Psalm 25:12
[12] Who is the man who fears the LORD?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
1 Samuel 2:9
[9] “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,
for not by might shall a man prevail.
Psalm 40:2
[2] He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
Psalm 37:23
[23] The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
when he delights in his way;
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” JOHN 14:27
PONDER THIS
Have you ever received anything in a will? Through Jesus, you did. On the cross He said, “My peace I give to you.” Jesus was going back to Heaven, and this is the legacy He left for you. Jesus gave you His peace, and no lawyer on Earth can nullify that will—it is yours.
If you don’t have peace, it may be that you don’t understand what you have in the name of Jesus. There’s welfare in that name. I was trying to witness to a man. We had a friendly conversation, but I approached the subject of Jesus, and he told me how he was fine without God.
He said, “You see that house? It’s paid for. I am happily married, and I have a retirement income set. I’m doing quite well, thank you.” I asked, “Do you have peace in your heart?” He said, “I told you, I’m good.” I said, “That doesn’t change my question, ‘Do you have peace in your heart?’” His chin began to quiver, and his eyes brimmed with tears, and he said, “No! I don’t have peace. How did you know?” I said, “Because the Bible says, ‘There is no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘for the wicked’” (Isaiah 48:22). Jesus is the only peace we will ever know. He is the peace that passes understanding.
Would you say you live with peace in your soul? Why or why not?
When have you had a hard time remembering your access to God’s peace?
PRACTICE THIS
Think about a current area of anxiety. Ask God that His peace would consume that concern.
LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers
. . . Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
Do you remember the time you were lost as a child, or slipping over a precipice, or about to drown? Then suddenly you were rescued. You held on for “dear life.” You trembled for what you almost lost. You were happy. Oh, so happy, and thankful. And you trembled with joy.
That’s the way I feel at the end of the year about my rescue from God’s wrath. All day Christmas we had a fire in the fireplace. Sometimes the coals were so hot that when I stoked it my hand hurt. I pulled back and shuddered at the horrendous thought of the wrath of God against sin in hell. Oh, how unspeakably horrible that will be!
Christmas afternoon I visited a woman who had been burned over 87 percent of her body. She has been in the hospital since August. My heart broke for her. How wonderful it was to hold out hope to her from God’s word for a new body in the age to come! But I came away not only thinking about her pain in this life, but also about the everlasting pain I have been saved from through Jesus.
Test my experience with me. Is this trembling joy a fitting way to end the year? Paul was glad that “Jesus . . . delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). He warned that “for those who . . . do not obey the truth . . . there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:8). And “because of [sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness] the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6).
Here at the end of the year, I am finishing my trek through the Bible and reading the last book, Revelation. It is a glorious prophecy of the triumph of God, and the everlasting joy of all who “take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17). No more tears, no more pain, no more depression, no more sorrow, no more death, no more sin (Revelation 21:4).
But oh, the horror of not repenting and not holding fast to the testimony of Jesus! The description of the wrath of God by the “apostle of love” (John) is terrifying. Those who spurn God’s love will “drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:10–11).
“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). Jesus will “tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Revelation 19:15). And blood will flow “from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 184 miles” (Revelation 14:20). Whatever that vision signifies, it is meant to communicate something unspeakably terrible.
I tremble with joy that I am saved! But oh, the holy wrath of God is a horrible destiny. Flee this, brothers and sisters. Flee this with all your might. And let us save as many as we can! No wonder there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous (Luke 15:7)!
John Piper
Romans 5:8-9
[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Colossians 1:13-15
[13] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Preeminence of Christ
[15] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Acts 2:24
[24] God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
[16] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. [17] Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
MATTHEW 11:28-30
PONDER THIS
When people come to me for counsel, I can’t solve their problems. So, I try to lead them to the One who can solve their problems, the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t want them dependent upon me; I want them to know Jesus. He is the Counselor. There is wisdom in His name. He became for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. (See 1 Corinthians 1:30).
Are you experiencing a problem right now, and don’t know the way out? You don’t know what to do. Every answer seems wrong. I want to recommend my Counselor to you: His name is Jesus.
There is wisdom in His name. He will guide you when you don’t know what to do. He will walk with you when you feel alone. Not only is there wonder and wisdom in His name, but there is worship in that name. All things belong to Him. He made everything. Billions of suns came from His hand when He spoke. Oceans dripped from His fingers. This little planet earth is a speck in the galaxy—just a speck. And yet He made it. If He created all these things, surely His way is better than our way, which has such a limited perspective. We can worship Him, and He will lead us in the way everlasting.
What is something you need God’s counsel about now?
How does God’s sovereignty over all things help you trust Him in the hard situations of life?
PRACTICE THIS
Encourage a friend to seek God’s counsel instead of only seeking human advice. Ask the Wonderful Counselor to show you the path you should take and trust in His perfect plan.
LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2)
Seeing the glory of God is our ultimate hope. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). God will “present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24).
He will “make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:23). He “calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12). “Our blessed hope [is] the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
Jesus, in all his person and work, is the incarnation and ultimate revelation of the glory of God. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). “Father, I desire that they . . . may be with me where I am, to see my glory” Jesus prays in John 17:24.
“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed” (1 Peter 5:1). “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
“We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7). “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). “Those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).
Seeing and sharing in God’s glory is our ultimate hope through the gospel of Christ.
Such a hope, that is really known and treasured, has a huge and decisive effect on our present values and choices and actions.
Get to know the glory of God. Study the glory of God and the glory of Christ. Study the glory of the world that reveals the glory of God, and the glory of the gospel that reveals the glory of Christ.
Treasure the glory of God in all things and above all things.
Study your soul. Know the glory you are seduced by, and know why you treasure glories that are not God’s glory.
Study your own soul to know how to make the glories of the world collapse like the pagan idol Dagon in 1 Samuel 5:4. Let all glories that distract you from the glory of God shatter in pitiful pieces on the floor of the world’s temples. Treasure the glory of God above all this world.
John Piper
Romans 12:12
[12] Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Romans 5:10-11
[10] For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. [11] More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Ephesians 2:18
[18] For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
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,
