Don’t Miss the Point

“. . . looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” TITUS 2:13-14

 

PONDER THIS

When we become Christians, we are purchased and purified. Grace does not mean God says, “Now that I've forgiven you your sins, you just live any way you want.” The grace that saves us begins to purify us from the inside. This passage says we're to be zealous of good works. What is the difference between the works of an unsaved man trying to be saved, and the works we do because we're saved? The major difference is a matter of the heart.

I received a letter that said, “Pastor, I enjoyed the message on grace. It was so good when you took the offering that you didn't mention tithing. I'm so glad you didn't mention that because that's Old Testament; that's law.” Unfortunately, that misses the whole point. Because I'm saved doesn't mean I don't want to tithe. It means I want to give more! We now live by a higher standard. We have the love of Jesus on the inside.

What are some ways your life in Christ has prompted you toward good works?

What are some ways you have seen God prompt good works in other people’s lives? What have you learned from them?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the good works that God may be leading you toward. Then go do them!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

November 5

John 8:21-30

[21] So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” [22] So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” [23] He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. [24] I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” [25] So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. [26] I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” [27] They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. [28] So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. [29] And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” [30] As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

2 Peter 2:17-22

[17] These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. [18] For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. [19] They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. [20] For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. [21] For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. [22] What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Job 5

    [1] “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?

        To which of the holy ones will you turn? 

    [2] 

    Surely vexation kills the fool,

        and jealousy slays the simple. 

    [3] 

    I have seen the fool taking root,

        but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. 

    [4] 

    His children are far from safety;

        they are crushed in the gate,

        and there is no one to deliver them. 

    [5] 

    The hungry eat his harvest,

        and he takes it even out of thorns,

        and the thirsty pant after his wealth. 

    [6] 

    For affliction does not come from the dust,

        nor does trouble sprout from the ground, 

    [7] 

    but man is born to trouble

        as the sparks fly upward.

    [8] 

    “As for me, I would seek God,

        and to God would I commit my cause, 

    [9] 

    who does great things and unsearchable,

        marvelous things without number: 

    [10] 

    he gives rain on the earth

        and sends waters on the fields; 

    [11] 

    he sets on high those who are lowly,

        and those who mourn are lifted to safety. 

    [12] 

    He frustrates the devices of the crafty,

        so that their hands achieve no success. 

    [13] 

    He catches the wise in their own craftiness,

        and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. 

    [14] 

    They meet with darkness in the daytime

        and grope at noonday as in the night. 

    [15] 

    But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth

        and from the hand of the mighty. 

    [16] 

    So the poor have hope,

        and injustice shuts her mouth.

    [17] 

    “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves;

        therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. 

    [18] 

    For he wounds, but he binds up;

        he shatters, but his hands heal. 

    [19] 

    He will deliver you from six troubles;

        in seven no evil shall touch you. 

    [20] 

    In famine he will redeem you from death,

        and in war from the power of the sword. 

    [21] 

    You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue,

        and shall not fear destruction when it comes. 

    [22] 

    At destruction and famine you shall laugh,

        and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. 

    [23] 

    For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,

        and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. 

    [24] 

    You shall know that your tent is at peace,

        and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. 

    [25] 

    You shall know also that your offspring shall be many,

        and your descendants as the grass of the earth. 

    [26] 

    You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,

        like a sheaf gathered up in its season. 

    [27] 

    Behold, this we have searched out; it is true.

        Hear, and know it for your good.”

Ezekiel 16

[1] Again the word of the LORD came to me: [2] “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, [3] and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. [4] And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. [5] No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

[6] “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ [7] I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.

[8] “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine. [9] Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. [10] I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. [11] And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. [12] And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. [13] Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. [14] And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.

[15] “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. [16] You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. [17] You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. [18] And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. [19] Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord GOD. [20] And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter [21] that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? [22] And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

[23] “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord GOD), [24] you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. [25] At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. [26] You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. [27] Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. [28] You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. [29] You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

[30] “How sick is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, [31] building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment. [32] Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! [33] Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. [34] So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.

[35] “Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD: [36] Thus says the Lord GOD, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, [37] therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. [38] And I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. [39] And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places. They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare. [40] They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. [41] And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop playing the whore, and you shall also give payment no more. [42] So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. [43] Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

[44] “Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ [45] You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. [46] And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. [47] Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. [48] As I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. [49] Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. [50] They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it. [51] Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. [52] Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

[53] “I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, [54] that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them. [55] As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. [56] Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride, [57] before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become an object of reproach for the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and for the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you. [58] You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the LORD.

[59] “For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, [60] yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. [61] Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. [62] I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, [63] that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord GOD.”

Do You Neglect Your Salvation?

How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? (Hebrews 2:3)

Is there a sense of greatness in your mind about your salvation? Or do you neglect it?

Do you respond to the greatness of your salvation? Or do you treat it the way you treat your last will and testament, or the title to your car, or the deed on your house? You signed it once and it is in a file drawer somewhere, but it is not a really great thing in your mind. You rarely think about it. It has no daily effect on you. Basically, you neglect it.

But when you neglect your great salvation, what are you really neglecting? Here’s what he is saying when he says, “Don’t neglect your great salvation!”

Don’t neglect being loved by God.

Don’t neglect being forgiven and accepted and protected and strengthened and guided by almighty God.

Don’t neglect the sacrifice of Christ’s life on the cross.

Don’t neglect the free gift of righteousness imputed by faith.

Don’t neglect the removal of God’s wrath and the reconciled smile of God.

Don’t neglect the indwelling Holy Spirit and the fellowship and friendship of the living Christ.

Don’t neglect the radiance of God’s glory in the face of Jesus.

Don’t neglect the free access to the throne of grace.

Don’t neglect the inexhaustible treasure of God’s promises.

This is indeed a great salvation. Neglecting it is very evil. Don’t neglect so great a salvation. Because if you do, will there be an escape from judgment? That’s what the writer asks: “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”

So, being a Christian is a very serious business — not a sour business, but a serious business. We should be blood-earnest about being happy in our great salvation.

We will not be deflected by this world into the fleeting and suicidal pleasures of sin. We will not neglect our eternal joy in God — which is what the goal of this salvation is. We will gouge out our eyes rather than be lured away from such a great salvation.

John Piper 

Only God Can Do It

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” EPHESIANS 2:8-9

 

PONDER THIS

How can you raise a dead man?

What if we brought him an athlete, having them do some pushups in front of him and some deep knee bends? Maybe by example, we would teach him what life is like. Would that work? Of course not! What if we brought him a scholar to give him some lessons on life. If example won't do it, surely education will raise this dead man. That doesn’t work either. What about encouragement? Could we tell him, “Come on, you can do it. Get up, try it. We know you can do it”?

No! A person cannot be raised to life by example, education, or encouragement. But that's exactly what the world is trying, isn’t it? There is one thing, one person who can. “But God.” “For by grace are you saved.” You could not save yourself any more than a dead man by his own will and volition could come back to life. Only through God’s power can you see new life.

How have you depended on your own strength to seek new life instead of depending on God’s power?

How can you rely on God for life and for equipping you each day?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise God for His power to change even the darkest and hardest situation.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

November 4

John 8:12-20

[12] Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” [13] So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” [14] Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. [15] You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. [16] Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. [17] In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. [18] I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” [19] They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” [20] These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

2 Peter 2:10-16

[10] and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. 

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,  [11] whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. [12] But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, [13] suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. [14] They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! [15] Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, [16] but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

Job 4

[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

    [2] “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?

        Yet who can keep from speaking? 

    [3] Behold, you have instructed many,

        and you have strengthened the weak hands. 

    [4] Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,

        and you have made firm the feeble knees. 

    [5] But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;

        it touches you, and you are dismayed. 

    [6] Is not your fear of God your confidence,

        and the integrity of your ways your hope?

    [7] “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?

        Or where were the upright cut off? 

    [8] As I have seen, those who plow iniquity

        and sow trouble reap the same. 

    [9] By the breath of God they perish,

        and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. 

    [10] The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,

        the teeth of the young lions are broken. 

    [11] The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,

        and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

    [12] “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;

        my ear received the whisper of it. 

    [13] Amid thoughts from visions of the night,

        when deep sleep falls on men, 

    [14] dread came upon me, and trembling,

        which made all my bones shake. 

    [15] A spirit glided past my face;

        the hair of my flesh stood up. 

    [16] It stood still,

        but I could not discern its appearance.

    A form was before my eyes;

        there was silence, then I heard a voice: 

    [17] ‘Can mortal man be in the right before God?

        Can a man be pure before his Maker? 

    [18] Even in his servants he puts no trust,

        and his angels he charges with error; 

    [19] how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,

        whose foundation is in the dust,

        who are crushed like the moth. 

    [20] Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;

        they perish forever without anyone regarding it. 

    [21] Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,

        do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

Ezekiel 13

[1] The word of the LORD came to me: [2] “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the LORD!’ [3] Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! [4] Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. [5] You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the LORD. [6] They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the LORD,’ when the LORD has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. [7] Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, ‘Declares the LORD,’ although I have not spoken?”

[8] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. [9] My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord GOD. [10] Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, [11] say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. [12] And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ [13] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. [14] And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the LORD. [15] Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, [16] the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.

[17] “And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them [18] and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? [19] You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.

[20] “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds. [21] Your veils also I will tear off and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand as prey, and you shall know that I am the LORD. [22] Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life, [23] therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you shall know that I am the LORD.”

Ezekiel 14

[1] Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. [2] And the word of the LORD came to me: [3] “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? [4] Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, [5] that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.

[6] “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. [7] For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the LORD will answer him myself. [8] And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the LORD. [9] And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. [10] And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike—[11] that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord GOD.”

[12] And the word of the LORD came to me: [13] “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, [14] even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.

[15] “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, [16] even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

[17] “Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, [18] though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

[19] “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, [20] even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.

[21] “For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! [22] But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. [23] They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 15

[1] And the word of the LORD came to me: [2] “Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? [3] Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? [4] Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? [5] Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! [6] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. [7] And I will set my face against them. Though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, and you will know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them. [8] And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord GOD.”

The Real Problem with Anxiety

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30)

Jesus says that the root of anxiety is inadequate faith — “little faith” — in our Father’s future grace.

One reaction to this might be: “This is not good news! In fact, it is very discouraging to learn that what I thought was a mere struggle with an anxious disposition is rather a far deeper struggle with whether I trust God.”

My response to this discouragement is to agree, but then to disagree.

Suppose you had been having pain in your stomach and had been struggling with medicines and diets of all kinds, to no avail. And then suppose that your doctor tells you, after a routine visit, that you have cancer in your small intestine. Would that be good news? You say, emphatically not! And I agree.

But let me ask the question another way: Are you glad the doctor discovered the cancer while it is still treatable, and that indeed it can be very successfully treated? You say, yes, I am very glad that the doctor found the real problem. Again I agree.

So, the news that you have cancer is not good news. But, in another sense, it is good news, because knowing what is really wrong is good, especially when your problem can be treated successfully.

That’s what it’s like to learn that the real problem behind anxiety is “little faith” (as Jesus says) in the promises of God’s future grace. And he is able to work in wonderfully healing ways when we cry out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

John Piper 

The Ultimate Love Note

“There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” ROMANS 3:11-12

 

PONDER THIS

Your salvation did not start with you; it started with God. This passage says clearly there's no one who seeks after God—not one person. You may object that you know plenty of people seeking after God. But the only reason they seek after God is because He first sought them.

When I was in the sixth grade, I looked over at a girl sitting about four desks and two rows over from me. Her name was Joyce Louise Gentry. Shelo's now Joyce Louise Rogers, but I saw her there in the sixth grade. I wrote a love note, and I walked by and dropped it by her desk. She first looked at me and wondered, “Who is this fellow?” But do you know why she loves me? Because I first loved her. The Bible is God's love note. It is God saying, “I love you, I desire to be your Lord, I desire to be your Savior.” You may thirst for God, but He made you thirsty for Him. God put that thirst in you, and the reason we thirst after God is because He is seeking us.

What was the first way you learned about the hope of Jesus? How have you grown since that time?

How have you recognized God’s pursuit of you over your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Extend love to those who are far from God; remind them of God’s love for them.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers