We Can Do Nothing

 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you?

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?”

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit.

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.

Best Passage Ever

 God put [Jesus] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25–26)

Romans 3:25–26 may be the most important verses in the Bible.

God is wholly just! And he justifies the ungodly! Really? A just judge acquitting the guilty!

Not either/or! Both! He acquits the guilty, but is not guilty in doing so. This is the greatest news in the world!

“[God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He takes our sin. We take his righteousness.

“By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Whose flesh? Christ’s. Whose sin condemned in that flesh? Ours. For us then? No condemnation!

“[Christ] bore our sins in his body on the tree.” (1 Peter 2:24)

“Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)

“If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5)

If the most terrifying news in the world is that we have fallen under the condemnation of our Creator and that he is bound by his own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory by pouring out his wrath on our sin . . .

. . . Then the best news in all the world (the gospel!) is that God has decreed and enacted a way of salvation that also upholds the worth of his glory, the honor of his Son, and the eternal salvation of his elect. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

TRUST IN THE LORD COMPLETELY!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 10, 2021.

SUBJECT: TRUST IN THE LORD COMPLETELY!

Memory verse: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind s stayed on You, because he trusts in You." (Isaiah 26 vs 3.)

READ: Psalm 125 vs 1 - 2:

Psalm 125:1: Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

125:2: As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people from this I Me forth and forever.

INTIMATION:

Trusting in the Lord completely means having faith that He knows what is best for your life, you expect him to keep His promises, help you with problems, and do the impossible when necessary. Trusting in the Lord completely pleases Him. When you put your absolute trust in the Lord, He will surround you as the mountains surround the city of Jerusalem. You will confidently say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress." Those who trust in the Lord completely have the same claim and experience expressed by the psalmist in Psalm 91; the perfect expression of the result of our absolute trust in God. Recite Psalm 91 daily in assurance of your trust in Him.

The reason we trust in the Lord is because He is an unchanging God. As the mountain remains unmoved so do the consistency of our God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Malachi 3 vs 6; Hebrews 13 vs 8). And because "The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy," (Psalm 147 vs 11), He surrounds His people now and forever. You are continually in His presence. And "In His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16 vs 11.)

Noah was one of the people that trusted in the Lord. Even when God asked him to do something that made no sense to him, he trusted God and obeyed. Noah knew nothing about flood, there has been no rain before that time, so he knew nothing about rain. He has never seen an ark or built a ship before, but obeyed the instructions God gave him and adhered strictly to the measurements and materials God told him to use. 

Obviously Noah was faced with three problems that could have caused him to doubt. First, he had never seen rain, because prior to the flood, God irrigated the earth from the ground up. (See Genesis 2 vs 5 - 6.) Second, Noah lived hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. Even if he could learn to build a ship, how would he get it to water? Third, there was the problem of rounding up all the animals and then caring for them. But he didn't complain or make excuses. He trusted God completely, and that made God smile at him. It took Noah 120 years to build the ark. I imagined he faced many discouraging days. With no sign of rain year after year, he was ruthlessly criticized as a "crazy man who thinks God speaks to him." I imagined Noah's children were often embarrassed by the giant ship being built in their front yard. Yet Noah kept trusting God.

Trust is an act of worship. Just as parents are pleased when the children trust their love and wisdom, your faith makes God happy. And without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11 vs 6.) Trusting in the Lord completely pleases Him, and consequently He ensures you are kept in perfect peace that surpasses all human understanding. 

We can never avoid strife around us in this world, but with God we can know perfect peace even in turmoil. When we are devoted to Him, our whole attitude is steady and stable. Supported by God's unchanging love and mighty power, we are not shaken by the surrounding chaos. Do you want peace? Keep your thoughts and your trust in God. The secret of stability is to trust in God, because He never changes. He cannot be shaken by the changes in our world, and He endures forever.

Prayer: Abba Father, in You I put my whole trust. Whatever You can’t do for me, let it remain undone, whatever You can’t give me, may I never have it, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God’s Wise Mercy

 We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23–24)

Over against the terrifying news that we have fallen under the condemnation of our Creator and that he is bound by his own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory by pouring out eternal wrath on our sin, there is the wonderful news of the gospel.

This is a truth no one can ever learn from nature. The truth of the gospel has to be told to neighbors and preached in churches and carried by missionaries.

The good news is that God himself has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of his justice without condemning the whole human race.

Hell is one way to settle accounts with sinners and uphold his justice. But there is another way. God provided another way. This is the gospel.

The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God. There it is. The gospel. Let me say it again slowly: The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God.

And what is this wisdom? The death of the Son of God for sinners! “We preach Christ crucified . . . the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23–24).

The death of Christ is the wisdom of God by which the love of God saves sinners from the wrath of God, all the while upholding and demonstrating the righteousness of God in Christ.

THE BELIEVERS’ DUTY TO THE WORLD!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 09, 2021.

SUBJECT: THE BELIEVERS’ DUTY TO THE WORLD!

Memory verse: "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5 vs 14.)

READ: Matthew 5 vs 13 - 16:

5:13: You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be salted? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

5:14:  You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hidden.

5:15: Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

5:16: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.

INTIMATION:

Jesus said in John 8 vs 12, “I am the light of the world...” That same Jesus—the Light of the—world created us in His own image and after His likeness. He also said, “I have said, You are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” (Psalm 82 vs 6.) Therefore, we are the light of the world because “the Light of the world” created us in His own image and after His likeness, and also called us gods. As the children of the most High, we are the same with Him.

But this our light was dimmed when our first parents committed the treason at the garden of Eden by doubting God’s integrity, and believed Satan, the known enemy of God. We were thrown out of the garden, and were subjected to the rulership of this world headed by Satan. The world was full of darkness—spiritual and moral decadence, emblematic of sin and evil which we were subjected to under the rulership of Satan. 

God is a just God, and has already said, “The soul that sin shall die” (Ezekiel 18 vs 4 & 20). All mankind ought to die for the consequences of sin. But God, in His love nature, sent His only begotten Son as a propitiation for us, who came in human form to save us from the consequences and penalty of the sin committed by our first parents. Christ paid the wages of sin—death—we owed, set us free, and reconciled us back to God. 

The only condition for partaking in free gift of saving us (salvation) is to accept what Christ has done for us, believing His word to us, and confessing with our mouth, His lordship over us as our Savior. The entrance of Christ’s word gives us back the light we were, and lost under Satan’s rulership, and are under the new rulership of Christ. He then makes us His representatives or ambassadors in this world, and now as light of the world, we should illuminate the dark and depraved world. 

Light illuminates, and the entrance of it dispels darkness which cannot comprehend it. Darkness represents spiritual and moral darkness, emblematic of sin and evil. As children of God, and as gods, we are light of the world that dispels darkness. 

As children of God, and in the likeness of Christ, we should live like Him and for Him, and glow like light we are, and showing others what Christ is like. We should illuminate the world with our light to expose, counteract or dispel the darkness; the moral decay in our society. When we don’t, our light is hidden. We hide our lights, that is, conforming with the world, and shutting off our lights from the rest of the world, instead of being a beacon of truth. We do this by (1) being quiet when we should speak, (2) going along with the crowd, (3) denying the light, (4) letting sin dim our light, (5) not explaining our light to others, or (6) ignoring the needs of others. 

Many Christians today are hidden from sight, reluctant to be identified as Christians. Such a Christian is like a brand-new light that never leaves the carton it came in. If a lamp doesn’t help people see, it isn’t worth much. Does your life show other people how to find God and how to live for Him? If not, find out how you have hidden your light. Such things as complacency, resentment, embarrassment, stubbornness of heart or disobedience could keep you from shining. If you light is not shining, find out what you need to do to let your light shine.

When the light of the truth about Jesus illuminates us, we have the duty to shine that light to help others. Our witness for Christ should be public, not hidden. We should not keep the benefits for ourselves alone but pass them on to others. In order to be helpful, we need to be well placed. Seek opportunities to shine your light when unbelievers need help to see.

Many Christians blend into the world and avoid the cost of standing up for Christ. But Jesus says if Christians lose their distinctive saltness, or fails to emit the light so as to illuminate the world and dispel darkness, they become worthless. Just as salt flavors and preserves food, we are to preserve the good in the world and bring new flavor to life. And as light dispels darkness, we should reveal sin and evil, and dispel them. This requires careful planning, willing sacrifice, and unswerving commitment to Christ’s kingdom. But if a Christian fails to be “salt,” or “light,” He or she fails to represent Christ in the world. 

If a seasoning has no flavor, it has no value. If Christians make no effort to the world around them, they are of little value to God. If we are too much like the world, we are worthless. Christians should not blend in with everyone else. Instead, we should affect others positively, just as seasoning brings out the best flavor in food.

The Scripture, in Philippians 2 vs 15, says, “That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Our lives should be characterized by moral purity, patience, and peacefulness, so that we will “shine as lights” in a dark and depraved world. A transformed life is an effective witness to the power of God’s Word. 

Are you shining brightly or are you clouded by compromises or dissensions? Don’t let anything of the world snuff out your light. Shine out for God. Your role is to shine until Jesus returns and bathes the world in His radiant glory.

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to shine brightly as the light of the world, and let me shine until Christ’s return to illuminate the world in His radiant glory, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

 

Our Good Is God’s Delight

 “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.” (Jeremiah 32:40–41)

God’s pursuit of praise from us and our pursuit of pleasure in him are one and the same pursuit. God’s quest to be glorified and our quest to be satisfied reach their goal in this one experience: our delight in God, which overflows in praise.

For God, praise is the sweet echo of his own excellence in the hearts of his people.

For us, praise is the summit of satisfaction that comes from living in fellowship with God.

The stunning implication of this discovery is that all the omnipotent energy that drives the heart of God to pursue his own glory also drives him to satisfy the hearts of those who seek their joy in him.

The good news of the Bible is that God is not at all disinclined to satisfy the hearts of those who hope in him. Just the opposite: The very thing that can make us happiest is what God delights in with all his heart and with all his soul. These are amazing words: “I will rejoice in doing them good . . . with all my heart and all my soul” (Jeremiah 32:41).

With all his heart and with all his soul, God joins us in the pursuit of our everlasting joy because the consummation of that joy in him redounds to the glory of his own infinite worth.

THE CALLED OF JESUS CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY OCTOBER 08, 2021.

SUBJECT: THE CALLED OF JESUS CHRIST!

Memory verse: "Among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1 vs 6.)

READ: Romans 8 vs 28 - 30:

8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

8:29: For whom He foreknow, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

8:30: Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called: whom He called, these He also justified: and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

INTIMATION:

The called of Jesus Christ are the Christians who are invited by Jesus Christ to belong to God’s family, and to be saints (to be holy), set apart, and dedicated for His service. In being reborn into God’s family we have the greatest experience of love and the greatest inheritance. And because of all that God has done for us, we strive to be His holy people. What a wonderful experience of what it means to be a Christian!

The calling of Christ is a calling of an appointment or election to apostleship, to preach about Him. Each Christian has a job to do, a role to take, or a contribution to make. One assignment may seem more spectacular than another, but all are necessary to carry out God’s great plan for His world and for the Body of Christ. Therefore, as the called, be available to God by placing your gifts at His service. Then as you discover what He calls you to do, be ready to do it, and do it with all your might.

As the called of Jesus, your attitude should be of a complete dependence on and obedience to Christ. Our willingness to serve and obey Him enables us to be useful and usable servants to do work for Him—work that really matters. Obedience begins with identifying yourself with Jesus, discover His will and live according to it, and consciously turn away from conflicting interests, even if these interests have been important to you in the past.

God’s unparalleled love—His nature, He commended toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and through His death, called us and reconciled to God. And we have been justified by His blood, and will be saved from wrath through Him if we believe. To those that believe, these are the called, and God has given them the ministry of reconciliation that they would continue His work of reconciliation on earth as His ambassadors.  

In obedience to this call. Christ promised to be with us always till the end of the ages (Matthew 28 vs 20), and all things will work together for our good in the end. Note that God is not working to make us happy but to fulfill His purpose. Note also that the promise is not for everybody. It can be claimed only by those who love God and are called by Him, that is, those whom the Holy Spirit convinces to receive Christ, and turn completely to God.

God’s ultimate goal for us is to make us like Christ (First John 3 vs 2); “He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8 vs 29). As we become more and more like Him, we discover our true selves, the persons we were created to be. And in the end, we would be glorified at His appearing. 

How can we become like Christ? By reading and heeding the Word, by studying His life on earth through the Gospels, by spending time in prayer, by being filled with His Spirit, and by doing His work in the world. It’s noteworthy that the four gospels are Jesus introducing the Father, and the epistles are the Father introducing Jesus and what He did. They also introduce the sons and daughters of God to the world.

From the passage we read today, we understand that God’s purpose for people was not an afterthought: it was settled before the foundation of the world. People are to serve and honor God. If you believe in Christ, you can rejoice in the fact that God has always known you. God’s love is eternal. His wisdom and power are supreme. He will guide and protect you until you one day stand in His presence.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank you for what You accomplished for me in Christ, and Your calling me to serve Your purpose on earth. Endue me with the spirit of raw obedience to You, and give me the grace to serve with the best in me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!