by HARVEYOPP | Sep 15, 2014 | Paul Tripp
I have a confession to make. It’s embarrassing and humbling, but I’m willing to make it publicly: I’m not always excited about reading and studying the Bible.
I go through periods of what I would call spiritual boredom, when the “old, old story” just isn’t very exciting to me. On my worst days, reading God’s Word feels burdensome to me, and my heart is motivated more by duty than worshipful joy.
When I hit these periods, there are 3 things I require myself to remember:
- I Remember God’s Grace
One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is Isaiah 55. This chapter gives us visual picture after visual picture of God’s amazing grace, and because it does, it’s not surprising that the crescendo of this chapter is a visual picture of what the Bible is able to do in us and for us.
You’ll never find joy in Bible study until you understand that reading God’s Word is not first a call to duty, but an invitation to receive a wonderful gift. Your Bible is a gift of God’s grace that’s able to do what no other gift can do—change your heart and your life. Scripture really does have the power to turn thorn bushes into cypress trees!
- I Remember Jesus
Reading God’s Word is much more than reading dusty, abstract theology, becoming familiar with ancient religious stories, or getting principles for daily living. You’ll never have joy in your Bible study unless you understand that it’s God’s invitation for you to commune with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In John 5, Jesus’ claims are questioned by people who are purported to be experts in Scripture. Christ says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39).
Open your Bible and what do you encounter? Not a thing, but a Person, and His name is Jesus. Reading and meditating on your Bible is God’s means of welcoming you into daily fellowship with your Brother, Friend, Savior and King—Jesus.
- I Remember To Remember
I’m so prone to forget God, forget his grace, forget my identity as his child, forget that he supplies all that I need, forget his unstoppable sovereign plan, and forget his eternal kingdom. When I forget God, I tend to put myself in his position and make my life all about me: my will, my feeling, my plan, my wants, and my needs.
Putting myself in God’s position always leads to spiritual dissatisfaction because the world was not created to do my bidding. So I need to be reminded every day of God’s awesome glory, his gracious presence in my life, and my special identity as his child. His Word was given so that day after day I would remember.
So, tomorrow, when you don’t feel like opening your Bible, remember God’s grace, remember your friend and brother, Jesus, and remember how quickly you forget. Pick God’s Word up not with the burden of guilt or as a call to duty, but because it’s a gift given to you by a God of amazingly tender mercy and grace.
by HARVEYOPP | Sep 15, 2014 | JEREMY WALKER
In our efforts to make Christ known where God has put us, we have regular meetings to preach the gospel in a village outside our town. It is a hard place, not surprisingly given that it is full of hard hearts, many of which are cushioned by a false assurance derived from long-term empty religiosity. But I digress.
Last night, I took my son to hear the gospel being preached. We were two of the three in the congregation, the other being another man from the church which I serve. The brother leading the meeting spoke to us simply and earnestly of Christ as the resurrection and the life. No doubt he longed to be preaching to more, including many of those to whom we have gone in our efforts to declare the good news throughout this village. At present, I believe that there was at least one unsaved person in the room, and it was good and right that he preached to him, and I was grateful for it.
On our way home, my son and I stopped for the treat of giving my car a quick wash. It may not sound like much of a treat, but two males with a filthy car and a couple of pressure hoses makes for some fun. At the garage where we stopped was a man with a flat tire and a wrecked wheel, a driver with a private hire firm, waiting for a recovery vehicle. Clearly bored rigid, our chatter drew him over and into our conversation. We spoke, I bought him a coffee, we spoke some more, and I had the opportunity briefly to explain to this man that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life, leaving with him a copy of Mark’s Gospel and a little more information. I simply passed on what I had learned that night, having been freshly prepared to do so.
My friend at the village meeting looked into the faces and might have felt discouraged. He preached to us nonetheless. He did our souls good. And, he left our hearts warm and our heads full. He primed us to go and preach the same gospel to others.
Here are reasons why the saints need to go on hearing the gospel. It brings back to our hearts and minds the truths of our salvation, stirring us up to love and prompting us to serve. It emphasizes spiritual realities, the enduring facts of man’s sin and God’s grace, of heaven and hell and the sacrificial Lamb who stands between them. It reminds us of life and of death. It reinforces and freshly adorns our convictions. It prepares us to make Christ known.
Tomorrow, let those of us who preach remember to preach the gospel. We must always preach evangelically; we must also – regularly, often – preach evangelistically. The gospel note must be sounded every time. Not every sermon needs to be a Calvary sermon, but it must be a distinctively, richly, earnestly and practically Christian sermon. However, you may prepare to preach to the lost, and look out and see rows of faces – or perhaps only a few seats of faces – of faithful believers. There may be no-one there who you are confident needs the gospel as an unsaved person (though that should not be presumed). But preach it nonetheless, to stir up love and prompt service, to emphasize spiritual reality, to remind of life and death, to reinforce and adorn conviction, and to prime the heart and head.
And let those of us who believe and who hear the gospel again not wonder why we are back with the same truths. Let us not look up and down the rows and wonder why we are hearing this all over again. Whether or not you think that there is anyone present who ‘needs’ to hear the good news, you can sit and soak in it. Let it stir up love and prompt to serve, emphasize spiritual reality, remind you of life and death, and reinforce and adorn your convictions, and prime your head and heart. Let it do good to you, and then let it do good to others. Go home, and tell others what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he has had compassion on you. Go out, and tell others the good news of Jesus Christ that you have just heard. Go, and let the gospel ripples spread.
by HARVEYOPP | Sep 15, 2014 | Kevin DeYoung
Meekness is hard to define. It is not a subservient groveling. It is not a spineless acquiescence. The Greeks had no respect for meekness because they equated it with servility–people taking advantage of you, people walking all over you, people punching you in the gut as you thank them for the pleasure of being hit, that sort of thing.
But that’s not what the Bible means by meekness.
Meekness is a combination of patience, gentleness, and a complete submission to the will of God. Meekness is learning to be self-controlled instead of needing to be in control. Meekness is opening your heart instead of clenching your fist. Meekness is the firm resolve that it is always better to suffer than to sin.
Meekness is one of the great virtues of the Christian (Col. 3:12). The world may have no place for it, but the Bible does.
Moses was the meekest man on the earth (Number 12:3). And if you know anything about Moses, you know he wasn’t born with a meek personality. He killed somebody! We are not talking about a personality trait. You can be soft or loud, introverted or extroverted and still have meekness. Moses had to have meekness pressed into him by life and by the Lord.
Or think of Paul. There were big time issues in Corinth, and Paul wasn’t afraid to talk tough. But his first approach was to plead with the saints by the meekness and gentleness of Christ (2 Cor. 10:1).
If you think meekness is for losers, then you think Jesus is a loser. The Son of Man was a meek man (Matt. 11:29). Of course, that’s not the only thing to say about Jesus, but it’s one thing we can say.
When you are confronted, when you are wronged, when you get all hot and bothered and you’re tightening up inside, what does meekness look like? When you come after your adversaries is it with a whip or with a weep? Who’s sins upset you more, the sins of your neighbors or your own? Meekness is not about being a doormat. It’s about being dignified, even in the face of confusion, anxiety, and injustice.
Blessed are the meek, for they–of all people!–shall inherit the whole wide world (Matt. 5:5).
by HARVEYOPP | Sep 9, 2014 | Scott Henry
“Love thinks no evil…” 1 Corinthians 13:5
Too often what we think comes out in our words and actions. We often think our thoughts are harmless, but in actuality our thoughts have power over what we do. This is especially true in our relationship to others. One characteristic of love is a pure mind as we see in 1 Corinthians 13:5: “love thinks no evil.” While you may never slander or speak ill of someone you love, your thoughts could tell a completely different story. However, true love not only speaks well of others, but it also thinks kindly of them as well.
Imagine if every thought you had was spoken the minute you thought it. Imagine if thoughts were no longer private, but everyone around you could hear what you were thinking; how would your thoughts change? Would people you say you love hear that you find them annoying, self-centered, or irritating? Many times we think things we would never speak, but we must realize the danger of our thought life because our thoughts will eventually become our words. Proverbs 23:7: “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Jesus said in Matthew 15:18-20: “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man…”
Our thoughts are considered private, known only to us, but the truth of the matter is that God knows and hears everything we think. 1 Chronicles 28:9: “…for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts.” Psalm 94:11: “The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.” Isaiah 66:18: “For I know their works and their thoughts.” Matthew 9:4: “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” 1 Corinthians 3:20: “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Scripture clearly teaches that God knows our every thought, and He takes our thoughts very seriously. Jesus said in Matthew 5:28: “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Therefore, guarding our thoughts and not thinking evil of others should be as important to us as what we say or do. This is why Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:23: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
What are your thoughts concerning those you call your friends? Do you find yourself, on many occasions, degrading them in your mind? Our text is clear … “love thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Take some time at this moment to ask God’s forgiveness for your sinful thinking, and ask Him to help you think of others in the same manner you would speak of them. As Jesus said in Luke 6:31: “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”
by HARVEYOPP | Sep 5, 2014 | Scott Henry
“FOR TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST, AND TO DIE IS GAIN” (PHILIPPIANS 1:21)
How could the Apostle Paul write the words in our text, “and to die is gain”? Paul could say that death was gain because he could also say, “For to me to live is Christ.” What about you? Is your confession: “For to me to live is Christ”? Are you truly trusting in Jesus Christ alone for the salvation of your soul? Has He redeemed you? Have you heard His words in your soul: “Your sins are forgiven” – “I give you eternal life” – “You shall never perish!” If so, then you’re one who can also say, “and to die is gain.” This is the wonderful testimony of every believer. Death is gain!! It’s not loss or destruction, but death is a benefit to the believer. Death is to the believer’s advantage. Paul says in our text, “to die is GAIN.” And the reason the Apostle Paul says death is gain for the believer is found in Philippians 1:23: “For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” Paul said he desired to depart, that is to die, in order to be with Christ, which is far better!! And this is the certainty of every believer … that even though we know we must die yet death is not a loss but a gain because we go to be with Christ, the Lover of our soul.
Yes, the Christian’s death is absence from his body; but then, immediately, there is presence with the Lord. The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 42, reads as follows: “Since, then, Christ died for us, why must we also die? Our death is not a satisfaction for our sin, but only a dying to sin and an entering into eternal life.” That’s why we read in Revelation 14:13: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” And again in Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” Where do loved ones go who die trusting in Christ? They go to be with Jesus, which is FAR better than this present existence.
This refutes the false teaching of soul-sleep, annihilation of the soul, or purgatory. Paul knew when he died he wouldn’t go to sleep, but would immediately be in the presence of Christ. It’s true that Scripture describes the death of a Christian as being similar to sleep (1 Thess. 4:13). But that speaks of our body, which must remain in the grave until the great day of the resurrection when our souls will once again be united with our bodies. But at death the believer’s soul is immediately transported to Heaven to be with Christ; this is the teaching of Scripture! The thief on the cross cried out, “Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him in Luke 23:43: “This day you shall be with me in paradise.” Luke 20:37-38: “But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.’” Jesus also told His disciples in John 14:1-3: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” You see, in death Christ takes the believer to the Father’s house of many mansions. That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:8: “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” And so we read in our text: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” This must be the confident confession of every believer! Is this your confession?
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