Month: November 2024

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,To God our Savior, Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.
Jude 24 and 25

It’s very clear in scripture that grace is the power of God that saves us. The same grace that saves also sanctifies and protects the believer in his walk of faith. Since Jesus is the channel through which grace reaches humanity, Christ is our Savior, Sanctifier, and “Him Who is Able to Keep You From stumbling.”

The very short book of Jude serves as a warning to Christians that apostates (defectors from the faith) will try to throw spiritual roadblocks in their path. He urges the saints to be strong and contend earnestly for the faith.

Progress in the Christian life is like walking or running. Anything thrown on the path, not just false doctrine, can cause a believer to stumble. Believers can fall into sin, get tripped up by doubts, or be sidelined by fears and depression. When a follower of the Lord Jesus goes to Him in moments like these, it not only keeps him from stumbling, but also presents him faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

Through the years, I have counseled many struggling believers. Although their problems might be about doubts, fears, finances, or relationships, sin is usually at its core. Drug addiction, alcoholism, and pornography have huge holds on people, and rarely do generic advice and a simple prayer ever work.

It takes time and a lot of hard work to rebuild trust and dependency on Christ. It’s easy to believe that, as Savior, Jesus can keep you out of hell. It takes desire to grow deeper in the spiritual relationship to trust Him to be your Sanctifier who sets you apart for the Master. Finally, it takes a fresh, new revelation from God to see Christ as Him Who is Able to Keep You From Stumbling. When you do, though, you realize He can give you the power to break free from the things bringing you down.

August 9

….You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:6*

Talk about job security – forever is a long time. As priest, Christ has offered the sacrifice, atoned for the sins of God’s people, and interceded on our behalf to God. The perfect priest offered the perfect sacrifice, so that part of His service is over; “It is finished” (John 19:30). The intercession aspect of His ministry is ongoing.

The Lord Jesus pleads our case before God when we sin, fail to see his revealed will, or are unthankful. He’s also there to instruct and encourage us, as well as set us apart for God’s service. These are wonderful and necessary things He does, but He won’t be doing them forever.

When the saints of God are called up to glory, our old sinful nature will finally be destroyed and, entering heaven, we will be holy, just as He is holy, never to sin again. We’ll be with Him; we’ll be like Him. At that point, we won’t need an intercessor.

Every time the title “Priest Forever” appears in scripture it’s always followed by the phrase, “according to the order of Melchizedek.” This added information is also very important, or it wouldn’t occur in the Bible five times.

Melchizedek was the Priest/King of Salem that greeted Abraham after his victory over the four mighty kings of the east. He blessed the Patriarch and received tithes from Him. He was God’s representative to Abraham and demonstrated power and authority.

Since the Savior is a Priest Forever according to the order of Melchizedek, He will bless God’s people throughout all eternity. As the King/Priest of the universe, He will reign over everything with justice and raise up the banner of holiness.

*see also Hebrews 6:20, 7:17 and 21; all quoting from Psalm 110:4

August 8

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:24

Many of the classic paintings of Christ from the Middle Ages and Renaissance show an emaciated man with a pale face, scrawny arms, and ribs showing through His skin. The idea was to show the horrors of the crucifixion, but the Lord looks pathetic. It would make one think, “How could this skinny guy be ‘Savior of the World,’ much less the ‘Power of God?’”

Certainly, “the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25), but people tend to miss the strength of God even when it’s obvious. Jesus was no weakling. He walked through the middle of an angry mob that wanted to kill Him in His home town of Nazareth, and then the crowd just melted away at His boldness (Luke 4:28-30). He called the Jewish religious leaders hypocrites to their faces (Matthew 23:13-15) and threw the buyers and sellers out of the temple – twice! (John 2:14-15; Matthew 21:12-13). He stood up to Judas and his army of thugs and impressed Pontius Pilate with His self-control at His trial. If He wanted or felt He needed them, He could have summoned twelve legions of angels at any time, but this powerful man had everything under control. He was, after all, the Power of God on earth.

As Creator, He made both visible and invisible worlds by the power of His Word and is, in fact, the force that holds the universe together (Colossians 1:16-17). He is the commander-in-chief of all the good angels and has disarmed all the principalities and powers of Satan and his demonic host (Colossians 2:15).

Immanuel is God with us, man’s very present connection to the Almighty. Christ Jesus is the source of all energy, the force behind the universe, the Power of God.

August 7

This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying,
“These men are the servants of the Most High God,
who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”
Acts 16:17

The Apostle Paul and his evangelistic team were led by the Holy Spirit to take their message to Europe, so they began preaching in Philippi, one of the chief cities in Greece. This was a whole new territory, and the satanic opposition was evident. Almost from the very beginning of their time there, a demon-possessed girl followed them and became very distracting. In her spirit-affected voice, she announced the missionaries to be “Servants of the Most High God.” Paul cast the demon out, but the opposition just intensified.

It is a very curious thing to note that this title of Christ actually came through demonic channeling. Demons are nothing more than the fallen angels who were cast out of heaven by the LORD of Glory, so they know who He is. When Jesus approached the demoniac in the county of the Gadarenes, the man fell down before the Lord and the voices inside him also recognized Christ as “Jesus, Son of the Most High God” (Luke 8:28). This was no profession of faith on the part of the evil spirits, but an acknowledgment that He was their God and would one day condemn them to go into the abyss.

The Apostle James makes this point when he wrote: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble!” (James 2:19). Actually, the dark host has a better response to the Savior than the stiff-necked human race does. Demons acknowledge Christ’s deity, bow down before Him, and believe that their punishment is sure. They, however, rebelled willfully against their Creator, so the grace of God was never extended to them, and their doom is a sure thing.

People, on the other hand, were deceived into sinning, so God provided a way to escape through the blood of the Crucified One. Salvation is extended to those who approach Christ in faith, confessing their sin, and acknowledging Him as the Most High God.

August 6

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you
are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
Colossians 2:9,10

Not 10%, not 50%, not even 90%, but 100% of the fullness of the Godhead belonged to Christ. What does that mean, exactly? It means that all that is God (i.e. His power, His majesty, His holiness, His character) was bound up in the body of Jesus. Nothing was missing. He wasn’t a condensed form of deity; He was the real deal.

Having the  Fullness of the Godhead in bodily form took nothing away from the Father, but allowed the Creator to touch and redeem His creation in ways He couldn’t do as a distant deity. “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:19,20).

True faith in the Savior includes and concludes that He is God. He always was and always will be. There is only one True God, and the Lord Jesus is the manifestation of that Supreme Being. The Son of God isn’t inferior to God the Father and never took away anything from the Father. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:5,6).

The realization that Jesus is the Fullness of the Godhead should shake people up. It certainly did in the first century. Many of those who shouted “Crucify Him!” or jeered at Him, or spit on His face, later fell down on their knees with fear and repentance when they realized they allowed the Prince of Life to be put to death.

Today, most people just don’t get it. They either don’t know that Jesus is the Fullness of the Godhead, or they really don’t understand what that means. They demean and reject Christ’s sovereignty and control over their lives by viewing Him as less than God.

Christ knows all, sees all, and has existed for all eternity. When He lived and walked on earth, in His body was the Fullness of the Godhead.

August 5

Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
John 8:48

Samaritan – the word doesn’t bring up any emotional response or gut reaction in our day and age, but at the time it was given, it was a put-down of the basest sort. Jewish people looked down on their neighbors to the north because they were foreign transplants to the land of promise and, even after centuries of living there, were still unwelcome.

The term also had connotations of being a heretic, because although the Samaritans wanted to worship Yahweh, they did so at the wrong mountain and in the wrong manner. By equating Jesus with those undesirables, the Jewish leaders could switch from discussing issues with the Master to simply dismissing any argument He could give, because He was beneath them.

The main problem with trying to use racial slurs to insult Christ is that He loved everyone, including the Samaritans. He purposely traveled through Samaria to reach out to a wayward woman, and then preached to her village, where He was hailed as “the Christ, the Savior of the world” (John 4:42). In Jesus’ parable of “the Good Samaritan,” the Samaritan was portrayed as the good guy and the Jewish leaders as hypocrites. Finally, when the Lord healed ten lepers, only the Samaritan in the group came back to give thanks. Jesus commended him and told him “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19).

The Lord Jesus wears all His titles well, even the derogatory ones. Bigoted men and women appear in every age and culture. They would try to ignore Christ because they feel He is unworthy of their time and effort. He still loves them all the same and wants them to break through their hate and prejudice so they can approach Him in faith as Savior of the World.

August 4

“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!
I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”
Isaiah 42:1

This Old Testament title is obviously a Messianic prophesy, so we’re able to examine a pre-incarnate name of Christ. The plan of redemption was already in play 700 years before the Baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Servant of God had been chosen for the job.

The position of Savior of the World is not something someone chooses for Himself; actually, it’s an elected office. Qualifications for the job included sinless perfection and the attributes of God. It’s safe to say that no one ran against Him in this election. Besides, who would have wanted the position, anyway? The job required being mocked, jeered at, spat upon, beaten, nailed to a cross, and abandoned by one’s closest friends.

This Elect One wasn’t chosen by the people He came to save. Frankly, they (we) rejected Him. He was elected by God, and the surprising thing was,  He accepted!

This brings us to why this title is so important. A willing sacrifice had to be offered as a substitute for a rebellious creation who willfully sinned. If an unwilling sacrifice was forced to suffer and die for mankind’s sin, there would be neither justice nor propitiation. Only willful obedience could atone for willful disobedience.

Of the 23 times the terms “elect” or “election” are used in the New Testament, only once does it refer to Christ.”Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6). The idea here is that believers respond in faith to the Elect One.

Most of the other verses refer to Christians who were chosen by God, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4). As God’s elect, we’re asked to be obedient to our calling and follow the example of the Elect One.

August 3

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and
given Him the name which is above every name.
Philippians 2:9

God’s personal Hebrew name appears over 6,000 times in the Old Testament. It is four consonants without vowels (roughly equivalent to the English letters YHWH or possibly JHVH), so it is unpronounceable.

Christian Bible scholars who wish to give utterance to the name of God pronounce it Yahweh or Jehovah. Devout Jews, however, consider the tetragrammaton (those four Hebrew letters) as too holy to even say. When they come to it during the Sabbath Torah reading in the Synagogue, the word Adonai (the LORD) or Ha-shem (the Name) is substituted in its place.

This is even seen in scripture. In Leviticus twenty-four, there is the story of the son of an Egyptian man who cursed the LORD. Verse eleven reads “And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD and cursed; and so they brought Him to Moses….” Then, in verse sixteen, it goes on to say, “And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the LORD, He shall be put to death.”

The reason for examining these verses is to note that the phrase “of the LORD“ is in italics, which means that it is not there in the original. In Hebrew, this section reads that he “blasphemed the name and cursed.” To blaspheme Ha-shem is to take the sacred name of God in vain.

To the unsaved world, The Name of Jesus Christ isn’t sacred, holy, or blessed. They use it as a curse. Our society doesn’t stone people for blasphemy anymore, and most Christians just tune it out or accept the disrespect as normal. The problem is that when believers aren’t offended, God is. The least that a Christian could do is say to the offender, “Please don’t say that; it bothers me” or “Please stop that; you’re cursing The Name I love.” The church should never forget that God has given Jesus The Name that is above every name.

August 2

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him,
“Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
Matthew 11:2,3

The writings of Moses and the prophets included hundreds of prophecies concerning the Messiah that was to come. Centuries had passed since these promises were given, and then came another four hundred years with no message from God at all. Yet the faithful to God still awaited the “Coming One.”

Then, on the day his son was born, old Zacharias the priest prophesied concerning the Dayspring from on High that was coming. Roughly six months later, both the honorable and just Simeon  and the prophetess Ana from the temple testified that they saw the Lord’s Christ come as a baby to be dedicated in the house of God.

John the Baptist lived his whole life set apart for the work of God. When he baptized Jesus, he saw the heavens opened and heard the voice of God Himself declare the Savior as the beloved Son of God. John had strong affirmation that day that He was commissioned to be the voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. He was convinced that the Coming One had finally arrived.

Yet circumstances and solitude have a way of raising doubts and compromising firm decisions. So when John was thrown in prison and the Messiah, the Son of David, didn’t come to liberate him, he sent two disciples to affirm his faith in the Messiah.

John had indeed perceived correctly; the Coming One had, in fact, come. Two thousand years later, Christ is still the Coming One, because He promised His followers that He would return. That’s a long time to wait, so just like the first time, some believers have started to wonder, “Where is the promise of His Coming?” (2 Peter 3:4).

The good news is that He is on His way, and He’s right on schedule. The signs of His coming laid down in Matthew 24 all check out, so any time now we’ll get to see the Coming One.

August 1

“Woe to him who strives with his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!
Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?”
Isaiah 45:9*

Absurd and ridiculous; something out of a cartoon – That’s the image of a lump of clay arguing with its potter and giving instructions on how it wants to be made. Yet, that is a frequent occurrence between human beings and their Maker. If the truth were known, there’s a greater disparity between the most intelligent man and his Creator than between a human genius and a glob of dirt.

This verse pronounces a curse to those who would dare to criticize God for making them the way they are. And yet, in this age of ever present media, we want to be as beautiful as models, when even they aren’t that beautiful without professional make-up artists, and lots of photo editing and airbrushing.  Many of us covet the intelligence, physical attributes, and opportunities of others. In this “enlightened age,” people even undergo hormone treatments and operations in order to change their gender. (Yet, the DNA of every cell in their body will still assert otherwise).

Faith is the process of agreeing with God. A believer agrees with what God is, says, and has done. To argue with one’s Maker is to not believe.

The Lord Jesus Christ made the world and everything in the heavens (Hebrews 1:2 and 10). In fact, there is nothing made that He didn’t make (John 1:3). As Maker of the human race, the Savior customized every individual that ever lived. All were made for a purpose and on purpose, so it dishonors the Creator to envy others for their strengths, intelligence, or appearance.

Life has been given to each one as a joy and privilege, so each man and woman should come to their Maker with thanksgiving for the gifts He has given.

*Isaiah 17:7, 22:11, 54:11

 September 3