Obedience

The Book of Luke

The Path of Obedience, Part 1

Theme: Profession without Practice
 
This week’s lessons stress the necessity of obedience if one is truly a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Scripture: Luke 6:46-49
 
Jesus spoke about obedience toward the end of Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. He had been followed by people who made verbal profession of discipleship.

Keep Reading
The Book of Luke

The Path of Obedience, Part 2

Theme: How Does Jesus Speak?
 
This week’s lessons stress the necessity of obedience if one is truly a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Scripture: Luke 6:46-49
 
Several years ago, when I was in northern California, I turned on the radio and heard part of an unusual religious program. It was called “Have You Had a Spiritual Experience?” and was conducted like a call-in talk show.

Keep Reading
The Book of Luke

The Path of Obedience, Part 3

Theme: Living in the Book: Daily and Systematic Bible Study
 
This week’s lessons stress the necessity of obedience if one is truly a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Scripture: Luke 6:46-49
 
Everything I have been saying so far leads to a practical conclusion, and it is this.

Keep Reading
The Book of Luke

The Path of Obedience, Part 4

Theme: Living in the Book: Comprehensive and Devotional Bible Study
 
This week’s lessons stress the necessity of obedience if one is truly a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Scripture: Luke 6:46-49
 
Yesterday we mentioned what systematic Bible study is.  We now need to see how one does it. Certain procedures should be followed during study. First, the book itself should be read through carefully as many as four or five times, perhaps one of these times aloud.

Keep Reading
The Book of Luke

The Path of Obedience, Part 5

Theme: The Liberty of Obedience
 
This week’s lessons stress the necessity of obedience if one is truly a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Scripture: Luke 6:46-49
 
Over the last two days we looked at four Bible study methods.  Today we begin by mentioning one more.
 
5. Study the Bible prayerfully (Dan. 9:1-3).

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Friday: The Shining Face of God

Theme: We Shall See God
This week’s lessons teach us of God’s gracious intention to call a people for himself from every nation, and of our great privilege and responsibility to make the gospel of Christ known to them.
Scripture: Psalm 67:1-7

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Tuesday: Obedience While Waiting

Theme: God’s Mercy and Truth
In this week’s lessons, we see that obedience, Bible study, and prayer lead to true freedom. 
Scripture: Psalm 119:153-168
Apparently, the problem of profession without practice was present in the early Christian community, as proved by the epistle of James:

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Wednesday: Obedience While Waiting

Theme: Peace and Security
In this week’s lessons, we see that obedience, Bible study, and prayer lead to true freedom. 
Scripture: Psalm 119:153-168
The psalmist learned various things about God as he studied his Word. In yesterday’s study we looked at two things the psalmist learned, including that (1) God is merciful, and that (2) God’s Word is true. In today’s study we continue with two more points.

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Friday: Obedience While Waiting

Theme: Obedience Leading to Freedom
In this week’s lessons, we see that obedience, Bible study, and prayer lead to true freedom. 
Scripture: Psalm 119:153-168
In yesterday’s study, we talked about the need to study the Bible daily, systematically, and comprehensively. Today we will look at two other necessary elements if you want to know God as he speaks to you through the Bible.

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Monday: Looking Up

Theme: Lifting Our Eyes to the Lord
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to lift our eyes to the Lord, remembering his mercy, and striving to please him in all things.
Scripture: Psalm 123:1-4

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Tuesday: Looking Up

Theme: Being Faithful Disciples
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to lift our eyes to the Lord, remembering his mercy, and striving to please him in all things.
Scripture: Psalm 123:1-4
Spurgeon writes, “We must use our eyes with resolution, for they will not go upward to the Lord of themselves, but they incline to look downward, or inward, or anywhere but to the Lord.”1
He continues:

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Wednesday: Looking Up

Theme: When Opposition Comes
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to lift our eyes to the Lord, remembering his mercy, and striving to please him in all things.
Scripture: Psalm 123:1-4

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Thursday: Looking Up

Theme: Our Need for God’s Mercy
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to lift our eyes to the Lord, remembering his mercy, and striving to please him in all things.
Scripture: Psalm 123:1-4

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Friday: Looking Up

Theme: Pressing on in Obedience
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to lift our eyes to the Lord, remembering his mercy, and striving to please him in all things.
Scripture: Psalm 123:1-4
Let me suggest here that the only thing that will ever lift you out of your sin and complacency, put you on the pilgrim trail, and keep you there throughout life is a profound awareness of the mercy and grace of God.

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Monday: God’s Blessing on the Home

Theme: A Wonderful Word
In this week’s lessons, we see how we ought to think and act biblically, and the blessings that the Lord provides when we do this.
Scripture: Psalm 128:1-6
“Blessing” is a wonderful word. In spiritual matters, it has to do with God’s particular favors to his people. Because God is generous and great, his blessings are generous and great as well. Once we have begun to experience them they seem to be without limit. God’s blessings go on and on.

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Wednesday: God’s Blessing on the Home

Theme: Acting Biblically
In this week’s lessons, we see how we ought to think and act biblically, and the blessings that the Lord provides when we do this.
Scripture: Psalm 128:1-6
Yesterday we looked at the first important responsibility for the person who would experience God’s blessings, namely, to fear the Lord.

Keep Reading
The Book of Psalms

Wednesday: The Ascent of God’s Ark to Zion

Theme: Our Acceptance before God
In this week’s lessons, we see what God will do for those who, as pilgrims in this life, look to him in faith and obedience.
Scripture: Psalm 132:1-18
The next section of this psalm (vv. 6-9) recounts how the Ark was found in the fields of Jaar” in David’s time and how it was brought to Jerusalem. It is an accurate piece of historical remembrance.

Keep Reading
The House on the Rock

Monday: The House on the Rock

We come to the very last words of the Sermon on the Mount, the section in which Jesus Christ pictures the difference between those who hear His teachings and do them and those who hear His teachings and do not do them as the difference between a wise man who builds his house upon a rock, and a foolish man who builds his house upon sand. It is a picture that all people know. And it is one that most of us have sung about, in one hymn or another, since the time we were children.

Keep Reading
The House on the Rock

Tuesday: Christ Is the Rock

In these closing words of His sermon Jesus was stressing the importance of an adequate foundation, and He is asking the question, “What is your foundation? On what do you build?”

Keep Reading
The House on the Rock

Wednesday: The House Will Stand

The second important point to be seen in these verses is this: A life built upon Jesus Christ will stand. That is a simple point, of course, but we need to have it clear in our thinking and to get it planted deeply in our minds. A life built upon Jesus will stand, even in the midst of the tribulations of this life or the judgments of eternity.

Keep Reading
The House on the Rock

Thursday: “The Old Gospel”

Now there is one last point here, and it is a point for Christians. What are you building? Oh, you are on the foundation all right. Christ is your Savior. But do you know that it may be possible for Him to be your foundation and yet for you to go through life building things that are worthless and that will not remain as fruit for eternity, even though you will be saved personally?

Keep Reading
The House on the Rock

Friday: What Are You Building?

What are you building upon the foundation that is given you by God? Are you living to yourself? It is entirely possible for Christians to do that. Or are you living for Him? Are you using the talents, blessings, opportunities, influence, and wealth that He has given you to build Christian character and bring men to the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior?

Keep Reading
Deuteronomy: An Introduction

Tuesday: Moses’ First Address: Deuteronomy 1:1-26:19

Now let me give you an outline for Deuteronomy. You have a preamble in the first five verses of chapter 1. Then you have three addresses by Moses. Now scholars break them up in different ways, but generally we can divide them up like this: Moses’ first address (Deut. 1:6-4:43) gives a review of the people’s past journey from Mount Sinai to the borders of Canaan; Moses’ second address (Deut. 4:44-26:19) summarizes, restates, and applies God’s law and urges it on the people; and Moses’ third address (Deut. 27-30) is an enactment of the covenant between God and the people, according to which they are going to be blessed for their obedience and cursed for their disobedience. Following this is a short historical section, and then what I have called the second song of Moses (Deut. 31-32). And in the final chapters, Moses blesses the tribes, and his death is recorded (Deut. 33-34).

Keep Reading
Deuteronomy: An Introduction

Wednesday: The Greatest of the Commandments: Deuteronomy 1:1-26:19

The second address is a much longer one, amounting to twenty-two chapters and making up the substance of Deuteronomy. The first part (Deut. 5-11) reiterates the law of God as it bears on the people’s relationship to God. The second part (Deut. 12-26) reiterates the law of God as it bears on the people’s relationship to the land and to other people. This division concerning God on the one hand, and people on the other, should ring a bell because that’s exactly what you have in the Ten Commandments. The first table of the Ten Commandments has to do with our relationship to God. We are to remember Him, worship Him only, have no other gods before Him, and remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. And then the second table begins with the family and the need to honor your father and mother, and then concludes with the commandment not to covet. Those two parts of the Ten Commandments are reflected in a dynamic way in Moses’ second address.

Keep Reading
Deuteronomy: An Introduction

Thursday: God’s Electing Love: Deuteronomy 1:1-26:19

The second thing the people are encouraged to do is to impress these laws—above all, the duty to love God wholly—upon their children. After Moses tells the Israelites to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and strength, he then says, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6-9).

Keep Reading
Deuteronomy: An Introduction

Friday: A Prophet Like Moses: Deuteronomy 1:1-26:19

If you have an opportunity to teach, whether it is in your home or in church, and whether to children or adults, don’t be afraid to repeat, repeat, repeat the teachings of the Word of God. People need to hear the law, they need to hear the Gospel, and they need to hear both of them again and again and again. It is significant that in the middle of this repeated law, we find the greatest of all the commandments: love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength. As we learn to love Him, by the grace of the Lord we also learn to obey.

Keep Reading
Curses and Blessings

Monday: The Heart of Deuteronomy: Deuteronomy 27:1-30:20

Some scholars regard the book of Deuteronomy as the heart of the Old Testament, and some call chapters 27-30 the heart of Deuteronomy. In these chapters, Moses forcefully urges on the people the kind of life that is based on what God has done. In chapters 4-26, he has given the chief substance of the teaching. As a preacher, Moses is pressing this point home upon the people. He is about to die and will soon leave the people he has led for decades. He urges the people to choose righteousness and obey God, because that’s the way of blessing. The other way is the way of death.

Keep Reading
Curses and Blessings

Tuesday: The Altar: Deuteronomy 27:1-30:20

The second point of our outline has to do with the blessings and curses. When the people came into the land and had written the law on the stones and the altar had been set up, the Israelites were supposed to stand on these two mountains, in the area of the country known as Samaria now, about 3,000 feet above sea level. At one point, the two mountains come close together. Half of the tribes were to take their places on Mount Gerizim and the other half on Mount Ebal. The Levites were to recite the blessings and the curses. And after each curse and each blessing, the people would answer by saying, “Amen.”

Keep Reading
Curses and Blessings

Wednesday: The Cursings and Blessings Described: Deuteronomy 27:1-30:20

The third point is to urge the people to obey. Moses was a great preacher, and he rises to heights of eloquence here in Deuteronomy 29-30. Even after he spelled things out as sharply as he does in Deuteronomy 27-28, he goes on to urge his applications on the people even more. Moses reminds the people of the past, describes what entering into the covenant really means, gives an additional specific warning of disasters to come, and finally promises prosperity in the future, if, after having fallen away, the people repent of their sins and come back to the Lord they have deserted.

Keep Reading
Curses and Blessings

Thursday: Entering into the Covenant: Deuteronomy 27:1-30:20

Moses already went over the people’s history before. Why is he saying it again? Moses explains that even though he said it before, the people didn’t really see it. It didn’t get through to them. The people were blind to the implications of the work of God. We need spiritual sight, too, and such spiritual healing only comes to us from God.

Keep Reading
Curses and Blessings

Friday: Spiritual Life or Spiritual Death: Deuteronomy 27:1-30:20

If you know you are a sinner, go to Christ, confess your sin, and find salvation in Him. Then, by His grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, get on with living the Christian life. Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Rom. 10:9). Is salvation that simple? It is. But it is of vast importance. And whether we believe and act on our belief is a matter of spiritual life or spiritual death.

Keep Reading
The Second Song of Moses

Monday: Four Charges: Deuteronomy 31:30-32:47

Don’t get into the habit of thinking you can retire in the Christian life. You may retire from your job, but as long as you are living, there is work to be done and there is a testimony to bear. This is true of Moses, and he does his work to the very end.

Keep Reading
The Second Song of Moses

Tuesday: The Importance of the Written Word: Deuteronomy 31:30-32:47

We are fighting spiritual battles and we are doing it in a hostile environment. There are citadels of unbelief to be overcome. We need courage to do it, and we get that courage from reading the Bible, from praying, and from being encouraged by one another. We need to encourage one another. Moses is encouraging Joshua, God is encouraging Joshua, Joshua is encouraging the people, and the people are encouraging Joshua. Sometimes, life is relatively easy, but then difficulties come into our lives. We need Christian friends to say to us, “Come on, don’t be afraid now. God will be with you and He will bless you.” That’s a great ministry for any Christian to have. Ask the Lord whom you can encourage to press on.

Keep Reading
The Second Song of Moses

Wednesday: Looking at Moses’ Song: Deuteronomy 31:30-32:47

I’ve called it a “second song” of Moses because there is an obvious parallel between this song that comes here at the very end of his life, just before the people are to enter the promised land, and the song they sang after they were delivered from Egypt forty years earlier. The song at the beginning of their desert wandering was filled with joy, while the song at the end is filled with warnings. Yet at both the beginning and the end, the people are singing.

Keep Reading
The Second Song of Moses

Thursday: Following in God’s Way: Deuteronomy 31:30-32:47

n verse 8 of the fourth section, a universal note is struck when it pictures God as the Most High God who gives to every nation the territory that it is supposed to have. With a very nice turn of phrase Moses says in verse 9, “For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.” Paul refers to verse 8 when he preaches his sermon before the Greek intellectuals on Mars Hill, telling them that God has given all the nations their own portion of land as their inheritance (see Acts 17:26).

Keep Reading
The Second Song of Moses

Friday: A Matter of Life and Death: Deuteronomy 31:30-32:47

The final section (vv. 39-43) of this song deals with the nature of God and final victory. At the very end, the word atonement suddenly appears. He will “make atonement for his land and people” (v. 43). They would probably think of the Day of Atonement, which is pointing forward to the coming of Jesus Christ. You see, it’s only because of the coming of Jesus Christ that you and I are ever going to escape the judgment which hangs over us. Christ shields us from all wrath; outside of Christ, we are exposed to all wrath. Moses’ great song teaches that judgment is coming, but God provides deliverance from it by making atonement. The people need to find refuge in Him.

Keep Reading
The Death of Moses

Monday: Dying Words: Deuteronomy 32:48-34:12

Moses, the servant of God, had many dying words. In a sense, they are the entire book of Deuteronomy. It consists of three addresses, and we looked at two of them. The first was urging godliness upon the people, and the second dealt with a challenge to the people. Now, in Deuteronomy 33, Moses gives his third address, which is a blessing upon the tribes. As this book concludes, we see that Moses’ last words are in praise of God, and the last thing God has to say in this book, in the last three verses, is praise of Moses.

Keep Reading
How Then Should We Live?

Monday: Doctrine Applied

With the start of chapter 12, we come in our studies of Paul’s letter to the Romans to the practical section of the book. Ours is a practical age and most people want “practical” teaching. But to call these chapters practical suggests that the doctrinal sections are not practical, and whenever we find ourselves thinking along those lines we are making a mistake and contributing to great misunderstanding.

Keep Reading
How Then Should We Live?

Wednesday: The Importance of “Therefore”

In Monday’s study I commented on Francis Schaeffer’s book How Should We Then Live?, saying that “then” is the all-important word. Now I note that when we come to the first verse of Romans 12 we discover exactly the same thing, only in this case the important word is “therefore.”

Keep Reading
How Then Should We Live?

Thursday: Connecting the Doctrine

“Therefore” is a linking word, as I have said. We have looked back to what it refers to. Now we should look forward to see what the doctrinal material of chapters 1-11 connects with. I am handling it in seven sections.

Keep Reading
How Then Should We Live?

Friday: The Difference True Conversion Makes

True conversion makes a difference in a person’s life. If there are no differences, there is no genuine conversion. But what are the differences? They are precisely those that are spelled out in the remaining chapters of this letter. Laws in themselves change nothing, or at least very little. It is changed people who change everything. And the only thing that ever really changes people is God Himself through the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you have been called to faith in Jesus Christ, you are part of a radically changed community, the new humanity. It is your privilege to begin to make changes in our world.

Keep Reading
Dying We Live

Monday: The Principle of Self-Sacrifice

I do not like the word “paradox” used in reference to Christian teachings, because to most people the word refers to something that is self-contradictory or false. Christianity is not false. But the dictionary also defines “paradox” as any statement that seems to be contradictory, yet may be true in fact, and in that sense there are paradoxes in Christianity.

Keep Reading
Dying We Live

Tuesday: Redeemed

The principle of sacrifice is so foundational to the doctrine of the Christian life that we must be very careful to lay it out correctly, and in order to do that we need to review the foundations for this foundation.

Keep Reading
Dying We Live

Wednesday: “Died to Sin”

Redemption from sin by Christ is not the only doctrine the Christian life of self-sacrifice is built on. A second foundation is our having died to the past by having become new creatures in Christ, if we are truly converted.

Keep Reading
Dying We Live

Thursday: The Blessed Life

So I ask, who are you willing to believe? Yourself, reinforced by the world and its way of thinking? Or Jesus Christ? I say “Jesus” specifically, because I want to remind you of His teaching from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. He speaks there about how to be happy. Indeed, the word is even stronger than that. It is the powerful word “blessed,” meaning to be favored by God.

Keep Reading
Dying We Live

Friday: Living Sacrifices

Paul’s words in Romans 12:1-2 are an urgent appeal to us to do something, to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. This is not done for us. It is something we must do. This leads to the fourth and final foundational truth. It is the “obedience that comes from faith,” which Paul wrote about early in the letter, saying, “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5).

Keep Reading
God's Good, Pleasing and Perfect Will

Monday: The Better Way

I find it significant that this is where Paul’s statements about being transformed by the renewing of our minds, rather than being conformed to the patterns of this world, end. They end with proving the way of God to be the best way and the will of God to be perfect.

Keep Reading
God's Good, Pleasing and Perfect Will

Tuesday: God’s Will for Every Christian

In this verse “will” is to be interpreted in its context, and the context indicates that the will of God that we are encouraged to follow is the general will of offering our bodies to God as living sacrifices, refusing to be conformed to the world’s ways, and instead being transformed from within by the renewing of our minds. It is this that we are to pursue and thus find to be good, pleasing and perfect, though, of course, if we do it, we will also find ourselves working out the details of God’s specific will for our lives.

Keep Reading
God's Good, Pleasing and Perfect Will

Thursday: Living in God’s Way

We need to prove by our experience that the will of God is indeed what Paul tells us it is, that is, that it is good, pleasing, and perfect. We need to check it out. Moreover, it is by checking it out that we will begin to find out what it actually is.

Keep Reading
God's Good, Pleasing and Perfect Will

Friday: Proving the Lord’s Will

The Lord Jesus Christ took it upon Himself to prove that God’s will was indeed good, pleasing and perfect, even though it involved the pain of the cross, which in itself hardly seemed good, pleasing or acceptable.

Keep Reading
Right Living at All Times

Monday: Believing in Right and Wrong

Right or wrong? Making that distinction rightly is what civilization—not to mention right religious behavior—is all about. But that is what we have lost in America. We do not believe in right and wrong. Therefore, it is against that serious national problem that we come to Paul’s challenge to Christians in Romans 12:17, where we read, “Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.”

Keep Reading
Right Living at All Times

Tuesday: Pursuing God’s Goal

In order to pursue a goal, there must be a goal. To have a strong moral society, we must have moral absolutes. Otherwise, all we can have is what is pragmatic or expedient, which is what education, politics and American life as a whole has come to. It is why we do not have any heroes today and why we do not have any moral leadership in the country.

Keep Reading
Right Living at All Times

Wednesday: A Moral and Ethical Foundation

We need to have our national morality renewed. But, of course, that is only another way of talking about the problem. Corporate morality is the one thing we cannot have if the only thing we can say about values is that they are relative.

Keep Reading
Right Living at All Times

Thursday: Practical Examples

We live in a trashy culture, worse—a sinful, evil, ugly and perverted culture. It is hard not to be sullied by it. Yet it was no different in Paul’s day. The Greek and Roman world of the first century was a slime pit. But in spite of it, Paul says that Christians are to set their minds on good things, things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. We are to seek the best rather than the worst of the world around us.

Keep Reading
Right Living at All Times

Friday: Desiring to Do What Is Right

In spite of everything I have said this week about America’s moral decline and the loss of a fixed moral standard for most people, the real problem is having the will to do what is right even when we know what it is.

Keep Reading
The Pinch of Want

Monday: The Human Conscience

The human conscience is a very strange thing. Considering how evil men and women are, it is surprising that we have a conscience at all. Yet we do. At times it plagues us.

Keep Reading
The Pinch of Want

Tuesday: Sundial of the Soul

There is only one way in which conscience can be a sure guide to right conduct, and that is when the light of God’s Word is shining on it. When the light of God shines on the sundial of your conscience you get the right time. But apart from that the conscience is like a trained circus dog. You whistle once, and it will stand up. You whistle twice, and it will roll over. The third time it will play dead.

Keep Reading
The Pinch of Want

Thursday: God’s First Weapon

When God is telling one of His children something the person does not want to hear, he or she often wishes that God would stop talking. But what if God actually does stop talking? Ah, that is much, much worse. Without physical bread a man or woman may die, but live forever. We can live eternally without bread. But what if we are deprived of God’s Word? We cannot live without that.

Keep Reading
The Pinch of Want

Friday: The Lost Son

The pinch of want is never pleasant, but it is a gift when it brings us to our senses. David said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your Word” (Ps. 119:67). May God awaken our consciences to that same obedience.

Keep Reading
Pain of Harsh Treatment

Monday: Sticks and Stones

The second of these devices, after the pinch of physical want, was the pain of harsh treatment at the hands of Joseph. Before long this was to become harsh treatment of a physical sort; all of them were cast into prison, and one of them, Simeon, was kept in prison. But at the beginning this harsh treatment was merely in the form of words. The story tells us that when the brothers came down to Egypt to buy grain Joseph “recognized them, . . . pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them” (Gen. 42:6-7).

Keep Reading
Pain of Harsh Treatment

Wednesday: The Voice of God

Joseph is God’s man in all parts of this story. He had been honored more than once as a prophet of God. God had spoken to him, guided him, protected him, and kept him from sin. Surely he was not left to his own devices now, but was rather acting as God’s agent in awakening the consciences of these brothers. His words were God’s voice to them.

Keep Reading
Pain of Harsh Treatment

Thursday: The Play’s the Thing

If Joseph were re-enacting the scene at the pit, perhaps even repeating to the brothers the words they had hurled at him, which had been indelibly etched in his memory, then it is understandable that the brothers began to come around at this point. Joseph’s words were not an unbridled outpouring of invective or mere cruelty. They were carefully calculated words which proved effective in bringing the brothers to a necessary confession of their sin and so to salvation.

Keep Reading
Pain of Harsh Treatment

Friday: Our Elder Brother

We must never resent or resist the harsh treatment God sometimes gives out as we study His Word or hear it proclaimed from the pulpit. God hates sin. Therefore the Word of God, which reflects His holy character, customarily exposes our sin and calls for our repentance. Comfort? Yes, the Bible contains great comfort, and promises too. But the comfort and promises are only for those who confess their sin, obey God and pursue righteousness.

Keep Reading
The Necessity of Righteousness

Monday: The Necessity of Righteousness

Anyone who has worked with young Christians knows that often shortly after a person has believed in Christ doubts set in. The initial experience of the Christian is usually one of great joy. He had been lost in the darkness of his own sin and ignorance; now he has come into the light. Formerly he had not found God; now he has found Him. But then, as time goes by, it is also frequently the case that the new Christian begins to wonder if, in fact, anything has really changed. He thought he was a new creature in Christ, but, to speak frankly, he is really much as he was. The same temptations are present; they may even be worse. There are the same flaws of character. Even the joy, which he once knew, seems to be evaporating. At such a time the new Christian often asks how it is possible to be certain that he is saved by God. He may ask, “How can I truly know that I know God?”

Keep Reading
The Necessity of Righteousness

Tuesday: True Knowledge of God

In contrast to either of these two Greek ideas, John’s understanding of the knowledge of God is essentially personal and practical. So it is satisfying. It is satisfying because it is knowledge, not of an idea or thing, but of a person, and because it issues in a profound change of conduct.

Keep Reading
The Necessity of Righteousness

Wednesday: Two Types of Men

Why is the righteous life a proof that we know God? Because it is not natural to sinful man. Consequently, it is proof of a divine and supernatural working in our lives if we obey Him. Paul makes the same point when he follows his admonition to the Philippians to “work out” their salvation with the profound observation, “For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

Keep Reading
The Necessity of Righteousness

Thursday: Obedience Flowing from Love

Yesterday, we pointed out that there are two kinds of men, and considered the first category. This is the man who claims to know God but who does not keep His commandments. Today we continue with a description of the second category of men.

Keep Reading
The Necessity of Righteousness

Friday: Being Like Christ

This conclusion also comes to Christians living in our own time. Do we say we are Christians? Then “he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Clearly, in this verse the first “he” is the Christian; the second “he” or “him” is Jesus. The call is to emulate Jesus in our conduct.

Keep Reading
A Personal Word

Monday: A Personal Word

In these references John writes to the newborn in Christ to assure them that he is writing, not because they are not saved (which some of his remarks might lead them to question), but because they are and because he wants them to progress in their Christianity.

Keep Reading
A Personal Word

Tuesday: Fathers, Children, and Young Men

John’s two statements to the spiritually mature of his congregations, the fathers, are identical; what is more, they are also quite similar to the second of his statements to children. There is one difference, however, and in this difference lies the distinct nature of John’s reference.

Keep Reading
A Personal Word

Wednesday: An Appeal to John’s Readers

The first part of John’s long parenthesis, verses 12-17, was written to reassure his readers; for John did not want them to think that he was questioning their salvation. Rather, he has written to them because their sins have been forgiven and because they do know the Father. If they miss this truth, they have misunderstood him. On the other hand, John does not want them to think that what he has written regarding the tests of life has no relevance for Christians, for this would be a misunderstanding too. Thus he now goes on to show how what he has said should be applied to their lives.

Keep Reading
A Personal Word

Thursday: Do Not Love the World

In the first sense, Christians are to receive and be thankful for the world, for it is God’s gift. Jesus Himself was appreciative of the world in this sense. In the second sense, Christians are to love the world and seek to evangelize it, for God also loves the world. In the third sense, however, the sense we have here, Christians are to reject the world and conduct their lives according to an entirely different set of values.

Keep Reading
A Personal Word

Friday: Loving and Serving God Fervently

But does nothing at all abide? Yes, says John. The one who does God’s will abides forever. The object of his love, even the Father, abides forever. His love itself, having its source in God, abides forever. His works, being an aspect of the work of God, abide forever, for he is the possessor of eternal life and heir to all God’s riches in Christ Jesus. The conclusion is that Christians should therefore love God and serve Him fervently.

Keep Reading

Subscribe to the Think & Act Biblically Devotional

Alliance of Confessional Evangelicals

About the Alliance

The Alliance is a coalition of believers who hold to the historic creeds and confessions of the Reformed faith and proclaim biblical doctrine in order to foster a Reformed awakening in today’s Church.

Canadian Donors

Canadian Committee of The Bible Study Hour
PO Box 24087, RPO Josephine
North Bay, ON, P1B 0C7