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| 30Are you sure that you are an elect child of God? No, the question is not whether you made it sure in God's mind. When in II Peter 1:10 we read, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall," this refers to our minds, not God's.
We cannot give God information which He does not eternally have. We cannot move Him to make a decision concerning our salvation. To mention that is to present a god over whom we have control. It is to deny that He is Jehovah, which name literally means I AM. And because He is Jehovah we can not change His mind, or bring into it something that is not eternally there. With us it is so different. We are sure that aches and pains, misery and grief are all around us, and that death is coming for us. What we as sinners deserve is everlasting torment in hell because of our guilt before God. We know that there are elect children of God, because the Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation teach us that there are such. Beginning in Genesis 3:15 God made known that there are two seeds, those of the devil, and those of Christ. Our calling is to give diligence to make it sure in our minds that God called us to spiritual life and makes us know our eternal election. As noted yesterday, we must walk as Christ walked. Then we will receive the assurance that we are by God called to be His children, those for whom Christ died.
Read repeatedly, and study God's Word for this truth. Walk in love toward God, keeping His commandments. Seek the comfort and peace of mind that Christ died for your sins, by finding yourself walking here below as Christ did. Then you will make your calling and election sure in your mind, and you will find the peace that passeth all understanding.
Read: II Peter 1:1-11 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 23:1-49
Hebrews 10:18-39
Psalm 109:1-31
Proverbs 27:13
****
Quote for Reflection:
"What
is the highest perfection of Christians? How is that perfection attained? Full manhood is
found in Christ; for foolish men do not, in a proper manner, seek their perfection in
Christ. It ought to be held as a fixed principle among us, that all that is out of Christ
is hurtful and destructive."
There is that which has never been realized by man, and never will be accomplished by man, but is God's perfect gift to us as believers. That gift is peace, perfect peace that will never end.
The very first child to be born of man killed his first brother. And Scripture throughout speaks of wars and predicts more of them. All these wars are here because man began to fight against God. Satan got Adam and Eve to go against God by doing what He had forbidden them. World War I and World War II are only pictures of what is coming. But a wonderful and blessed truth is presented to us in Isaiah 26:3 . There we read, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Here is THE peace that passeth all understanding. Here is the perfect and everlasting peace. For here is peace with God. Then all is well. Where there is no peace with God, there is no peace among men. Of that we can be sure.
It is because God sent His own Son into our flesh, so that He could blot out our sins and remove all our guilt, by His life of perfect obedience and His death and suffering of hellish agony which we deserve, that today and everlastingly we can have peace with God, and will live together in perfect peace in His coming Kingdom of Heaven.
Having peace with God we have no reason to be afraid of what happens in this world wherein we live now. It all is due to what God does to realize the day when His Son returns and brings forth a world of perfect peace, a world wherein all men love God and reveal this in love to one another.
Trusting in God means that we accept Him as God alone. It also means that we have no doubt as to whether He will keep His promises. It means that we are sure all is well, because He is the almighty, ever-faithful God, Who has already brought His Son to this perfect peace to bring us there.
Read: Isaiah 26 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 24
,
Ezekiel 25
,
Ezekiel 26:1-21
Hebrews 11:1-16
Psalm 110:1-7
Proverbs 27:14
****
Quote for
Reflection:
"The
Christian is the only enviable person in the world. The seeming blessings of evil men are
God’s heavy curses; and the smart of the stripes is a favor too good for them to
enjoy. To judge wisely of our condition, it is to be considered, not so much how we fare,
as upon what terms. If we stand right with heaven, every cross is a blessing; and every
blessing a pledge of future happiness. If we be in God’s disfavor, every one of his
benefits is a judgment; and every judgment makes way for perdition. Instead of envying
sinners in their successful wickedness, dread their character more than their end, and
rejoice that your Father never counted the poor vanities of this world a worthy portion
for you."
In many ways people do not agree. Some people prefer this color, and the taste of this kind of fruit. Others prefer a different color for a coat or dress, and this food rather than that. For some, the more money they have the richer they think that they are.
But in his wisdom, wealthy Solomon, as moved by God, wrote in Proverbs 15:16 , "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith." The best thing for us to have is the fear of God. Earthly treasures can bring joy to our flesh. But the fear of God assures us of everlasting blessedness in God's kingdom. Now, by fear of the Lord Solomon means faith, reverence, respect for God. The most precious possession we can have in this life is trust and confidence in God as our heavenly Father, Who sent His Son to earn our salvation by His cross.
Yes, we become rich by losing! We must lose all our guilt. Every sin must be blotted out, or we go to everlasting woe. All the gold and silver in the world, all the houses and lands, cannot remove the punishment of ONE sin! In fact, the more earthly goods we have, the more we are tempted to forget God, to walk in sin, and to have no thought for salvation. What counts is what we have in our hearts, not in our pockets or bank account. What is most precious is faith, hope, and love of God. And all the material possessions which we have in this life should be used to cause our faith to grow and to be strengthened. The material must be used to the strengthening of our spiritual life. What counts is what is in Christ and what brings us to live with Him and to serve God perfectly.
Thank God for that spiritual gift of God's grace: faith in Him. And use material things for a deeper and richer enjoyment of the spiritual wealth that Christ earned for us.
Read: Matthew 6:19-34 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 27
,
Ezekiel 28:1-26
Hebrews 11:17-31
Psalm 111:1-10
Proverbs 27:15-16
****
Quote for
Reflection:
"… as we stand by the gap caused by the fall and
disobedience of man, and discover that only Immanuel fits into the gap to save us, we know
that divine wisdom so designed all things that even our sin must serve the purpose of
opening the way for the coming of the Son of God in the flesh. O the depth of riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past
finding out!" – Triple
Knowledge by Herman Hoeksema (LD 7, pg. 260)
It is amazing what we see today that men could not see in days gone by. Today we can see what is happening on the other side of this earth while it is taking place. Television is an amazing device which man learned how to make. Today we see things in full color, and hear the words spoken as they come out of a man's mouth on the other side of the earth.
What counts, however, is what our God does and says to man. A few there are that hear and see what He is doing, and what He says to us. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3 , "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Here we have what it counts to see. Do not see the kingdom of heaven, and you will some day see hell and all the holy wrath of God against sin and sinners.
What is more, that we will see (i.e., enjoy) all the blessings of God's kingdom is possible because of what God does to us, not what we invent, find, or make. We must be born again, that is, receive a new spiritual life from God in our souls. In fact, if we are not born again we will not even care to see the kingdom of God, and we will fight against those who are its citizens.
All those who were not born again, and who did not see the kingdom of God, when they saw Christ, its king, killed Him, not having any interest in His kingdom. We see that kingdom because God caused us to be born again. We see Christ, His Son, as the door which opened the way for us, who were born again, to enter with our souls at the moment of death, and with our bodies when Christ returns.
Pray then unto God that He will give you to see more of that kingdom, to see it more clearly, and more in detail, as what He wrought for us through His Son and His cross and resurrection and ascension up into heaven.
Read: Romans 9:14-26 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 29
;
Ezekiel 30:1-26
Hebrews 11:32-40
;
Hebrews 12:1-13
Psalm 112:1-10
Proverbs 27:17
****
Quote for
Reflection:
"… It is true that God
oftentimes useth this speech, Return unto me, and I will come unto you: but this is to
show what is our duty and not what our power is."
–
John Calvin
Never should we claim to be saved because of what we did. It is true that we are saved through faith, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8 . But God does not offer salvation and wait to see whether we accept it or not. He is not limited by our will and work. It is true what Paul said to the jail keeper: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" ( Acts 16:31 ). This was his answer to the prison keeper's question, "What must I do to be saved?"
But take note of the fact that the very question asked by this jail keeper reveals that God had already begun the work of salvation in him. He had implanted in his soul the desire for salvation. God does not "offer" salvation and wait to see whether sinners are going to let Him save them. That insults the almighty God. He is never frustrated by any creature. He does not depend upon man's will and work.
No, Paul tells this jailer that if he believes, and if those in his house believe, then salvation has already been begun in them by God, and will be fully accomplished when Christ returns on the judgment day. For we are saved by grace, not by our works ( Ephesians 2:8-10 ). God's grace gives us the new spiritual life that wants salvation, wants spiritual life that believes in Christ as our Savior. Believe, and you know that God has begun it. Believe, and that means that already you have been engrafted into Christ by faith as God's gift. We are saved through faith, not because we believe by our own power. We are saved by God, not by letting God save us by "accepting" His "offer." God saves us by making us to be believers. Then He brings salvation into our consciousness. If we are saved, we will thank God for every bit of our salvation, and confess Him to be our complete Savior.
Read: John 3:1-21 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 31
,
Ezekiel 32
Hebrews 12:14-29
Psalm 113
;
Psalm 114:1-8
Proverbs 27:18-20
****
Quote for
Reflection:
"… The Scriptures do not cater
to modern man with his ten-second attention span, his inability to think clearly about
almost everything, his need to have any knowledge given in TV-size bits, and his easy
slide into boredom and ennui if any prolonged concentration is required." – Prof. Herman Hanko
There is a striking statement in I John 5:3 . There John states that God's commandments are not grievous. If we are really serious and sincere, we will confess that it is awfully hard for us, even years after being born again, to keep God's commandments. Even that strong servant, the apostle Paul, said, "0 wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" ( Romans 7:24 ).
The comforting truth, however, is found in I John 5:4 , where we read, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Faith is God's gift to us that enables us to have the victory over the world, but also over our flesh. If we have faith in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior, the undeniable evidence that we were born again, that is, born with a new spiritual life that loves God, is manifest.
Never, before we were born physically, could we do anything. And likewise, before we were born again with that new spiritual life, we could not even desire to keep God's commandments. Here we are taught again that our salvation is all God's work. God causes us to be born again. We do no more for that spiritual rebirth than we did for our physical birth. We did not ask our parents to bring us forth into this world. We could not before our conception and birth even want to come into being. Our spiritual rebirth, and our salvation from beginning onward, are not what we wanted to have come into being. All of our salvation, including the desire for it, is God's gift to us. He gives us the victory then over our spiritual death.
We have the victory over the world, to which by nature we belong, because of what God did. We do and must sing: "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow." Faith is one of these blessings for which we owe Him everlasting thanks.
Read: I John 5 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 33
;
Ezekiel 34:1-31
Hebrews 13:1-25
Psalm 115:1-18
Proverbs 27:21-22
****
Quote for
Reflection:
"We shall never love Christ much except we live near to Him. Love to Christ is dependent on our nearness to Him. It is just like the planets and the sun. Why are some of the planets cold? why do they move at so slow a rate? simply because they are so far from the sun; put them where the planet Mercury is, and they will be in a boiling heat, and spin round the sun in rapid orbits. so, beloved, if we live near to Christ, we can not help loving Him; the heart that is near Jesus must be full of His love." -- C.H. Spurgeon
Ask a man what "life" is, and he will probably have a different idea from that of the next man whom you ask. He may even say, "I do not know." The world sings the song, "Ah, sweet mystery of life." But believers turn to God's Word and say that it means knowing God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. This we read in John 17:3 where Jesus says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."
He who does not know God does not have an everlasting life. He comes into the world spiritually dead. For, did not God tell Adam that the day he committed his first sin, he would die spiritually? Because he did sin, all earthly fathers bring forth children who are spiritually dead. These children have a physical life, but not one bit of spiritual life. Everlasting life comes from the eternal God, and only unto those whom He eternally chose in Christ.
Our God sent Christ to earn a life of heavenly bliss for us, an everlasting life of knowing God. This does not mean simply knowing about God. The devil knows that, and the minute men die they will know that there is one God, against Whom they sinned all their life. What Jesus means is that everlasting life is enjoying covenant fellowship with Him. That is life! That is what God promises us and what is realized for us through His Son. Everlasting life is enjoying the blessedness that God has realized for us through His Son.
Do you want to know God that way? Do you want to know Him as the true God Who keeps every word of His promises, and will give His people that everlasting joy of living with Him in holiness and glory? If that is your desire, you now have proof that He has begun giving you everlasting life already. And you are going to know it fully.
Read: John 17 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 35
;
Ezekiel 36:1-38
James 1:1-18
Psalm 116:1-19
Proverbs 27:23-27
****
Quote for
Reflection:
"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." --Thomas a' Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ
To be sober means to be serious-minded by putting away silliness and flippancy. But basically it means not being drunken. Drunkenness does bring on silliness and flippancy; but when in I Thessalonians 5:8 Paul wrote, "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation," he means that we are not spiritually drunken but sober. This is plain from the fact that in the preceding verse he had written that they that be drunken are drunken in the night. We ought to take hold of that awesome truth that our God has brought us out of spiritual drunkenness into heavenly sobriety.
The sad fact is, however, that worldly riches and pleasures do make us spiritually drunken. For our flesh enjoys forgetting God, and doing as Satan caused Adam to do. As spiritually drunken we follow thousands of ways of seeking and enjoying forbidden fruit, that is, enjoying sins of every kind. We behave as spiritually drunken members of the human race. Because Satan is attacking us every day through man and earthly riches, we must be armed with faith, hope, and love of God. For, as Paul presents it, we need faith and love as a breastplate in our spiritual battle; and we need hope as the helmet for the protection of our heads. But only as we are spiritually sober can we use this breastplate and helmet.
In His grace God has brought us spiritual sobriety. By all means do not despise this gift, but cherish it and be thankful for it. As Paul writes, let us be sober, use that breastplate and helmet, and resist all the attacks of Satan. For in the day in which we live Satan has so many more, and more subtle, means of tempting us to spiritual drunkenness. By God's grace we are soldiers in the battle of faith. Let us not be so foolish as to lay aside our breastplate of faith and love and our helmet of hope, that it will not protect us.
Read: I Thessalonians 5:1-11 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 37
;
Ezekiel 38:1-23
James 1:19-27
;
James 2:1-17
Psalm 117:1-2
Proverbs 28:1
****
Quote for
Reflection:
"Let us, therefore, feed others also with the milk which we received, until they, too, become strong in faith. For there are many who are otherwise in accord with us and would also gladly accept this thing, but they do not yet fully understand it--these we drive away. Therefore, let us show love to our neighbors; if we do not do this, our work will not endure. We must have patience with them for a time, and not cast out him who is weak in faith; and do and omit to do many other things, so long as love requires it and it does no harm to our faith." --Martin Luther, The First Sermon
Yesterday we took note of a fierce and subtle spiritual battle that we have with Satan, through men who have no faith in and love for God, and who attack us. Today we do well to look more closely at Paul's exhortation to put on the breastplate of faith and of love.
It certainly is plain that Paul is speaking here of a spiritual battle. Faith and love are a spiritual breastplate for us in a spiritual battle, not in a physical warfare. We must protect ourselves -- but not by a steel, brass, metallic breastplate, when Satan is trying to get us to turn away from Christ and God, and to walk in unrighteousness.
In Ephesians 6:14 Paul makes this very clear. For there he writes, "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness." Our breastplate of faith and love is the breastplate of righteousness. Our protection against all that which Satan uses, to stop us from holding on to righteousness, is to believe God in all that which He tells us about our salvation. It is also love toward God that keeps us walking in righteousness, rather than going with Satan in unrighteousness, as Satan got Adam and Eve to do.
We are therefore, as Paul warns the Ephesians, saved by grace through faith ( Ephesians 2:8 ). Faith causes us to know and believe that we are righteous in God's judgment, and that we love Him, and are thankful to Him for having saved us from our guilt by His Son and His cross. Hold on to that truth, and do not let Satan work unbelief in you and cause you to hate God. He succeeded in this devilish work in Adam and Eve. But God has given us faith and love for Him. Hold on to these, and keep on that breastplate of faith and love. Be a soldier who fights against Satan and his seed; and be not a sinner revealing unbelief and hatred against God.
Read: Ephesians 6:10-18 .
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 39
;
Ezekiel 40:1-27
James 2:18-26
; James
3
Psalm 118:1-18
Proverbs 28:2
****
Quote for
Reflection:
"If the Lord undertakes to guide us in our life's journey, we must be satisfied with His doing it step by step. It is rarely His way to reveal to us much beforehand. In most cases we know little or nothing in advance. How can it be otherwise if we are to walk by faith! We must trust Him implicitly for the full development of His plan concerning us. But if we are really walking with God, taking heed to our ways according to His Word, He will gradually make things plain. His providences will clear up our difficulties, and what we know not now, we shall know hereafter." --A.W. Pink, Elijah (pg. 59)
In I John 4:19 we find this instructive and beautiful truth, namely, "We love him, because he first loved us." This not only explains why we love God, but also how it is possible for us to love Him. Because God loves us He causes us to love Him. That is why Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that we can put on the breastplate of faith and love ( II Thessalonians 5:8 ).
Love of God will keep us safe when Satan and his army try, as they constantly are trying, to get us to hate God, and to repeat Adam's sin of doing what God forbids. The love God has for us produces in us love for God. And that love, as well as faith, is the breastplate that protects us when Satan attacks us through men and things. Love of God enables us to be Christians and to protect ourselves spiritually from all the attacks of antichristians. Satan is antichristian, for the word "anti" means "against." And being against Christ is to be against God, Who sent Him for our salvation. Christians have Christ by His Spirit in them. Antichrists and antichristians have Satan as their father. They constantly go against Christ. But through Christ God implants love for Him in us and hatred against Satan and his army.
Christ revealed to us His love for us when He laid down His life on His cross. He did this with a view to implanting the love of God in us. And when He implants that love of God in us, we are willing to die at the hands of the enemy, even as He did, and to continue to walk in love toward God.
The awesome question, therefore, is whether you do love God. The question is not merely whether it looks as though you love God. The question is whether you do love Him, and are willing to fight all the attempts of Satan to get you to walk in halted towards God. By all means let the love of God, given you through Christ, make you resist all temptations to walk in sin. Let your love of God be the shield that protects your soul, and produces a walk of love toward God.
Read: I John 4 : 1-19.
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
****
Ezekiel 40:28-49
;
Ezekiel 41
James 4:1-17
Psalm 118:19-29
Proverbs 28:3-5
Quote for
Reflection:
"Those who have properly studied and learned the Catechism, are generally better prepared to understand and appreciate the sermons which they hear from time to time, inasmuch as they can easily refer and reduce those things which they hear out of the Word of God, to the different heads of the catechism to which they appropriately belong, whilst, on the other hand, those who have not enjoyed this preparatory training, hear sermons for the most part,with but little profit to themselves." --Zacharias Ursinus (Author of the Heidelberg Catechism), What is Catechism?
Go to: November 21
Return
to the list of meditations.