1
| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18| 19| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24| 25| 26| 27| 28| 29| 30| 31An awesome truth which the apostle Paul presents to us is in the second chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 2:1 Paul wrote, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." However, the words "hath he quickened" do not appear in the original letter which Paul wrote to the Ephesians. He did, however, write that in the fifth verse, where we read, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." Plainly, then, what Paul meant in verse one is that we who were dead in trespasses were quickened, made spiritually alive.
There is so much false doctrine today that denies this truth that we all come into this world dead in trespasses and sin. Much preaching presents us as weak and helpless, but not dead spiritually. It is claimed that we can accept Christ when God offers Him to us. With this error we deny what God wrote through Paul. It denies what God said to Adam, namely, that the day he sinned, he would die, not merely get weak and sick. Adam did die spiritually that day. Physical death began to come over him; but he died spiritually and had no spiritual life left to give to us. Note that in verse 5 Paul includes himself. He says WE were dead in sins ¾ not dead in our fleshly bodies, but dead in sin.
If you are now spiritually alive with Christ, you are going to say what God says. You are going to say that God had to make you spiritually alive before you could even want salvation. Yes, by nature we want to escape the punishment of hell. Satan wants that too, but he is spiritually dead. If we desire to be saved from sin, which Satan does not want us to be, and if we find the beginning of love toward God in us, then we have been raised from our spiritual death. Then God has quickened us, that is, made us spiritually alive.
Then we have been quickened with Christ, made alive to be spiritually like Him in
hating sin and loving God.
Read: Ephesians
1:1-10 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Kings
18:13-37
II
Kings 19:1-37
Acts
21:1-17
Psalm
149:1-9
Proverbs
18:8
****
Quote for Reflection:
John Gill on Psalm 87:4-6: "... many persons
in those several countries, [will] be born again of water and of the Spirit, of the
corruptible seed of grace, by the ministry of the word; who because they should be
regenerated ... in Zion, therefore are said to be born there; and besides, being born
again, they are admitted members of Zion, and to all the privileges of Zion, as true-born
Israelites; and are brought up there, are nourished with the sincere milk of the word, and
nursed with the breasts of Gospel ordinances there administered; and so Zion, or Jerusalem
the Gospel church, is truly the mother of them all, Gal. 4:26."
A physically dead person cannot think, will, or act in any way with his body. A spiritually dead person can be spiritually active; but he cannot think, will, or in any way act in a way pleasing in God's sight.
The apostle Paul reveals this, and our God says it through him in Ephesians 2:2 where we read, "Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Take note of the fact that Satan is presented as doing spiritual things, but his spiritual death caused works of disobedience. He is that prince of the power of the air. Spiritual death brings forth works of hatred against God. It means that he works that which calls for everlasting punishment in God's wrath.
Spiritual death, therefore, means that all men came into this world absolutely incapable of walking in any way that pleases God. They will go against everything that is spiritually good. They will refuse one hundred per cent to do what God demands that man should do, as far as the spiritual nature of that work is concerned.
The ungodly crucified God's Son, because God wanted Him to die for our sins, but also because they hated God and His Son. They did what the prince of the power of the air delights in seeing them do.
Be thankful then if God granted you the ability to have a godly walk, a walk in love to Him. It shows that He caused you to be born again with the spiritual life His Son earned for us. Return once again to verse 5. We were quickened with Christ, and that means we received a spiritual life like His ¾ one that loves God.
Remember that, just as you received physical life entirely apart from your will, so also was spiritual birth given to you only because God eternally decreed to bestow it.
Read: Psalm 14
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Kings
20:1-21
II
Kings 21:1-26
II
Kings 22:1-2
Acts
21:18-36
Psalm
150:1-6
Proverbs
18:9-10
****
Quote for Reflection:
“The Spirit of the godly rusts away, unless they are well
exercised by tribulations.” Luther
“A sanctified person, like a silver bell, the harder he is smitten, the better he
sounds.” Swinnock
There is that which we call natural love. After having fallen into sin, man can still have that. Some people however can reveal bitter hatred. There are those whom we can rightly call criminals, who spend a good part of their lives in prison.
But the serious question is whether we and our neighbors have spiritual love. Having considered yesterday the fact that we are surrounded by people who walk as "children of disobedience," we should note that Paul in Ephesians 2:3 wrote, "Among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
Now we are going to appreciate what God did for us through His Son and His cross and Spirit, if we hold on tightly to the truth which Paul wrote. The main question is not simply whether we hate the neighbor and treat him cruelly by word of mouth or hand. The deeper question is whether we hate God. The question also is whether we love God and strive to serve Him with all that He gives us and all that we have.
A most important manifestation of love for God is whether we agree with Him when He states here that we are by nature children of wrath.
Children of wrath are those whom Satan has filled with wrath against God. He got Adam and Eve to hate Him. In the church-world today he tries very strongly to get us to walk more fully in hatred toward God. And that is what makes us hate the neighbor and break His law left and right.
What a blessing then if with Paul we can say that in times past we were that way, but now in God's grace we are children who love Him and who strive to serve Him as much as we can.
Of that blessedness Paul will begin to write in the rest of this chapter. But we must know our wicked nature to appreciate what He did for us through His Son.
Read: Romans 7 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Kings
22:3-20
II
Kings 23:1-30
Acts
21:1-37
Acts
22:1-16
Psalm 1:1-6
Proverbs
18:11-12
****
Quote for Reflection:
¼ We could say, then, that the mother’s task is to oversee the forging of Christian character and faith in her sons and daughters. The Christian mother is the one who sets the tone in the home for the entire life of the family and children. – Rev. Carl Haak
What God does is what counts. He must give us physical life, if we are going to come into being. But He must also through a rebirth give us the spiritual life which His Son manifested. Without that, we will never know the love of God, and will never live with Him in the new Jerusalem.
That He did cause us to be born again we find in Ephesians 2:4 , 5. There we read, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved)."
The blessed truth here is that, while we were still spiritually dead, God caused us to become spiritually alive with Christ. Plainly salvation from beginning to end is God's work in and for us. God causes that salvation to happen for us and in us, and He deserves all the praise for it.
God did not begin to love us because we loved Him. We love God because he in love implanted in us love for Himself. In that love He caused us to be born again. He tells us this truth in I John 4:10 . There we read, "Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
We do not earn one bit of our salvation, nor any of the glory we will have in the new Jerusalem. God's love decides what will happen to us. Our love does not determine where we are going to go. God's love decides that. His love decides that we will not go where our sins insist that we go. God's love sent His Son to blot out our guilt and to pave the way to everlasting glory for us.
Take hold then of that wonderful contrast that, when we were dead in sins, God quickened us, that is, made us alive together with Christ.
What a wonderful truth to take with us! By grace, not works, we are saved, not by our works or because of our works.
Read: John 3:1-17 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Kings
23:1-31
II
Kings 24:1-20
II
Kings 25:1-30
Acts
22:1-17
Acts
23:1-10
Psalm
2:1-12
Proverbs
18:13
****
Quote for Reflection:
Brethren,
ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but
by love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13) “Liberty,
then, is always in order to goodness. It is
never merely freedom from something; it is
always freedom to something, the freedom to meet
one’s obligations. It always implies
direction, which means commitment to some value or ideal.
This means that freedom binds. It
presupposes God…There can be no liberty that does not take God into
account…” (Henry Stob)
Not only did God make a tremendous change in us, He also brings us into a tremendously different life.
Of this Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:6 : "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." He had already in verses one through five stated that God quickened us, that is, made us alive with Christ. He made us to be as righteous and holy as Christ is. He will now lift us up to the glory that Christ earned for us.
Not only are all our sins blotted out completely, but our bodies and souls are going to have a most wonderful, everlasting life of heavenly joy. We shall be with Christ, and will be above the highest angels, and enjoy the covenant fellowship with God that Christ earned for us.
We are not going back to the garden of Eden. That is not going to be restored. We are going into the new Jerusalem, the glory of which is far above what man enjoyed in Eden. Christ, having blotted out our guilt by His cross, went to God's right hand; and we are going to be with Him in glory.
We are going to be raised, that is, lifted up higher than Adam and Eve were before they fell into sin. We are going to be closer to God than Adam and Eve were before Satan deceived them, and closer than the holy angels ever were to our covenant God.
Here is the Gospel, that is, the Good News! Never mind, then, what the world promises you. Never mind what it is striving to bring forth: peace, prosperity, and pleasure of the flesh. Our calling is to seek the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness. And we will reach that high glory, not because we climbed up to it, but, as Paul by the Spirit of Christ pointed out, because we are raised, raised by God in His love. Therefore we are sure that we will reach it and enjoy it forever.
Read: Isaiah 65:17-25 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
I
Chronicles 1
I
Chronicles 2:1-17
Acts
23:11-35
Psalm 3:1-8
Proverbs
18:14-15
****
Quote for Reflection:
"...........preaching
is heavenly. And because it nevertheless takes place in the world, preaching is an
intrusion into this world, an invasion of this world by forces and powers that belong only
to heaven. .......this is why some will die to hear it, and others will murder to stop
it."
H. Hanko, The Standard Bearer
Why are we saved? What is God's purpose in saving us? What is the basic reason for our salvation?
The answer can be found in Isaiah 43:21 , where we read, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise." That truth is also in the New Testament pointed out in Ephesians 2:7 , where we read, "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
We are saved so that God will be praised by us for that wonderful grace and kindness which He showed us through His Son. What is more, that we praise Him and call Him God alone, and our covenant Father, Whose kindness and grace made such a rich and tremendous change between us and the rest of the human race, is why we are saved.
Now to praise God is to extol Him. It is to speak of His virtues. It is to say that He is God and God alone. That is what counts: We must confess by our walk as well as by our words that there is no God beside Him. And we must serve Him in order thereby to say this about Him. Creation manifests His wisdom and power. Salvation reveals His grace and love. And although the angels praise Him for this, we can do that more richly, because He saves us through His Son and His cross.
That is that for which we should praise God. We will see and know the richness of His grace more fully when Christ returns. But our calling in this life, and the purpose also of our salvation, is to cry out, "O God, how good Thou art."
Have you tasted that wonderful gift of salvation? Do you praise Him daily for what He wrought for you in the Son of His love? Remember that He said, what is quoted above, that we are formed to show forth His praises. He saved us most deeply for the glory of His own name.
Read: Psalm 136 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
I
Chronicles 2
I
Chronicles 3
I
Chronicles 4:1-4
Acts
24:1-27
Psalm 4:1-8
Proverbs
18:16-18
****
Quote for Reflection:
If the Son therefore shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36). “It is a spiritual and
heavenly freedom of which our text speaks, a freedom purchased by Christ, revealed in the
gospel, and conveyed to the saints of God as the great dowry of Christ to His Church and
Spouse. Two great things Christ has entrusted
into the hands of His Church-Christian faith and Christian liberty. Just as we are to contend earnestly for the
maintenance of the faith (Jude 3), so also for the maintenance of Christian liberty, and
that against all who would oppose and undermine it” (Samuel Bolton)
Saved by grace means that we are saved because God gives us salvation as a free gift. You may have heard this before, but if we take the five letters of the word grace, and use them as the first letter of five words, we can present this as God's grace: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. Salvation is a free gift of God; but it cost plenty, a price which God Himself paid in full. His grace is extremely rich; and the cost was Christ's cross and obedience as our covenant Head.
This we must bear in mind when we look at Ephesians 2:8 , where we read, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."
Here we must be careful with our use of the word "faith." Paul does not mean that by our act of faith (that is, by believing) we earn salvation. Paul condemns that idea in the next verse where he wrote, "Not of works, lest any man should boast." Note that Paul in verse 8 states that we are saved through, not because of, faith. The idea is that God saves us through faith, not that we save ourselves by believing. We are saved because Christ died for our sins, and because God engrafted us into Him by faith. Thus we find in Romans 11 , and Jesus spoke of it in John 15 , that we are engrafted into Christ. Faith is that bond that unites us to Christ. And that this occurs, that we have this blessing, is because of God's grace. We do not deserve it. We deserve being driven from God and into the torment of hell.
Here is a blessed truth. God made us to be one with Christ, made us to be the living members of His body, the church. United to Christ we have salvation, and all its blessings flow into us.
We believe because we are saved. We are not saved because we believe. We are saved through faith, not by our act of faith. We do not even deserve to be given faith. It is a free gift from God unto us.
Read: Romans 4 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
I
Chronicles 4:1-5
I
Chronicles 5:1-17
Acts
25:1-27
Psalm
5:1-12
Proverbs
18:19
****
Quote for Reflection:
Herman Witsius: "... it is necessary for every one who acknowledges
Christ as his Lord, to renounce Satan, the world, sin, and even himself, that he may
belong to none but Christ. It is absolutely impossible to serve at the same time two
masters that are so contrary to one another, and the one of whom, at least, justly demands
the submission of the whole man. Whoever belongs to Christ, doth not belong to Satan; he
is rescued from his tyranny. ‘In time past,’ but only in time past, he
‘walked according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience.’ He doth not belong to the world; he is
‘delivered from this present evil world,’ and he has learned that ‘the
friendship of the world is enmity with God’ (The
Apostles’ Creed, vol. 1, pp. 359-360).
In Ephesians 2:8 Paul had written that we are saved by grace through faith, and that this is God's gift to us. And now he underscores this truth, stating in verse 9, "Not of works, lest any man should boast."
No doubt that boasting was a very common thing already in Paul's day. It certainly is common today. Many boast of their faith and speak of accepting Christ, and of fulfilling conditions for salvation. In the preaching today the call so often goes out that we should open our hearts and let Christ come in and save us. This happens even though Scripture clearly teaches us that we all died spiritually in Adam and must by God's grace be born again before we have the life that wants salvation.
We should sincerely sing as we find in Psalter 383:
All that I am, I owe to Thee,
Thy wisdom, Lord, hath fashioned me;
I give my maker thankful praise,
Whose wondrous works my soul amaze.
This is the versification of the psalmist's words, namely, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" ( Ps. 139:14 ). We should, therefore, believe that even the desire for salvation comes from God. We should not boast of having let God save us, but confess that he gave all of it to us.
There is not one of our works ¾ including the desire for salvation ¾ that is not there as God's gift to us. He gives us all the rain and sunshine that we need for growing food. He also gives us all the strength for all of our spiritual activity that pleases Him.
We are not saved because of our works. We are saved by God, so that we can perform good works. He owes us nothing. We owe Him thanks for everything that we have spiritually as well as physically.
Read: Psalm 139:14-24 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
****
I
Chronicles 5
I
Chronicles 6
Acts
26:1-32
Psalm
6:1-10
Proverbs
18:20-21
Quote for Reflection:
¼ This is the spirit of discernment, by which the elect
discriminate between the truth of God and the false inventions of men. So then, in the
sheep of Christ a knowledge of the truth goes before, and next follows an earnest desire
to obey, so that they not only understand what is true, but receive it with warm
affection.
–
John Calvin
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. No one helped Him do so. For no one and nothing existed yet before He performed the work of creating heaven and earth and all they contain. And surely we must also insist that all of our spiritual life comes from Him.
Paul literally says this in Ephesians 2:10 , where we read, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." There are some very important truths here.
First of all, Paul says that we are God's workmanship, not our own. We did nothing physically before we were born; and likewise did nothing spiritually good till after we were born again.
We were created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Surely no creature ever created itself. Besides, we come into this world spiritually dead, and dead men do nothing anymore. God created us in Christ Jesus with a new spiritual heart and desire. And He ordained us to good works before we even existed physically. He did that eternally. He decided to give us the desire to perform good works and the ability to do so.
Take hold of this truth: God ordained certain good works wherein we would walk. And note that He did this before we performed them. Not only did He ordain them before the world was created. Before every good work which we perform, He gave us the power and desire so that His eternal counsel would be fulfilled in the smallest detail.
Only those for whom God ordained faith will get it. And having it we must not boast. We should thank him for giving us that which we could not even want to receive. He owes us no thanks. We owe Him thanks for all of our salvation as well as for all of our natural possessions and talents. We are, indeed, saved by grace, not by our works.
Read: Ephesians 1:1-12 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
1
Chronicles 7
I
Chronicles 8:1-40
Acts
27:1-20
Psalm
7:1-17
Proverbs
18:22
****
Quote for Reflection:
¼ It is true that human nature is lamentably fickle, and that
kindness is often rewarded with the basest of ingratitude; yet all are not unthankful and
treacherous. We must not allow the wickedness of some to prejudice us against all. We
should deal impartially and judge righteously of everyone alike: yet only divine
grace— humbly and earnestly sought—will enable us to remain just and merciful
after we have been deceived and wronged a few times.
– A.W. Pink
There are events and expressions which we like to remember. There are also people whom we like to keep in mind. But what we often desire to forget is that which we should remember, even though it hurts our souls to remember it.
Paul writes that way to the Gentile believers in Ephesus. He says in verse 11 of chapter 2 of his epistle to the Ephesians: "Wherefore remember, that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made by hands." But now in verse 12 he writes the awesome truth, "That at that time we were without Christ, being aliens from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and with out God in the world."
What a frightening thing to be without Christ! For that word "without" means "apart from." Thus it is a hopeless situation. Not only will being in the desert where there is no water make you thirsty, but staying there will mean death is not far away from you. Being apart from Christ (that is, not under His care and in His church) may bring carnal joy for a short time. But those who are such are on the way to hellish agony that is without end. To die apart from Christ means being apart from all that is truly good. It means to suffer endlessly God's holy wrath in hell!
Aliens in the sense of not being in God's church is an awful thing. Being in God's church means that we are members of the body of Christ, and we are going to be with Him in heavenly glory in the new Jerusalem. It means that all our sins are blotted out completely; all the punishment of sin has been brought to an end by Christ and His cross.
Be thankful, then, if in His grace God created you in Christ Jesus and in Him created you unto good works which for you He ordained. Indeed, we are saved by grace, and not because of our works.
Read: Matthew 25:14-30 .
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
I
Chronicles 9
I
Chronicles 10:1-14
Acts
27:21-44
Psalm 8:1-9
Proverbs
18:23-24
****
Quote for Reflection:
“Faith in election and faith in creation hang inexorably
together, and by nothing so much as by letting go one’s hold on the Creation is the
faith in God’s election undermined.”
--
Abraham Kuyper
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