Satisfied

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Pete

To say I’m “chewing” on Isaiah 53 this morning would be to imply that it’s bite sized. Far from it. Isaiah 53 is a full meal deal, enough within it to process for an eternity. Not because it’s appetizing, not because it’s sweet and savory. Rather, it’s bitter. In fact, it seems overloaded with bitter herbs and hard to digest flavors. But feast on it, and in the end . . . satisfied.

Bore our griefs. Carried our sorrows. Pierced for our transgressions. Crushed for our iniquities. Taking upon Himself the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His wounds we are healed. (Isa. 53:4-5).

Oppressed, afflicted, a silent lamb led to the slaughter. Cut off from the land of the living. Stricken for the transgression of His people. His grave made with the wicked, though He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth (Isa. 53:7-9).

Enough already!

And yet, despite the bitter taste, I’m drawn to read it over and over again. Drawn to fixate on God’s Servant, His appearance marred beyond human semblance, His bodily form barely recognizable as human (Isa. 52:14). For the LORD had laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:6) — my iniquity.

But as I hover over this holy ground, I’m struck by this: that despite all the Savior suffered, despite all He bore on our behalf, through the prophet we are told He is satisfied.

Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the righteous One, my Servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.

(Isaiah 53:11 ESV)

Satisfied. The Christ is satisfied. The Son of God, who drank of the bitter cup of the Father’s wrath, now enjoying the sweetness of a cup filled to the brim with the fruit of His finished work. The Lamb of God who poured out His soul unto death, now with a soul overflowing as He communes with the life He has wrought within His creation. He shall see and be satisfied.

What does He see? Me. And all those like me who have been bought with His price and redeemed by His grace. Satisfied not necessarily because of “how well I’m doing”, but because of how well I have been bought and how much I have been graced. Satisfied as He sees us wearing His robe of righteousness. Satisfied as He sees us being conformed increasingly into His image. Satisfied as He experiences the reality that the finished work of His cross is sufficient to complete the redeeming work He has begun in us.

Satisfied. God’s holy Servant, my Lord, is satisfied.

Because of His grace. For His glory.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

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A City

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Pete

Morning devotions have a way of re-orienting the mind and soul. Quiet time before the Lord in His word, wanting to hear the voice of His Spirit, has a way of recalibrating “true north.”

What’s amazing, is how only a 24-hour period can so disorient you. So busy. So much stuff crammed in our calendars. So many things to be concerned about. Not saying they’re not legitimate things . . . just that they are many things. They are the “Martha things” — things about which we become anxious and troubled, things that distract (Lk. 10:40-41). That’s why we need to make time for the one “necessary thing”, being a Mary who sits at the Lord’s feet and listens to Him (Lk. 10:39, 42). And this morning, for me, He resets my internal GPS towards a city.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.

(Hebrews 11:13-16 ESV)

Except for Enoch (11:5), they all died. Abel and Noah, Abraham and Sarah. Though they considered Him faithful who had promised (11:11), and though they had tasted and sampled the fulfillment of those promises during their lifetime, they but greeted them from afar before leaving this earth. They walked by faith, and they died in faith, not having received the fullness of the things promised. And that, because they were seeking a homeland.

Regardless of what earthly passport they possessed, they desired a better country. A country literally out of this world. A heavenly country. And so, on earth they lived as strangers and exiles, believing that God who brought them into relationship as their God, had prepared for them a city.

A homeland. A better country. A city.

Commence recalibration. Refocus on the long game. Set your mind on things above (Col. 3:2).

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. . . And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

(Revelation 21:2, 22-23 ESV)

Another 24-hour period, Lord willing, is before us. Another day–though filled with very real tasks to do and concerns to be concerned about–to walk by faith and not by sight (2Cor. 5:7). To remember we’re just passing through. To serve faithfully here while sure fully of a homeland there. Taking care of business now even as we’re homesick for a better country then. To know that we’re not going it alone, for God is not ashamed to be called their God. Another day, Lord willing, to live in anticipation of a city.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

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We Are Not of Those

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Pete

They needed endurance. The going continued to get tough, and some of those who had so far toughed it out were now considering getting going.

As they became known as followers of Christ, some were publicly exposed to reproach and affliction. Some had known the plundering of their property. Some had even been thrown in prison. And so for some, the taking away of their livelihoods was tempting them to throw away their confidence in the promise of a great reward. Thus, says the writer to these harangued Hebrews, “You have need of endurance” (Heb. 10:32-36).

For to stop walking by “the new and living way” that Christ opened to them by His blood and through His flesh, to stop drawing near to God in full assurance of faith with hearts cleansed and bodies washed by the cleansing blood of Christ (10:19-22), was to risk going back into deliberate sin, trampling underfoot the person of Christ, and profaning the blood of the Christ (10:26, 29).

The stakes were high. They needed endurance.

Hover over this for a bit, and it’s enough to make the weary follower a bit anxious. To cause great concern for the one who has held on to Christ for dear life, but as the price for holding on increases, as the cost becomes more crushing, the grip feels like it is slowly weakening. Yeah, I need endurance . . . but can I endure?

Yeah, I can. How come? Because we are not of those.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the Coming One will come and will not delay; but My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

(Hebrews 10:35-39 ESV)

We are not of those who shrink back. That’s not what saving faith produces. Those who are saved by the power of the gospel, are kept by the power of the gospel. Those who are counted as righteous through the finished work of Christ on the cross, those who are being made righteous through the on-going work of the Spirit infusing their lives, are those who will walk in righteousness “from faith for faith” — “as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith'” (Rom. 1:16-17). That’s who we are. That’s our born again being in Christ. In Him, we are of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

We have need of endurance. Sometimes to endure the consequences of following Jesus, sometimes just to endure the hardships of life. But because of who we are in Christ, we will endure. We are not of those who shrink back and retreat. Sure, we may slip up and trip up and give up ground temporarily to the flesh and to the world. But we concede not the holy ground we have been graced to stand upon. We lean into the cross. We apply afresh the blood of the Lamb. We again fix our eyes on the prize, and we endure by faith, preserving our souls by His ever-present, enabling power.

We are not of those who shrink back. That, dear saint, is not who we are.

Instead, we are of those who purpose to do His will, and keep on keepin’ on doing this will, confident that we will receive what He has promised. For yet a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.

By His grace alone. Through faith alone. For His glory alone.

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Contrasts of Salvation

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Pete

It’s the contrast that hits me this morning. The contrast between the God who, through Isaiah, declares He is God like no other (Isa. 45:5-6), and the same God, recorded by Luke, who is crucified on the cross (Lk. 23:32-34). The contrast between the One who promises to send a Servant, cloaked in the Spirit, who will bring forth justice to the nations. and that same Servant who, sentenced by the representative power of the nations to die, cries out to Him who sent Him, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Behold your God. Behold the Servant. Worship in the Spirit.

And then I read in Hebrews how this One God in Three Persons has orchestrated these mind-blowing contrasts to secure “an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12b).

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

(Hebrews 9:13-14 ESV)

The blood of goats and bulls had its place, for “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (9:22). But it was a temporary fix for an eternal problem. The blood of bulls allowed the high priest to enter the holy of holies each time he came to administer atonement. The blood of goats was sufficient to pay the price for those needing cleansing from the defilement of sin. But the blood of goats and bulls was insufficient to purify the conscience, thus releasing it from slavery to sin.

“But when Christ appeared as High Priest” (9:11), He, once for all, entered the heavenly holy of holies (of which the earthly inner sanctum was but a picture) by His own blood and secured an eternal redemption. Thus, the contrasts found in Isaiah and Luke this morning reveal the supernatural workings by which my conscience could be forever cleansed, and my soul forever saved. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Saved for what purpose?

To serve the living God.

That’s not the “price we pay” for being saved. Service to God isn’t “our end of the deal.” Serving the living God is salvation. It is the abundant life! As those created in His image and purchased by blood to be His people, it is the secret sauce to flourishing as sons and daughters of God.

A God unlike any other god — so other-worldly that He would come in flesh to redeem His creation.

A Savior unlike any other Savior — the Son giving Himself freely so that the Father might, with justice met, freely forgive our sin.

A Spirit unlike any other Spirit — the eternal power of God that raised Jesus from the dead and infuses us with His life. A new life to serve the living God.

Oh, the contrasts of salvation. Oh, the wonder of salvation’s plan.

Purposed by the God like no other. Accomplished by the Savior like no other. Internalized and energized by the Spirit like no other.

What amazing grace.

To Him be all the glory.

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The Stability of Our Times

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Pete

Yesterday, as I read in Isaiah, the gem found along what often feels to be the seer’s wandering, disorienting prophetic path, was a principle. This morning, the gem encountered is a preview.

The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

(Isaiah 33:5-6 ESV)

Amidst the many prophetic warnings of Isaiah (e.g. Isa. 31:1), there are frequent prophetic windows into a day when “a king will reign in righteousness” (Isa. 32:1). These verses I’m chewing on this morning I take to be such a window.

That day when “a king will reign in righteousness”, I understand to be the day when Jesus as King will reign on the earth. And in that day, Jesus, who is Jehovah incarnate, will be exalted. He will dwell on high. He will fill Zion, the seat of His throne, with justice and righteousness. He will bring abundance of salvation, fullness of wisdom, and completeness of knowledge. And the fear of the LORD, Zion’s treasure, will be known to all the earth. So that, in that day, He will be the stability of our times.

Stability. If there is anything which DOES NOT MARK our times today, would we agree that it is stability?

If for no other reason than the increasingly rapid rewiring of our world through always changing technology, we could not look back over a generation and conclude, “Well, those have been decades of stability.” Factor in the rapid rise of individualism and the just as rapid fall of what were once moral standards which prevailed for centuries, and it’s anybody’s guess as to what a day brings in terms of what will be deemed right and what will be called wrong. Stable? I don’t think so.

Thus, when I read of a time of stability, it catches my eye and ignites my imagination. And the foundation upon which stability is founded? The LORD exalted over the earth. Is it any wonder then, that as we have also rapidly removed the LORD from our cultural sensibilities over the past generation, that a sense of instability prevails? I don’t think so.

So, there is a day coming when a King will reign in righteousness. And in that day, He will be the stability of our times.

But we need not wait until that day when He visibly reigns to know stability. For the King has come and is even now establishing His rule of righteousness in the hearts of His followers. As such, even today in these tumultuous times, He can be the stability of our times.

The Rock of my salvation is the solid ground for any season. The embodiment of the abundance of wisdom and knowledge of God, indwelling His people through the Holy Spirit provides an anchor for the soul amidst all storms and through every cultural wave. The fear of the LORD — our intense love, trust, and hope in the God of our redemption — being the treasure from which we draw the unfailing, unchanging riches of a sure tomorrow. He is the stability of our times.

Praise God for the preview. How we look forward to that day.

Thank God that we can know it’s reality even this day.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Return and Rest

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Pete

Hovering over Isaiah 30. While there’s much about Isaiah that disorients me as I try to map his prophecies to a historical timeline, there are gems encountered frequently along the way. Truths about the Holy One of Israel, promises concerning His holy purposes for the people of Israel. And in the midst, principles for those of us called also to be “God’s people” (1Pet. 2:10), having been grafted into this ancient root (Rom. 11:17) through the finished work of Christ. This morning I’m chewing on one of those principles, a principle of salvation.

Judgment for sin had begun. The generational warnings of the prophets were becoming realities. The people of God, who for years had drawn near to God “with their mouth” and honored Him only “with their lips,” but whose hearts were in reality “far from Me” (Isa. 29:13), were now experiencing the response of God. Their Enemies had begun to lay their siege works. Unless something drastic happened, the outcome seemed inevitable.

And so they made plans. Plans to “go down to Egypt”, enter into an unholy alliance, and “seek shelter in the shadow” of Pharaoh’s military might (Isa. 30:1-2). Those who had once been delivered from Egypt by the mighty hand of God were now turning to Egypt to be rescued themselves from the mighty hand of God. Instead of such foolish plans, instead of adding “sin to sin”, God calls His people to another approach for securing their salvation.

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

(Isaiah 30:15 ESV)

Return and rest. That’s the plan for responding to God’s just discipline. Repent and cease from your own wisdom and ways. That’s the way for restoring the equilibrium known by His finished work. Turn from trusting in your own strength, or the strength of Egypt, and instead quiet yourselves as you trust in the One who had called you to be His special people in the first place. Return and rest. That’s the principle of salvation pre-occupying my thoughts this morning.

We’re not unlike ancient Israel. Just as their hearts had drifted far from the God they worshiped with their lips, we too are prone to wander. Just as they looked to Egypt as the solution for their wayward strife, we too can so easily look to the world and its ways to be our needed shelter when we are under sin’s siege. Instead, beckons our God who “waits to be gracious” (Isa. 30:18), return and rest.

Repent and be still. Confess and be contrite. Turn again and trust. Make a beeline for the cross and believe again that My love is unfailing, My grace is abounding, and the blood of My Son is sufficient to cleanse from all sin.

We were once saved through repentance and resting in the finished work of Jesus. It also is how we are “being saved.”

As long as we wake every morning to the flesh battling the Spirit and the Spirit battling the flesh (Gal. 5:17), we are going to know times when the flesh gets the upper hand. Return and rest.

As long as our hearts are works in progress, they will, as Calvin puts it, be prone towards being “a perpetual idol factory”, churning out affections towards things that should be directed only towards God. When we see that happening, return and rest.

If repentance isn’t a normative part of our working out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Php. 2:12), it should be. It’s not because we have nothing to repent of, but more likely that we have devised other plans for dealing with sin’s on-going desire to lay siege to our lives.

Return and rest.

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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Things That Belong to Salvation

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Pete

Chewing on the first twelve verses of Hebrews six this morning. Tough chewing. A lot of gristle. Hard to know exactly who is being spoken of as those who “have once been enlightened . . . and then fallen away” (v.4-6). Believer? Unbeliever? Or as some suggest, a different “class” all together, an “apostate” — one who experienced some of the believer’s experience but never believed. Instead, they “have fallen away” holding Christ “up to contempt.” Thus, it is impossible “to restore them again to repentance.”

But what nourishes the soul this morning is what is clear in this passage. That which marks the one truly born again, the fruit of those who abide in the vine, the evidence of a Christ-sourced, Spirit-fueled, living faith. The things that belong to salvation.

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things —  things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do.

(Hebrews 6:9-10 ESV)

While the writer to the Hebrews has a stern warning for the mere professors of salvation, he also expresses confidence in the true possessors of salvation. Those whose claim to saving faith goes beyond what they say but is evidenced by what they do. Things that belong to salvation.

First, there is their work. Not their good works, I don’t think we’re talking good deeds here. I think this is the work of engaging with our salvation. As one commentary puts it, the “whole Christian life of active obedience”. Those who have been baptized into the body (1Cor. 12:12-13) actively being a body part (Eph. 4:16). Those who have been made into a holy priesthood “offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1Pet. 2:5). Those who have been called to be a royal priesthood proclaiming “the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1Pet. 2:9). Those who are abiding in the Vine bearing much fruit (Jn. 15:5, 16). Things that belong to salvation includes doing the work of salvation.

And then, there is the love that is shown for God. And how is that love shown? In serving the saints.

Check that out! Ministering to other believers. Waiting on those redeemed by Christ. One of the things that belongs to salvation is attending to the needs of others in the church. So, how are we going to do that if we are not spending time with others in the church?

Ours is a busy age. Where once “regular” church attendance was seen as being gathered together three times a week, now it’s viewed as making it to a Sunday morning service two or three times a month. Where once hospitality was preached from the pulpit, I don’t think we hear much about it these days, as it competes with our already over-booked calendars.

Our is also a hyper-individualistic age. Too many, I fear, have taken a “personal relationship” with the Lord to mean that seeking the kingdom is a just-you-and-me-Jesus pursuit. But from what I can see, that’s foreign to what the New Testament teaches.

It seems to me that so much of the New Testament assumes that if you’re saved, you’re also part of a local gathering with others who are saved. If you’re born again you belong to a body of believers. As such, one of the things that belong to salvation is loving God by serving the saints. Living in the context of a family of faith as those adopted as children by the Father is how we demonstrate our affection for the Father. Being part of a body of which Christ is the Head is how we show our allegiance to the Head.

If we’re saved by God, we’re to be loving God. And one way we do that is by serving the saints. It’s part of what marks us as believers. Ministering to the body of Christ is some of the fruit we bear from abiding in Christ. Attending to our family of faith adds to the evidence that we possess a living faith. These are the things that belong to salvation.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Moving Beyond Picture Books (2012 Rerun)

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Pete

Dull of hearing. Unskilled in the word. Should be meat-eaters, instead only able to digest milk. It’s what I think was at the heart of the problem that the writer to the Hebrews addresses. They were tempted to fall away because they hadn’t yet grown up. Tempted to second guess themselves because they didn’t make growing in the Word their first priority. Problem in the first century. Still a problem, I think, today. I know I thought it was a problem 10 years ago. Here are my thoughts from 2012 on my Hebrews reading today.

My kids loved picture books. You know those big, over-sized children’s books that cared less about narrating a story but instead captured the imagination with full page graphics and photos. It seemed they never got tired of them . . . we’d pull them out again and again. But eventually my kids grew up . . . and while there may be fond, nostalgic memories of those picture books, my girls don’t read them anymore . . . don’t rely on them for their intellectual stimulation. They moved beyond picture books . . . started reading “chapter books” . . . and now read “adult books.” My reading in Hebrews 5 this morning reminded me that, as the people of God, we need to move beyond picture books, as well.

. . . for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

(Hebrews 5:13-14).

The writer to the Hebrews wants to take His readers deep . . . “connecting the dots” of Scripture with the Person of Christ . . . showing them that Christ is the Messiah, and has become the Author or Source of eternal salvation . . . that He is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek . . . BUT . . . screech to a stop . . . the writer to the Hebrews can’t plumb the depths of this thought because his readers had become “dull of hearing” (5:11b).

He says that by now, with how long they have had exposure to the Word, they should be teachers (5:12) . . . instead they need someone to take them through the basics again — they are still on “milk” and not “solid food” . . . still babies . . . not mature. They need to get out of Sunday School . . . move beyond the “Bible stories” and picture books . . . and get deeper. Stop sucking on the sippy-cup and get their teeth into the meatier stuff. It is possible — and perhaps too prevalent in the Church — to be “unskilled in the word of righteousness” (5:13). Inexperienced . . . bottle-feeders . . . unable to chew on the solid food of the Word and digest it themselves.

I have often thought that we don’t spend enough time showing believers the basics on how to feed themselves. We focus on pre-packaged Bible studies (good stuff, not saying it isn’t) without also spending time on how to study the Bible . . . how to read and correctly handle the Word and get beyond the Sunday School stories and dig out of the pages of Holy Scripture solid teaching for themselves. To experience for themselves the rush that comes from making an observation to then find the Spirit stirring their souls with illumination.

For too many, their sole intake of the Word, I fear, is the pre-digested, 3 or 4 point sermon on Sunday morning. I’m not saying there isn’t a place for gifted teachers to open up the Word for others and feed the sheep — there is . . . it is an integral part of how the church is intended to grow. But we also need to equip the sheep with enough tools so that they can be Bereans . . . that, after receiving the Word with gladness on Sunday morning, they can go home and “examine the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11) . . . to take in “solid food” for themselves and grow up.

If we don’t move beyond the picture books, the people of God are in such danger of looking like and living like the world about us . . . rather than being salt and light. Without “constant practice” . . . without having “our powers of discernment trained” by handling the living Word of God we lose our edge to discern good from evil . . . and can so easily settle for “good enough.”

Constant, habit forming, consistent use . . . reading . . . studying . . . meditating . . . obeying. It’s as we seek to get deeper . . . as we “use” the Word . . . that we develop the spiritual discernment concerning good and evil . . . that we recognize what’s beneficial and what’s not . . . that we distinguish what’s just good, from what’s better, from what’s best.

It doesn’t happen overnight . . . but maturing isn’t an overnight process . . . it occurs over a lifetime. We need to move beyond the “Sunday School stories” . . . and put away the picture books . . . and ask God, by His grace and through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, to take us deeper as we exercise ourselves in the Word . . . seeking to become “skilled” in the Word of righteousness.

For our benefit . . . By His grace . . . For His glory . . .

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We Must Give An Account

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Pete

Read that title again. We must give an account.

Who’s the we? You and me. What must we do eventually? Give an account. Literally, give a speech. Provide an answer. Give an explanation. Render a reckoning.

Okay . . . that level of accountability sounds a bit scary. Who are we giving this account to? You guessed it — God Himself. The Maker. Our Creator. The Holy One. Anyone feel like going facedown?

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

(Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV)

Okay, we all must give account. And it ain’t like we get to make it up or write the script or author our own evaluation. For all are naked and exposed to the eyes of God.

So, if verse 13 is true (and I’m thinking it is), then isn’t verse 12 a gift?

We don’t need to wait to find out what God knows about us. We don’t need to be in the dark concerning God’s will. We don’t need to guess where we stand in doing that will. For the word of God is living and active. It will splay to the very thoughts and intentions of our often fickle hearts. It will reveal to us now what God is seeing hidden in us. It will lead us now to repent and return when what we see isn’t lined up with who we are in Christ. And with such knowledge, we are fully equipped to be prepared for that day when we must give an account.

So why would it be so hard for so many to make time to be in the Word? Spending time in God’s word reminds us of what God’s requires of us. Regularly subjecting ourselves to this two-edged sword will reveal the depths of sin and the flesh still waging war within us. Faithfully following the meta-narrative of the Scriptures will remind us anew that the payment for our on-going transgressions has been rendered in full and that only the gospel is the power of God for our salvation (Rom. 1:16) — past, present, and future. I don’t think I’m over simplifying things to say that reading now readies us for that day when we must give an account.

Through the active agency of the Spirit living in us, the Word will renew our minds and transform our lives. But not if we’re not subjecting ourselves to the sword on a regular basis. The Word can cleanse us, but not if we’re not clinging to its thought-discerning, soul-cleansing pages.

Seems to me our Bibles are a gift so that we will not be caught unawares on that day when we must give an account.

And what speech will we speak? What answer will we provide? What explanation will we give? What reckoning will we render? The account we’ll give is, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for my bible tells me so. He died to atone for my rebellion against God. He rose from the dead on the third day to defeat death. By faith I believe He is the Lamb of God come to take away the sin of the world. That He is the Son of God, in whom the fullness of deity dwells, and I am His because He has purchased me with His blood. That He is the only hope of God. And, because of His finished word and His imputed righteousness, I can stand without spot before God . . . and give an account.”

It’s all there. In our bibles. Available, in this land at least, to be accessed at will as often as we want.

So, if we really must give an account (and we do), then why wouldn’t we make reading our bibles a priority? I’m thinking we should.

It’s a gift. It’s His grace.

To Him be the glory.

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Again

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Pete

There was a story I used to tell about the kind of disciplinarian my mom was when I was a kid. Can’t remember the incident but here’s how I recalled one instance of her “progressive discipline”. The immediate reaction to my transgression was “You’re grounded for a week, mister!” A little time passed that day and she sternly reminded me, “Don’t you forget, young man, you are not leaving this house until the weekend!” As we sat down around the dinner table that night, again she emphasized the consequences for my actions, “You will not be going out tonight to play with your friends.” Before we were done eating it was, “Remember, before you go anywhere after dinner you will have to do the dishes first.” That was mom.

That distant memory reemerged as I hovered over a couple of verses in Hebrews 4 this morning. In particular as I chewed on one word, the word again.

Since therefore it remains for some to enter [His rest], and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again He appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

(Hebrews 4:6-7 ESV)

God appoints a certain day. He specifies a certain time. He marks out boundaries around a set opportunity. The opportunity to respond. And, when some fail to take advantage of that set appointment, He does it again.

Not because He’s a fickle enforcer as was my dear mom, but because His boundless grace permits Him to set many boundaries. To provide many opportunities to enter into His promised rest.

And I’m not thinking as much of that initial entrance into rest when by faith I first knew my sins past were forgiven, my estrangement from God had been reconciled, and my soul was saved because the work of my redemption had been completed once for all on the cross of Christ. Instead, I’m thinking of the certain day He appoints again and again for me to confess my most recent sin, to be ushered afresh before His throne of grace, and know again that He is faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness because of the enduring power of the blood of Jesus (1Jn. 1:9). Again He appoints a certain day.

And so, I need to heed the exhortation.

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Today is that certain day. Right now is that appointed time. The boundaries have been freshly lined. Do it! Now! Enter afresh into the rest of the finished work of the Savior.

Don’t harden your heart. Don’t dismiss your guilt. Don’t get comfortable with your sin. But humbly come to the cross, again. Confess your transgression, again. Know the cleansing power of the shed blood of the blessed Lamb of God, again. And ground yourself in the reality of His promised Sabbath rest, again. Enter again that promised rest, knowing again that “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30).

Again. And again. And again.

Not because our God is weak in discipline. But because He is great in mercy and grace.

Today’s the day. Right now is the time.

To know afresh His overflowing grace. To ascribe again to Him His all-deserving glory.

Amen?

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