September 10

Luke 22:39-46

[39] And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. [40] And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” [41] And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, [42] saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” [43] And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. [44] And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. [45] And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, [46] and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Hebrews 6:13-20

[13] For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, [14] saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” [15] And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. [16] For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. [17] So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, [18] so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. [19] We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, [20] where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Proverbs 23:1-18

    [1] When you sit down to eat with a ruler,

        observe carefully what is before you, 

    [2] 

    and put a knife to your throat

        if you are given to appetite. 

    [3] 

    Do not desire his delicacies,

        for they are deceptive food. 

    [4] 

    Do not toil to acquire wealth;

        be discerning enough to desist. 

    [5] 

    When your eyes light on it, it is gone,

        for suddenly it sprouts wings,

        flying like an eagle toward heaven. 

    [6] 

    Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;

        do not desire his delicacies, 

    [7] 

    for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.

        “Eat and drink!” he says to you,

        but his heart is not with you. 

    [8] 

    You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,

        and waste your pleasant words. 

    [9] 

    Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,

        for he will despise the good sense of your words. 

    [10] 

    Do not move an ancient landmark

        or enter the fields of the fatherless, 

    [11] 

    for their Redeemer is strong;

        he will plead their cause against you. 

    [12] 

    Apply your heart to instruction

        and your ear to words of knowledge. 

    [13] 

    Do not withhold discipline from a child;

        if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 

    [14] 

    If you strike him with the rod,

        you will save his soul from Sheol. 

    [15] 

    My son, if your heart is wise,

        my heart too will be glad. 

    [16] 

    My inmost being will exult

        when your lips speak what is right. 

    [17] 

    Let not your heart envy sinners,

        but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day. 

    [18] 

    Surely there is a future,

        and your hope will not be cut off.

Isaiah 27

[1] In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

    [2] In that day,

    “A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! 

    [3]     I, the LORD, am its keeper;

        every moment I water it.

        Lest anyone punish it,

    I keep it night and day; 

    [4]     I have no wrath.

    Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!

        I would march against them,

        I would burn them up together. 

    [5] Or let them lay hold of my protection,

        let them make peace with me,

        let them make peace with me.”

    [6] In days to come Jacob shall take root,

        Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

        and fill the whole world with fruit.

    [7] Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them?

        Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain? 

    [8] Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them;

        he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind. 

    [9] Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

        and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:

    when he makes all the stones of the altars

        like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

        no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. 

    [10] For the fortified city is solitary,

        a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

    there the calf grazes;

        there it lies down and strips its branches. 

    [11] When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

        women come and make a fire of them.

    For this is a people without discernment;

        therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

        he who formed them will show them no favor.

    [12] In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the LORD will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. [13] And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Isaiah 28

    [1] Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

        and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

        which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! 

    [2] Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;

        like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,

    like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,

        he casts down to the earth with his hand. 

    [3] The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim

        will be trodden underfoot; 

    [4] and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

        which is on the head of the rich valley,

    will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer:

        when someone sees it, he swallows it

        as soon as it is in his hand.

    [5] In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,

        and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, 

    [6] and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,

        and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

    [7] These also reel with wine

        and stagger with strong drink;

    the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,

        they are swallowed by wine,

        they stagger with strong drink,

    they reel in vision,

        they stumble in giving judgment. 

    [8] For all tables are full of filthy vomit,

        with no space left.

    [9] “To whom will he teach knowledge,

        and to whom will he explain the message?

    Those who are weaned from the milk,

        those taken from the breast? 

    [10] For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

        line upon line, line upon line,

        here a little, there a little.”

    [11] For by people of strange lips

        and with a foreign tongue

    the LORD will speak to this people, 

    [12]     to whom he has said,

    “This is rest;

        give rest to the weary;

    and this is repose”;

        yet they would not hear. 

    [13] And the word of the LORD will be to them

    precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

        line upon line, line upon line,

        here a little, there a little,

    that they may go, and fall backward,

        and be broken, and snared, and taken.

    [14] Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers,

        who rule this people in Jerusalem! 

    [15] Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

        and with Sheol we have an agreement,

    when the overwhelming whip passes through

        it will not come to us,

    for we have made lies our refuge,

        and in falsehood we have taken shelter”; 

    [16] therefore thus says the Lord GOD,

    “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,

        a stone, a tested stone,

    a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

        ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ 

    [17] And I will make justice the line,

        and righteousness the plumb line;

    and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

        and waters will overwhelm the shelter.” 

    [18] Then your covenant with death will be annulled,

        and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

    when the overwhelming scourge passes through,

        you will be beaten down by it. 

    [19] As often as it passes through it will take you;

        for morning by morning it will pass through,

        by day and by night;

    and it will be sheer terror to understand the message. 

    [20] For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,

        and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in. 

    [21] For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim;

        as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused;

    to do his deed—strange is his deed!

        and to work his work—alien is his work! 

    [22] Now therefore do not scoff,

        lest your bonds be made strong;

    for I have heard a decree of destruction

        from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land.

    [23] Give ear, and hear my voice;

        give attention, and hear my speech. 

    [24] Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?

        Does he continually open and harrow his ground? 

    [25] When he has leveled its surface,

        does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,

    and put in wheat in rows

        and barley in its proper place,

        and emmer as the border? 

    [26] For he is rightly instructed;

        his God teaches him.

    [27] Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

        nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,

    but dill is beaten out with a stick,

        and cumin with a rod. 

    [28] Does one crush grain for bread?

        No, he does not thresh it forever;

    when he drives his cart wheel over it

        with his horses, he does not crush it. 

    [29] This also comes from the LORD of hosts;

        he is wonderful in counsel

        and excellent in wisdom.

How to Fight Anxiety

[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead, the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.

For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” It does not say, you will never feel any anxieties. It says, when you have them, cast them on God. When the mud splatters your windshield and you temporarily lose sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.

So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. At least it is for me, ever since my teenage years. The issue is: How do we fight them?

The answer to that question is: we fight anxieties by fighting against unbelief and fighting for faith in future grace. And the way you fight this “good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7) is by meditating on God’s assurances of future grace and by asking for the help of his Spirit.

The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief, and the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit. The battle to be freed from sin — including the sin of anxiety — is fought “by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

The work of the Spirit and the word of truth. These are the great faith-builders. Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit, the wipers of the word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief on the windshield.

Both are necessary: the Spirit and the word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so that we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our faith grows stronger and the swerving of anxiety straightens out.

John Piper 

Mercy in Motion

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” MATTHEW 5:7

 

PONDER THIS

Mercy is a godly characteristic that is in the heart and mind of those who have been born again. Those who have received mercy, beyond the shadow of any doubt, will show mercy. Mercy is not mere sentiment. If you see somebody hurting or in trouble and you cry about it, that may be sentiment, but it is not mercy.

I heard of a preacher who was talking about the need to be compassionate. He said, “I was walking down the street of a town, and I looked over and saw a person who had passed out. He was just lying there. All down that busy street, people were walking, well dressed, going about their business. And there was a piece of humanity on the ground. Nobody was stopping. Nobody did anything. After we had gone to dinner and come back, he was still there. And nobody had done anything.”

Doesn’t that capture how we always think someone else should do it? That is not mercy. Mercy is compassion in action. It is more than seeing what is wrong, it is moving toward those hurting with the love of Christ.

When have you been shown mercy? How did that impact you?

Where might you need to show mercy to someone else now?

PRACTICE THIS

Think about the different people in your community who need help, and look for an opportunity to practice mercy.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

September 9

Luke 22:31-38

[31] “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, [32] but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” [33] Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” [34] Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

[35] And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” [36] He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. [37] For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” [38] And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”

Hebrews 6:1-12

[1] Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, [2] and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [3] And this we will do if God permits. [4] For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. [7] For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. [8] But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

[9] Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. [10] For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. [11] And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, [12] so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Proverbs 22:17-29

    [17] Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise,

        and apply your heart to my knowledge, 

    [18] for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,

        if all of them are ready on your lips. 

    [19] That your trust may be in the LORD,

        I have made them known to you today, even to you. 

    [20] Have I not written for you thirty sayings

        of counsel and knowledge, 

    [21] to make you know what is right and true,

        that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?

    [22] Do not rob the poor, because he is poor,

        or crush the afflicted at the gate, 

    [23] for the LORD will plead their cause

        and rob of life those who rob them. 

    [24] Make no friendship with a man given to anger,

        nor go with a wrathful man, 

    [25] lest you learn his ways

        and entangle yourself in a snare. 

    [26] Be not one of those who give pledges,

        who put up security for debts. 

    [27] If you have nothing with which to pay,

        why should your bed be taken from under you? 

    [28] Do not move the ancient landmark

        that your fathers have set. 

    [29] Do you see a man skillful in his work?

        He will stand before kings;

        he will not stand before obscure men.

Isaiah 24

    [1] Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate,

        and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. 

    [2] And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;

        as with the slave, so with his master;

        as with the maid, so with her mistress;

    as with the buyer, so with the seller;

        as with the lender, so with the borrower;

        as with the creditor, so with the debtor. 

    [3] The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;

        for the LORD has spoken this word.

    [4] The earth mourns and withers;

        the world languishes and withers;

        the highest people of the earth languish. 

    [5] The earth lies defiled

        under its inhabitants;

    for they have transgressed the laws,

        violated the statutes,

        broken the everlasting covenant. 

    [6] Therefore a curse devours the earth,

        and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;

    therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,

        and few men are left. 

    [7] The wine mourns,

        the vine languishes,

        all the merry-hearted sigh. 

    [8] The mirth of the tambourines is stilled,

        the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

        the mirth of the lyre is stilled. 

    [9] No more do they drink wine with singing;

        strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. 

    [10] The wasted city is broken down;

        every house is shut up so that none can enter. 

    [11] There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

        all joy has grown dark;

        the gladness of the earth is banished. 

    [12] Desolation is left in the city;

        the gates are battered into ruins. 

    [13] For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth

        among the nations,

    as when an olive tree is beaten,

        as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

    [14] They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

        over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west. 

    [15] Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD;

        in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 

    [16] From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

        of glory to the Righteous One.

    But I say, “I waste away,

        I waste away. Woe is me!

    For the traitors have betrayed,

        with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

    [17] Terror and the pit and the snare

        are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth! 

    [18] He who flees at the sound of the terror

        shall fall into the pit,

    and he who climbs out of the pit

        shall be caught in the snare.

    For the windows of heaven are opened,

        and the foundations of the earth tremble. 

    [19] The earth is utterly broken,

        the earth is split apart,

        the earth is violently shaken. 

    [20] The earth staggers like a drunken man;

        it sways like a hut;

    its transgression lies heavy upon it,

        and it falls, and will not rise again.

    [21] On that day the LORD will punish

        the host of heaven, in heaven,

        and the kings of the earth, on the earth. 

    [22] They will be gathered together

        as prisoners in a pit;

    they will be shut up in a prison,

        and after many days they will be punished. 

    [23] Then the moon will be confounded

        and the sun ashamed,

    for the LORD of hosts reigns

        on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

    and his glory will be before his elders.

Isaiah 25

    [1] O LORD, you are my God;

        I will exalt you; I will praise your name,

    for you have done wonderful things,

        plans formed of old, faithful and sure. 

    [2] For you have made the city a heap,

        the fortified city a ruin;

    the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;

        it will never be rebuilt. 

    [3] Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;

        cities of ruthless nations will fear you. 

    [4] For you have been a stronghold to the poor,

        a stronghold to the needy in his distress,

        a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;

    for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 

    [5]     like heat in a dry place.

    You subdue the noise of the foreigners;

        as heat by the shade of a cloud,

        so the song of the ruthless is put down.

    [6] On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples

        a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

        of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 

    [7] And he will swallow up on this mountain

        the covering that is cast over all peoples,

        the veil that is spread over all nations. 

    [8]     He will swallow up death forever;

    and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,

        and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

        for the LORD has spoken. 

    [9] It will be said on that day,

        “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.

        This is the LORD; we have waited for him;

        let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” 

    [10] For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain,

        and Moab shall be trampled down in his place,

        as straw is trampled down in a dunghill. 

    [11] And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it

        as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,

        but the LORD will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands. 

    [12] And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,

        lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

Isaiah 26

[1] In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: 

    “We have a strong city;

        he sets up salvation

        as walls and bulwarks. 

    [2] Open the gates,

        that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. 

    [3] You keep him in perfect peace

        whose mind is stayed on you,

        because he trusts in you. 

    [4] Trust in the LORD forever,

        for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. 

    [5] For he has humbled

        the inhabitants of the height,

        the lofty city.

    He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,

        casts it to the dust. 

    [6] The foot tramples it,

        the feet of the poor,

        the steps of the needy.”

    [7] The path of the righteous is level;

        you make level the way of the righteous. 

    [8] In the path of your judgments,

        O LORD, we wait for you;

    your name and remembrance

        are the desire of our soul. 

    [9] My soul yearns for you in the night;

        my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

    For when your judgments are in the earth,

        the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 

    [10] If favor is shown to the wicked,

        he does not learn righteousness;

    in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly

        and does not see the majesty of the LORD. 

    [11] O LORD, your hand is lifted up,

        but they do not see it.

    Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.

        Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. 

    [12] O LORD, you will ordain peace for us,

        for you have indeed done for us all our works. 

    [13] O LORD our God,

        other lords besides you have ruled over us,

        but your name alone we bring to remembrance. 

    [14] They are dead, they will not live;

        they are shades, they will not arise;

    to that end you have visited them with destruction

        and wiped out all remembrance of them. 

    [15] But you have increased the nation, O LORD,

        you have increased the nation; you are glorified;

        you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

    [16] O LORD, in distress they sought you;

        they poured out a whispered prayer

        when your discipline was upon them. 

    [17] Like a pregnant woman

        who writhes and cries out in her pangs

        when she is near to giving birth,

    so were we because of you, O LORD; 

    [18]     we were pregnant, we writhed,

        but we have given birth to wind.

    We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,

        and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. 

    [19] Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

        You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

    For your dew is a dew of light,

        and the earth will give birth to the dead.

    [20] Come, my people, enter your chambers,

        and shut your doors behind you;

    hide yourselves for a little while

        until the fury has passed by. 

    [21] For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place

        to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,

    and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,

        and will no more cover its slain.

Grace Must Be Free

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Picture salvation as a house that you live in.

It provides you with protection. It is stocked with food and drink that will last forever. It never decays or crumbles. Its windows open onto vistas of all-satisfying glory.

God built it at great cost to himself and to his Son, and he gave it to you free and clear.

The “purchase” agreement is called a “new covenant.” The terms read: “This house shall become and remain yours if you will receive it as a gift and take delight in the Father and the Son as they inhabit the house with you. You shall not profane the house of God by sheltering other gods nor turn your heart away after other treasures, but find your contentment in the fellowship of God in this house.”

Would it not be foolish to say yes to this agreement, and then hire a lawyer to draw up an amortization schedule with monthly payments in the hopes of somehow balancing accounts and paying for the house?

You would be treating the house no longer as a gift, but a purchase. God would no longer be the free benefactor. And you would be enslaved to a new set of demands that he never dreamed of putting on you.

If grace is to be free — which is the very meaning of grace — we cannot view it as something to be repaid.

John Piper 

Life’s Hidden Hunger

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

MATTHEW 5:6

 

PONDER THIS

What does it mean to hunger after righteousness? You may think of righteousness as something you do. But righteousness in the Bible is wrapped up in a person, and His name is Jesus. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:30 that Jesus is our righteousness. He is made righteousness for us. So when a person hungers and thirsts after righteousness, he is hungering and thirsting after Jesus Christ.

Life’s hidden hunger is Jesus. You may not know it, you may not understand it, and you may not agree with it. But the deepest need of your life is a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God that you hunger for.

He is to be first in your life. Jesus Christ is heaven’s bread for man’s deepest hunger. Most people don’t want to seek righteousness. They want to seek blessedness. We want to seek satisfaction, but the problem is, by wanting satisfaction, we don’t get it. What you need is not primarily happiness, satisfaction, and blessing. What you need is Jesus. The peace, joy, and satisfaction you long for only come through Him.

What are some ways you have tried to find lasting joy outside of Christ? What was the result?

What does it look like to let Christ be first in your life? What are some practical ways you can do that each day?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask a Christian you are learning from how to seek to make Christ first in your life each day.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers