Coram Deo: As we strive to obey God and walk in the Spirit, we will find ourselves falling short. It is at those points that we must remember that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Our sins and failures do not move the Lord to give up on us or to cast us out of the kingdom, for we are secure in Christ. Secure in Christ, we live a life of faith and repentance, continually serving the Lord and putting sin to death.
Coram Deo: In his commentary Romans, John Murray says that to be hostile to God “is nothing other than total depravity and ‘cannot please God’ is nothing less than total inability.” On our own, we are so hostile to God that we would have nothing to do with Him. If He were merely to knock at the doors of our hearts, it would not be enough. To save us, He must crash through the door, for we would never invite Him in otherwise.
The idea that God is personal is a radical one indeed. Ultimate reality in Hinduism and Buddhism is impersonal. Islam and Judaism know something of a personal God due to the influence of the Bible on Muhammad and the rabbis, but the God presented in these religions is not consistently personal. Our God is personal, and we can have a true relationship with Him because He came to us in the person of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Coram Deo: It is good to be reminded that while our justification in Christ guarantees our salvation, God’s work of salvation will not be completed in us until we enjoy resurrected life in the new heaven and earth. Our Creator is not in the business of saving only our souls; He is redeeming the physical order as well. It, too, was originally very good—and will be so again. In the meantime, because it is being redeemed, we can enjoy the good gifts the Lord gives through the physical order.
"We must examine the world, and see it for what it is. Do not be misled by the world, do not be captivated by it. See the rottenness, the ugliness, the foulness; and do not allow it to monopolize your time and your attention. You must see through it. Then, having seen through it, keep yourself from it." —D. M. Lloyd-Jones
Coram Deo: The greatest danger of positing a second blessing of the Holy Spirit is its creation of a Christian caste system. It divides the church into Spirit-haves and Spirit-have-nots, separating what God has united. This leads to feelings of superiority and inferiority depending on the group into which we fall, which is contrary to how we are to regard ourselves and others (Phil. 2:5–11). If we are in Christ, we have His Spirit, and we do not need a special experience by which He is conveyed to people.
"Christ accomplishes His saving work in the exercise of his threefold office as our prophet, priest, and king. Through saving faith, we receive and entrust ourselves to a whole Christ—as a prophet to teach us, as a priest who sacrificed Himself and intercedes for us, and as a king to rule over and defend us." —Albert Martin from the weekend devotion "The Faith of God's Elect" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Christians have a deep, persistent longing to be completely free from our fallen condition. Sometimes we do not feel very patient in waiting for freedom from the presence of sin, but the surety of its coming should cause us to experience more and more patience as we await the full and final outworking of God’s purposes. Since we know that we will be glorified, we can endure all of our shortcomings in the present, repenting over them as we look forward to what is to come.
Coram Deo: John Calvin comments, “Except we are supported by God’s hands, we are soon overwhelmed by innumerable evils though we are in every respect weak, and various infirmities threaten our fall, there is yet sufficient protection in God’s Spirit to preserve us from falling, and to keep us from being overwhelmed by any mass of evils.” The Creator of the universe prays for us Himself. That should leave us with no doubt that His perfect will for us will always be done.
There is no more monstrous idea than the idea that you can fall away from grace, that you can ever be born again and then be damned. The character of God is involved! It is impossible." —D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Coram Deo: God works all things together for our good if we love Christ. Not just some things, not just most things, but all things are used by Him for our ultimate good and His final glory, which is the highest good of all (Col. 1:27). When we walk through the most difficult things in life, we should never lose heart. Even if we cannot see it now, God is taking what others have planned for evil and using it for your good. If you are in Christ, He is working all things for your good.
"The Bible was given to reveal God to His people so that they might know, love, and worship Him. The Bible is fundamentally a book about God. This might come as a surprise to some. Because of our natural bent toward self, we tend to think that the Bible is a book about us. It is not." —Bernie van Eyk from "God-Centered Preaching" in the April 2012 issue of Tabletalk Magazine http://bit.ly/1jWd3d9
"Christ’s love for the church is not based upon anything in the church itself. His relationship to His church is based upon His own love, righteousness, and sacrifice. The church is beautiful to Christ because He loves her, and because He shares his life and glory with her. He promises to always love her, to never leave or forsake her. He continually washes and sanctifies the church that she might be more and more pleasing to Himself." —Eric Watkins from the weekend devotional "Why Do We Love the Church?" in this month's Tabletalk Magazine
Think of a time in your life when you sinned and later saw how God brought good out of your sinful actions. Does God’s sovereign control in permitting your sin excuse your sin? How are you comforted knowing God controls even your sin? Again today, praise God for both His purity and His providence.
Coram Deo: Augustine of Hippo comments that “God elected believers in order that they might believe, not because they already believed.” God’s choice of us precedes in every sense our choice of Him. If the Lord had not chosen us, we never would have chosen to believe in Him, and because He chose His people without any view to their own merits or choices, His people will certainly believe. His predestination of us means we are His forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment