God's Word For Every Day

Psalms 111:1-112:10   'Praise the Lord... To Him belong eternal praise... Blessed is the man who fears the Lord... His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes...'(Psalm 111:1,10; Psalm 112:1,8). Those who 'fear' You, Lord, have no need to live in fear of man. Those who know that ‘eternal praise’ belongs to You, Lord, can face their enemies with confidence. Our confidence is not in ourselves. Our confidence is You. We know how good You have been to us - ‘He provided redemption for His people’. We thank You that we have heard and believed the Good News of Christ. We need not ‘fear’ any ‘bad news’ which the devil sends our way. We 'trust' in You, Lord, confident that the ‘light ‘will triumph over the ‘darkness’. We thank You that the Good News of Christ will triumph over the devil’s bad news (Psalm 111:9; Psalm 112:4,7).

We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19). We are to live as those who are awaiting the Day of the Lord’s return (Hebrews 10:25). We look back to what Christ has done for us. We look forward to what He will do for us. Looking back and looking forward: These are both found in Hebrews 9:28 - ‘Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him’. We remember our Saviour. We remember what He has done for us: ‘the Son of God loved us and gave Himself for us’(Galatians 2:20). We eat bread and drink wine, giving thanks that our Saviour went to the Cross for us - His body broken for us and His blood shed for us. We are not only looking back. We are also looking forward: ‘As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes’ (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Remember - and pray, ‘Come, Lord ...

“Look,” Stephen said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Immediately after this great  vision of his Saviour, Stephen prayed two prayers - “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59); - “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). Stephen’s death wasn’t a sad exit from this world. It was a triumphant entry into God’s eternal Kingdom. Through faith in Christ, we can die triumphantly.

Great things can happen … Great things can happen when ‘earnest prayer’ is ‘made to God by the church’ – God ‘is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think’ (Acts 12:5-7; Ephesians 3:20). Give all the glory to God. Herod ‘did not give God the glory’. He accepted the praise of the people – ‘This is the voice of a god, not of a man’. Herod’s sudden death – ‘an angel of the Lord struck him down’ – is a warning (Acts 12:22-23; Proverbs 29:1). ‘Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows that he will also reap’. ‘Walk humbly with your God’ (Galatians 6:7; Micah 6:8).

In the death of Jesus Christ, we see both the holiness and the love of God. God hates sin. God loves sinners. Both are true - not one without the other but both together. Why did Christ die? - so that sin might be punished, so that sinners might be saved. God hates sin. The Bible tells us that God is so perfectly holy that he cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13). Christ died so that sin might be punished. God loves sinners. The Bible makes this perfectly clear - " For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Why did Christ die? - " For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17).  When we look at the cross of Christ, we are to see both  - the love of God for the sinner and the holy (or righteous) anger of God, directed against sin. That is what we are to see when we look at the cross of Christ - the...

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).   * What do we mean when we say, "Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"? "Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). To understand this description of Christ - "our Passover Lamb", we need to go back to Exodus 12.    -  A lamb was to be taken for each household (Exodus 12:3).   - The lamb was to be "without blemish" (Exodus 12:5).   - The lamb was to be killed (Exodus 12:6).   - The blood was to be put on the doorposts of the house (Exodus 12:7).   - "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13). Jesus Christ is "the lamb without blemish" (1 Peter 1:19). He is " the Lamb, who was slain" (Revelation 5:12). He is " the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).  * What was happening when Jesus Christ died? How are we to un...

Christ died "not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). This is something which we, in the church, must never forget. When we are tempted to shut out 'the big, bad world', we must remember - Christ died "not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world." In this world, we face many temptations.Not all of these temptations come from the world out there, the world outside of these four walls. There are some temptations that come to us precisely because we have stepped into the place of worship, precisely because we have chosen to worship God. Jesus was very aware of the dangers that face religious people, especially those who are very religious. The more religious we are, the more we are tempted to take pride in ourselves, in our own religion. Jesus was a storyteller. He told stories. They were stories with a difference, stories with a message, stories full of spiritual truth. One of his stories was the p...