God's holy justice means that He must execute judgment on humanity's sin, as He promised Adam and Eve eternal death if they were to eat of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2:15-17). The good news of the gospel tells us that we can escape the wrath to come if we are clothed with our holy Saviour (Rom. 3:21-26).
Jesus ransoms us from the wrath of God, which means that we never need fear His condemnation if we trust in Christ alone for our salvation. Our Saviour also rescues us from bondage to sin and Satan. Therefore, let us live out that reality, daily turning from sin by the power of the Holy Spirit.
"First, the law functions as a teacher by showing us God’s perfect righteousness and our unrighteousness and sin, and it shows our danger of God’s judgment, ..." —Burk Parsons
Jesus died to change our attitude to the law. He liberated us from the law’s condemning voice so that we can rightly hear its commanding voice. This leads us to say, as justified sinners, “I delight in the law of God in my inner being,” that is in our renewed natures, and, “So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind." —Daniel R. Hyde
Because we are sinners, we can do nothing in and of ourselves to merit eternal life. Even after we are saved, our best works remain tainted by sin and cannot produce the perfection we need for a righteous standing before God. Jesus’ active obedience to the Father, however, is put on our account when we trust in Christ, giving us confidence before him.
In the Old Testament, Israel’s high priest offered atonement only for the people of Israel, not for those who remained outside the covenant community. From first to last, the Bible teaches that God’s work alone saves His people and that He always accomplishes the salvation of those whom He wants to save. This is a great comfort, for it means He cannot fail to complete the good work He has begun in us.
Let us pray for the day of the Lord. Let us pray for that day when there will be no need for the sun or the moon because the Lord Himself will be our light. Let us pray for the day of eternal peace on earth that means no city will need to shut its gates for defence from enemies.
One result of the Messiah's work is to make his people "oaks of righteousness, the planting of The Lord" (Isaiah 61:3). If we trust in Christ, we are planted in righteousness forever, and will be preserved by His hand for the sake of His eternal glory.
When Christ came the first time, His primary aim was not condemnation. Condemnation was more of a secondary but inevitable consequence of rejecting His gracious salvation. “Whoever believes in [the Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already” (John 3:18). But Jesus will return to judge creation, and many will be condemned then (Rev. 20:11–15). The only way to escape eternal condemnation is to bow the knee to Him as Lord today.
“We are never more safe, never have more reason to expect the Lord's help, than when we are most sensible that we can do nothing without Him.” —John Newton
If we were asked to give a simple one-sentence summary of Christian eschatology, this would certainly suffice: God is going to make all things right. The Lord will fully transform all things, renewing them so that there will be no cause for pain, mourning, or anything else that we dread so much.
"In Romans 8:9, Paul reveals a stupendous fact: 'the Spirit of God dwells in you.' The Holy Spirit's indwelling is the sine qua non of being a Christian, meaning that He is the essential thing, or better yet, the essential person we need to be Christians." —Daniel R. Hyde from the weekend devotional titled "The Indwelling Sprit" in this month's Tabletalk magazine
It might be a cliché to say that we should "expect the unexpected." Yet because God is fully sovereign, there is a real sense in which we should expect Him to act in ways we have not anticipated. The Lord can do what we might consider impossible, not the least of which is to save His people without compromising His justice or mercy.
Scripture is clear that all sin begins with false worship (Rom. 1:18-32). Therefore, recognizing the idols and false worship behind our other sins advances our sanctification. At root, all sin manifests a desire to get what we want apart from the God who is, leading us to create all manner of idols that promise but can never satisfy.
To honour God as God, we must worship Him as He and He alone decrees. —R.C. Sproul
Every form of idolatry manifests our doubts that God really has the ability to save. Counsellors have long understood, for instance, that one of the main reasons people become drug, alcohol, and sex addicts is because they are looking for a way to escape their pain, to be saved from their trouble. But such things, as well as the gods of other religions, cannot rescue us. They all disappoint. Only the transcendent Lord of creation, the first cause of all things, can redeem us.
The world will worship Yahweh, the one true Lord of all. That is the conclusion of the Bible in many places. Thus we must eagerly pray for this day to arrive, and we must never think that any race, nation, or individual is so far gone as to be irredeemable.
We must always read the Old Testament in light of the new covenant revelation in Christ Jesus, the final Word of God to His people (Heb. 1:1-4).
“The Church has been trying to preach morality and ethics without the Gospel as a basis; it has been preaching morality without godliness; and it simply does not work.” —D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
May we long for the conversion of the nations to Christ, and work to that end with our time, talents, and treasures.
Matthew Henry comments, “The legal sacrifices had their virtue from the reference they had to Christ the great propitiation; but otherwise, of themselves, it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” While people believe that mere sacrifices appease God, they cannot benefit from Jesus’ work. Along with an outward profession, we must have an inner possession of trust in Christ; otherwise, we are not in Him, and if we are not in Him, we cannot be saved.
We can imitate the example of Jesus all we want, but if we do not believe the gospel, we do not know Him. The gospel is simple — we are to put our hope of salvation only in the Son, who was sent by the Father and who pours out His Spirit on His people.
God forgives sins without compromising His justice. That is the good news of the gospel. If He were to forgive sins by ignoring the demands of His perfect holiness and righteousness, then we could not be confident that the Judge of all the earth will do right. If He did not forgive sins at all, we would have no hope in this world or the next. Only the God of the Bible is both merciful and just. Only He is worthy of our worship and exclusive devotion.
The comfort of the gospel is not in that we are born children of God but in that God, seeing that all people are children of the Devil, nevertheless chooses to adopt a portion of humanity as His children in Christ.
God ordains all things, so if we are at peace with Him, we have nothing to fear. We find peace with Him only in Christ (Rom. 5:1).
"Being loved or being successful will never enable us to flourish as human beings. It is only God who satisfies our deepest longings." —Tedd Tripp from his weekend devotional titled "The Forgotten Woman" in the May 2013 issue of Tabletalk magazine
A nation that violates God's law impenitently will not stand. Countless empires have risen and fallen, and no great country is immune to decline and destruction if it pays no heed to the Lord. But God's faithful remnant will stand forever, shining forth the light of His holiness (Dan. 12:1-3). May we all be counted as members of this faithful remnant by trusting in Christ alone.
Outward reform of worship and society, while important and necessary, will not do much good in the long term if hearts are not changed to love God above all. Only the Holy Spirit can effect this change, which occurs through the preaching of His gospel. Gospel proclamation is the church's first priority.
When the day of judgment—the day of the Lord—arrives, there will be no more chances to ask for God's mercy. On that day, the grandeur of the city of man will be shown for what it truly is—emptiness. We must seek God's pardon before He brings human history to its consummation.
"The evangelical world seems obsessed with 'engaging culture' even as the average Christian’s knowledge of the basics of the faith diminishes. You can go to heaven without being able to offer a Christian appreciation of film, art, or music; one cannot go to heaven without knowing who Jesus Christ is and what He has done." —Carl R. Trueman from his September 2012 interview with Tabletalk magazine
When we first trust in Christ, we are freed from the power of sin. The removal of sin's presence, however, comes at our glorification when God, by His grace, brings us into the fullness of His kingdom, never to be handed over to sin again. This is part of the good news of the gospel—that Christ breaks the power of sin and will one day eliminate its presence as well. Let us preach this truth to ourselves and others each and every day.
God's love for us is great, for not only does He save His people but He also assures us of His tremendous love. John Calvin writes, "It is not without reason that God labours so much to persuade us of his love, because we are not only prone by nature to unbelief, but exposed to the deceits of Satan, and are also inconstant and easily drawn away from his word."
"God's words should be bound to [our] hearts, just like bracelets and headbands are bound to their owners, out in the open, in plain view, never to be forgotten or neglected." —Miles Van Pelt from his article "Bind These Words" in the May 2013 issue of Tabletalk magazine
