|
SUMMARY: Relax about trying to be righteous and morally perfect! Jesus did it for you. God accepts Christ’s efforts on your behalf as good enough, so you don’t have to be good enough. All you have to do is accept it, believe it, and conform your life to it! God Speaks—I Obey // Romans 10:9-10 If you confess with your mouth, “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.
Your good works cannot save you. Period! No matter how hard you try, your “good” is not good enough for the perfectly holy and completely righteous God. Nor can you be saved through an alternative, less stringent means, for only through God is eternal salvation possible. Moreover, you cannot be saved by your moral perfection—no matter how moral you are or how close to moral you get. As the Old Testament prophet Isaiah pointed out, your righteousness is about as good as a “snot rag”. (Isaiah 64:6). I have actually cleaned that up a bit, because the Hebrew words for filthy rags, ukabeged ehdim, literally mean, “like as rags of menstruation.” Sorry if that disgusts you. It’s Scripture—so blame Isaiah. The point is that both our acts of righteousness and the quality of righteousness we hope they produce are disgusting to God. So, if you are disgusted by Isaiah’s language, think of how God is repulsed by your efforts to get him to save you. Then what hope is there for our salvation? Well, no hope resides within us. None whatsoever. Ephesians 2:1 says, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” All a dead person can do is lie there and be dead, let alone try to be righteous before God. “All a dead person can do is lie there and be dead, let alone try to be righteous before God. No, our righteousness comes from Christ alone.” Dr. Ray Noah No, our righteousness—and let’s be clear, we do have to be righteous to be acceptable to God—comes from Christ alone. You see, God sent his Son to die on the cross—he literally became our sin—in order to pay the just punishment for sin that we deserved. That is our only hope: that Jesus became sin—our sin—and in so doing, he likewise became our righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says it well, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” How dishonoring to God’s grace and Christ’s atonement when we therefore try to save ourselves by our acts of righteousness and our efforts at moral perfection! The sooner we realize that, the sooner we will discover salvation by grace alone through faith, as Paul spoke about in Philippians 3:8-9, “I consider everything a loss compared with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them [our best efforts] rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him—not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” It is only through the power of Christ’s resurrection and our death to self (Philippians 3:10-11) that our heart—the core of who we are; that which represents every fiber of our existence—will get transformed. And it is only out of a God-enabled transformed heart that our tongue can truly confess Jesus is Lord. Then, and only then, are we saved. So relax about trying to be righteous and morally perfect! Jesus did it for you. God accepts Christ’s efforts on your behalf as good enough, so you don’t have to be good enough. All you have to do is accept it, believe it, and conform your life to it! Choose You This Day: This week, meditate on Romans 10:1-21. Rehearse Romans 10:9-10 each day this week: “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 by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”
“When the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die.” Addison Leitch 
SUMMARY: God planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander, will keep me safe until the Divinely allotted numbers of days ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life that he has prepared for me. My life will be over when God says it’s over! God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Psalm 139:16 All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be
How many days do I have left? I don’t know—although I know my number of days decreases with each passing year. But the fact is, neither you nor I know how many more days we have before our exit from life on Planet Earth. No one does, except God. He knows the exact number of years, days, hours, and seconds that I will occupy my address on Planet Earth; the exact moment that my death will occur. Now that may not seem like a cheery thought to you, and in fact, most people would find that sobering, at best, and frightening, at worst. Not me. I find great comfort and security in knowing that God has my life so ordered that I will neither die a day sooner nor live a day longer than what has already been recorded in his book. You see, life and death are far above my pay grade, so I will happily let Father God take care of that department, thank you very much. “I find great comfort and security in knowing that God has my life so ordered that I will neither die a day sooner nor live a day longer than what has already been recorded in his book?” Dr. Ray Noah So, if I truly and correctly understand this profound truth, then I am freed from the fear of death to fully live the life that God has planned for me in this present life. I can enjoy an intimate walk with the One Who was intimately involved in each minor detail of my day: “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. (Psalm 139:1-4)
Who never lets me out of his sight: “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” (Psalm 139:5-8) Who guides my every move with his Fatherly hand: “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast “ (Psalm 139:9-10) Who is not limited by my circumstances: “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.“ (Psalm 139:11-12). In fact, God is so involved in my life that he was even there at the moment my mother and father conceived me in love, and he superintended even the most infinitesimal details of my physiological and temperamental formation: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13-16) God knows me! He knows everything about me. He planned me, built me, watches over me, and can steer me back on track when I wander from his purpose: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
All that to say, I can completely trust God with all the details of me in this life and completely trust him to keep me safe until the Divinely allotted number of days ordained for me are up. Then, at that point, I can completely trust him to take me to the next life that he has prepared for me. The psalmist says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand” (Psalm 139:6, NLT), but while it is way beyond my comprehension, that won’t keep me from enjoying this day and praising the One who is in charge of it! Why? Because I trust him! Choose You This Day: Throughout the day, declare, “God is in charge of me!” Then live like it’s true—because it is!
“I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn’t need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So, what is there to worry about” Henry Ford 
SUMMARY: God is over history. The biblical record over thousands of years proves it. The story of thousands of years of Christianity bears it out. Our faith affirms it. God is sovereign over the affairs of this world. He is in control of all things, and he is in charge of you! So go with God—always, in everything, and in every way. You will be on the right side of history. GOD SPEAKS — I OBEY // Joshua 24:2-5, 14 Joshua said to the Israelites, “The Lord your God says to you…‘you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.” These are the final words of General Joshua to the people of Israel. He is passing the baton after four decades of extraordinary leadership and victory after victory—a conquest for the ages. And he is recounting the activity of God for the people, reminding them of the sovereign hand of God in the entire history of Israel. God is over history. It was God who selected their idol-worshipping ancestors out of a pagan culture and made them his own. It was God who sent Abraham, then Jacob, into Egypt. It was God who brought the nation back out of Egyptian slavery with great signs and wonders. It was God who fought for Israel during their wilderness journey, destroying each enemy nation that stood in their way. He provided food and water for them in the desert; he formed them from a collection of slaves into a mighty nation. It was God who drove out the inhabitants of Canaan and brought them into the Promised Land — “a land flowing with milk and honey.” God did it for them. God is over history. So let us, thousands of years later, never forget what Joshua was so clear about: God is over history. That was true for the Israelites — proven over the several hundred years between Abraham’s call and Israel’s conquest of Canaan; that has been true over the two thousand years between Christ’s ascension and this present moment. And that will be true between now and the Second Coming of Christ. God is over history. “If God is over history, why would we not serve him in faithfulness? When you think about it, any other choice but loving obedience to the Lord our God doesn’t make any sense. So go with God. Get on the right side of history.” Dr. Ray Noah We may not see the hand of God in the everyday details of our world, or of our lives, but history proves that God is over history. That is why Joshua’s charge to the Israelites is a charge that is valid for God’s people today — including you and me: Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord.”
If God is over history, why would we not serve him in faithfulness? Why would we depend on any other source for provision and protection? Why would we worship the gods of our culture — fame and fortune, power and pleasure? Why would we not wholeheartedly follow the one and only God, the God over history? When you stop and think about it, any other choice but loving obedience to the Lord our God doesn’t make any sense. God is over history! So go with God. Get on the right side of history! CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY: Are you leaning on any source other than God for security, success, or significance? Put God first! Repent where you have allowed allegiance to other gods to creep in and declare your undying loyalty to the God who is over history. “Guidance, like all God’s acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s promise; this is how good he is.” J. I. Packer 
SUMMARY: When you are fully devoted to the Lord your God, you will not be able to contain the favor that God pours out upon your life. And along the journey, at each step you take, you will enjoy God’s protection, power, provision, and presence. You will have to accept that by faith now, but over time, that will be the testimony of your life as well. With God, a promise made is a promise kept. GOD SPEAKS — I OBEY // Joshua 23:2-5, 14 Joshua said to them, “I am now a very old man. You have seen everything the Lord your God has done for you during my lifetime. The Lord your God has fought for you against your enemies. I have allotted to you as your homeland all the land of the nations yet unconquered, as well as the land of those we have already conquered—from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. This land will be yours, for the Lord your God will himself drive out all the people living there now. You will take possession of their land, just as the Lord your God promised you….Soon I will die, going the way of everything on earth. Deep in your hearts, you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed!”
The book of Joshua is bookended by promises: Chapter 1 is about promises made, and Chapter 23 is about promises kept. Which, by the way, is the story of God: He is a promise-making and promise-keeping God. Of course, his promises are conditioned upon our obedience. For every promise made, God gives a corresponding warning, which is the case here as well: But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you. (Joshua 23:15-16) While some may see these warnings in scripture as dark and threatening, I see them as God’s unrelenting desire to bless his people. He so longs to fulfil his promises to Israel, and to us—“Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” (Joshua 23:14)—that he is continually clear about what will hinder his abundant goodness in our lives. In Joshua 1, God generously makes Israel’s new leader, General Joshua, promise after promise: military victory, success as a leader, divine abundance—if he will carefully follow the law of God and step out with bold, courageous leadership. And if that weren’t enough, God adds a few more promises: his protection, power, provision and presence. The first chapter in this journal of Israel’s conquest is full of the promises of God. God is a promise maker. And God is a promise keeper. Joshua 23 is this old leader’s testimony that God has been faithful to his covenant. Over the thirty-five years since the Lord commissioned Joshua, he has been true to his word at every turn. He has driven out all of Israel’s enemies, given them victory at every turn, and brought them into a land where the fields have already been plowed, the orchards have already been planted, the roads have already been laid, and the houses have already been built. Even when the challenges were great and the enemies were overwhelming, God has been with them. And now, God has indeed given them their Promised Land. He has fulfilled every one of his promises. The Lord is a covenantly faithful, promise-keeping, very good God Personally, Joshua had known God’s protection, power, provision, and presence. While Joshua had accepted that by faith in chapter 1, over three decades later, he could now stand before Israel and, in reality, say to them, “not a single promise has failed. What was true for Joshua and the Israelites is true for you as well. When you are fully devoted to the Lord your God, you will not be able to contain the favor that God pours out upon your life. And along the journey, at each step you take, you, too, will enjoy God’s protection, power, provision, and presence. You will have to accept that by faith now, but over time, that will be the testimony of your life as well. As I think about these two bookend chapters, I realize that I have been in ministry about the same length of time that Joshua led Israel. There had been times where the challenges were so great, I felt overwhelmed, out-gunned, and on the brink. There were moments when I didn’t know if I could stand up under the pressure. But guess what? I’m still standing. Why, because I’m so great? Not at all! It is all because God made some promises—and then kept each one of them. “There have been times in my life and ministry when the challenges were too great, when I felt overwhelmed, outgunned, and on the brink, when I didn’t know if I could stand up under the pressure. But guess what? I’m still standing! Why? Because I’m so great. Not at all! It’s all because God made some promises—then kept each one.” Dr. Ray Noah With God, a promise made is a promise kept. CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY: Someone has counted all the divine promises in the Bible and apparently came up with around 6,000. Read a couple of them today. Those are for you. So just rejoice ahead of time that God will fulfill every single promise on your behalf.
“Every promise of Scripture is a writing of God, which may be pleaded before Him with this reasonable request, ‘Do as Thou hast said.’ The Heavenly Father will not break His Word to His own child.” Charles Spurgeon 
SUMMARY: What the Bible describes does not mean it excuses. The writers of scripture simply paint a sad picture for us of what happens when God is marginalized. Moreover, rather than justifying unrighteous behavior, these kinds of stories are to stand as perpetual warning signs to us when we put our needs, wants, and interests ahead of God’s purposes and plans. Without God at the center and circumference of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, life will ultimately stink! With him at the core of everything we do, we have his eternal promise to bless us with success, prosperity, and his smile: “Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8) GOD SPEAKS — I OBEY // Judges 21:4-5, 25 Early the next morning, the people built an altar and presented their burnt offerings and peace offerings on it. Then they said, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we held our assembly in the presence of the Lord?” At that time they had taken a solemn oath in the Lord’s presence, vowing that anyone who refused to come would be put to death….In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
Note: It would be helpful to read the entirety of Judges 21 to make sense of this devotional. Moral outrage that is not based on any kind of higher, propositional, and immutable moral truth might be real, but it can be and is usually wrong. It is selective, inconsistent, and hypocritical—and ultimately dangerous. That is why God calls us to live by his unchanging truth. Let me get this straight: Israel has just basically wiped out one of their own tribes (Judges 20); they then vow that they will never allow their daughters to marry any of the remnant of that tribe, Benjamin (Judges 21:1); they feel really bad about it (Judges 21:2-3,6); they call a sacred assembly to offer sacrifices before the Lord (Judges 4); then they make another vow to kill anyone who doesn’t show up to their worship service (Judges 21:5). Now there’s a great way to increase church attendance! What a mess! So, they discover that the people from Jabesh-Gilead had not attended church that day, so they ordered their execution: “The assembly sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabesh-Gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children.” (Judges 21:10) But wait, someone then comes up with the idea that if they spare the unmarried woman of that city, they can then force them to become the wives of the left-over Benjamite men, then that tribe can repopulate, they won’t lose one of their tribes after all, and technically, they will not have violated their vow not to let their daughters marry anyone from Benjamin. The problem was, there were only 400 of these girls from Jabesh-Gilead, and there were gobs of guys from Benjamin who needed wives. Just then, someone comes up with an idea that sanctions kidnapping brides from Bethel for the rest of the men as the girls are leaving one of their annual festivals. (Judges 21:19-22) So, the assembly sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabesh-Gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. (Judges 21:23) Then everyone went home and lived happily ever after. Not! Why not? Because as the last verse of Judges observes, “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) They had no controlling moral authority to keep them between the lines of civility with their neighbor and righteousness before God, so they kept on coming up with social solutions, assuming that God was guiding them. At the end of the day, this only made their national mess bigger and far worse. Now, as you read this chapter, and plenty of other chapters like it in the Old Testament, you, too, can assume that since it was recorded, and you find no condemnation of what is recorded, that God must approve of what they are doing. But notice in Israel’s crazy plan to get brides for Benjamin, there is no use of the phrase, “the Lord commanded.” God didn’t tell the nation to annihilate their fellow tribe. God didn’t order them to make a rash vow. God didn’t instruct them to kill off the city of Jabesh-gilead for not showing up to church. God didn’t show them how to devise a dumb plan to kidnap child-brides for the Benjamites. God wasn’t talking in this chapter. They had pushed God to the margins, then blamed him for whatever they did next. “If you push God to the margins in your life, then don’t blame him for what happens next.” Dr. Ray M. Noah So, what does this have to do with how you read the Old Testament? Simply this, what the Bible describes does not mean it excuses. The writer is simply painting a sad picture for us of what happens when God is marginalized. Moreover, rather than justifying unrighteous behavior, these kinds of stories are to stand as warning signs to us when we put our needs, wants, and interests ahead of God’s purposes and plans. Without God at the center and circumference of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, life will ultimately stink! With him at the core of everything we do, we have his eternal promise to bless us with success, prosperity, and his smile. (Joshua 1:8) Never forget that when you obey, God blesses! When you don’t, well, just re-read Judges! CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY: Justification of thoughts, feelings and actions without consideration for God is a dangerous thing. Is there an area where you might be guilty of that? If so, repent—ASAP!
“The countless respectable and seductive disguises and masks in which evil approaches [men of conscience] make their conscience anxious and unsure until they finally content themselves with an assuaged conscience instead of a good conscience.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer 
|
|
