 

    [28] A man without self-control

        is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Isaiah 40

Comfort for God’s People

    [1] Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 

    [2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

        and cry to her

    that her warfare is ended,

        that her iniquity is pardoned,

    that she has received from the LORD’s hand

        double for all her sins.

    [3] A voice cries:

    “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;

        make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

    [4] Every valley shall be lifted up,

        and every mountain and hill be made low;

    the uneven ground shall become level,

        and the rough places a plain. 

    [5] And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

        and all flesh shall see it together,

        for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

    The Word of God Stands Forever

    [6] A voice says, “Cry!”

        And I said, “What shall I cry?”

    All flesh is grass,

        and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 

    [7] The grass withers, the flower fades

        when the breath of the LORD blows on it;

        surely the people are grass. 

    [8] The grass withers, the flower fades,

        but the word of our God will stand forever.

    The Greatness of God

    [9] Go on up to a high mountain,

        O Zion, herald of good news;

    lift up your voice with strength,

        O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

        lift it up, fear not;

    say to the cities of Judah,

        “Behold your God!” 

    [10] Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,

        and his arm rules for him;

    behold, his reward is with him,

        and his recompense before him. 

    [11] He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

        he will gather the lambs in his arms;

    he will carry them in his bosom,

        and gently lead those that are with young.

    [12] Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

        and marked off the heavens with a span,

    enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

        and weighed the mountains in scales

        and the hills in a balance? 

    [13] Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,

        or what man shows him his counsel? 

    [14] Whom did he consult,

        and who made him understand?

    Who taught him the path of justice,

        and taught him knowledge,

        and showed him the way of understanding? 

    [15] Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

        and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

        behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 

    [16] Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

        nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 

    [17] All the nations are as nothing before him,

        they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

    [18] To whom then will you liken God,

        or what likeness compare with him? 

    [19] An idol! A craftsman casts it,

        and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

        and casts for it silver chains. 

    [20] He who is too impoverished for an offering

        chooses wood that will not rot;

    he seeks out a skillful craftsman

        to set up an idol that will not move.

    [21] Do you not know? Do you not hear?

        Has it not been told you from the beginning?

        Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 

    [22] It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

        and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

    who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

        and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 

    [23] who brings princes to nothing,

        and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

    [24] Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

        scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

    when he blows on them, and they wither,

        and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

    [25] To whom then will you compare me,

        that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 

    [26] Lift up your eyes on high and see:

        who created these?

    He who brings out their host by number,

        calling them all by name;

    by the greatness of his might

        and because he is strong in power,

        not one is missing.

    [27] Why do you say, O Jacob,

        and speak, O Israel,

    “My way is hidden from the LORD,

        and my right is disregarded by my God”? 

    [28] Have you not known? Have you not heard?

    The LORD is the everlasting God,

        the Creator of the ends of the earth.

    He does not faint or grow weary;

        his understanding is unsearchable. 

    [29] He gives power to the faint,

        and to him who has no might he increases strength. 

    [30] Even youths shall faint and be weary,

        and young men shall fall exhausted; 

    [31] but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

        they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

    they shall run and not be weary;

        they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 41

Fear Not, for I Am with You

    [1] Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;

        let the peoples renew their strength;

    let them approach, then let them speak;

        let us together draw near for judgment.

    [2] Who stirred up one from the east

        whom victory meets at every step?

    He gives up nations before him,

        so that he tramples kings underfoot;

    he makes them like dust with his sword,

        like driven stubble with his bow. 

    [3] He pursues them and passes on safely,

        by paths his feet have not trod. 

    [4] Who has performed and done this,

        calling the generations from the beginning?

    I, the LORD, the first,

        and with the last; I am he.

    [5] The coastlands have seen and are afraid;

        the ends of the earth tremble;

        they have drawn near and come. 

    [6] Everyone helps his neighbor

        and says to his brother, “Be strong!” 

    [7] The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,

        and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,

    saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

        and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

    [8] But you, Israel, my servant,

        Jacob, whom I have chosen,

        the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 

    [9] you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

        and called from its farthest corners,

    saying to you, “You are my servant,

        I have chosen you and not cast you off”; 

    [10] fear not, for I am with you;

        be not dismayed, for I am your God;

    I will strengthen you, I will help you,

        I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

    [11] Behold, all who are incensed against you

        shall be put to shame and confounded;

    those who strive against you

        shall be as nothing and shall perish. 

    [12] You shall seek those who contend with you,

        but you shall not find them;

    those who war against you

        shall be as nothing at all. 

    [13] For I, the LORD your God,

        hold your right hand;

    it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

        I am the one who helps you.”

    [14] Fear not, you worm Jacob,

        you men of Israel!

    I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;

        your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 

    [15] Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,

        new, sharp, and having teeth;

    you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,

        and you shall make the hills like chaff; 

    [16] you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,

        and the tempest shall scatter them.

    And you shall rejoice in the LORD;

        in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

    [17] When the poor and needy seek water,

        and there is none,

        and their tongue is parched with thirst,

    I the LORD will answer them;

        I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 

    [18] I will open rivers on the bare heights,

        and fountains in the midst of the valleys.

    I will make the wilderness a pool of water,

        and the dry land springs of water. 

    [19] I will put in the wilderness the cedar,

        the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.

    I will set in the desert the cypress,

        the plane and the pine together, 

    [20] that they may see and know,

        may consider and understand together,

    that the hand of the LORD has done this,

        the Holy One of Israel has created it.

    The Futility of Idols

    [21] Set forth your case, says the LORD;

        bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. 

    [22] Let them bring them, and tell us

        what is to happen.

    Tell us the former things, what they are,

        that we may consider them,

    that we may know their outcome;

        or declare to us the things to come. 

    [23] Tell us what is to come hereafter,

        that we may know that you are gods;

    do good, or do harm,

        that we may be dismayed and terrified. 

    [24] Behold, you are nothing,

        and your work is less than nothing;

        an abomination is he who chooses you.

    [25] I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,

        from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;

    he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,

        as the potter treads clay. 

    [26] Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,

        and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?

    There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,

        none who heard your words. 

    [27] I was the first to say to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”

        and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news. 

    [28] But when I look, there is no one;

        among these there is no counselor

        who, when I ask, gives an answer. 

    [29] Behold, they are all a delusion;

        their works are nothing;

        their metal images are empty wind.

Your Conscience Responsive to God’s Direction?

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” 1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

You have probably heard it said, “Let your conscience be your guide.” That is incomplete advice. The reason you can’t let conscience be your guide is your conscience is like a thermostat: it can be set to operate anywhere. It’s like a sundial. You can look at a sundial with a flashlight and make it register any time at all. If your conscience is defiled, then you can’t let your conscience be your guide. Some people think they are doing the right thing because their conscience isn’t being bothered. That doesn’t mean what you’re doing is right; it may mean that your conscience is defiled, that you’ve set it by the wrong standard.

Now not only can you have a defiled conscience, but you can also have what the Bible calls a seared conscience. When this passage talks about someone having his or her conscience seared with a hot iron, it gives the image of taking a branding iron and burning a mark on the flesh of an animal. That animal is seared with a hot iron, and then there’s no feeling there at all. Over time, when we reject God’s direction, our consciences are seared and numbed toward right or wrong. When we decide what to do, our responsibility is two-fold: we need to consider how it makes us feel and what the Word of God says about it. Then we are to act in obedience to Him.

When have you been too deeply influenced by your conscience?

How can you grow in responding to God’s direction?

PRACTICE THIS

Seek God’s guidance about what to do in a situation you are going through and do as He says.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers