September 26 – One Fitting Boast

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1 :30-31 (ESV)

Man trusts in his understanding and seeks for peace and by its own devices apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Even when converted, they trust in their education and look at the Words and Cross of Christ with too little reverence and love. For them the call to believing faith it is too simplistic. Like the Greeks of antiquity, they trust their reason above God’s wisdom and fall into mixing God’s revelation with their learned philosophies. When they find that the two cannot fit together, they dismiss revelation and faith. So, when they stumble over the simplicity of the truth of Christ crucified they create one of their own to suit their “intellectual” understanding. In the early church such teaching was false and lead into Gnosticism* giving birth to many heresies still plaguing seekers today. As faith believers we are redeemed and not only are given salvation by God’s wisdom, rather than by our own, but we are also graciously given (“by His doing”) a measure of His divine wisdom, as well as imputed righteousness, sanctification from sin, and redemption by God in order that, above all else, the Lord will be glorified.

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*GNOSTICISM: A variety of second-century AD religions whose participants believed that people could only be saved through revealed knowledge, or γνῶσις (gnōsis). Gnostics also held a negative view of the physical or material world. Early church fathers, such as Irenaeus, deemed Gnosticism heretical.

NOTE ON OUR ABSENCE: 90 Seconds with God’s Promised missed posting for three days. This was due to illness for 5 days that kept us from the process. God is good and the publication of these daily devotions is possible only by the grace and mercies of God and when done is only for His Glory.

 

September 6 – Grace is Heaped

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight  ” – Ephesians 1:7-8 (ESV)

The fourth of six promises we received by faith when we are saved by grace. We are redeemed and forgiven for all our sins and placed in Christ Jesus permanently. If we did not have this assurance from God, we would be in a miserable and dark place. Human nature first thinks that any good thing we have received is according to what we do with our own effort and works. This is why within all the other belief systems in this world, each requires the one to work to be good enough to qualify. This is not so with those who are in Christ Jesus. True Christians who are faith believers do not earn salvation or maintain salvation by their own effort. We have been redeemed not by our good deeds but by the one deed of Jesus Christ who shed his blood and died for us. He paid the penalty we owed and when we believe in Him for what He has done we are forgiven for every failure. All have failed and for those who believe, God applies His work of grace in a lavish way. His forgiveness is for all who believe and is forever.  

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October 15 – Abundantly Poured Out

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight,” – Ephesians 1:7-8 (ESV)

What is it like to have someone lavish good things on us? ‘Lavish’ is not a word we use enough but it means so much and when used in today’s context, it is a blessing and a promise. It means to pour out, to abound and our promise is that God has already poured and continues pouring out in abundance the riches of His grace. We don’t deserve grace and we can’t earn it. Grace is given to the undeserving by the will and action of God. The term ‘redemption through His blood’ is used here and is an act of paying the required ransom to God for the release of a person from bondage. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross where he bled and died, paid that price for every elect person enslaved by sin. It was Jesus Christ’s gracious action that bought each of us who believe out of the slave market of iniquity. The price of redemption was death. The promise of redemption includes the limitless grace of God, and forgiveness of sin. This promise brings divinely-bestowed spiritual understanding. This is what God has poured out lavishly, beyond our imagination because He loves us. 

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May 4 – Ransom Paid Remission Secured

“ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” – Colossians 1:13-14 (ESV)

In our previous verse (Colossians 1:12) we read the promise of a share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. That is why we must today look at the promise that springs from that one.  This inheritance is in the … light. “We” have been transplanted, and this not from liberty into slavery but from slavery into liberty. This  light is the spiritual sphere to which believers have been transferred from the dominion of darkness. From this dominion, power, or authority of darkness We as believers have been rescued, and therefore delivered. Through Christ they were brought from a rebel kingdom and placed under the sovereignty of their rightful King. The sovereign Christ is here called his beloved Son. Through Christ, God’s “Loved One,” Christians have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Let’s emphasize that “redemption” means “to rescue by ransom.” Christ paid that ransom for us on the cross and in His resurrection. And, “forgiveness” means “remission” by the Redeemer. This is our joyful emancipation from darkness which we possess in the Light of our Savior only because of the tremendous cost Christ paid on the cross. 

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October 20 – Grieving for Grief

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30 (NASB)

When we came to believe in Christ Jesus as our Savior and by faith and grace we were adopted into God’s family, God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in our heart. We have God with us at all times because He lives in us this way. It is very easy to grieve Him. Sin is as easy as it is wicked and when we sin by thought or action, by commission or omission, God’s Spirit cannot bear it – we have grieved the Holy Spirit. He grieves with sorrow for us because He knows the distress and grief these wrongdoings will cause us in our soul. Our promise: it is by the Holy Spirit we are sealed for the day of redemption. Such grace and love from God are given to us without measure. C. H. Spurgeon preached, “Again, if we neglect prayer; if our closet door is cobwebbed; if we forget to read the Scriptures; if the leaves of our Bible are almost stuck together by neglect; if we never seek to do any good in the world; if we live merely for ourselves and not for Christ, then the Holy Spirit will be grieved.”*

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*Spurgeon, C. H., Sermon No. 278  (1998). 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 1) (p. 289). Leominster, UK: Day One Publications. 

October 10 – Redeemed for Real

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.”  Ephesians 1:7-8a   (NASB)

The words ‘in Him’ are used by the Apostle Paul six times in the first chapter of this letter. Considering that promise of all spiritual blessings in heavenly places given to us, we do well to realize that all this happens within the sphere of God’s election. In that sphere we have redemption. Such a powerful truth is in that word for us. It has been trivialized a great deal in our use and most acts of redemption that we take part in require us to provide some worthless slip of paper, a coupon or a letter or maybe a saved image on our smart phone. Turn that in for a few pennies off the products we purchase. But the redemption which we are promised to have in our verse today was purchased through the precious blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:17-19). What we receive in that redemptive act is forgiveness of our trespasses, our sins.  That’s no small thing since it is the only way to be forgiven by God and possess salvation. That means that precious blood purchased for us, eternal life. Think deeply about that and let it overwhelm your thoughts today.  

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May 9 – Marked and Sealed

“When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”  Ephesians 1:13b-14 (NIV)

The promise we find in today's verse is given as a reminder of the special attention which God demonstrates to those who are His. We know that when we believe in Jesus, God gives us His Holy Spirit to live in us. By this we are marked with a seal by God that we belong to Him. Did you notice how our verse explains what the Holy Spirits coming means? We read that He is a deposit that guarantees our inheritance. Often we put down a deposit to secure our ownership of property or perhaps the right to participate in some event.  Yes, friends, the Holy Spirit's presence guarantees that we belong to God. He is a promise that He will be with us until God brings us into His presence where we will enjoy the full benefit of being God's children. Remember the words of our verse that the Holy Spirit is a seal on us placed there by God the Father.