DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 8.3.24

 SoundDoctrine “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” (2Timothy 1:13) When Paul wrote to his two young disciples, Timothy and Titus, he stressed again and again the vital importance of maintaining sound doctrine in their churches. “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome [same word as ‘sound’] words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing” (1Timothy 6:3-4a; see also 1:10). “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine” (2Timothy 4:3). “That he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus1:9). “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine” (Titus2:1; also 2:8). If the great apostle was so concerned that his pastoral disciples guard the doctrinal integrity of their first-century churches, he would surely be even more exercised today. These are times when false doctrines are rampant and when sound (that is “healthy” or “whole”) doctrines are often the object of compromise and distortion or (more commonly) simply ignored, even in evangelical churches. Paul’s command was to “hold fast the form” of sound words—not only the so-called “spirit” of the words in Scripture but the words themselves. Such strict guarding of doctrine is vital for the spiritual health of the churches. Furthermore, such doctrinal integrity does not lead to cold orthodoxy, as some would allege, but is centered in the “faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” It is “the doctrinewhich is according to godliness” (1Timothy 6:3). It is doctrine that is not only sound in the faith but also “in charity, in patience” (Titus2:2). After all, it is the doctrine of Christ Himself, who is not only “the truth” but also “the way” and “the life” (John14:6). HMM ------------------ TheSelf Life “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans7:24) This despondent cry follows Paul’s disturbing monologue on the inner strife between his two natures (Romans7:13-24). Here the apostle describes the conflict that goes on in the life of every Christian until the self-life is completely subjugated and the will of Christ reigns supreme. The ascendancy of self is indicated in these verses by the fact that the personalpronouns “I,” “me,” and “my” are used no less than 35 times in verses 15-24 alone as Paul records his inner thoughts and feelings (e.g., “that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I”—v. 15). Such a testimony ispervaded with introspection, relating everything to self instead of to Christ. No wonder the conclusion is so miserable: “O wretched man that I am!” Unfortunately, this is the status of most Christians whose interests are almost completely self-centered. Most Christian books and sermons are designed to appeal to such personal interests, and the explosive modern growth of Christian professional “counseling” likewise reflects the existence of multitudes of self-centered Christians. But the happy and useful Christian is the one whose concerns and activities center around others and who earnestly seeks to follow and honor Christ and His Word. And this is exactly the conclusion to which the apostle Paul comes in his melancholy soliloquy. “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” he cries. Immediately the answer comes: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans7:24-25). We do still have to battle the old nature, but in Christ we have both the incentive and power to “put off the old man with his deeds” (Colossians3:9) and to “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians4:24). HMM ------------------ OrdinaryMatters “Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labouris not in vain in the Lord.” (1Corinthians 15:58) Ordinary isn’t a quality most people aspire to. Are you discontent with the daily grind of routine? Are you unsatisfied with being a member of an ordinary church, having an ordinary family, having ordinary friends, and working an ordinary job? Is there an epic accomplishment that you’re seeking, just waiting for God to give His stamp of approval? It’s hard to not be swayed by the sirens of worldly success. But the Lord is pleased with the ordinary work of our hands. Ordinary doesn’t necessarily mean mediocre. In fact, Jesus lived His first 30 years in complete obscurity, faithful to His God, family, and friends, and increasing “in wisdom and stature, and in favorwith God and man” (Luke2:52). God can and does bring His children to the fullness of Christ in the unexceptional things of life (Philippians2:13; Ephesians 4:13). We may not be famous or extraordinary, but it should be enough to know that God values and uses those living obedient and ordinary lives for His glory. “Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, aswe commanded you” (1Thessalonians 4:11). Our Lord challenges believers to transform the world by serving Him in both our critical and mundane roles. We need to hold ourselves close to Him in all the routines of life. A renewed appreciation for the ordinary life begins with loving our Lord Jesus Christ and expressing that love by obeying His commands found in Scripture. “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen” (2Peter 3:18). CCM ----------------------------- The Transforming Lightof Salvation “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the lightof the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6) In this text, Paul points us to the creation account in Genesis, underscoring salvation’s transformation of a newly converted soul. Genesis 1:1 reads, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” And don’t forget the second verse: “And the earthwas without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” At this point, God’s world was formless and lifeless. But God spoke light into this blank canvas of darkness! Paul understands light’s creation as an instantaneous and supernatural action,comparing the miraculous light of conversion to this. The sinner remains in darkness and is lost until God commands, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3).And Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12), transforms the dark soul, flooding it with spiritual light “of the knowledge of the glory of God in the faceof Jesus Christ” (our text). Note the historical correlation between creation and salvation in Paul’s parallel. It suggests that if one’s salvation is a real event—and it is—then the creation of light by God’s word should be considered a historical event as well. The same God who createdall things is the One who died to redeem us from our sins and provide life with Him when we accept His salvation. Have you been transformed by the miraculous light of our Lord Jesus Christ? If so, know that “the LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm27:1). CCM ----------------------- �Lord, How Long?� - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe. �Psalm 5:7 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/lord-how-long/- Listen We live in a time when our society celebrates ungodly lifestyles. It flaunts them. We read about it. We see it on television. And we say, �Lord, how long are they going to get away with it?� Meanwhile, society mocks those who try to live by God�s Word. So we think, �This just isn�t fair. That person over there shouldn�t be able to get away with that. It is a horrible thing they are doing.� Asaph, one of the writers of the psalms, grappled with this age-old problem. He wrote, �I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is! Then I went into yoursanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction� (Psalm 73:16�18 NLT). David, too, reflected on the life of the godly and the life of the ungodly and contrasted them. He wrote about the ways of ungodly people and their priorities. And then he went on to say, �Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe� (Psalm 5:7 NLT). He was saying, �These nonbelievers can do what they want to do and live the way they want to live. But I�m going to go to the house of the Lord.� David got his priorities in order. In the same way, when we go to church, when we get into God�s Word together, we see the big picture. We recognize right from wrong. And we can make the right choices. We can compare going to church and fellowshipping with other believers to burning logs or coals. If we keep them close together, they stay hot and glow. But if we separate one from the others,that one will grow cold. The same is true of us as followers of Christ. Yet there are Christians who say, �Let�s not go to church today. Let�s go do something else. We went to church two weeks ago.� They are missing out. Church isn�t something we do when we find the time. It�s where we go to gain our focus. It�s where we go for a spiritual tune-up. And it�s also where we go to give aswell as receive. We bring our gifts and build up one another. That is why the Bible cautions, �And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near� (Hebrews10:25 NLT). Something wonderful, something supernatural, something mysterious happens when God�s people gather. When we worship the Lord, He inhabits the praises of His people. When we study His Word,He speaks to us. And when we unite our prayers, there is power in them. David was saying, �This world is crazy, but I will turn to You, Lord. That is where I will put my trust.� Let�s follow the example of David. Let�s take our problems and burdens and cast them upon the Lord, and He ultimately will have His way. ----------------------------------------- Never Abandoned - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you. �Deuteronomy 31:8 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/never-abandoned/- Listen Psalm 22 is one of the most unique psalms in all the Bible. We call it a messianic prophecy, which simply means that it�s one of the remarkable passages in the Old Testament that points toJesus as the Messiah. And not only is Psalm 22 a messianic prophecy, but it�s also a graphic description of the events that took place on the day of the crucifixion. In many ways, it is more detailed and specificthan the accounts of the crucifixion that the Gospels provide. What makes it so amazing is that David penned these words one thousand years before the crucifixion of Jesus. In fact, the Jews didn�t practice crucifixion, and the Romans didn�t come up withit. It was a form of death initially devised by the Medes, Persians, and Assyrians. And then it spread throughout the ancient East. The Romans took it from the Phoenicians. Thus, crucifixion was something that wasn�t even practiced when David wrote Psalm 22. Even so, it reads like a vivid eyewitness account of what happenedon the day of the crucifixion of Jesus. That is what makes it all the more remarkable. A number of things stand out in Psalm 22 that concern the death of Jesus Christ. Rather than describing a situation that he was going through, David, as God spoke to him, described the sufferingof the Messiah. And perhaps he didn�t even fully grasp everything he was writing down. The psalm opens with the words, �My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?� (22:1 NLT). Of course, Jesus spoke these words from the cross. The Bible tells us that a mysterious darkness fell upon the earth in the middle of the afternoon. Suddenly, it was pitch black for three long hours, and Jesus was silent. After the three hourshad passed, the silence was broken as Jesus cried out from the cross, ��Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?� which means �My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?�� (Matthew 27:46 NLT). From a human standpoint, it�s impossible to fathom what actually took place. But it�s important to try and grasp what was happening here because it is of the greatest significance. It speaksto us of God�s love for us. When Jesus cried out, �My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?� it wasn�t the delusion of a man who merely was in pain. It wasn�t that the faith of Jesus was failing Him. He wasn�t deliriousor losing His mind. Rather, something of profound significance was taking place. And Jesus merely was stating the truth of the situation. This is not the way God normally deals with His own when they face life�s hardest moments. If you are a child of God, then you never have been, and never will be, forsaken by God. Jesus madesure of this on the cross. He said, �I will never fail you. I will never abandon you� (Hebrews 13:5 NLT). The ear of God was closed to Him for a time so that it might be open to us forever. ---------------------------- All the Grace We Need - by Greg Laurie � www.dailyjot.com Each time he said, �My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.� So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. �2 Corinthians12:9 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/all-the-grace-we-need/- Listen When we look at the stories of people who suffered in the Bible, we see that God was always with them in a special way. For instance, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his men to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a fiery furnace because of their bold profession of faith. But afterward, Nebuchadnezzar sawa fourth figure walking with them in the fire. The king exclaimed, �I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!� (Daniel 3:25 NLT). When Stephen was about to become the first martyr of the church because of his bold proclamation of the gospel, he had a vision of Heaven. The Bible says, �But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God�s right hand� (Acts 7:55 NLT). The apostle Paul spoke of a particular suffering and difficulty that he faced, calling it �a thorn in [his] flesh� (2 Corinthians 12:7 NLT). Yet when Paul asked God to remove the source ofhis suffering, God said to him, �My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness� (verse 9 NLT). Throughout Scripture we see that God responded to His people with special comfort in times of need. And He will do the same for us. It�s so often during difficult times that we come into a greater appreciation of God�s goodness because it�s then that we really see His grace and power shine. God does not forsake His people. However, at the cross, God turned from Jesus as He bore our sin so we could come into a relationship with Him. Speaking prophetically of this moment, Davidsaid in Psalm 22:1, �My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?� (NLT). The abandonment of God the Father was much more a source of anguish to Jesus than it would be to anyone else because He is holy. Never for one moment of His earthly life did Jesus have a thoughtout of harmony with the Father. Never did He come close to sinning. He consistently maintained an intimate closeness with God. In contrast, our sin can cause us to become hardened toward God and far from Him. And many times, we don�t even know the hardness and distance are happening in our lives. Though Jesus incredibly (and certainly innocently) suffered the horrors of the crucifixion, the most important moment was when He, who was flawless, took every sin of humanity upon Himself. Interestingly, although Psalm 22 begins with Jesus� pain-filled question, �My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?� (verse 1 NLT), it ends with this hope-filled declaration: �His righteousacts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done� (verse 31 NLT). God the Father abandoned Jesus for a time so that we might enjoy His presence forever. Jesus was forsaken so that we might be forgiven. He was there on the cross, doing what had to be done.And only He could do it. ---------------------- Know and Walk in Truth �Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.� (1 Timothy 1:5) Much of modern, self-oriented Christian preaching and writing has tended to downgrade biblical �doctrine� in favor of an emphasis on �love� and �fulfillment,� the �pursuit of happiness,� �sharing and caring,� and other such sentiments. Some popular religiousleaders major on �confident living,� �self-improvement,� �personal success,� and the like. Doctrine is thus downgraded in favor of practice, and �works� are considered more important than the Word. But this type of emphasis places the cart before the horse and can never succeed for very long. �Doctrine� is simply �teaching,� and true teaching mustcome from God�s infallible Word, whether that teaching relates to great divine truths (creation, atonement, sanctification, etc.) or to the daily Christian walk. As the apostle Paul reminds us, �evil communications corrupt good manners� (1 Corinthians 15:33). �Profane and vain babblings...increase unto more ungodliness� (2 Timothy 2:16). We cannot escape being taught doctrine somewhere. If we will not receive true doctrine from God�s Word, we will inevitably become indoctrinatedwith the world�s humanistic deceptions, for these impinge upon our thinking continually, from classroom and journal, from television and (unfortunately) sometimes even from the pulpit. If we are really concerned about love and happiness and such things, we must acquire them from the right source, the doctrinal truths of the Word of God. It is knowing and obeying the commandment, as our text says, that generates pure love, a faithful heart, and a daily life that supports a clear conscience. When we �know the truth� (John 8:32), then and then only can we �walk in truth� (3John 1:4). HMM ---------------------------- He Knows Our Needs - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need. �Psalm 23:1 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/he-knows-our-needs/- Listen As one of the most well-known passages in the Bible, and certainly the most well-known and beloved of the psalms, Psalm 23 has given people untold encouragement and comfort throughout thecenturies. And when we consider the content of the psalm that precedes it and the psalm that follows it, Psalm 23 makes a lot of sense. Psalm 22 presents Jesus as the suffering Savior. It gives a graphicaccount of His crucifixion, including references to the way He would die. Then, Psalm 24 speaks of Christ�s return. When He comes again, He will be wearing not a crown of thorns but a crown of glory as He comes to establish His kingdom on Earth. Between these two psalms is Psalm 23, where David presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Thus, we see Jesus as the suffering Savior in Psalm 22, the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23, and the returningKing in Psalm 24. Taken together, these psalms give us a picture of who God is. David was a shepherd and the son of a shepherd. In fact, the Bible refers to him as the shepherd king of Israel (see 2 Samuel 5:2; 1 Chronicles 11:2; Ezekiel 37:24). Perhaps one day, as hewas looking over his flock of sheep, he started reflecting on the things about sheep that reminded him of himself. There is a lot we can say about sheep. They have many strange characteristics. For example, they don�t take care of themselves and need constant attention. Sheep completely depend on the shepherdfor sustenance, protection, and guidance. Picking up on this theme in John 10, Jesus said, �He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him becausethey know his voice. They won�t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don�t know his voice� (verses 3�5 NLT). In fact, we see the theme of God as Shepherd and His people as sheep repeated throughout Scripture. Isaiah 40:11 says, �He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in hisarms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young� (NLT). And Isaiah 53 tells us, �All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God�s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all� (verse 6 NLT). Peter wrote, �Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls� (1 Peter 2:25 NLT). A shepherd comes to know the unique characteristics of each sheep. As David wrote in another psalm, �You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I�m far away� (Psalm139:2 NLT). Not only does the Good Shepherd know our natures, but He knows our needs. And when God looks at you, He knows the deepest needs of your life.