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.

THE STRUGGLE WITH THE DEFEATED FOE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 05, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE STRUGGLE WITH THE DEFEATED FOE!

Memory verse: "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public show of them, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2 vs 15.) 

READ: Colossians 2 vs 10 - 15:

2:10: And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power:

2:11: In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 

2:12: buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

2:13: And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 

2:14: having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 

2:15: Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public show of them, triumphing over them in it.

INTIMATION:

The Christian’s struggle is not against the physical things of this world. His struggle is a spiritual battle against the deceptive devices of Satan who seeks to change the moral values of those who are willing to live according to their own desires as opposed to the will of God. Satan is very busy tempting us, inviting us to give in to his kind of life, and give up on God’s kind of life. He can imitate parts of God’s work to deceive people. 

After getting Eve to sin, he has been busy getting people to sin, making them doubt God’s goodness, implying that God is strict, selfish, and difficult. Just as he did to Eve, he makes people forget about all the countless blessings and promises God has given them, and instead, focus on what God has restricted or forbidden from them.

The source of all evil that is seen in the world is Satan and his demonic forces that are at work in order to destroy the work of God through Jesus. Through deception, Satan has instigated those institutions and governments that control society to lead people against the truth of God. He works through the false religions and mystical beliefs of those who do not know God or desire to know the truth of God. The saints must be aware that Satan is alive and working in a deceived world of secular enticements and religious misdirection. 

Though, the battle with Satan is a difficult, ongoing struggle. Victory over sin and temptation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, not through our efforts. The critical blow to Satan came when the Lamb, Jesus Christ, shed His blood for our sins. The victory is won by sacrifice—Christ’s death in our place to pay the penalty for our sin, and the sacrifices we make because of our faith in Him. As we face the battle with Satan, we should not fear it or try to escape from it, but we should loyally serve Christ, who alone brings victory (See Romans 8 vs 34 - 39).

The word “disarmed” in the passage we read today, is from a military word that referred to the stripping off of the enemies armor after his defeat in battle. Through the cross, Jesus stripped Satan of his power to reign through sin and death. He freed those who come to God’s grace by their faith. Jesus is the center of reference from which all things are controlled in heaven and on earth. He is the head of all things for the benefit of the Christian. 

What men could not do by their own through performance of the law that brought sin and death, God accomplished through the gospel of grace. He reached forth with grace in order to save those who responded to Him through obedient faith. By the work of Jesus on the cross, Satan has thus been stripped of his power over the souls of men. 

What the world saw as the public humiliation of a Jew on a cross outside Jerusalem was actually the humiliation of Satan in the spiritual realm. Satan now has no power over those who determine to walk in the light of Christ. Christians, therefore, war with a defeated enemy—Satan, whom Jesus defeated, stripped of his armor, and made a public show of him on the cross.

Everything that Jesus did is accredited to us. He didn't conquer Satan for Himself. He didn't put sin away for Himself. He didn't suffer the judgement that would have fallen upon the sinners for Himself. But He suffered it on our behalf, and we have entered into His victory, it is accredited to us. Therefore, Satan—the defeated enemy—rules us by subterfuge, by bluff, by deception. He put diseases upon us and hold us in bondage through our ignorance of what we are in Christ and what is our inheritance in Him.

The Christian’s strength in the fight against Satan is maintained if he or she remains in fellowship with the Lord who is the source of power against Satan. This imperative command places the responsibility for being strong on the shoulders of the Christian. The Holy Spirit does not assume responsibility for keeping the Christian strong. The responsibility for faithfulness is with free-moral saints who must maintain the spiritual armor of the Lord by which strength is maintained against the wiles of Satan. The individual who will be held accountable for himself must spiritually clothe himself with those things that have already been revealed. 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for all You wrought for us in redemption in Christ. Give me grace to lay claim, and exercise my rights in Christ, that the accuser of brethren will be far away from me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

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).

WALK ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 04, 2023.

SUBJECT : WALK ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT!

   

Memory verse: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2 vs 5.)

READ: Romans 8 vs 1 - 8:

8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

8:2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

8:3: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 

8:4: that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

8:5: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

8:6: For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

8:7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8:8: So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

INTIMATION:

Those who are in Christ walk according to the Spirit; they are spiritually minded. Such persons focus by faith on the cross and God’s grace. They have life and peace of mind because they are trusting in the grace of God, and not in their abilities in reference to law-keeping. The persons who persist on remaining “in the flesh,” that is, focusing on their own meritorious performance of law, are actually working against the plan of God to have all men trust in Him for direction. Such persons are focusing on themselves and not on God’s grace. They are the persons who seek to walk by sight, and without the faith that is necessary to please God. 

People, according to Scriptures, are into two categories; those who let themselves be controlled by their sinful natures, and those who follow after the Holy Spirit, and these people are said to be “in Christ.” All of us would have been in the first category if Jesus hadn't offered us a way out. Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will continue following Him, because His way brings life and peace. Daily we must consciously choose to focus our lives on God. 

“In Christ” is a metaphor that refers to one’s close spiritual and salvational relationship with Christ. When one has been immersed into Christ, that is, accepting the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for our sake in redemption, he comes into a saved covenant relationship with God wherein he is not in a state of condemnation. In this state wherein there is no condemnation, one is free from the bondage of sin. 

“In Christ” is metaphorical in the sense that through immersion one comes into a saved relationship with God. He comes into a covenant relationship with God where he is declared righteous because he has come into contact with the blood of Jesus. Therefore, only through immersion into Christ can one come into this relationship wherein he puts on Christ. 

In Christ one is not directing his life according to the desires of the flesh, but according to the directions of the Spirit (Galatians 5 vs 16). He is not walking according to the pride of meritorious conduct, but according to his submission to the word of God. We must not understand our walk to mean that one is directed by inner nudges of what one would interpret to be a supposed direct intervention by the Spirit. Our walk is in obedience to the word of God.

In Christ we are no longer guided by our subjective emotions that focus on the emotional performances of the individual apart from a knowledge of God’s will. When one is guided by the Spirit, he is directed by the Spirit-inspired word that comes from God. Therefore, walking according to one’s performance of law and meritorious deeds is opposed to one’s walking in response to the grace of God. 

One establishes and signs a covenant to trust in God for salvation by His grace when his faith moves him to respond to God’s grace. This response is immersion into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism is not work of law in order to earn God’s grace. It is a response to grace by the believer who at the time of immersion contacts the blood of Jesus that came as a result of the grace of God. 

The person who lives after the Spirit has crucified the old man of sin (Romans 6 vs 6; Galatians 2 vs 20). He has put to death the desire to allow the lusts of the flesh to direct his life. But the person who lives according to the lusts of the flesh in order to follow his own will is headed for eternal condemnation. 

Those who have crucified the old man of sin by repentance and immersion into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus have begun their lives in the Spirit. And since they have begun their new life in the Spirit, the Spirit of God is in them because they have given themselves over to the direction of God. 

The sons of God are identified by their obedience to the gospel. By their obedience they have crucified their desire to walk after the flesh. It is for this reason that God claims them as His sons.”For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3 vs 26 - 27). The life-giving Spirit is the Holy Spirit. He was present at the creation of the world, and he is the power behind the rebirth of every Christian. He gives us the power we need to live the Christian life. 

Those who behave according to the Spirit-inspired directions of God are not living according to their desires to live after their own wills. Walking in the Spirit is the same as walking in the light. By walking in the light the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. (First John 1 vs 6 - 9). 

Prayer: Abba Father, let that mind which was in Christ be in me, that I may be walking in the Spirit at all times, my trust and faith anchored in You in all things, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Meaning of Suffering

 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:26)

We do not choose suffering simply because we are told to, but because the One who tells us to describes it as the path to everlasting joy.

He beckons us into the obedience of suffering not to demonstrate the strength of our devotion to duty, or to reveal the vigor of our moral resolve, or to prove the heights of our tolerance for pain, but rather to manifest, in childlike faith, the infinite preciousness of his all-satisfying promises — the all-satisfying greatness and beauty of his own glory as the fulfillment of all of them.

Moses “[chose] to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. . . . For he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:25–26). Therefore, his obedience glorified the reward — all that God is for him in Christ — not the resolve to suffer.

This is the essence of Christian Hedonism. In the pursuit of joy through suffering, we magnify the all-satisfying worth of the Source of our joy. God himself shines as the brightness at the end of our tunnel of pain.

If we do not communicate that he is the goal and the ground of our joy in suffering, then the very meaning of our suffering will be lost. 

The meaning is this: God is gain. God is gain. God himself is gain. That’s the meaning of our suffering.

The chief end of man is to glorify God. And it is truer in suffering than anywhere else that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

OBEDIENCE ENGENDERS GOD’S GLORY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 03, 2023.

SUBJECT: OBEDIENCE ENGENDERS GOD’S GLORY!

Memory verse: "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to Him.” (John 14 vs 21.)

READ: Genesis 22 vs 15 - 18:

22:15: Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,

22:16: and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—

22:17: blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

22:18: In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.

INTIMATION:

When we generally think of obedience, we think of doing what one is instructed to do. For instance, in speaking to our children we may say, "Will you please obey me and do what you are told?" What we mean is, "Please carry out my instructions." Such uses are not far removed from the intended meaning of Scripture, but far enough that the true essence of the word is lost. Obedience to God is more than submission to authority; it is submission based on love for God, believe, and trust in Him, and persuasion that He is God. 

Obedience is manifested in one’s conduct and may be observed. When a man demonstrates his obedience to God in his actions, he gives the only possible evidence that in his heart he believes God. Believe or faith is of the heart—you believe in your heart, and is invisible to man, but your outward expression of your inward faith is manifested in your actions of obedience. 

In the passage we read today, we saw the glory of God upon Abraham because of his obedience to Him; in blessing he was so blessed that he was rich in all things; his descendants were so multiplied that the entire earth are his descendants, either through Isaac or Ishmael. And through his seed the whole earth is blessed in the Person of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Abraham never hesitated in carrying out God’s instructions, no matter how hard it seemed. He immediately went to sacrifice his only son, whom he gave birth to at the age of 100years. He never had a second thought nor consulted with anybody on God’s instruction, and obeyed immediately. 

Jesus said that His followers show their love for Him by obeying Him. Love is more than lovely words; it is commitment and conduct. God is so delighted in our obedience to Him. Consequently, our obedience occasions the manifestation of Himself to us, and we are assured of the love of the Father. 

Jesus, our role model, was obedient to the Father, even to the point of a shameful death on the cross, in order that God’s Will would be accomplished for mankind. Consequently, God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth. What will be more glorious than this?

The consequences of disobedience are grave. It is likened to rebellion and stubbornness to God. Rebellion and stubbornness are serious sins. They involve far more than being independent and strong-minded. Scriptures equates them with divination (witchcraft) and idolatry (First Samuel 15 vs 23). Rebellion against God is perhaps the most serious sin of all because as long as a person rebels, he or she closes the door of forgiveness and restoration with God.

God considers our obedience better than our sacrifices and offerings. Christians today always make religious rituals, sacrifices, and offerings; like going to church, taking communion, paying tithes, and so on. God doesn't want these sacrifices and offerings without an attitude of devotion (obedience) to Him. 

God doesn't have any need of these religious rituals or activities, they have no effect on His status, or nature. Sacrifices and offerings are all for our benefits. But benefits from God to us on these activities are only derivable on the platform of raw and complete obedience to God, otherwise they are empty if our reasons for doing them are selfish. 

The prophet Samuel told Saul, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (First Samuel 15 vs 22). All we should do is to give God the obedience and lifelong service He desires from us, and He will benefit us as the Scripture says, "You shall eat the good of the land" (Isaiah 1 vs 19). Sacrifices and offerings are not bribes to make God overlook our character faults. All God wants is our sincere faith and devotion. The Christian rituals, sacrifices, and offerings are to be outward sign of an inward faith in God. 

Many today have come to place more faith in the rituals of their religion than in God they worship. God does not take pleasure in your outward expressions if your inward faith is missing (Hosea 6 vs 6). Though religious rituals can help people understand God and nourish their relationship with Him, but they are helpful only if it is carried out with an attitude of love and obedience to God.

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is for an intimate relationship with You in total submission to Your Will. Endue me with the spirit of raw and complete obedience to You, and let my outward actions be a manifestation of my inward trust in You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Rejoicing in Pain

 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” (Matthew 5:11–12)

Christian Hedonism says that there are different ways to rejoice in suffering as a Christian. All of them are to be pursued as an expression of the all-sufficient, all-satisfying grace of God.

One way of rejoicing in suffering comes from fixing our minds firmly on the greatness of the reward that will come to us in the resurrection. The effect of this kind of focus is to make our present pain seem small in comparison to what is coming: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:16–18). In making the suffering tolerable, rejoicing over our reward will also make love possible.

“Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great” (Luke 6:35). Be generous with the poor “and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). Confidence in this promised reward cuts the cord of worldliness and frees us for the costs of love.

Another way of rejoicing in suffering comes from the effects of suffering on our assurance of hope. Joy in affliction is rooted not only in the hope of resurrection and reward, but also in the way suffering itself works to deepens that hope.

For example, Paul says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3–4).

In other words, Paul’s joy is not merely rooted in his great reward, but in the effect of suffering which solidifies the hope of that reward. Affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces a sense that our faith is real and genuine, and that strengthens our hope that we will indeed gain Christ.

So whether we focus on the riches of the reward or the refining effects of suffering, God’s purpose is that our joy in suffering be sustained.