December 24 – Promises Fulfilled

““Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called,‘ the Lord Our Righteousness’” – Jeremiah 23:5-6 (NASB)

 Although God had promised that the line of King David would last forever, there was a time when this seemed to be not possible. For the line of David through King Jehoiachin had been “cut off.” However, God’s promises will all be fulfilled and He promised to raise up to David another King who would be a righteous Branch, that is, another member of the Davidic line. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this prediction and as such He was born in that line both physically and legally.  As King, Jesus will one day reign wisely and will do what is just and right. Though Christ offered Himself as Israel’s Messiah at His First Advent, the final fulfillment of this prophecy will come at His Second Advent immediately before His millennial reign. At that time the Southern Kingdom (Judah) and the Northern Kingdom (Israel) will again be delivered (Romans. 11:26) from oppression and reunited as a single nation and unlike today’s conditions, Israel will live in safety (Ezekiel. 37:15–28). The name of this coming King will be the “LORD Our Righteousness” (Yahweh ṣiḏqēnû). Unlike Zedekiah, “my righteousness is Yahweh,” this promised King will live up to His name as Israel’s righteous God.

 

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Charles H. Dyer, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, 1985, 1, 1158.

May 22 – One Lord With No Distinctions

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” – Romans 10:12-13 (ESV)

We can hardly choose among all the promises of God, and name one or even some as the best promises of all.  Everything that comes to us from God is a blessing that cannot be measured; gifts, abilities; strength; endurance; faith; grace; and we could go on and on. However, our promise of salvation, given to the human race in Genesis 3, after the sin of Eve and Adam, is the most vital because without receiving promised salvation from God, no other blessings will be ours. Important to notice is that God’s promises are given to everyone who calls on His name to be saved. Absolutely no distinctions exist between any races or cultures. In the first century during the early development of the Church, there was a distinction made by some people between Jews and Greeks, and between men and women. It is no different today.  Perhaps you’ve heard about Critical Race Theory? It is a theory that claims the supposed appearance of race and racism across and in cultures exists everywhere. With God, He promises that there are no such distinctions between races or classes or genders. Let’s live according to that promise in our lives.   

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February 9 – One in Creation. One in Salvation

“Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.” - Psalm 106:8. (ESV)

Jesus Christ is our Savior; but not more so than God the Father, or God the Holy Spirit. Some perceive God the Father as being a great being full of wrath, and anger, and justice, they think of God the Spirit perhaps as an influence proceeding from the Father and the Son. Nothing can be more incorrect than such opinions. The Son redeems me; The Father gave the Son to die for me, chose me in his everlasting grace. The Father blots out my sin; He accepts me, and adopts me into his family through Christ. The Son could not save without the Father any more than the Father without the Son. It is God the Holy Spirit that regenerates us. It is He that makes us new creatures in Christ, who purifies our soul, who sanctifies our spirit, and who, at last, presents us spotless and faultless before the throne of the Most High, accepted in the beloved. When we say, “Savior,” remember there is a Trinity in that word—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As they are one in creation, so are they one in salvation, working together as one God for our salvation.

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• The Son redeems us - Ephesians 1:7-12
• The Father blots out our sin - Isaiah 43:25
• The Father adopts us into His family - Romans 8:12-17
• Holy Spirit that regenerates - Titus 3:5
• He makes us new creatures in Christ - Galatians 6:15 

Drawn in part from: C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 1), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 1998), 39.

October 13 – Not Our Doing

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)

As we often stress, context is important when studying the Bible. Since verses and chapters were not a part of the Bible when it was written, they provide an artificial sense of division and compartmentalization. Our Verse explains for us “the incomparable riches of His grace” promised in verse 7. Then, we note the words “and this is not your own doing;”  Some want to say the ‘this’ is the grace and others want to say it is the faith in the previous sentence. But it is likely Paul’s intention for saying saying ‘this’ is to refer back to the concept of salvation in the previous four verses. What we find in the salvation we receive is: God’s riches in mercy; His great love with which He loves us; making us alive in Christ while still dead in our sins; promising that we are positionally raised up with Christ; positionally seated with Christ in heavenly places; promising to show immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul wraps all these promises (the ‘this’ which is not our doing) into the promise that by grace we have been saved through faith. 

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March 5 – Turn and Look

“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”  - Isaiah 45:22 (KJV)

When we are told to ‘turn to me’ it is in order to be able to look at the person calling us to do this.  It was 1850 on a Sunday in January in Colchester, England. A 15 year old boy was struggling through a snowstorm. He came upon a Primitive Methodist Chapel.  He entered and his life was changed forever.  Charles Haddon Spurgeon heard the text of our verse that day.  Spurgeon says the substitute preacher that day “…had not much to say, thank God, for that compelled him to keep on repeating his text, and there was nothing needed—by me, at any rate except his text.”  He looked to God and found his Savior Christ and was born again into God’s family. The text promised him something it also promises us.  All we need to do, to believe, is to Look.  Turn to God and Look unto Him.  Not only is there salvation and eternal life, there is an ongoing supply of grace which enables us to live for God as He calls us to. God declares, “for I am God and there is no other” and that too is a precious promise to hold dear.

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October 5 – Hope and Faithful Waiting

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”  - Romans 8:24-25   (ESV)

Hope as we find taught in our Bible is a hope that has assurance and expectation of fulfillment and is not a wishful kind of hope.  But what are we hoping for in our lives as followers of Jesus Christ?  We are hoping for what we know will be ours but we do not see it yet.  We hope for an eternal life in heaven with God and we are assured that is ours but we do not yet see it, do we?  This is the promise of our verse today.  This is the hope that we have because we are now children of God.  We do not hope for what we hold or have but we do hope for what we have been promised but is not yet manifested.  Our verse tells us that this hope goes with patient waiting.  Patience in our hope because we hold the confidence that we will see our hope fulfilled. It is already ours in waiting so we can trust in it and that is what faith is also.   

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April 2 – No Technicalities To Trip Us

“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”  Hebrews 7:25  (NIV)

Our promise today is given as an assurance of what God is doing for us right now.  We have a wonderful savior in Jesus Christ in whom we have put our faith in what He did for us when He died on the cross.  We are told today that Jesus is still involved with us as our Savior by interceding for us. This is our guarantee that our salvation is complete through Christ because it is the way we come to God for forgiveness and eternal life.  We are each brought into the family of God when we accept in faith believing what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross. His ministry for us continues through His prayers on our behalf.  Each time we are accused of our sins, Jesus stands for us as our intercessor before the Father and claiming us saved and forgiven in Him.  This is how we have the promise of being saved completely.  There are no technicalities, no overlooked matters which might cause us to be condemned.  We maintain our communication with God through our Savior and advocate Jesus Christ.    

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October 28 – None But Him

“And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:21b-22 (NIV)

These are important words which we should never forget. There is only One true God, but how wonderful to know that this is all we need. Yes, this one true God has made a way for us to know Him and to know what He can do for us. In our verse God calls Himself our Savior and He invites us to turn to Him. If we do turn to Him He will save us from sin and save us from despair and from uncertainty.  No matter what other ways people choose to believe, our God is the only one who can meet our needs. So friends, lets listen to the words of the only God, for there is no other. 

August 23 – Even Before the Beginning

“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,” 2 Timothy 1:9 (NIV)

One of the reasons we prepare these short messages each day is to remind ourselves each day that we have a wonderful and awesome God who has a purpose for each of us. Our verse today tells us the amazing truth that God started planning for us a very long time ago – even before the beginning of time as we know it.  And when was that? Well, God's plans for us began before he even made the world, before he started counting days as we can read about in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible.  So, long before you and I were born God knew we would be a part of his creation and that we would need His grace and His love. We should never forget that and always remember He is still working out His plans for one of us.  Now, that is a very impressive truth and promise.